I give up on HT

I use a two channel preamp with a processor bypass loop. I use a ht receiver which powers the center and rear channels, and send receivers main pre-outs to the bypass ins on the preamp. Many pre-amps including Sonic frontiers, Audio Research, VTL, and Vac have this feature.

You can't beat 2 channel stereo for music listening. Home theatre systems sound like garbage when used for music. And, if you think about it, you can listen to an album dozens of times but can barely watch the same movie more than about twice. So why spend hords of money on a home theatre system?Stick to high end pure audio!!!!

I SOLD my entire HT setup after many unfruitfull attempts to justify it's existance in my home. I then did the wisest deceision by replacing the HT system with a BOSE HT system. Now, life is beautiful as my living room looks neat and tidy. Does not sound too bad.....not missing my full blown HT sound.

Mind you, I have a saperate system for 2 channel music. Say what you like. TWO channel rules!!!!!!!!

some of us have kids and a wife that enjoy movies so we compromise.My tv is a 35 in reference monitor which sits above a fire place and a good 6 feet or so behind the speakers,but i can see were this would not work with a big screen and the monitor has a better pcture anyway short of hi-def.I use a b&k receiver which is there reference pre amp in a box with 5 decent amps but it does have analog pass through for sacd which happens to be a feature on my dvd player.I have five speakers that i built with scan speak 1845's and revelator tweeters and two powered subs that are more designed for music.the front two speakers i am changing the caps to hovland,as i only use two speakers for audio and the other three have solen caps.I have no imaging,soundstaging or any other compromises that have been talked about here,so yes this can be done without taking away from audio only enjoyment,i think you have to approach the movie theater the way you would your two channel.Think like an audiophile.I do move my center channel into correct position when we are to watch movies the rest of the time it sits six feet back.The only thing i would ever think of upgrading besides cable is maybe a mark levinson 2 channel amp for the ultimate two channel/theater.

I recommend everyone shop the used marker for doing HT. I did HT on the cheap by shopping around. The older B&W 600 series is fine for movies. Bass was the weak point with these speakers, but for HT with the REL sub who cares. With shipping I paid $155 for fronts DM620i; $165 for DM600i rears, $110 for a DM600i IFS center. That's $430 (The same setup with DM600 S2 series is $1400.) With $565 for an excellent REL Q100E sub ($999). Throw in a used Onkyo AC-3 Receiver for $200; $150 for a Toshiba DVD player. Another $400 for used cables and AC conditioner I spent about $1750 total for a system that would have been over $4000 new (plus sales tax). There is lots of stuff out there between Audiogon, eBay, Audioreview, Audioweb, Audioshopper.