My mission for the evening

[Takeereasy]

This afternoon I am meeting one of my old neighbors at a stereo shop to help him pick out his new HT. He is willing to spend about 7K on a nice setup including TV and he has asked my opinion. He was telling me about his trip to Futureshop (Best Buy) and how there was a salesman who showed him this lovely 61" Samsung DLP and this nifty Bose 3-2-1 setup. He asked me what I thought of Bose and I told him the truth, that I thought he could get a better value elsewhere. I also told him that I was a big fan of the TV he was looking at. A front projector is out for this guy, and the room the setup is going in is very bright during the day so I'm thinking that DLP or LCOS or LCD would be a great way to go. I'm going to steer him towards a Monitor Audio setup most likely, but we'll see what's there and what he likes the best. I'm budgeting his cash this way: TV: $3300. Receiver $1000. Speakers $2000. Sub $1000. The 61" Samsung DLP is my favourite of the lot he's looking at but I'm going to make him look at some more options in the $3k range before I let him settle, but the front runner is this guy for sure and it's on sale right now. My one concern is that he wants wireless rears and I'm not sold on the idea yet. I just figured I'd share my agenda for the evening, slow day at work and all, later. Am I the only one who finds spending the cash of others on audio equipment fun?

 

[t3031999]

I personally would recommend a cheaper (smaller) TV and to spend more on the speakers.
You can get a great receiver and sub for a $1k each, but I honestly think that the speakers should be the biggest investment. But I'm much more of a sound guy than a speaker guy.

EDIT: Sorry, I forgot to actually answer the question(s)

Yes, I think it is great fun to spend other peoples money, especially in the amounts you're talking about, you can put together your dream system (or part of it depending on how lofty your dreams are), you still get to enjoy the system when you go hang out there. And I love seeing the look on peoples faces after you've got everything set up and dialed in, The WOW expression is priceless.

I don't like wireless speakers, or wireless anything for that matter. I work in the wireless sensor networking world, and I have to deal with so many problems at work, I feel very uneasy about wireless for the most part.
I would much rather run cables everywhere

 

[Takeereasy]

Hey T3, if it were totally up to me he'd be going with a 50" RP DLP TV for 2k and the extra $1300 would be going into the sound end of things. I really don't like wireless, and I'm utterly clueless as to the products that are out there, but I'm sure the guys at the shop we're going to will set him straight. It's a pretty good shop with a good staff, I've bought from them before and brought them 3 good paying customers now so I know what to expect when we go there. He'll get a good deal because I'm there which is the main reason he wants me to go I guess. I love playing with high end electronics . Today I get to play with Paradigm, Monitor Audio, PMC, Linn, Bryston, anthem, and Pioneer Elite products.

Here's a link to the shop we're hitting http://whitbyaudiovideo.com. I've mentioned them before, but I'm more reluctant about name dropping now. This is a heck of a way to start a Friday for me, first awesome sound gear then a night of Poker and debauchery, ah the weekend is here folks.

 

[agarwalro]

I would love to

Unfortunately for me, I seem to be the only person in my peers interested in awesome sound for home use. In fact, when I tell them the cost of my current setup (and from my signature you can see it is not jaw dropping or anything) and my aspirations (my dreams are definitely big), they look at me like I need my head examined.