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I am not the up to date expert on HiFi systems (maybe I was 20 years ago, allthough I never had the money to realize the perfect system at that time).
I would just like to give some comments on the thread which I find very informative.
IMHO we should return to the very basic; that means, live music is played in front of you, the rest is just acoustic, reflections of the music which is played in the front. Dolby 5.1 and the rest is just to give you an illusion of room. I bought back in the 80's a DSP system from Yamaha with 4 additional speakers, just to do this, give you an illusion. Only a couple of weeks I removed it, because the music comming from the front only (specially on studio recordings) for me is the best for a natural sound.
To check a natural sound one can choose a good recording of a solo artist singing and maybe playing a guitar on his own and he should appear (if you clouse your eyes) in front of you just in the middle of the two stereo speakers. Second test is a classic concert, in which you should be able to point the location of the different instrumens in the wide round.
If this fails (and I am not speaking yet about the quality of the sound), there is something wrong with your system. Most cases, the poles to the speakers are inversed, that means that the + on one speaker is at - at the other (check that). If everything there is ok, your amp has probs...
Quality of the sound: The weekest point in every HiFi system is the speaker. It has to be the biggest investment in your system! And it has to have volume, that means it has to be big and heavy. I agree fully on Sharc's comment on Jim's Bose speakers. They are nice, but they are too small. And I absolutelly do not like subwoofers. All ppl tell that you cannot detect them, but I detect them because they give a weight to one direction or the other (if you do not locate them just in the center). Regarding the electronics, amp, my personal opinion is, that for ppl of certain age (like I am) we cannot distinguish acoustically a US$ 5000 amp from a US$ 500 amp, if they are top quality. Electronics have gones so far and so cheap, that our aged ear cannot tell the difference (just regarding the electronics).
So resuming, in my oppinion the old stereo is 100% valid, just have the the right speakers on it.
Sharc, I am expecting your reply...
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