Entering the world of high quality sound...

[quikslvr750]

Hello all. (Again, lol) I've recently acquired my own place, and now have the chance to dive into the great world of A/V. My question is, starting out, would it be in my better interest to start out with the perpetual and basic HTIAB, and upgrade as my knowledge and resources grow, or just start out with what I really want, and just have at it? And just so if it were to aid in anything, the B&W XT series' what I'm lusting for.

As always, thanks for advice.

[kennyt]

Tough to answer without more information.

How much do you want to spend?

What do you need/want? Do you want an all in one unit (DVD/Pre/amps) a receiver/Blu-ray/DVD player? Separate pre/pro, amps, players?

Room size?

What do you expect? Do you want bass to shake the walls or a simple surround system? Are you looking for MC audio or two channel only?

Also how much of a tweaker are you? DO you want to set it up once and never do it again or does the concept of upgrading appeal to you?

[quikslvr750]

I'm not completely sure on room size. I'll have to check later, but I'm guessing about 15'X20'.

Budget wise, I would like to stay under $7500, but that's not set in stone. I'm really just looking for good loudspeakers, a decent center channel, surrounds, and sub with a good enough receiver to run it all. I would look into getting an HD-DVD player and PS3 as well.

I'm not sure what you mean by MC audio? I'm probably going to be most happy with just a simple surround system. I'm not really much of a tweaker. I would rather just have it set and calibrated and leave it alone, as I'm not comfortable enough yet to try anything serious.

[kennyt]

Well, I think that speaker system you're looking at is close to $5,500, so that leaves you with ~$2K for a receiver, so you are in a pretty solid market.

The Onkyo 905 ($2,099) is really nice, The new Denon 4308Ci ($2,499) is a good choice as well but might be out of the budget, so maybe the 3808CI ($1,599) the new Marantz 8002 ($2,099) is just the 8001 I reviewed with WAY more features, I like this unit, it's a little more laid back than the Denon, but not by much. All prices I posted are retail, you likely can cut a good chunk off them by shopping around.