Hate to ask......

One point that hasn't been mentioned is the effect of having extra (idle) speakers sitting in the room when trying to enjoy 2-channel sound. I saw a web page once (from a local audio shop) that described the following phenomenon:

Play a 2-channel recording at your standard listening level, and go around to each of your surround speakers and sub. Look at the movement of their cones, or touch the cones and feel the resonance (there will be some). Now, turn on the surrounds and sub only and play them at a volume where their movement/resonance levels match those that you observed in the 2-channel mode. That is the approximately the level of "noise" your extra speakers are creating. Just as rooms have resonances that degrade sound, extra speakers (DESIGNED to make noise!) merely sitting in the room will have the same effect.

I love my combo HT/Music system, but I also know that the extra speakers and the television that sits in between the L/R speakers (distorting their imaging qualities) come with a price. It's one that I'm willing to live with, and one that I've found to be worth it, but the cost exists nonetheless.

Felthove: This has always been my pet peeve about auditioning speakers in shops (which are full of other speakers). Perhaps some sort of speaker covers for the center and surrounds, might help to clear up this problem.

Hey, Tim. The home theatre is where I get to go crazy, do the research, and buy the gear. The audio system is my husband's realm, though I do get a say in things.
We don't have the best room, but it works. Someday.... yeah, we all say that, eh?
anyway,I have been learning alot and meeting nice people and upgrading little by litte and having some fun and feeling some success. Right now, I am negotiating something with Roger at Innersound on a ribbon center channel that he is working on. We have the ISIS ESL's as the main speakers, so I am excited at the prospect of the ribbon panel. It is the journey that brings me such pleasure.
By the way, I found one of your movies on DVD the other day. The surround sound really added to overall experience.

I'm another one in the home theater/stereo camp. I also don't worry about switching my lights on and off for the ultimate sound. I'm not a tweaker, however I do listen to my speakers in the audiophile approved way with the grills off. However I also have my subwoofer between my front speakers because that is where it sounds best in my room. A compromise to be sure but isn't life full of them. I presently have my front speakers wired into my DD processor but with monster dual RCA plugs at my amp inputs. This way I can disconnect the plugs from the processor for stereo using my AI3 outputs and reconnect them for the Terminator I&II. The best of two worlds and pretty darn separate.

Alright Angela100, cough up the name of the DVD. Let us find out what Tim is made of.