Surrounded by sound

I finally got a surround sound system!  I have wanted one for ages but it just was really never a good time for it.  There were always other priorities that made much better sense.  But this year Barb set aside money for one for my birthday.  After a lot of research, I settled on a moderately priced Onkyo system that included a 7.1 receiver and speakers.  It wasn't released yet, so I had to wait a couple of weeks until it became available.  Once it arrived, I enlisted the aid of my brother Doug to help me run the wiring.  My man-cave is in the basement and I have a drop ceiling, so running the wires the length of the room wasn't the problem.  It was going through the insulation in the walls to run the speaker wire vertically that was the real bear.  Luckily my brother has the patience of Job and he got that done for me.  A couple of late nights later and I was all hooked up and had the system set up to my liking.

First on my DVD list was Saving Private Ryan (my brother's suggestion).  I watched the opening half hour and was amazed by the surround sound audio with bullets whizzing by on one side and cannon shells going off on the other.  Next was Talking Heads' terrific concert film Stop Making Sense.  I watched a handful of my favorite performances, including Thank You For Sending Me An Angel, Found A Job, Slippery People, Life During Wartime and Making Flippy Floppy.  Absolutely awesome stuff.

Then, of course, I had to try out Jaws.  I watched the opening scene (the attack on Chrissie), the attack in the estuary, the scene where the shark makes his first appearance off of the stern of the Orca and the final showdown.  No matter how many times I see this (and I am guessing it is well over 200+ since 1975), it still gives me a tingle.  It's my favorite movie and also a great childhood remembrance.  Can't get better than that.

As a celebration for my new toy, Barb got me a Blu Ray copy of Avatar.  I was not ready for how awesome it looked and sounded.  Simply unreal.  Though I have had my PS3 for ages, I only have 2 Blu Ray discs.  I have always bought regular DVDs so I can share them with my friends that don't have Blu Ray.  I may have to become more selfish now.  Stunning is the only way to describe the audio and visual delights of the Avatar Blue Ray.

I played an hour or so of Just Cause 2 (still an absolute blast to play) and was stunned by the sound effects, especially explosions.  I can't wait to hear the bands and crowds in NCAA Football 11.  And last night I made time to pop in The Beatles: Rock Band.  I played a 19 song set, which was really longer than that because it included the Abbey Road side 2 medley.  What a blast.  A totally different (and markedly better) experience than playing it through the TV speakers.

So I am in heaven with the new surround sound system.  Barb helped me spruce the room up very nicely.  My brother helped make the installation look professional.  Jess handed out the tape (don't ask, but she did a fine job of it).  It was a team effort and now I am really in business when it comes to my entertainment system.  Thanks everyone!