I would normally take the time to do as much research as I can, but my roommate is moving out with no warning and he's taking his home theater setup with him so I'm in a hurry to replace it. This stuff doesn't seem like something I can become well-versed with in a couple days! The setup on its way out is a $1700 setup he bought a year ago - Yamaha HTR-5950 receiver, JBL 5-speaker surround sound system, along with his old DVD player. I would like to replace everything with something under $1,000 that's still good quality - I don't expect or need something as nice, but something still pretty darn good.
The rest of my setup: Vizio 50" plasma, digital cable w/HDTV, component/HDMI cables. Will want to run all this and a PS2 through the receiver, as it is set up to do now.
I do not need a ton of power because I live in a condo, but good sound quality is a must. We even had a subwoofer but didn't use it because the speakers had a sufficient amount of bass for our needs.
Any input on which receiver and surround sound system would best suit my needs? I was on the Best Buy website and had no idea what I was doing frankly. Any great deals going on? Thanks!!
__________________
'98 Integra LS - non-VTEC autocross / daily driver (aka Track-Tested / Mother Approved) Daily-driven 87 octane Porsche destroyer
Latest Auto-X: 5th overall in class (7th/12 Day 1, 2nd Day 2). 10th/92 overall Day 2.
Complete mod list and updated race results here: http://www.freewebs.com/white98ls - don't forget to sign the guestbook! Autocrossing for a day is the best $25 you can spend
Mods: 100 spoke gold daytons, velvet headliner, fuzzy dice, dead white chick in the trunk
For the money, this is a good setup. It's a 7.1 reciever, 110 watts per channel. Comes with the surround speakers, and a powered subwoofer. $500. If you watch a lot of HD, it suports up to 1080P. Also, the speakers calibrate themselves for staging, so you don't have to worry about placing them in the perfectly ideal spot.
If you really wanted tower speakers, that leaves some room in your budget to work with. But from my experience, the powered sub puts out plenty of bass, especially if you are in a condo or apartment.
__________________
You can always retake the class... but you cant relive the party!
So there I was, Heineken in the one hand, cigar in the other, trousers around my ankles, my balls slapping against her chin and I thought to myself, man, what a great fucking beer!
For the money, this is a good setup. It's a 7.1 reciever, 110 watts per channel. Comes with the surround speakers, and a powered subwoofer. $500. If you watch a lot of HD, it suports up to 1080P. Also, the speakers calibrate themselves for staging, so you don't have to worry about placing them in the perfectly ideal spot.
If you really wanted tower speakers, that leaves some room in your budget to work with. But from my experience, the powered sub puts out plenty of bass, especially if you are in a condo or apartment.
Thanks man. Did you forget the link though? I think tower speakers would be more useful than a sub, but whatever ends up producing a good quality sound works.
It's funny, on the other site I posted on the only person who has responded so far has recommended another $500 system. It seems like there are a lot of combo setups around $200-500, then hardly anything until you get to the $2k+ range.
__________________
'98 Integra LS - non-VTEC autocross / daily driver (aka Track-Tested / Mother Approved) Daily-driven 87 octane Porsche destroyer
Latest Auto-X: 5th overall in class (7th/12 Day 1, 2nd Day 2). 10th/92 overall Day 2.
Complete mod list and updated race results here: http://www.freewebs.com/white98ls - don't forget to sign the guestbook! Autocrossing for a day is the best $25 you can spend
__________________
'98 Integra LS - non-VTEC autocross / daily driver (aka Track-Tested / Mother Approved) Daily-driven 87 octane Porsche destroyer
Latest Auto-X: 5th overall in class (7th/12 Day 1, 2nd Day 2). 10th/92 overall Day 2.
Complete mod list and updated race results here: http://www.freewebs.com/white98ls - don't forget to sign the guestbook! Autocrossing for a day is the best $25 you can spend
Mods: 100 spoke gold daytons, velvet headliner, fuzzy dice, dead white chick in the trunk
Quote:
Originally Posted by White98LS
Thanks man. Did you forget the link though? I think tower speakers would be more useful than a sub, but whatever ends up producing a good quality sound works.
It's funny, on the other site I posted on the only person who has responded so far has recommended another $500 system. It seems like there are a lot of combo setups around $200-500, then hardly anything until you get to the $2k+ range.
the subs produce good quality sound, and much easier to conceal than tower speakers. i've got a sony powered sub and it has knobs to adjust the frequency and volume.
__________________
You can always retake the class... but you cant relive the party!
So there I was, Heineken in the one hand, cigar in the other, trousers around my ankles, my balls slapping against her chin and I thought to myself, man, what a great fucking beer!
I'd take a look at the one I linked you to, and just play dvd's through the ps2. Unless you have a dvd player tha up-converts a standard dvd to higher quality, the ps2 dvd player is probably pretty similar in quality to any other standard dvd player.
__________________
You can always retake the class... but you cant relive the party!
So there I was, Heineken in the one hand, cigar in the other, trousers around my ankles, my balls slapping against her chin and I thought to myself, man, what a great fucking beer!
I was just looking on Circuit City and they have some good up-converting DVD players for under $100. That would be nice too because I found one with great reviews that plays various video formats from CD-R and DVD-R which would be good for my Top Gear episodes.
Circuit City actually has the setup you linked for $450. I think I'm gonna go with that - I don't think I will appreciate the KEF/Yamaha setup $300 more than this setup. The only real complaints in the reviews were the "stock" wires are weak, but I have all the cables set up already with heavy-duty stuff so I should be good. I'll get this along with this upconvert DVD player for $90: http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Samsu...oductDetail.do
Thanks for hooking me up and saving me some money! I was prepared to spend up to $1k and it looks like I'll get a setup I'm happy with for far less than that. Thanks again!
