I am posting this in response to those of you that commented on my Home Theater Project.
It's been a few weeks and I am happy to report that my family and I have no regrets as to side stepping the financial plan to work on the HT project and we enjoy the room almost daily.
Here is a link for those that wanted to know what we put in the HT: http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/members-theaters-ht-projects/283558-first-home-theater-progress-pictures-opinions-suggestions-coments-welcomed.html#post3522872
I keep my wife in on all financial decisions, this has helped me over the years to assume control of our finances and build her confidence in my decisions pertaining to our financial future. The bottom line is, when I plan projects like this, she pretty much goes along with whatever I plan. It helps that I keep money in her pocket too 
We all enjoy going to the movies so it was easy to convince her that the HT was a good idea.
Thanks again for all your comments
Home Theater update
May 25th, 2009 at 08:36 pm
May 25th, 2009 at 11:14 pm 1243293279
We have the same seating (3 seats) and had talked at some point about getting a riser and more seating, but this has turned out to be ample. We have bean bag chairs for the kids. Besides that, all we really bought was a projector, and eventually a screen (the wall was fine for a long time - screen is 9 feet). We framed the wall with felt, put up some blackout drapes, and made do with our existing DVD and surround sound, etc. We've upgraded to a blu ray and a better receiver, fancier projector, etc., over time.
It gets plenty of use!
You can go as cheap or as of expensive as you want really. We just met someone with a $50k theater setup. A lot of show, but they couldn't really boast better sounds or video than we had anyway.
Enjoy!
May 26th, 2009 at 02:19 pm 1243347595
I also have a Denon receiver, although it's the anemic model compared to the goliath you've picked out.
I really dig the lighting and rug by the way. Great touch. The chairs are insane (implying awesomeness, not a lack of sensibility), but the bass shaker is really out of this world.
Haha, another PS3 convert. Yeah, I admit I thought of that route as well. It was either that or a HTPC, but because I'm more of a gamer than a home theater person, I eventually opted for a PC that was capable of playing Blu-rays. And as a frugalite, a blue-ray internal drive now costs only $99. Unfortunately, you also need a commercial playback software that is capable of decoding blu-rays, which is another $99.... Oh, and it only runs on Vista, so if you don't have that, then that's a problem.... But that's what I went with anyway.
On the thread, I also see that you're shopping for a screen upgrade. True enough that Panny plasmas would fit your bill, but brand-wise, Samsung plasmas are pretty good too. $1500 would do it.
120hz is nice, but I don't think it's as big of a deal as contrast and cost at this point. However, I also admit I'm saying this from the frugality camp rather than the technophile camp. I also believe that 120hz is going to be a standard spec among LCDs some day into the near future. On the other hand, if you do go with a plasma screen, then this issue is going to be effectively moot anyway....
October 11th, 2009 at 05:48 pm 1255283314