Would love opinions on my HT puzzle

I also have the same problem. Have Aerial 10Ts Had VT100 MK11 CAT Ult.very lively sound. Went to powermaster 2000 Encore pro. VERY VERY LAID BACK. any ideas would be great. Thanks.

I'd keep the Aragon 4004. I've owned an Aragon 8008,8002 & 4004, Proceed HPA, and now own a California Audio Labs MCA 2500. It's amazing how well the 4004 still competes with the newer amps. What you will hear with the 8008 series is lower bass. The 4004 is flat down to 20hz and the 8008 flat down to 5hz. The Krell will give you about a 10% improvement over the 4004. I'd use it for my rear channels and buy a Krell for the front three channels. Both amps were designed by the same man so they are a close match. I don't really care for Aerials. I think the B&W Natilus series is much better.

Hello Patrick (and a Happy New Year to you):

Welcome to "Audiogon". We are glad to have you as a new member of the family. You are right about one thing. We take our audio (or home theater???) very seriously here at "Audiogon". Also, what I like about "Audiogon" is that sometimes, posters may disagree with other posters. But it is done in a classy and dignified sort of way, and that would be the way that I would like for it to be. We can agree or disagree without retorting to insults or flame wars or what have you. And in the end, that makes for strong and constructive debate. This is why I love THIS site. I have been here almost a year now myself. And like you, I too wonder why I haven't found out about this site a lot sooner than I did.

But anyway....... Now....... On to your question.

For speakers......... if you have recently picked up an Ariel Acoustics CC3 center channel to begin building your home theater system with, then why not complement the CC3 with a pair of Ariel Acoustics 10t's for the front and then use your Thiels for rear channel duty for now, until you can find (or can be able to afford) a pair of suitable Ariel Acoustics speakers for the surround sound duties???? You see, the trick here is that in order to make the audio portion of the home theater experience as seemless as possible, it is imperitive that you buy all of your speakers from the same manufacturer for the sake of maintaining timbreal (is that a word??? could someone help me out here?!?!?!?!) continuety, or otherwise, your expensive investment would be nothing more than home theater mix match. And for the money that you look like you're looking to spend, that would spell disaster. For me to spend that kind of money on a home theater system, only to have it to sound no better (wait!!!!!! I mean "not as good as") than a good inexpensive "mid-fi" system????? Well, let's just say that THAT would make me sick to my stomach. Too bad that Ariel Acoustics do not make any subwoofers. Because if they did, then I would advise you to look into that as well. Now, for a suitable subwoofer to match the speaker array that I have perscribed above, I think that either of your proposed choices are excellent choices indeed. But if it were my money, then I would lean toward the REL Storm III. The REL would be excellent for both, music listening and for home theater (not that I am knocking the Revel B-15).

What amplifiers you should buy will depend heavily on the speakers you decide to buy, so that in itself will dictate the decision for you. But if it were me, if I were to go with the Ariel Acoustics speaker array, then more than likely, I would lean toward Krell amplification, whereas if I were to go with a home theater speaker system array based on and built around the Dynaudio Contour 3.3, I would lean toward the Aragon amplification system then. Only difference here is that I would keep the Aragon 4004 (which is a stereo amp, if I could recall correctly) and pair it up with a three channel version of THAT same amp.

For the DVD Player??? Great choice. The Pioneer Elite DV-37 is an excellent DVD Player. I have one myself. I am turned on by its "value for money" persuesion as well as its versatility. It is affordable enough to be used in a more modest, but high quality home theater system such as the one that I have, but yet, it is good enough to be the front end of a multi kilobuck audio/video system such as the one you are putting together. But I am curious about one thing though. Have you looked at or consider more expensive DVD Players as well?? If you are spending the kind of money you are spending, I would at least be looking into the idea of adding (and using) such a player.

And lastly, will you be using a standard NSTC type of display?? Or will you be using a HDTV display as well?? Also, will this be a RPTV??? Or will you be using a plasma instead of a RPTV??

Once again, welcome to Audiogon, and good luck with assembling your system. There is no other experience like it in the world, and I wouldn't trade the experience for anything else. It's a great way to have fun.

--Charles--

Thanks all, for your great input! This has been quite the learning experience... Just when I thought I had a piece figured out, I ended up going back to start! The good news is that I haven't made any "major", in my opinion, mistakes yet... Although E. Alexander might give me a bit of grief! Just kidding... Hopefully I can get him to set this beast up properly for me!

This is what I have acquired so far: The Krell HTS II, Revel Studios, piano black with piano black panels, not comemrcially avialable, hand made specifically for CES (got them from their Northridge campus, great story!) and the Aerial CC3 (previously owned, can always sell it, but the Revel is a bit large for my setup!). I'm probably going to go with the Krell 200a/5, because they look great with the HTS... I know I might be sounding a little feminine here, but "chicks" dig that! Especially here in Newport Beach!!! I will get rid of all my old gear, but use the Thiels for the rears as an interim solution. I also have a Sony 36 XBR 250, which will stay for now. I'm trying to decide on DVD/CD now. I also like the idea of a jukebox for disc storage. Price is always a consideration, and my acquistion objectives are close to 50% of retail. Thanks again for all your thoughts!
Best wishes for the New Year!
Patrick