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There is, of course, another issue in audio, and that is the fact that there are some people who are not satisfied, no matter how good their gear is. They have a real problem, but the problem lies in themselves, not in their equipment.
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Pyrrho,
Thanks a million, (or at least $2k), for your time and consideration.
However, PLEASE stop talking to my wife!!!
I did not tell you not to spend more money; I only said that if you do, spend it wisely. And also, what you quoted, that the problem some people have is that nothing satisfies them.
My wife really enjoys the audio from our surround system and from our main 2 channel system, and she does not have a problem with what I have spent. And I never lie to her about what things cost. But I mostly spend money to get real results, not on frivolous extras, and I only spend what we can afford. My $1700 receiver was purchased on a special closeout deal for more than 2/3 off; I would never actually spend that much money on a receiver. But I have spent thousands on the speakers, because there the money makes a real difference in how things sound. I needed to replace the old receiver, as it is a very old model (from the perspective of home theater receivers and how soon they become old), that did not have any provision for adding a delay to the audio to match the video, and also had no HDMI capability at all. So a new receiver was needed for features, and I stumbled upon a good one in a special closeout deal, which is nice to have, but really unnecessary; a lower model would be fine.
And now I am satisfied with my systems that I have mentioned in this thread, and do not plan on ever upgrading the audio portion of either (a larger TV for the home theater would be nice, but I will wait until prices drop significantly more and TVs get better, or until I need to replace a TV due to product failure). Of course, if something fails, I will repair or replace it, but I have no intentions of ever just upgrading the sound.
On the other hand, if a great deal on something spectacular fell into my lap, I would consider it. But I can easily live with what I have with no complaints.
Anyway, if you spend the money wisely and only on things that really matter, that make a significant difference that your wife will notice, then she is going to be less likely to complain about it. If you buy an expensive receiver and she cannot hear the difference, she will likely not like the fact that you have effectively flushed a bunch of money down the toilet. And, of course, you should only spend what you can afford to spend. There must be money left for essentials, like beer.
