Best Home Theater Seperates below $4K

BTW: The Pioneer Elite DV-05, at $1000msrp ($700 street) is, hands down, the best under $1000 DVD player. Mike

Although I do not own Parasound gear but rather some Proceed and Aragon gear, a friend of mine does. I would strongly suggest you audition Parasound in your price range. Until recently I was unfamiliar with the brand but am certain that this brand represents a very good value combined with very good performance.

Not saying anyone is wrong above, but I think there missing out on the King. "Lexicon" for Home theater. You can pick up a DC-1 for about 1700.00 from a store if they have any trade ins. As for amps, the ATI1505 is a very good amp, I have heard it and it's smooth. Also look at reveiws. As stated above Proceed and Classe are very good, but if your interested in pure A/v and not so much audio, I think there are better value's out there. Also if you want to save a few bucks. B&K REF20 and AV5000ii combo is a great way to go. Has very good reveiws. I have heard it and was very impressed. I know B&K is upgradable, but have not talked to them about Logic7 and EX formats. Brian

I've auditioned the B&K Ref 20 as well as the B&K 3090 preamps. the 3090 wasn't as good as my Conrad-Johnson PV10A preamp with a Wadia 12 DAC for 2 channel music, so I didn't returned it. the Ref 20, however, seemed about equal, plus all the additional inputs, S-VHS switching, and DD/DTS processing makes it a good buy, IMHO. never heard the new Parasound, but the conversion of all analog to digital makes me wonder about it's 2 channel analog abilities. as for amps, I've tried the Parasound 2200II, now discontinued, 225wpc model. great amp. big, heavy, and plenty of power. I suppose subwoofers also count as separates, so I vote for the Def Tech PF15TL, which I've owed for a year now. 15" woofer + 325 watt amp for ~$700 = great bargain.

If you can find one complete, the Angstrom 200 & 205 with DTS is BY FAR the best sounding unit in this area. Not even close (sorry Lexicon and Meridian). THE BEST amps are Acurus. The are hard to find, but well worth the effort. DVD player is the Sony 7700. Most useful features and qualty.