I just bought me a 900watt sony sound system. (omg, my first non-game sony purchace... ever)

Hey, the price was right, it was the cheapest system, with the feature I wanted. (Sony cheap? Less than half the price of the other one, let's just say that)

I dont have it completely hooked up yet, but I felt like giving it a run for it's money, with just stereo sound.

HOLY CRAP.

I played AC4 and I thought the sound was kinda... errr... lame.

I just decided to try the sound system with AC4 because I thought the explosions would sound good on the sub.

HOLY CRAP. There are so many more sounds coming through from diffrent ways... I would have never known without this system. A high quality sound system really does make a diffrence.

(hey, this sound system is 900watt... (counting the sub), my TV is 10x2. so 20watt. Only 45x more power going to sound.)

Anyone else have had experiences like this?

(I dont have it running surround sound yet, as I need to pick up 2 (more) HDMI cables to get the PS3 hooked up 100% digital. (the 2nd HDMI cable is for the DVD player.) And one of the stands I bought is missing 4 screws... so it might be a few days before I get it hooked up 100% becuase I need to drive 50miles BACK to the store I got it at, and either get some money back to buy the damn things myself, or get some from another box. (my stands are NOT sony, the one missing the screws had been opened and I guess took the screws from it)

now imagine if you actually had gameplay at your games lol! gameplay+sound = zomg?

/flex 

 Ummm... my point is, the game sounds litterally 10-20x better. When a moarter lands beside you... You have a gut urge... to look to that side. I did not have that without the sound system. :P

I don't know if this is still the case, but it used to be (around 2000/2001) that Sony surround sound systems were awful for the price mainly because Sony speakers were the cheapest pieces of crap that you could find ...

nice system, but dont expect the kiddys to apperciete top end hardware.

try Resistance, good sound gives it a erie feeling.

also is it just me or is Motorstorm raelly freaking loud ? 

Nope. Us "kiddys [sic]" don't appreciate top end hardware at all *sigh*

I think high-quality surround sound is actually more important than HD. I got myself a nice 5.1 Klipsch system while I was working at BBY (gotta love the employee discount), and it makes an absolutely immense difference. When you go from 480i to 1080p, you get more pixels, and you see more detail. When you go from a crappy TV speaker to Klipsch stereo, all the sound becomes crystal clear, you actually hear everything, and it doesn't get all muddied up anytime there's some bass going on. When you go from stereo to 5.1 with a good sub... words cannot describe the difference. I watched Pearl Harbor shortly after I set it up. During the attack on the airstrip, one of the hangars exploded, and I literally jumped and looked over as if there had been a real explosion in the house next to mine.

To anyone who is considering an HDTV, I highly recommend spending the money on surround sound instead if you don't already have a good system. Most people don't think of these things, but I can tell you it adds a LOT more to the experience than some extra pixels, for less money.

Also, shop around. The markup on speakers is HUGE, like more than 50% of the price is pure profit for the retailer.

And I do highly recommend Klipsch.  Their speakers have 5 year warranties, and they sound simply gorgeous.  The horns produce the clearest highs you will ever hear, the drivers hit the full range in the middle and leave nothing out, and the subwoofer is clean, tight, powerful, and never boomy or muddy.  I'm driving them with a 600W Sony receiver, and I've been very satisfied, it's easy to set up and always produces good results.