Moved from 2 channel to Home Theatre - Regrets?

I used to have HT... Theta Casablanca feeding three big ARC stereo amps, speakers all over the place.

I recently decided that it wasn't lending a lot of enjoyment to my experience. Half the time, even watching movies, I never bothered to even turn on the amp controlling the rear speakers. Hell, half the time I'm watching a movie, I'm stretched out on the couch anyway. At the same time, all that HT stuff was taking up too much space in my limited area...

So, I ditched the Casablanca, the amp for the rears, a gazillion wires, a pair of speakers and stands, and bought dCS PCM rig and an ARC LS-16. Much happier now. All it does is redbook CD, but it does it well. Zero regrets.

Obviously, calculus is a lot different if hearing stuff whiz by to the back gets your motor running...

I'm an old-time 2 channel guy.

Back around '98 I fell into the HT trap. 2 subs, Lexicon, Martin Logans all over the place. Big amps, lots of wire.
Mega Complexity.

2 channel sucked on the thing.

All gone now. I run my DVD player through the 2 channel system. My speakers image well, no need for a center channel, no need for sub(s). No need for a pile of wires all over the place.

I'm a happy guy now.

Best,

Paul :-)

for myself...I considered for a long time getting into the 5.1 gig, but I realize that I listen to music more when I have a better 2 channel system and I really don't feel like I miss that much with regards to a movie soundtrack when watching in stereo. How much money etc etc etc worth just to hear a bullet whiz by or hear better special effects. I still feel like I get some of the surround experience out of a 2 channel setup just with proper speaker placement. I have found that what improves the soundstage with 2 channel music also improves my 2 channel HT experience.

so if it were me...and I were in your particular situation, I would ditch all the surround stuff and up the 2channel system. (just make sure your speakers are way infront of your t.v. or get a flatscreen/front projection system so the t.v. doesn't kill the sound)

just my 2c fwiw

cheers

Ellery

You all got that right. We all fell into that trap.Music Meant more to us than HT. I also went back to 2 channel. Tube Amps, Tube Pre. what a difference. I listen to HT through my 2 channel rig and it sounds much better. But when I listen to Old blue eyes Im in a different world

If you buy bad hometheater equipment you will get bad results.

If you want a exact diagram of the equipment not to buy and exactly how not to put it together then all the post above should serve you well;

Lets cover some never do's

Never use Martin Logans for Home Theater
Never buy a Sony A/V receiver (will people ever learn)
Lexicon's Don't sound good, logic 7 is like Peanut Butter in your wine and the 2 channel performance is sub par.
Theta.....nice two channel stuff, don't you think?

Now exactly what you should do(Yes i'm being pushy :))and if you follow my instructions you'll have everything you want despite the Nay sayers.

Sell;
Aragon 4004, its too bright and way too much power for your speakers

The PSB's, no longer needed

Sell that terrible quad CD player before it breaks, any reasonable pre pro outperforms that CD player by miles.

Get rid of that outlaw, will give you a headache

Sell all that fancy boy cables if you can get a good price because its pointless when you have tone controls on the pre/pro.

Now Buy,

3 more Europa's or if the budget allows 3 Callistos'...you get the picture.

Pick an appropriate SVS subwoofer from their catalog

And then get the new processor in descending order of prefferability the New G series Meridian processor, An older Meridian processor ie 568, Anthem AVM-20.2, B&K Reference 50 Series II.

Get an Audio Refinement multi-5 amplifier (if you stick with the smaller GMA's)

and use Analysis Plus Blue Oval custom speaker cable and AP Oval One or your add to your current interconnect cables more of the same.

You might be able to make this transition for <$3000 if you bought all new gear but many items as you know can be had used, a used 568.2 would be a super pickup, same with the amplifier.

But the point is, your 2 channel setup will be preserved with a much improved DAC and with the load divided over 5 Green mountain speakers and a sub. Great home theater and great 2 channel if you want it. And if you get a Meridian, you 2 channel days are over, especially if you listen to classical music.

Keep in mind if you can tweak 2 speakers to make a big difference imagine the difference you can make when you have 6 speakers to tweak. If you have questions about the setup email me if you like.

I am not a dealer for any of the products I listed to buy but I am selling surround sound as a solution.