HDTV newbie seeks wisdom on setup-Thanks

get used to the lousy picture. on a digital tv, regular broadcasts are pixellated and crappy. period. better cables will only make the problem worse on regular broadcasts, because it will show more of the imperfections in the horrible digital signal. some stations are worse than others.

until the stations decide to send out a decent signal, those of us with decent displays are screwed.

but hd looks magnificent, don't it?

Do you have a Hi Dif Set Top Box(STB)?These allow you to receive your local HD stations. If you live in a lrge enough area--all your local stations would be in HD.--I use a 19.95 Radio Shack antenna.Next up a progressive scan dvd player. The Pan. rp56 at 199.(CC or B'st buy etc.) is quite good.--Quite an improvement over non pr.scan players.Next: How many component ins does your set have?? As you would now need 2.-- The Sonic Fr. AVM2 has comp. switching. Given what you have and what else you need I would think Krell, Lex.- Mc1, et al are over-shoot,for now.-- Keep the Krell for the fronts;use the 5 ch amp for ct and rears/bi amped if possible.It ain't mine, but there is a Sony pair; the prcessor and 5 ch amp, for 1275.(Tae N &Tae-P) in the classified now--assuming you don't need component switching-- This would get you in the game big-time.(without amputating any major parts)-- You could spend big bucks on ics and speaker wire;and gain improvements.--I would hold off till you gather all you need; then see where you are.I'm a Direct DSS person. I know they have these deals at Blockbuster etc for almost free hardware and installation; with a programming commitment.-- I have the Pan TU-HDS20; Direct, and then locals without switching inputs--1,component out for all the channels(direct,or local)Well I guess you have 'some' input?--Happy shopping.

Yo jaglvr,

The 34XBR2 doen't need at set top box HD tuner...it is built in. It doesn't have a DSS tuner so if you want to watch satellite, you will need to get a DSS HD tuner like the Sony HD100.

As for the digital channels that are not watchable, you might find that an antenna rotor (about $75-$100) will allow you to fine tune the signal to reduce the multipath that causes the signal breakup and make those stations more watchable.

The Krell KAV-300i has a bypass mode that allows for integration into A/V setups. The A/V Pre-Pro (Preamp/Processor) would become an input on the KAV-300i...you would need an addional 3-4 channel amp that would be connected to the A/V Pre-Pro for the center, rear surrounds, and rear center (for 6.1 channel surround). The bypass mode allows the Pre-Pro to feed the low level signal straight thru the preamp portion of the KAV-300i and use the 150 wpc power amps just like a regular power amp. That eliminates the need to unplug speaker wires and preamp interconnects just to use the Krell with the A/V system.

When watching movies, the center channel contains the dialog. The reason for having a center channel speaker is to make the dialog sound like it is coming from where the actors are...on the screen. Unless you plan to watch all your movies with the closed captioning ON and read the dialog (as you get older, you will do this anyway) then you will need a center channel speaker.

Biggest recommendation(s):
DUMP THE OLD B&W CCM-80's AND GET 5 OR 6 MATCHING SPEAKERS AND A SUB. A NEW PAIR OF 602 Series 3's WILL KILL THEM.

UPGRADE THOSE CABLES ---- ALL OF THEM.

As for A/V Pre-Pro's there are really some nice units in the $3500 - $6000 price range. I like the Theta Casanova. But bang for the buck you cannot beat the sound quality and features of the Denon 5800.

A Sony ES digital processor is also a nice unit and usually sells for about 300/350. It has its own volume control, AC3/coax/toslink inputs, and has a stereo passthrough. I use one of these in conjunction with a Parasound psp 1500. The sony could be used with the Krell.