Alright, first Blu-Ray Player

[sanlyn]

I am grateful for my customers. In my semi-retirement they've helped me afford some good hardware and occasional updates. I don't share their taste in hardware or entertainment; I'm not paid to do that. If you can tolerate the performance of cheap a/v, that's your business. I f I could withstand watching/hearing it, it would save me a lot of trouble and $$. But I'm afraid I'm an a/v snob. I enjoy seeing good creative work displayed and played correctly. Where the rest of the world loves The Magnificent Seven and its phony bald cowboy and silly soundtrack, I'd go for the greater work from which it was ripped off: Seven Samurai. If I could, I'd spend more and get even better stuff.....Ah, there's a thought: maybe I'll win a lottery.

[hanshotfirst1138]

Obviously, I'd love to have a Panasonic plasma TV, an Oppo player, and a Bose surround sounds system, but that's pretty expensive

Hm. Panny plasma, not too bad. Oppo = hard to go wrong with that move. Bose....? Don't be a sucker.

What audio brand do you recommend?

[sanlyn]

That's a good question. First, assume that every speaker system out there today is over priced. What I have against Bose is they sound rather average and use really cheap drivers. Pioneer, Boston Acoustics, and Onkyo make some pretty decent speakers, and you can even get a decent SONY if you're careful to give their stuff a good listen. You don't want to start with top-end gear like PSB, you'd be broke in no time. There's no single brand. Models vary wildly from the same brand. Listen for treble that doesn't sound like a piece of chalk scraping a blackboard, and midrange that doesn't sound "chesty" or bottom heavy on vocals, and check that the singer or speaker doesn't sound as if they're in the rear of the room somewhere. Most people don't recognize low-end bass as anything but a loud thump or something that sounds like the whop of a hand grenade, or even bass that doubles (rumbles) and sounds like "more bass" but isn't. If the music or sound track really has no deep bass, you shouldn't hear any. All those characteristics are tough to find at a decent price. You just have to shop around and develop an ear.

In our coop apartment I just have a couple of PSB Alpha-B's (2-channel stereo. OMG!) hooked up to a DENON receiver. But acquaintances have pretty good Boston Acoustics and even a decent budget SONY, all of them multi-channel in nice big living rooms, a couple of years old. There's no real answer to that. Get what you like and can afford.