Home Theater Choice Help

[miceli90210]

Hi everyone,

Totally new to the forum. I'm in need of some opinions on what to get as far as a home theater system. I know that everyone has their own setup

The room is about 18x24 ft. with 8 ft. from floor to ceiling.

There's a budget of around $2000-3000 dollars. We're in need of a Receiver, Speakers and a Blu-Ray player of course. We have a TV that supports HD already (though will hopefully be replaced at a later date), so we'd like to focus on the rest at the moment.

I have heard/read some good things about Klipsh, Polk, Harman/Kardon, and Onkyo; and some not-so-good things about Bose, especially their prices.

Any help would be ideal and greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

[Beta Man]

My best advice would be to get a Blu-ray player, receiver, and fronts/Center....

WAIT on the rest.... the sub especially eats up a budget quickly.... and you don't need 5.1 or 7.1 right out of the gate.

also... you'll rarely find someone who says "I have "X" brand of receiver/speakers/blu-ray player, and I'm not too happy with it" You'll find everyone and their brother saying "I have "X" and love it" So don't put too much stock into opinions on brands, because everyone has a soft spot for what they paid their hard earned cash for, if for nothing else, to justify the purchase to themselves....... I am not too happy with my sub purchase, but others may think it's great.... it's all subjective.

[Driver_King]

Nice budget. Check out this for a receiver. Monoprice is the place to get cables. As for speakers, do you have any set size limitation?

Edit: As for a Blu-ray player, although a select few hate the thought of using a PS3 as a player, it is the best player for the price and allows for better speakers, more Blu's, ect.

[matthewrounds]

Do you want a 5.1 or 7.1 setup? Do you listen to music, is this primarily a move viewing room? What is going to your receiver (input devices via HDMI besides the blu-ray player)?

I will split the difference of your budget to $2500 and recommend the following budgets:

$300 for the blu-ray player, Sony BDP-S350 (Let your receiver decode DTS HD MA)
$800 for the Receiver (the one Driver King suggests looks great)
$100 for cabling www.monoprice.com, Do not forget this in your budget, it will kick you in the butt later
$315 for the Sub Elemental Designs A2-300
$1000 for the speakers. I am by no means a speaker expert so I will let others decide. Plus this will depend on whether you go 5.1 or 7.1

You will ultimately upgrade your components, I bought by first real HTS four months ago and already upgraded the center and sub (coming soon I hope). Once you get the bug its hard to stop.

[Driver_King]

Here are some fronts that are worthy of a look and here is a matching center. Look in my sig for a nice subwoofer option.

Edit: Here is a nice pair of bookshelf speakers to match the fronts.

[DBlackGT]

Driver King has the right idea...those speakers rock. I had the RTi A3 and matching center before I got my Klipsch. The Polks are excellent speakers for the price.

Heres a link to Home Theater Magazines most recent review on them

[matthewrounds]

Originally Posted by Driver_King

Here are some fronts that are worthy of a look and here is a matching center. Look in my sig for a nice subwoofer option.

Edit: Here is a nice pair of bookshelf speakers to match the fronts.

Keep in mind his budget. Those choices put him at $2300 for 5 speakers. He would still need a sub $315, blu-ray player, receiver, and cabling.

[DBlackGT]

Originally Posted by matthewrounds

Keep in mind his budget. Those choices put him at $2300 for 5 speakers. He would still need a sub $315, blu-ray player, receiver, and cabling.

True true, we are getting a little carried away haha. Ok how bout this:

Klipsch RF-82 Towers Pair

+

Matching Klipsch Center

+

Pair of these for surrounds

+

An ED sub

+

A sony S350 Blu-ray player

+

Onkyo 805 Receiver

=

That puts you at about $3000. Maybe a little more but you could change some things around and make it cheaper.

Sorry I should have made all the links to www.Vanns.com because its the best place to purchase stuff online from. No shipping charges and No sales tax!!

[miceli90210]

Originally Posted by matthewrounds

Do you want a 5.1 or 7.1 setup? Do you listen to music, is this primarily a move viewing room? What is going to your receiver (input devices via HDMI besides the blu-ray player)?

Thank you for the quick response! Your budget breakdown is appreciated and seem quite reasonable. As for your questions- I would prefer 7.1.. I would mainly be using it for movie viewing, and aside from a Blu-ray player, I don't see anything else being used in the foreseeable future.

[DBlackGT]

Originally Posted by miceli90210

Thank you for the quick response! Your budget breakdown is appreciated and seem quite reasonable. As for your questions- I would prefer 7.1.. I would mainly be using it for movie viewing, and aside from a Blu-ray player, I don't see anything else being used in the foreseeable future.

I would allocate more for speakers, meaning you don't need 7.1 at this second. Focus on getting a solid center, fronts, and a receiver before you try to fit 2 extra speakers into the budget. But thats just my opinion.

[Driver_King]

Originally Posted by matthewrounds

Keep in mind his budget. Those choices put him at $2300 for 5 speakers. He would still need a sub $315, blu-ray player, receiver, and cabling.

Okay, so let's subtract the surrounds ($400). You have $1900 for the front soundstage. Then the BDP-S350 ($300), then cabling (around $100), then the receiver ($870), and subwoofer ($315). That's about $3485. We could change the receiver to the Onkyo 805 (about $550) and save a bit. So for around $3200, he has an awesome 3.1 system. Surrounds can always be added but don't think skimping on speakers is necessary.

[matthewrounds]

Originally Posted by DBlackGT

I would allocate more for speakers, meaning you don't need 7.1 at this second. Focus on getting a solid center, fronts, and a receiver before you try to fit 2 extra speakers into the budget. But thats just my opinion.

Take a look at your blu-ray collection or upcoming movies you want and see how many have 7.1 tracks. There are some, so at this point in the game it may not be worth it to have the extra two channels because that money can go into a fantastic front, center, and sub.

Pre-wire for those channels because like I said in an earlier post, you will definitely get the urge to upgrade!

[JJ]

I feel that with $2000-$3000, there are a LOT of good options out there in the marketplace for what you would like to accomplish - try looking at Axiom online, they have wonderful speakers for a comparable price to Big Box brands like Polk/Klipsch...might price yourself out of B&W...hmm, I would definitely go with Polk instead of Klipsch, I'm another one of those who doesn't favor too highly that Tractrix horn of theirs...Polk RTiA series is one you should highly consider...as well as maybe a Yamaha 663 receiver, and that wonderful eD a2-300 subwoofer...

...best advice we can give you altogether though, is to take our suggestions, and go into stores, and listen to them yourself. Nothing we say is worth more than you being in front of the speakers.

[Uniquely]

Circuit City was running a special on the Klipsch F2's, C1, S2's and 10" sub for $1499 Not a bad price for a brick and mortar.

You really need to go to some audio showrooms and listen to some speakers first. With that kind of investment; you don't usually want to go on recomendations alone, because speakers really are a matter of personal preference. Some love Klispch and find them clear and detailed, and other say they are too bright and tinny. Some say Polk are rich and deep, and other find them hollow and muddy. So you really need to go and hear what sounds good to YOUR ear.

On the receiver, I'm a big fan of the Onkyo 606. You get a lot of high end features for $350, but in a room that big you probably want something with a little more power. Still if you go with a 5.1 set up and bi-amp your fronts; some high efficiency speakers like Klipsch would fill the room pretty good, especially when paired with a GOOD subwoofer.

The PS3 is a fine blu-ray player for the price, but you may want to wait for the Sony S550 coming in October. It's MSRP is $500 and is supposed to have some nice features.