dougdrake

What's the Integra's street price? That's an impressive list of specs....

Be sure and check out www.projectorcentral.com if you haven't already....

What shep said.... plus, the PS3 has the gaming function also which even if you're not into gaming (as I am not - yet) is a nice add-on "just in case." It's priced the same as the low-end Sony BD-only offering, and is also eligible for the 5 free BD offer.

The receiver market is in a bit of a transition now, which means you can sometimes pick up some great units that are now discontinued at pretty good prices. However, the new audio formats for high definition and HDMI 1.3 may be in your future, which would drive you to a new model. You would want to think about where you see your audio/video source material going in the next few years to be sure your choice will support that path.

Hello Mr. Fini - Yes, my evil twin. Figures you'd like him better than me. [:-*]

Mine is looking pretty bad and does not represent the Klipsch name in the manner it should!! Thanks.

KG-4s have that kind of base, and the center looks too narrow to be an Academy or RC-7 (figure a receiver is about 17.5" wide and it's almost as wide as that speaker it's sitting on). Hard to say!

Apples and oranges - they play different formats. I picked BD because it seems, to me, to have a better selection of current movie material on it...

For the money, I think the PlayStation3 is the best Blu-Ray player out there. Recently reduced to $499, it packs some amazing power under the hood. True, it does not have multi-channel analog output, so you're left with regular DD/DTS 5.1 via Toslink unless you have an HDMI 1.3 receiver capable of decoding the audio via HDMI. I brought one home last weekend from Best Buy to try out and am so far pretty impressed. Only watched 1 BD on it - The Departed - but found the picture to be excellent. I also watched one standard-def disk (V for Vendetta) on it and it did a great job. Granted, that's a pretty small sample, though. Add to it the gaming function (which my grandson will love) and I think it's a keeper.

Not sure I'd want my receiver sitting on top of one, though.... []

Your only problem is too many non-Klipsch speakers. Clear them out to make room for more. I'm counting 18 Klipsch speakers in my house right now: 2 Chorus, 3 Forte's, 2 KG-4, 2 SS-1, KV-3, 6 Academy, 2 KSB1.1 Plus on loan to friends/family: 2 KG-3, 1 SW-8

If you do get a player, I'd get one that plays multi-channel SACD. Not sure what your set-up is like, but if you've got full range speakers all around (and even if you don't), there's nothing quite like Dark Side of the Moon in multi-channel!

Unless you're a classical music fan, I'd say SACD has had a fork stuck in it - it's done. It does not seem like much new material is being released on it, although sometimes a library does get released which is cool. I'd look for some used gear - I have a Philips SA963 which has received positive buzz over the last several years. I'm sure there are others which will be suggested.

I, too, am waiting for new pre/pro's to arrive that can process HDMI 1.3 and the new HD audio formats. I can't see investing in the current ones that do not have this support (for the most part). If I was pressed for a new unit now, I'd probably spend $1k on an AVR that DOES have that support and use it as a pre/pro.

Have you been over to www.projectorcentral.com? Looks like they love your selection: http://projectorcentral.com/home-theater-projectors.htm

I think you will likely not notice the difference, as long as if you get 2 amps they are the same manufacturer and model series and power. Logic would tell me, though, that 2 would be better than 1 because you are spreading the power supply across fewer amp channels with 2 amps than you would with a single amp. OTOH, one would think the PS in a 5 channel amp would be larger than one in a 2/3 channel amp, but may not necessarily be the case. I think the more boxes you have in your equipment rack, the cooler it looks so I say go for 5 separate monoblocks!

There is also a difference between material shot on film and material shot on videotape. Videotape tends to be more crisp, and I suspect that is what the extras are shot on (it's cheap versus film). Also, don't expect unconverting in a DVD player to work magic. Upconverting DVD players don't do anything that your monitor/PJ is not already doing. It's only taking place in a different box. If you feed a 480i/p signal to your monitor or PJ, that device will do the conversion to its native format. If you have the DVD player feed a 720p/1080i-p signal, then the conversion is taking place in the DVD player. It's then just a question of which device has the better conversion hardware/software. Upconversion won't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

What's the budget? That will really guide the suggestions. I have its predecessor (of sorts - not really sure what class the 100U is in) - the AE700 and I like it alot. I have not tried it with any HD DVD material yet, but it looks great with HDTV.

I'd vote for speakers first also. There will be a world of difference between the RF-3 (as good as they are) and La Scala's. Also note that the sensitivity of the LS is 104-105 versus 98 on the RF3. That's the equivalent of increasing the power of your amp by a factor of four on your current speakers. So in addition to the improved audio quality, you'll be getting more out of your amp.

http://www.rbhsound.com/http://www.rbhsound.com/electronichouse0901.shtml''>http://www.rbhsound.com/electronichouse0901.shtml' mce_href="http://www.rbhsound.com/electronichouse0901.shtml"> Bring power - looks like they take a hefty amp to drive them (the relatively low efficiency rating).

HK tends to be conversative in their amp ratings. I suspect it actually has much more power than you think it does. Other manufacturers (and I believe I'd count Sony and Pioneer among them) tend to publish ratings that may not reflect the unit in more typical use (such as all channels driven, or power only at a specific frequency range). Do not let the power rating deter you. As suggested, give a listen to the units if possible, or be sure of a good exchange/refund policy. Really, until you listen in your home, you'll have no way of knowing which sounds best to you. I believe some find the Pioneer units to sound a little bright with Klipsch speakers (but YMMV, of course).

If you haven't already commited to the Sony with no turning back, you might do some checking here on the Forum as to whether it's a good mate to Klipsch speakers. Been awhile since I've looked, but my recollection was that it may not be the best match - a little "bright" for Klipsch speakers, and it might get to sounding a little fatiguing. Probably the most popular with Klipsch speakers (in that price-category anyway) are Denon, Harman Kardon, and maybe Outlaw and Yamaha.

Don't overlook using over-the-air reception as your HD programming source (or one of them, at least). If you live in an HDTV reception area, and your set has an ATSC tuner, you'll get better picture quality on the broadcast networks than you will via cable or satellite, due to the compression they use to preserve bandwidth. Plus, it's FREE!

As a follow up to Trey's comment, I did see the purty Jubilee's in Hope, with Paul, and have that picture of him with one autographed by him. And yes, they did sound terrific, pulled away from the wall (yikes!!!)

A great resource is www.projectorcentral.com. LCD's may have a tendency to blur fast-paced action as you might encounter with gaming, but newer generation units may have solved that. I'm going from memory here and may be off base, but you might want to check that out. I have an LCD projector (Panasonic AE700, about 2 generations old) and I've never noticed any blurring, but I'm not doing any gaming on it.