I'm trying to rationalize and justify the bulk of this as being part of our remodeling project. The main TV system was in place for many years, and is outdated, although I will use some of it in Mayberry. The Oppo BDP-95 had already made the old Arcam DV29 redundant and the AV8 has no HDMI or other modern capabilities. i am also picking up a better DVR from Comcast. I also wanted to streamline and make the system more family friendly, so an integrated receiver makes it easy to watch TV, Bluray, or streaming Netflix, and listen to CDs, streaming audio (plus internet radio built into the new Arcam), AM/FM and iPods on this system without messing with my 2-channel setup. Plus, I am keeping my trusty Pioneer Elite 50" plasma(720p/1080i max) that we have had for over 10 years because I still love the picture.
I saw the Clearaudio Double Matrix Pro at RMAF and was impressed by how solid and great looking it is. It is extreme, but as Jeff said it could be an awesome solution to a painful necessity. It is supposed to be a lot quieter, does both sides at once, and even has a de-static brush for post-cleaning. The lack of a platter is brilliant because not only do I hate cleaning on the VPI 16.5 machine but I also worry about sticking the newly-cleaned side down on the cruddy platter. I am going to have a headphone and small speaker setup down in the garage, and the new wine "cellar" with wine/beer/vermouth cooler is close by, so headphone cleaning will be a party!