Home Theater for 10K


A friend came to me and asked what the best home theater setup she could get for $10,000.00. I gave it a lot of thought and decided that I was not the best one to offer suggestions, but that you, the audiogon sellers and buyers, could help. Her last "friend" told her to buy Bose.......

She wants 5.1 or 7.1, something not "black" and with rack/stands. She will also use this as her main stereo setup along with playing dvd's. She is not into vinyl, and not into "name" systems.

She already has a Sony 42" plasma, but nothing else......speakers, amps, processors, cables, etc...etc.

Suggestions anyone???????
sogvet
First, (and I don't mean this in a bad way), women generally enjoy the most elegant (read: easy to use) setup when it comes to electronics. For this reason I'd recommend the Linn Classik DVD, which is a DVD player, processor, preamp, and amp all in one box. Its performance level is EXTREMELY high for such a small box, and it outputs enough power for any HT. These retail for $3000. Only downside: no progressive scan output yet.

For speakers, I'd go with Krix or Totem. Both are beautiful speakers, and Totems new Dreamcatcher surrounds are fantastic with the Linn.

Totem Forest up front, Dreamcatcher Center and Surrounds, and and Adire Audio Rava SE subwoofer (500 bucks through diycable.com...one of the best sub buys on the planet). All this with the Linn would still fall short of the 10K mark, and you could use the rest for decent cables. Cheers!

Brian

A very stylish, lightweight (less than 5 lbs.), and compact (footprint is less than an 8 x 11 sheet of paper) DLP projector is the Piano HE-3100 which now retails for approximately $2700. It has no high definition TV inputs and it doesn't accept progressive input but does have a very high quality progressive converter within it (I think it is equivalent to the DVDO plus?) so it might complement the Linn Classic DVD player very well.

Used with a high quality screen in the recommended range of 5 - 6 ft. wide (i.e. up to an 82 inch diagonal 16:9 screen), it can provide a truly cinematic experience in a moderately sized room (if the projector is placed on a tabletop 9.5 ft from the screen, it will fill the 82 inch diagonal 16:9 screen and you shouldn't see any LCD-like screen door effect if you sit 12 ft. from the screen).

If you have a Piano dealer near you, they have apparently been authorized by their headquarters to sell their demo units at $1900 (please note that they contain lamps which must be replaced at 1000 hrs. and which retail for $259).

Their website is http://www.plushometheater.com.
Hey:
Thanks for the responces so far. I have forwarded them to my friend and she is now trying to digest. She asked me about B&O in a stereo setup with a dvd added. Any info on this. I have zero experience with B&O other than they are expensive setups...william
B&O: Great design but for the price, you can find better sounding...

On the other hand, if aestetics and ease of use is your priority, B&O is a good solution.

I would buy B&O to put in an office or as a bedroom system. Never auditionned B&O for HT...

Regards
I think B & O sounds really bad. I dont know if any one else agrees with me.
maybe i'm wrong