mono blocks for home theater?

I keep reading over and over from members that theatre / movies do not need the care and attention to components that a dedicated two channel rig needs . This depends on a couple of important factors as far as I am concerned. First , what is your level of involvement and enjoyment in your own personal movie going experience? Recording engineers have improved dramatically over the years and there is some incredible work out there that a high end multichannel theatre can expose to someone dedicated to the ever improving movie experience . I for one am as interested in theatre as I am multichannel music presentation or two channel reproduction. I get different sensations from each but quite frankly do not put less effort or money into my theatre in relation to my main two channel rig. . Second would be that your theatre can double as an effective multichannel music system making the investment more critical . It is all in what you perceive as important to you. Going the monobloc route is simply another way to improve your soundfield which in turn will make movies and music better. That is essentially what it is all about.

Nope, nope, nope...to an extent, that is.
I could see the very best mono's giving some advantage POTENTIALLY in refinement of sound, all things equal. But considering bass managment, powered subs, more efficiency in amp/speaker combo do to bass managment, the only real areas of practical improvment for you money would be in overall sonic purity and such indeed...all things equal, again. Still, that said, we're talkign movies here! I have yet to hear any movie that has the refinement of a good music recording! Movies are mixed, and mixed, and processed, and scored, and over-dubbed, and voiced over, etc, etc! yes, they sound plenty detailed often, dynamic for sure, pretty clear mostly, with cool effects, stearing, and soundstage potentially. But, refinement is not the case, and things are generally more synthetic and manufactured! You consider the unavoidable "boxy dialoge" that is in the mix, faux effects, re-dubbs, edits, etc, and you just aren't getting some magical depth and refinement taht can be pinched out with the finnest music production/recordings!
I've beeen around high end audio for 20 years plus, worked in 6 audio stores as sales/install/custom, and been and avid 2 channel and HT junkie in as much. I have yet to hear some system on "mono's" that I thought was "the end all" for HT! Infact, I think certain much more important considerations are more pressing than finding the baddest amps you can to dive your home audio system...better speaker chioces for one. It's all good though.
I'm just saying that hearing large massive JM Grand Utopias, and Wilson SLAMMs and such on mono's wasn't any better than a well thought out high end system with multi's or stereo amps in general!
I think money's better spent delegated elsewere for most. Still, whatever floats your boat.

I recently acquired two Theta Enterprise monoblocks to power my Thiel CS3.6's, and a Theta Intrepid for the center and surrounds (still trying to decide if I'll use the extra 2 channels for zone 2, or move from 5.1 to 7.1). My reasoning for this approach is that I do my critical listening in 2-channel, and I want my soundstage and imaging to be as good as they can be, so monoblocks do deliver in these regards. I had considered either a 5-channel Dreadnaught II for the whole deal, or a 2-channel Dread for the mains, but once I heard my Thiels with the Enterprises, I was hooked. The multi-channel Thetas still had the "Theta sound", and were very balanced and nice sounding, but the imaging, detail, separation, and depth of soundstage couldn't match the monoblocks. That said, I find that when I listen to multi-channel music or movies, much of the refinement of the monoblocks is not as evident. If I were going to do multi-channel only, I probably would have gone with one or two Dreads, or a Dreadnaught/Intrepid. However, I do feel that monoblocks can interface well with a system that pulls duty as both a 2-channel and a HT setup.

Tom.

There's one point that everybody has been forgetting, or they're unaware-of, so far...
There is another advantage to using monobloc amplifiers, if they are located appropriately. With a multi-channel amp, some people are running long lengths of speaker cable, perhaps of questionable quality, to save money. Long runs of speaker cable result in signal loss, vulnerability to RF interference and compromised sound. It's better to run a long SHIELDED interconnect to an amp located right beside the speaker, and a short high quality speaker cable to the speaker.
Of course, this kind of set-up is not for everybody, but there are definite advantages!

I am in the process of asking the same question right now. Should I mono block everything, or just the front three, and stereo the surrounds? I am just in the begining stages of this adventure. I am looking at getting an eVo6,a 6 channel amp, and mono blocking the front 3 channels (350wpc) with it. Then I can run another eV02 in stereo or run a eVo4, and mono the surrounds to have 350 wpc through out my 5.1 system. Just trying to get the best 2 channel/HT system I can get. I also looked at Classe, but it would take 3 amps instead of 2, and wpc would be different into each speaker if that makes any difference, I don't know, but it should be fun finding out. Love this stuff :)