Hi. I am brand new to all of this. My old stereo system components have all recently given out. So far, I have purchased two Polk M50 floor speakers. Mind you, I only listen to music on this system and don't want to spent a fortune. Unfortunately, my husband is a cheapee and bought a Kenwood receiver VR-705 with 5.1 channels. I am going to buy a subwoofer and have a Koss (don't laugh--it was free) CD changer. With what I now own, plus my Polk subwoofer which is on it's way), does it matter what CD changer I have? Will it really affect the quality of music?

A number of internet sites are running stories on how the CD is becoming less dynamic (due to increased compression in the recording). If so, how prevalent is the practice?

Yahoo tech article: Why New Music Doesn't Sound As Good As It Did

Referenced blog: Loudness War Blog

Rush (band), a historical loudness study: Over the Limit

which of these 2 dvd players would offer the best audio performance? does the fact that the oppo has gold plated connectors and the marantz does not make much of a difference? the marantz has significantly lower thd, once again, much of a difference? which would you go with, seeing as their both the same price. my setup will be paradigm monitor 7's driven by a nad c325bee, cables will be monster thx1000 speaker and audio interconnects (i get them really cheap through my job)

http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/33549

Hey,
I am new here, but have been scouting out these forums for a while. I tried the search function for xr55, but nothing came up, so I am just asking.

I recently purchased a new xr55 after reading some rave reviews about the sound for music / movies. I was intrigued by the reviews and thought i'd give it a shot in my new system.

An artist named Dan McPharlin makes miniature representations of Vintage audio gear out of cardboard. Contact info on his flickr page. For the audiophile that has everything

http://www.flickr.com/photos/danmcp/sets/72157594294355299/detail/