Budget home theater build for a newbie

[prelag]

Hi, I am new to the forums. I hope I can get some good input about setting up my first home theater system. Please bare in mind, that I have never setup a home theater system in my life.

On to what I know. I purchased my home last June and it is pre-wired for surround sound. I have 6 areas in the wall that have wiring.

(please forgive me in advance for the bad pictures. I used my iPhone)

Back of room - Wiring outlets on my back-wall x 2



Front of Room - Wiring outlets towards the front of my room x 2 (red circle, other not pictured)



Front Wall Behind TV - X 2 (one high, one low)

High -

Low -

Am I correct to assume;
-The back two speaker outlets are for rear speakers
-The front two speaker outlets are for front speakers
-The two speaker outlets on my wall where I have my TV, I don't know what they are for? Can anyone shed some light?

With all that said, I have been experiencing movies with TV speakers for 27 years, sans movie theaters. I am looking for a budget system. I'd really like to keep it in the $500 range. I am not a huge audio file, but I'd love some extra umphff when watching movies. I don't need the best stuff out there.

Looking at the newbie thread, I found these - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...=polk%20rm6750

Are these good for my setup? What else would I need to buy to get these speakers up and running?

Currently, I have a 52in Samsung LCD and PS3.

Be gentle...

[Nick4Blu_81]

The two speaker outlets on my wall where I have my TV, I don't know what they are for? Can anyone shed some light?

Unscrew the plates from the wall and I suspect that you will find 4 sets of wires. These would be the wires that you will terminate at the receiver. Hopefully they are labeled for you. Front Right, Front Left, Rear Right, Rear Left. Thats what I would assume.

[callas01]

I would not get the little Polk setup. I would check out the Jamo S 406 5.0 setup at vanns.com http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/it...06-hcs-1-black

And then look at either this receiver, you are now in budget with a better system.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16882105433

$249 for the speakers and $229 for the receiver and you have a complete system for $480


This is another receiver to consider, or the 4003 for $50 more, they are really good receivers and offer a lot for the price. the 80 watts per channel will outperform all others that state 90-120 at the same price range.
http://www.accessories4less.com/make...urround/1.html

[callas01]

Otherwise if you want to stay with the small speakers look at these

2 Pairs(or 3 for 7.1)
http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/it...1827/jamo-c401
AND
http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/it...2/jamo-c400cen

$239 for speakers.

[callas01]

OH, and the last thing you would need is a sub, you could look inexpensively at the Polk PSW10 its about $125 shipped, it wont go very low, but for a starter system it should do fine. You can get this at newegg.com or Amazon.com

The other sub to look at would be the Premier Acoustic PA-120 for $229 I think the website is sounddistributors.com or google it.


Lastly, you will need to get speaker wire, in-wall rated if your going to use those spots and run the wire in the walls to the outlets, unless the wire is there for you already.

You will also need 2 HDMI Cables, and a Subwoofer cable for the sub.

All this can be purchased inexpensively at http://www.monoprice.com/home/index.asp

[Aerodude73]

Originally Posted by callas01

OH, and the last thing you would need is a sub, you could look inexpensively at the Polk PSW10 its about $125 shipped, it wont go very low, but for a starter system it should do fine. You can get this at newegg.com or Amazon.com

The other sub to look at would be the Premier Acoustic PA-120 for $229 I think the website is http://www.sounddistributors.com or google it.

Lastly, you will need to get speaker wire, in-wall rated if your going to use those spots and run the wire in the walls to the outlets, unless the wire is there for you already.

You will also need 2 HDMI Cables, and a Subwoofer cable for the sub.

All this can be purchased inexpensively at http://www.monoprice.com/home/index.asp

I have TWO PA-120 Subs & HERE is a post from earlier this morning. It will provide you with info on the PA-120 Subs, as well as Contact info for ERIC WINSTON at Sound Distributors (email, phone, etc.).

I had that POLK AUDIO RM6750 set-up & it for a starter set, it WAS pretty nice, though the Sub defnitely lacked much Punch or "OOOMPPPHHH" at all. I upgraded to the PSW-10, which was Better but still not much of an improvement. Then I checked the various Sub threads here & found the PA-120 Sub ($229 but usually with "tv15" in the Discount Code area, when ordering, it will give you 15% OFF the Entire order. My total for each was $223.65 I believe). Anyway, good luck & I hope we have provided you with some info to help in your Home Theater build.

[prelag]

Thank you everyone for the suggestions.

I really need to go with a budget system that isn't bulky. I will be wall mounting everything and would like it to look as sleek as possible.

That said, if I go with the Polk RM6750, should I buy some type of mounts for my wall? I know they can be wall mounted out of the box, but cosmetically, I don't think it would look that great.

I have seen some mounts that allow you to adjust which direction the speaker is pointed in. Any suggestions / ideas?

[Tonedeaf]

Originally Posted by prelag

Thank you everyone for the suggestions.

I really need to go with a budget system that isn't bulky. I will be wall mounting everything and would like it to look as sleek as possible.

That said, if I go with the Polk RM6750, should I buy some type of mounts for my wall? I know they can be wall mounted out of the box, but cosmetically, I don't think it would look that great.

I have seen some mounts that allow you to adjust which direction the speaker is pointed in. Any suggestions / ideas?

Understand about a budget.

I have used mounts very similar to these that I got from WalMart. Not a bad price on them from Amazon though.

http://www.amazon.com/Atlantic-77335...0225215&sr=1-9

[fiddlestyx]

Another set of speaker mounts would be those at monoprice.com. They have a few, here's one:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...=2#description

[callas01]

Originally Posted by prelag

Thank you everyone for the suggestions.

I really need to go with a budget system that isn't bulky. I will be wall mounting everything and would like it to look as sleek as possible.

That said, if I go with the Polk RM6750, should I buy some type of mounts for my wall? I know they can be wall mounted out of the box, but cosmetically, I don't think it would look that great.

I have seen some mounts that allow you to adjust which direction the speaker is pointed in. Any suggestions / ideas?

thesex3 and thesex2 would be better, if you don't want to wall mount the center channel then you can get this one which can be wall mounted also, but if you want the center to take up less room or whatever.

Anyways you would still be right on budget.