You know, I've heard so so so so many ultra high end audio sytems used for surround sound, and the most expensive gear money can buy for home theater! Iv'e been in many of these homes, many of the shows, and been around most of this kind of gear for years. I've heard Revels and levinson gear, Wilsons and Krell, JM labs Utopias and Krell/Pass, etc, etc, etc!..all used for surround sound applications, with matching centers rears, and all the expensive components money can buy
Frankely, I'm not that impressed really!
Now, granted, I know the room and set up/acoustics are extremely, I mean extremely, important to pulling of any sytem properly. But, when it comes to putting together components that will maximize and give you the absolute pinnacle of what can be achieved for higher performance home theater/DD/DTS playback from a system, really I think most of that expensive gear is not just monetary over kill...but it's a waste of money overall!!!!
My experience with all that kind of gear is that it really doesn't offer any more in the way of maximizing the attributes that you should be getting to properly playback movie mixes! Yes you can get audiophile transparancy, ultra resolution detail and clarity, etc, etc. But really, especially when you consider how movies are mixed, and the overall sonic potential of a DD or DTS movie mixed on DVD, really you can get an overall better, more dynamic, more dialoge intelligable, focused, coherent, involving, and even thrilling sound from using more dedicated movie gear, for lots less!!!
You'll always find dialoge from your center channel will sound boxy, due to the mix and overdubbing for any movie, the soundtracks are not what you'd hear from a live recording, and the overall sound is less refined than good 2 channel source materail for music!
What you need from a good home theater system, alot like what's comming out of those ultra high sensitivity horn speakers at your local cinema, is speakers that were made to play back movies in the first place!
Now things vary from room to room/set up to set up. But in large I'd put something like an ACTIVE THX M&K S150p set up, with M&K ACTIVE subs in just about any modest sized home theater system, and the sound would blow away what any of these so called ultra high end stereo speaker rigs would put out for a world class movie experience!...SO MUCH MORE INVOLVING, THRILLING, DYNAMIC, FOCUSED, INTELLIGABLE, POWERFUL, AND EFFECTIVE for that medium!...these stereo rigs doubling as ht systems can't even hold a candle to what's capable from a dedicated, active movie speaker system really.
If I were a two channel guy, and listend to mostly light classical, modest rock/pop/R&B, instrumentals, jazz and vocals, then yes I wouldn't have a problem getting good 2 channel sound from something of the likes of Revels or Wilson WATT PUPPIES. But trying to put together a killer 5 or more channel HT system with ultra dynamics, power, coherenece and intelligablilty, and needing to use ultra high end gear, I think is a wrong approach...and just not that cost effective really..nor better at all!
Frankely, I'm not that impressed really!
Now, granted, I know the room and set up/acoustics are extremely, I mean extremely, important to pulling of any sytem properly. But, when it comes to putting together components that will maximize and give you the absolute pinnacle of what can be achieved for higher performance home theater/DD/DTS playback from a system, really I think most of that expensive gear is not just monetary over kill...but it's a waste of money overall!!!!
My experience with all that kind of gear is that it really doesn't offer any more in the way of maximizing the attributes that you should be getting to properly playback movie mixes! Yes you can get audiophile transparancy, ultra resolution detail and clarity, etc, etc. But really, especially when you consider how movies are mixed, and the overall sonic potential of a DD or DTS movie mixed on DVD, really you can get an overall better, more dynamic, more dialoge intelligable, focused, coherent, involving, and even thrilling sound from using more dedicated movie gear, for lots less!!!
You'll always find dialoge from your center channel will sound boxy, due to the mix and overdubbing for any movie, the soundtracks are not what you'd hear from a live recording, and the overall sound is less refined than good 2 channel source materail for music!
What you need from a good home theater system, alot like what's comming out of those ultra high sensitivity horn speakers at your local cinema, is speakers that were made to play back movies in the first place!
Now things vary from room to room/set up to set up. But in large I'd put something like an ACTIVE THX M&K S150p set up, with M&K ACTIVE subs in just about any modest sized home theater system, and the sound would blow away what any of these so called ultra high end stereo speaker rigs would put out for a world class movie experience!...SO MUCH MORE INVOLVING, THRILLING, DYNAMIC, FOCUSED, INTELLIGABLE, POWERFUL, AND EFFECTIVE for that medium!...these stereo rigs doubling as ht systems can't even hold a candle to what's capable from a dedicated, active movie speaker system really.
If I were a two channel guy, and listend to mostly light classical, modest rock/pop/R&B, instrumentals, jazz and vocals, then yes I wouldn't have a problem getting good 2 channel sound from something of the likes of Revels or Wilson WATT PUPPIES. But trying to put together a killer 5 or more channel HT system with ultra dynamics, power, coherenece and intelligablilty, and needing to use ultra high end gear, I think is a wrong approach...and just not that cost effective really..nor better at all!