The New Components
Now that I knew pretty much what I wanted in general terms, it was time to go shopping for specific components. It took some time to find precisely what I wanted, and it entailed making some very difficult choices.
I'll go into each component in more detail later in this series; for now, though, here are the particular models I decided on:
- Television: Sony KDF-60XS955, 60-inch widescreen LCD rear projection HDTV
- Audio amplifier: B&K Reference 200.7 S2, 200 watts x 7 channels
- Second-zone amplifier: AudioSource Amp 100 (to power Zone B outdoor speakers)
- Audio/video preamplifier/surround sound processor: B&K Reference 50 S2
- Speakers: Rocket by Onix RS850 (front left and right), RSC200 (center), and UFW-10 (subwoofer)
- DVD player: Denon DVD-2910 (also plays back SACD and DVD-Audio discs)
- Media Center PC: NiveusMedia Denali Edition, with 800GB hard disk storage (for digital CD storage/playback)
- Stands: Bello AVS-2563 (television) and BDI Axis 8022 (components)
I also decided to switch from DIRECTV to digital cable, which has more HDTV programming (including most of my local channels in high-def). My local cable company, Bright House, uses the Scientific Atlanta 8300HD HDTV set-top box with built-in DVR hard disk recording.
What was my experience buying and setting up all this equipment? Did everything come together without major difficulties? I should be so lucky...
In the next installment, I'll tell you all about my new system's television and audio components—the good points and the bad.