Quote Originally Posted by Ajani View Post
I'm sure I've seen this debate a few times before between E-Stat and Sir T (and possibly even myself) if I'm not mistaken...
Your not!

I agree with you though... The question of whether to spend your budget on MC or stereo should be based on your music collection..
I absolutely agree with this. However, my way to look at this is, am I going to stick with two channel forever, or can I have a quality system that is ready to play any and every format whether 2.0 to 7.1? I chose the latter.

My entire music collection is stereo... So naturally my budget for upgrades is geared towards a stereo system rather than MC... Just the same way as I don't spend money on a TT as all my music is digital... and I'd have a very hard time sourcing vinyl locally...
So you have no interest in purchasing multichannel music in the future? I guess when I am putting together a system, I am always looking for an easy upgrade path. I already had a 7.1 system before I had 7.1 software, that is how I think. Until I had 7.1 discrete software, I used prologic IIx to send 5.1 to the rear channels.

Also, though you two keep talking about putting together good MC systems around $8K to $10K, that's still not exactly chump change...
Yes, but most "audiophiles" pay more than that for their setups.

For around $1K retail I could put together some fun stereo setups:

Nad integrated amp and CD player with PSB Alpha monitors

OR

Squeezebox Touch with Focal CMS40 Active Monitors

OR

Project Essential Turntable with Miniwatt SET amp and HSU HB1 Horn Monitors

At that price, I suspect I'd be stuck looking at HT-In-A-Box systems if I wanted MC... and I've yet to hear HT in a box that sounded good with music...
You may spend more than 1K for a multichannel system, you can use it for more than one purpose. You can use it for movies AND music. It makes it more of a value IMO.