DD vs DTS. It's funny--I built my system over a period of a year or two five years ago (which is what I'm breaking up into two separate systems now), and after I was done, I pretty much stopped haunting the audio sites, primarily the USENET newsgroups. Coming back now to research rebuilding my HT system, it's like I never left with regards to the sniping, LOL. I posted a similar question on rec.audio.opinion, and they're so caught up in the same crap (who's a fraud, do cables matter, etc., etc.--the flames haven't changed in five years) that I never did hear back.
In any case, I knew I'd have to have some sort of complementing L/C/R speaker system, figuring I might keep the Energys, or I might keep the NHT center, but not both.
You mentioned the VT-2. I've been assuming NHT hasn't been the same company since Ken Kantor left, thinking I might be better off working with my Energy speakers (assuming they measure up when I get them hooked up). I could bore you all to tears with how great my NHT 3.3s are (which are going to my dedicated 2-channel music system), or how many speakers I auditioned before I settled on the 3.3s. What is the word on current generation NHT speakers (and the VT-2s) these days?
I must say I've been hoping to wall mount my left and right speakers--the wall behind the HT system has the basement on the other side, lending itself very well (read easy) to running wires behind the wall and back out again at the wall-mounted speakers. Obviously with the NHT line, the VT-2s aren't wall-mountable! With a quality sub I'm not worried, of course, about the bass aspects. With a growing baby, I like the idea of less stuff for him to draw with crayons!
On the other hand, I'm cognitive of the ambient aspects of having speakers out in the rooms a bit more, though bookshelf-size speakers on stands seem pretty untenable (and unsafe) with the baby. One of the best HT systems I ever heard (in a store) was using Magnapan speakers, but I don't have the room or the space for that.
I'm just going to have to break down and hook up the amps and speakers to see what I have in those Energy 22.1s. I've been holding off because I need a bridge from Salamander for my TV (the Salamander Synergy cabinet it used to sit on is in the living room now so I can lock my vacumn tube monoblocks in it--that's a whole other research thread I'm pursuing trying to determine how I'm going to keep them cool and how long I can get away with for interconnects.) In any case, the result of that research will determine what I get from Salamander, an extension for my Twin 20 cabinets or a new rack altogether, and at that time I was planning to buy the bridge for my Salamander Archetype racks I'm now using with the HT system--then taking on the task of putting everything back together.
Anyone want to chime in with their thoughts on the max length one would want to go with interconnects? With my high-end 2-channel living room set-up, I can either build up the Salamander Synergy cabinet from its roughly 20" height to something higher to accomodate the rest of my components (cd, dac, pre-amp, crossover because I'm bi-amping), or I could buy a new rack to be placed to the right of my listening position (the cabinets with the amps are between the speakers, of course), but this would require 25' to 30' interconnects from the preamp to the amps (which because the living room is above the basement I could easily run under the floor and back up again at the amps...) The latter is my preference as it seems the more elegant solution, not the least of which because I won't be left with something that would look like an entertainment center in my music-only living room, as well as having something large in the sound field between my speakers. Ah, me. Sorry for the side tangent--it's so easy to over-load the synapses when it comes to audio, no?
