What screen to buy with $1500?????

Take look at the Sony XBR960 34" wide screen. I've had mine for a couple months and the pic is gorgeous. It is a "Super Fine Pitch" set that makes all the analog cable stuff not only watchable, but very impressive. And DVD's are to die for. The Masters in HDTV made me cry.....hehehe.

However the set's depth (24") does remove a bit of the sound stage depth of my Martin Logan Aeriusi fronts. I can't move them forward since they are dipoles and need back wall reinforcement. But movie dialogue is married to the screen beautifully. I don't use a center channel speaker and you shouldn't either in the room you described. Turn the TV's speakers off and enjoy the show.

the XBR WEGA have an edge unmatched by regular WEGA models, the 30 inch wide is about $1400 now, down from $2000 when first introduced.

For a completely darkened room at 10 foot seating distance and for DVD watching I would do a front projection system. You could do it all, including a Da-lite "High Power" 80inch wide (92" diag) pull down screen for under $1500 total. Who wants a small rinky dink 42 inch or smaller display for HT?? I get all the colors and black levels I need with my Optoma DLP projector. And I was a CRT hold out! YMMV. I had a Toshiba tube for awhile that bested most Sony Wegas for colors and black levels. Yeah, the optoma is *nearly* that good. It's almost like spliting hairs, so I was sold. Though I wouldn't just consider _any_ digital projector (DLP or not). For me the Optoma was a special unit. I know everyone on audiogon tends to trumpet what works for them, it's just the nature of emthusiasts, I guess. YMMV.

Aaron

Front projection is the way to go! I sell systems like this and they are certainly more impressive than what you could get with a direct view display for the same price.

I would go with front projection, but raise the budget a bit. Big improvements can be had if you increase your budget by another $1000 or so for a better projector and a screen. Otherwise, you can't even be close to beating a tube CRT for the price. But it might affect your 2ch performance and 10' is quite far away.