My husband is a very happy man. Not surprising, you might say, considering that he just retired, has a great trip to Europe on the calendar in less than a month, a full wine cellar and will soon celebrate 30 years of marriage to a wonderful (modest) gal. What more could a guy ask for? Well, if he’s like most men I know, a great entertainment system would be high on the list. Check! My man can now add that little item to his bliss list, too. I blogged sometime last year about our (his) pursuit of new stereo equipment to complement our new abode and replace his high-quality but three-plus-decade-old components. It took pretty much an entire year for Harry to sift through the plethora of manufacturers and myriad configurations of speakers and whatnot to create the final package and hire someone to put it all in place. I’ve got to give him his props; he really did his homework and, bargain hunter that he is, came up with a nice set-up for a reasonable price (or so he tells me). I won’t pretend to know (or even have much interest in) the difference between one kind of speaker or receiver and the next; I can appreciate what comes out of them without understanding what makes it sound good. I would have been perfectly happy with what we had used for years, but I wasn’t going to deny my sweetie the pleasure of these new toys, especially now that our girls are self-supporting, college tuitions are behind us, and we can afford to indulge a bit. And, I’ve got to say, even I am impressed with what our new surround-sound speakers put forth. While watching a film, one can track the onscreen passing of an airplane overhead or the flight of a songbird as the audio effects shift from front to back or side to side. Putting in a concert DVD now is much more like being there to enjoy the music live. Even watching a golf tournament is a heightened experience, as one clearly hears the thhhWACK as the club slices through the air and launches the ball, which  later clearly rattles into the cup (while birds twitter in the background and some yahoo in the gallery calls out to the players). Yes, I may not know precisely what goes into a great sound system, but I DO know one when I hear it — and can appreciate it (almost) as much as my husband does. — Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor