Topic: Need Advice for Playback from Scratch

[Nick's Picks]

let us not forget that these Sony's, while chaulk full of bells, whistles and unused channels, KICK ASS at straight two channel.
so you could look at it as spending the money on two good channels and being able to grow into HT from there should you want to.

I've heard great things about the Outlaw as well.

on another front, i'm pretty happy w/the sound of my Music Hall Mambo.  two channel, built in DAC...remote!.  Does the trick and usualy found around $500 used.
nice piece, and certainly more Hi-Fi sounding than the Sony's.

[Invisible]

I personally would highly recommend going with a quality stereo amplifier as opposed to the Sony surround pre/pro. My sincere intentions are not to offend any users of the Sony, but they really sound terrible to my ears. That is what is great about this field; so many varying products and opinions.  They are quite possibly the noisiest digital amplifiers that were on the market. There is a reason they discontinued their digital amplifier, and have changed the model numbers now that they are back to a solid state design.

[Nick's Picks]

i didnt find mine noisey, but some were.
inconsistant, for sure.  I did go through two of them..., as my first one broke.

[thegreatgumbino]

Anyone heard the Infiinty Alpha 50 floor speakers.  Looks like they retailed for about $800 new?  They have the CMMD drivers, which I've read good/decent things about.  They are cheaper used, obviously.  Just curious if anyone has any experience with them.