Are Home Theatres any good for music??

[Kam]

one mini piece of general advice i can share is to go slow. (and if this is all stuff you already know, just ignore) if this is something you spend a lot of time doing, either listening to music or watching movies, then build your system over time. i had a two channel only system for quite a few years before slowly progressing up the food chain to a home theater. even with movies being my primary use, i stuck with two channel because it was all i could afford at the time and i knew exactly what i wanted. i just had to piece it together slowly. it's an expensive hobby, so there's nothing wrong with auditioning things over a long period of time, or at least till you are really comfortable. but, one big thing already mentioned is to audition and compare things and remember one key as well, if its a mass market place you are checking the system out at, the settings may not be truly optimal on that system. take audition material with you, cds or dvds that you are intimitately familiar with to test out the system. i have cds and dvds that i always take with me to check systems out, they dont have to be 'reference' discs, but discs that you know inside and out so you know what you are listening/looking for.
if you hear that sony system and think it sounds great, still wait. if there's a high end store near you just go and check it out, try and listen to a ridiculously expensive system just to listen to it. if you are primarily a music person, than stick with two channels and pour your money into that. if you end up with a pair of Watt/puppys and some marc levinson/ proceed front ends, i'm pretty sure you'd be happy with its performance even on movies.
and have fun in the process!

peace
k2

[markw]

When auditioning these sysstems, concentrate on their ability to do justice to your music. You'll find many, many posts complaining that their systems sound great on HT but suck for music. But, I can't seem to find any that say they sound great for music but suck for HT.