Am I heading in the right direction?


I'm putting together my first system & I would appreciate it if you could tell me if I'm heading in the right direction! Yesterday I bought (1) Denon AVC-A10SE (maybe different code in the US)THX Surround EX.(2)B&W CDM7SE's as front speakers (Cobra cables)(3) Pioneer Elite DV-05 (Ordered from the US, due to disablement of regional settings & Macro-vision), but now I'm not sure how to proceed. My intention was to get identical rear speakers & the B&W CDMCSE...? My biggest worry is due to the B&W's not being THX Certified, should this in anyway effect my listening enjoyment? I hope these questions aren't too daft!.. I'm new at this! Thanks " An Englishman in Japan"
simonwilson
THX is a non factor.Its has nothing to do with sound quality.Its a money grab.
Some of the best speakers made are not thx certified. B&W was making excellent speakers before there was even such a spec. For the most part you can ignore it, but it does have it's uses. For example I purchased a hi-end surround processor that was not thx certifed and this did not concern me. However one of my complaints is that the front two channels are not adjustable for delay. Had it been a thx certified unit it would have had to have included this feature to be so certifed.
Ya, I wouldn't let the THX certification or lack thereof bother you too much. I could be wrong about the specifics of THX but I believe if a product doesn't pass in any of the categories it isn't legitimate. E.g. a subwoofer that can't hit a certian sound pressure level set by THX is not eligible to wear the logo, even if it passes through with flying colors in all other categories (or even performs stellar in ways not even tested for). In other words some very musical products may not be THX "quality" by a hair. (I may be wrong on that). Furthermore, just because a product doesn't bear the THX logo isn't an indicator that its not THX quality. The manufacuterer chooses whether or not to submit thier product for evaluation for the certification. They may choos not to because they have to pay a licensing fee to wear the logo. They may opt out of it for reasons like "it may not help the marketability of the product." THX is a nice idea for those who are interested in a serious home theater which guarantees them a certain level of performance without having to shop too hard (and I don't mean that in an insulting way). But if your instincts are taking you with another product then go for it. Although some things about THX are nice, like a THX certified decoder will knock a couple db of the higher frequencies in the center channel to compensate for the boost in alot of the recordings that were mixed as such to allow the sound to get through the movie screen and reach the listener ears the same intensity as the other channels (since the screen isn't acoustically transparent and the center channel is usually behind it). That's why some recordings sound overly bright for home theater even though they are acoustically fine for the full-blown cinema.