More of an impulse buy than anything, I was out of HDMI inputs on my TV and my old HTIB (5 year old Sony) only had 1 output.

My original intention was to pick up a more up-to-date HTIB but Best Buy made me an offer that I couldn't refuse: a Pioneer Elite VSX-42 with the Definitive Technology Pro Cinema 600 speakers for $850. The speakers themselves seem to go for $799 so I'm happy that I got a good deal.

Holy cow what a difference! I watched The Expendables on Blu-Ray and the sound quality was way beyond what I'm used to. Clear speech, floor rattling bass, and separation of the channels that I've never heard before. I hooked the rears up using a Rocket Fish transmitter/receiver as running wires to the rears is somewhat difficult (old house, multiple additions over the years). No complaints at all to my novice ears, and setup was dead simple.

So psyched to have done this the right way at last. Now for a Guitar Hero and COD marathon