My Bang for the Buck living room HT

I've tried over the past few years to put together a system that suits me, which is more for movies & TV than music listening, and I think I am about done. I also went for value too. Here are the monitor and components, which all live above and within an Ikea MARKÖR TV unit:

Panasonic TH-42PWD8UK plasma (with two VGA/RGB inputs, one BNC component video input, one DVI input) on Peerless 660 wall-mount
Panasonic RX-A1000 receiver
Panasonic DMP-BD60 Blu-Ray player
Motorola 7232 HD-DVR from Verizon Fios
Roku XD
Wii
Xbox 360 with Kinect
Roku Soundbridge
Squeezebox Receiver
Linksys 16-port switch

Speakers
Infinity Beta 20 fronts on Sanus Natural stands
Infinity Beta C360 center
Aiwa SX-R275 surrounds on Sanus satellite stands, wired into wall plate
Aiwa SX-R275 rear surrounds on Sanus satellite stands, wired into wall plate
Dayton 300-632 10" subwoofer, wired into wall plate

The entire system is controlled by a Harmony 550 remote.

Speaker wire and interconnects are mostly Radio Shack, Acoustic Research, and Monoprice. Everything is plugged into a Belkin surge protector, for those who are interested in such details.

I absolutely consider upgrading the speakers--daily, I think. It's not in the budget at the moment, and I'm also having trouble finding a place to hear the speakers I really want to hear, the new Klipsch Reference bookshelves and centers. Their highly efficient design and reputation for home cinema sound makes me want to check them out, but I can't seem to find too many local dealers, never mind any with them actually in stock or set up for listening.

I'm actually quite pleased with the sound of my speakers, and though I know it could be better (I have heard other speakers that I liked, though not those Klipsch ones yet), I'd really like my next speaker purchase (and perhaps subwoofer too) to be the last one for a long time. Let receivers and sources and displays evolve, and maybe I'll put my money into them if I want--but I'm looking for what I like to call 20-year speakers. I'll know them when I find them, and if they're a good fit for my budget, then I'll definitely upgrade.

The only speakers I've actually heard that really grabbed me were Polk LSi9s, but they are inefficient and 4-ohm speakers, so perhaps not the best match for my little Class D Panasonic that could. I have toyed with the idea of building Hypex Class D amps into a three channel amp for Polk LSis across the front soundstage, but I'd have to make them with high-level inputs since my Panasonic doesn't have preouts, and all of a sudden we're spending a lot of time and money and violating my "Bang for the Buck"!

So that's a long answer to your short question. I have poked around a bunch of threads to get people's impressions of what speakers are a good match with my receiver for movie watching, but I won't buy anything I can't hear first, one way or the other. And I have no immediate urgency to upgrade my existing speakers at the moment, and likely won't unless I make funds available for new speakers or something happens to my current set.

That's where I heard the Polk LSi9s I mentioned. They're good guys there, and I actually bought a NAD component which had a variety of problems--and they took it back with maximum courtesy, which I appreciated. If they carried Klipsch Reference, I would definitely stop there to hear them.

Even if Best Buy or CC carried stuff I wanted to hear (and they sometimes do), it's almost always impossible to listen to anything--check out the speaker aisles (aisles!) for listening at the BB in downtown Baltimore and you'll know what I mean.

I guess if money were no object, I would get the LSi9 fronts and power them with an Arcam AVR250 or AVR300.

simplified installation.

updated.

Added a Wii!

I should take some photos.

simplified setup.

updated with Xbox 360.

updated

You are correct, sir. I just put up a very few photos, but they give a general idea. Consider it a start, with more to come.

http://gallery.avsforum.com/showgall...ppuser/7440893

Thanks! I didn't mean to have a lot of stuff from the beginning, but I caught the gaming bug about 3 years ago when my wife got me an Xbox. That of course led to the Wii and the 360, and I love my receiver and I didn't feel like I needed to replace it. The only things the XR55 didn't have were enough inputs (hence the two Inday boxes and Audio Authority box), video crossconversion (hence the NAD TT-1), and lip sync delay (hence the Felston). That all added up to a lot of gear, some of which isn't even visible in the photos (the Roku Soundbridge masks the Linksys 8-port switch and the Audio Authority box, for example). The only other thing I wanted on the receiver was source renaming, but I use a Harmony so I stopped caring about that.

Plus my wife hates the DVD changer, so I put in a single-disc player for her. Of course, I have now maxed out the number of devices on the Harmony. I'm sure I can figure that one out eventually, should one more device creep into the system.

I guess I could always pick an older monster of a reciever, like a Yamaha Z9 with 6 component inputs and 11 or so digital audio inputs, but then we're starting to get away from my bang for the buck ethos. As long as it all fits, and nothing gets hot (so far so good), I've been very happy with all the gear in its right places.

Except the horrific rat's nest of cables in the back, which is my current obsession.

Actually, my real goal is wall-mounting the front soundstage--I have a pair of BT-77 bookshelf mounts for that purpose. With three dogs and three cats, the less to knock over the better! Plus I have a sub and a shaker setup, so I am happy to let them handle the bass.

It looks like one of my Aiwa front speakers may be giving up after years of faithful service, so I will have to see if I can crack it open for diagnosis without destroying it. Meanwhile, what a nice excuse for new speakers. I have a pair of Infinity Beta 20 bookshelves and a matching C360 center on the way. I'll take more pictures when they're set up and, knowing me, when I've taken that as an excuse to rearrange my whole installation.

Hey! Mine looks like that, except it is the same mess in a much shallower space, sprinkled with black poofs of dog hair. When I install my new speakers, I will likely take a crack at solving this mess. If I come up with anything even remotely effective, I shall share it with all.

Cleaned up my rig, and made it simpler. I'll have to shoot more photos again.

Added a new receiver--great surprise anniversary gift!