Receiver Noob...Need Help!

[BoomerK6]

I'm looking for something rather inexpensive, and I have about $150 worth of BB gift cards burning a hole in my wallet from XMas. Ultimately I would like to keep my total cost out of pocket under $250. This will be my first surround sound system in a loooooong while, so if you know of a good starter set (receiver/speaker package) let me know. My setup as of now is a 32" Toshiba, Sony BDP-S350, Wii and Xbox360 (without HDMI) if that helps any. I would like to keep the cost on the sound system cheapish so I can buy my 50" Panny at the end of the month. Anyways, it doesn't have to be a mind blowing system but something that has great bang for the buck. Thanks for the help in advance...

[SHines-IT]

I was over at Best Buy this past weekend. There prices where so high even for open boxes. I am talking $200-400 higher for the same model online. I would buy the receiver and speakers online. Then use the cards for movies/games or sell it. You can get a Onkyo 606 for about $300 online. It was $500 at BB, not worth that price.

[Nathan P]

Originally Posted by BoomerK6

I'm looking for something rather inexpensive, and I have about $150 worth of BB gift cards burning a hole in my wallet from XMas. Ultimately I would like to keep my total cost out of pocket under $250. This will be my first surround sound system in a loooooong while, so if you know of a good starter set (receiver/speaker package) let me know. My setup as of now is a 32" Toshiba, Sony BDP-S350, Wii and Xbox360 (without HDMI) if that helps any. I would like to keep the cost on the sound system cheapish so I can buy my 50" Panny at the end of the month. Anyways, it doesn't have to be a mind blowing system but something that has great bang for the buck. Thanks for the help in advance...

For $250 you won't get much - If you have the dosh to get a panny plasma i would be tempted to save up for a few months and get a decent setup. Check out driver king's sig he has a couple of great starter set-ups. You can always use the giftcards to get some more blu's

[Driver_King]

Why don't you just sell the giftcard for cash? For just about that same money, you can get a few receivers that do lossless.

[gearyt]

I have installed many of the Energy Takes
always a happy customer !!

[BoomerK6]

I most likely will just use the gift cards on Blus. I was just over at BB looking at the receivers and they are WAY overpriced. Well originally I was thinking that since I have a BDP-S350 I wouldn't have to worry about a receiver that does all of the decoding since the player can...correct me if I'm wrong. But then it just dawned on me that even if I go with a receiver that doesn't decode then I will be running optical cables from my cable box anyways. Am I understanding this correctly? Plus the wife is fine with me spending more on better stuff, but I will have to wait to get the taxes back before going nuts. So, in everyone's opinion...would I be better off in the end diving into the Onkyo TX-SR606 just to be safe which should allow me to buy a pretty good speaker package? Fire away...

[BoomerK6]

Alright I think I'm set on what I would like...let me know your opinion. Here goes: Onkyo 606, Polk Monitor 50's (2-Front), Polk CS2 (Center), and bookself Monitor 40's (2-rear). I figure this setup is more that adequate and within a budget I can afford depending on how good of a deal I can get straight through Polk's Ebay site. Plus I could probably get a nice sub in a few months, but highly doubt I would need it with this setup. In the end the wife is willing to throw $800 at me for the total amount for a plasma and a HTS. The rest is on me, so it shouldn't be a problem...