What can the average enthusiest do to get A+ HT?


I've read enogh posts over the years, and seen, heard, read about, installed, designed, sold, built, and experienced enough home theaters(including bassic surround systems, dedicated theaters, etc) to want to put the question out to the masses/fellow enthusiests out there. I'm currious to hear some of the more informed/experienced HT junkie's(like myself) input on to what they think they can pass on the the rest of the AV world at large would be, to help everyone truely maximize the Ht experience at home!
I've come to the conclussion from my years of experience around this stuff, that most(better than 99%) don't have a clue as to what they're dealing with, when aspiring to get even remotely approaching world class HT from their set up! Especially people experiencing this for the first, even going at it the second/third times!!!
Is it the gear? Is it the set up?..the acoustics?..the tweeks?...the calibration?...what? And if it's any and all of these things put together, can someone help spell it all out/break it all down in a realateively straight foreward manner, considering the variables people are likely dealing with/encountering (perhaps including budget/space), what options they should thus be considering, and specifics that need to be attacked/approached!?
I'm just currious if people who are serious about getting the best HT possible with-in their means/budgets(even at the ultra expensive and ambitious end) truelly want to know what it takes, and what they can do to get something truely special in their life time in respect to AV!..and that's assuming they want to mostly "go it alone", as opposed to hiring professinoals to do the job. We're talking about "home projects" and set up's here!...just to be clear.
Thanks for any input, commments, info, perspectives, etc.
exertfluffer
Brainwater, thanks for your reply. My response was to the quest for A+HT. I have yet to hear a HT system that was less than $70K that I'd want to take home. I'd rather spend less and have a good two or three channel system. I have no aversion to video, quite the contrary. I just think that properly setting up 2 channels is difficult enough and have found even relatively expensive multichannel systems irritatingly distracting. I suspect that the equipment and rooms as we now have them are fundamentaly flawed to such a degree as to make them near well impossible to practicaly implement.
Unsound , you sound like an intelligent guy and I cant wait to see what you finally do . Keep us posted and good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!
$70K to get good results?!?!?! Somebody is doing something WAY wrong, especially if they are taking advantage of deals on Agon, Audioshopper and Audioweb!!!

Other than that, i agree with Brent. Keep it simple and pay attention to details. Most of the HT systems that i've seen were set up so poorly that throwing money at them would only make you poorer, not get better results. As a side note, if you can't get your mains spread far enough apart, skip the center channel speaker. Place the mains as best you can and then bring the volume up on your TV just a bit to anchor the dialogue. This works better than you might think. On top of this, it will save you from buying a cheap center speaker until you can find what you really want and can properly orient the system for best multi-channel operation.

More is NOT better, especially when all your getting more of is improperly set up junk. Sean
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PS... Like anything else, getting your hands dirty and learning how to DIY can save you TONS of cash.
Brainwater, thanks for your well wishes, but, I wouldn't hold your breath.
Sean, those were dealers full list prices. I'm from Brooklyn, we don't don't pay list for anything! Still I find less money spent on 2 channel (I would consider three if stuff like the Mercury recordings catch on) out perform more expensive multi channel systems. I've yet to hear a system with rear channels that weren't an annoying distraction.
Unsound: I think we are comparing apples to oranges here. I'm talking about a dedicated HT system here, not multi-channel music. I know that some people have "hybrid" systems i.e. two channel music combined with multi-channel HT, but the two types of systems really are quite different from one another and require different speaker positioning for optimum results.

Other than that, i agree that most multi-channel music is a mess. Sean
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