The sub and center channel shoudl be here Monday or Tuesday and the receiver will be here the 4th of Jan. I plan on swapping out the cheapo JLB Flix surrounds for a pair of JBL Industrial Series 8216A's that were used as surrounds at a theatre we had in town that closed down. Wish I could have gotten my hands on the sub, but that *had* to go back

Do any of you folks out there have any first hand experience with any of the equipment I mentioned? I read many reviews from (www.audioreview.com) to help make my mind. I'm not looking to sink a bunch of money into this setup, becuase if I want to hear/see it the BEST way, I'll watch it at work...

The next thing I'll be replacing is the mains. I'm gonna have to research into it a little more before I drop a wad on mains tho... Klipsh? AR's? JBL's? Boston Acoustics? Any help?

Thanks all in advance..

Also check out Perry Sun's Movie Sound Page:
http://www.moviesoundpage.com/

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Still... when I go looking at TVs and VCRs, Sony is at the top of my list. It's just that companies like Toshiba and Matsushita (the Panasonic companies as a whole) and Mitsubishi are now factoring in to my decisions.

Having said that, I will DEFINATELY stay away from Phillips / Magnavox (Owned by the same company now.) Their stuff is TERRIBLE. I call them "Maggot-Box". Far worse than Sony, quality-wise. I guess that puts Sony in the middle of the pack. They used to be at the top.

Again, that WEGA looks FINE! So do the XBRs and the XBR-2's (WEGA would classify as XBR-3 , I think.) Even the "S" and "V" models are pretty good. I'd just do a little more comparison shopping when looking at the "lower" lines.

I have an XBR that I bought back in 1993 and the only feature it doesn't have that I want is the 16:9 mode.

On these WEGA TVs, be sure to turn VM off and set the sharpness properly (1/4 to 1/3 from the left end). On older Sonys, like mine, SVM is not turned off until the sharpness is run all the way down, which is actually the correct setting for it on my particular set. Video Essentials has a test pattern that can help you set the sharpness properly.

Evans

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I hope that your Sony amp is built better than the one that I have. Mine is an STR-D715 with Pro-Logic, and 100 watts per channel. Just after the warranty expired, I had a channel go out. There was bad soldering all over one side of the power amp PC board. Thankfully, though, no other problems have surfaced.

I've got a 1992 27" XBR that looks great even though it was dropped before I got it. (This seems to be the way that I get my best equipment!) I had to do some major PC repairs around the flyback transformer, and replace the regulator IC on the power supply board, and install a small fan to keep the IC from cooking again, which after 7 years, it has not.

After I got it running again, I had to do a minor convergence alignment. Sonys are a breeze for me in this department. I used to align old RCA type CRT's with the 12 or so adjustments. The Sony has not drifted at all since 1993.

I hooked a DVD player up and thought that the image thru the S-video input was outstanding. Much better than the 1994 standard 27" Sony that I use for this WebTV system in my bedroom.

Good luck with the new system. I am getting access to a 400 watt JVC system very soon that will allow me to move my Sony amp over to the theater system. The Holmes will sound GREAT! (pant, pant!)

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Darryl: I'm using the component outputs on the DVD. I will be using Optical once the new STRDE945 gets here 1/4/01.

Sony equip. has definitely slid downhill over the last few years. They still have good stuff at decent prices. Their ES line is GREAT stuff from everything I've heard, but I'm not into paying that much for SONY. I currently have a SONY STRD-1015 Pro-logic unit which will go into the bedroom once the new unit gets here. Never had a problem with it after 5 years. I do have a SONY VCR that had a bad power supply after like 4 years..

I can only hope that I get the same satisfaction out of the new TV (whatever it may be) that I have gotten out of my Mitsubishi 27". I bought it 12 years ago as a floor model for right at $800. People thought I was CRAZY... but they have gone through two or three TV's and I still have the same one..

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1. wait till i can afford it.

2. wait till they figure out the best configuration for the center surround. They are making revievers with the center surround for pretty good prices ($500 - $600), but they havent figured out the best way to set it up. I read about it in some home theatre magazine, but i cant remember the name. ill have to look it up and post it later.

about Phillips, I bought one of their dvd players and havent had any problems with it.