System evaluation


I am considering buying the following system. My main concern is home theater but, for the cost, I don't want to be embarassed by music.

New Pioneer 5040 50" Plasma and HDMI dvd player $9,000
Lexicon MC-8 and Lexicon CX-7 amp $8,500
7.1 channel Piega speaker system (P series) $9,000
Signal cables $500

All in, the system will cost me about US$27,000. Any thoughts or suggestions for improvement?

Thanks.
gchuva
The display is way too small - a display width of 2/3 seating distance is a nice starting point which can be adjusted up or down depending on preference (once you've adjusted to movie theater scale). This matches the subtended field of vision you'd have in the farthest seat from the screen in a decent THX certified cinema. Display width is about 16/18.3 times the diagonal measurement.

I sit 11' from an 87x49" screen for most sources, and good scope transfers look better at 9'.
Well nothing embarrassing about 'that' set up.--- However, the biggest room in the world is the room for improvement. I see no mention of a HiDef source. OTA antenna/directv dss/cable/voom/dish /???? The best pq. comes from any of these.No dvd player gets to this level. ----I do reccomend a good power conditioner for the tv. Monster avs 2000/ Richard Grey/ Chaing Lightseed 1000. An outboard scaler,(the iscan ultra hd.)Any of these will take said plasma to a higher level. I'm sure there are others. Maybe a sub.?--- I'm sure what you have selected looks and sounds pretty good as is tho. The joy in this hobby is taking things up a notch. Just in case you don't know a reg crt rptv will give you better blacks/grey scale/shadow detail. Yup,bulky indeed. Same goes for the lcos/dpl/lcd rptvs; in that they have the shortcommings of plasma. Oh,yes, and nothing beats SIZE!! Last year's projector models can be had for a lot less than said plasma. Good luck in your search.