__________________
'98 Integra LS - non-VTEC autocross / daily driver (aka Track-Tested / Mother Approved) Daily-driven 87 octane Porsche destroyer
Latest Auto-X: 5th overall in class (7th/12 Day 1, 2nd Day 2). 10th/92 overall Day 2.
Complete mod list and updated race results here: http://www.freewebs.com/white98ls - don't forget to sign the guestbook! Autocrossing for a day is the best $25 you can spend
Mods: 100 spoke gold daytons, velvet headliner, fuzzy dice, dead white chick in the trunk
Quote:
Originally Posted by White98LS
I was just looking on Circuit City and they have some good up-converting DVD players for under $100. That would be nice too because I found one with great reviews that plays various video formats from CD-R and DVD-R which would be good for my Top Gear episodes.
Circuit City actually has the setup you linked for $450. I think I'm gonna go with that - I don't think I will appreciate the KEF/Yamaha setup $300 more than this setup. The only real complaints in the reviews were the "stock" wires are weak, but I have all the cables set up already with heavy-duty stuff so I should be good. I'll get this along with this upconvert DVD player for $90: http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Samsu...oductDetail.do
Thanks for hooking me up and saving me some money! I was prepared to spend up to $1k and it looks like I'll get a setup I'm happy with for far less than that. Thanks again!
no prob man, feel free to paypal me part of the savings
__________________
You can always retake the class... but you cant relive the party!
So there I was, Heineken in the one hand, cigar in the other, trousers around my ankles, my balls slapping against her chin and I thought to myself, man, what a great fucking beer!
I'm a little confused as to what to do with the 2 extra speakers. Where do I put them? Of course there's the center, 2 front, and 2 rear right now along with the sub. Where do the other 2 go now? One thing that sucks about the Onkyo setup is the center speaker is vertical... my TV is mounted above my fireplace with a shelf for the center speaker in between, and there's just no room for the center speaker where it'll look quite right I assume if I set it flat it would screw up the sound?
__________________
'98 Integra LS - non-VTEC autocross / daily driver (aka Track-Tested / Mother Approved) Daily-driven 87 octane Porsche destroyer
Latest Auto-X: 5th overall in class (7th/12 Day 1, 2nd Day 2). 10th/92 overall Day 2.
Complete mod list and updated race results here: http://www.freewebs.com/white98ls - don't forget to sign the guestbook! Autocrossing for a day is the best $25 you can spend
Mods: 100 spoke gold daytons, velvet headliner, fuzzy dice, dead white chick in the trunk
Quote:
Originally Posted by White98LS
I'm a little confused as to what to do with the 2 extra speakers. Where do I put them? Of course there's the center, 2 front, and 2 rear right now along with the sub. Where do the other 2 go now? One thing that sucks about the Onkyo setup is the center speaker is vertical... my TV is mounted above my fireplace with a shelf for the center speaker in between, and there's just no room for the center speaker where it'll look quite right
I think the 4 smaller speakers are for rear staging. And the 3 larger ones would go up front. 1 or them is the center channel. That speaker can be laid on its side, like it's shown in the pic on top of the reciever.
There would be more detailed instructions based on your room layout for where to locate each speaker with respect to where you will be sitting. The reciever can also "learn" where the speakers are and calibrate them to sound right.
edit: found a pic to describe it better
__________________
You can always retake the class... but you cant relive the party!
So there I was, Heineken in the one hand, cigar in the other, trousers around my ankles, my balls slapping against her chin and I thought to myself, man, what a great fucking beer!
My roommate just told me that I could keep his stuff for now, since he'll just be living at home for the next couple months. That's good because I was completely torn between the Onkyo setup and just buying the same receiver and giving it to him, leaving the old one connected and set up. Then buying a DVD player and speaker system.
To me, the extra 2 speakers in the Onkyo setup are overkill... that just means extra clutter in my room and extra costs in cables to basically go all the way around the room, and extra speaker stands.
Why is it that there are hardly any 5.1 speaker setups with floorstanding speakers? I like the look and don't want to spend extra on more speaker stands, but it seems like all the tower speakers come with the semi-crappy all-in-one with integrated DVD (instead of a real receiver) systems under $1k. I just want a quality 5-speaker system with front tower speakers for under $500 to go with the DVD player and Yamaha receiver but I can't find ANYTHING.
Hmm maybe I'll hit up pawn shops Seriously, maybe it's worth a shot.
__________________
'98 Integra LS - non-VTEC autocross / daily driver (aka Track-Tested / Mother Approved) Daily-driven 87 octane Porsche destroyer
Latest Auto-X: 5th overall in class (7th/12 Day 1, 2nd Day 2). 10th/92 overall Day 2.
Complete mod list and updated race results here: http://www.freewebs.com/white98ls - don't forget to sign the guestbook! Autocrossing for a day is the best $25 you can spend
Mods: 100 spoke gold daytons, velvet headliner, fuzzy dice, dead white chick in the trunk
Surround setups usually have the small speakers since they don't need to produce any bass. The sub handles the bass, and they really do a nice job of filling the room with sound. You say you don't want the additional clutter, but tower speakers take up a hell of a lot more room than 2 additional satellite speakers. Those are almost always wall mountable also. No speaker stands needed, and they come with speaker wire. I just like the 7.1 because it gives you way better staging for surround. There is so much more detail in the sound, especially behind you, compared to a 5.1 setup.
Whatever you decide to get, I'd try out the surround speakers that come with the reciever, along with the sub(make sure it is a powered sub though) before going and buying tower speakers.
If you do decide to get towers, it's probably cheaper to get the surrounds with the reciever as a "package" then buy the towers later or seperately. You're still going to want the rear speakers, and possibly the sub.
__________________
You can always retake the class... but you cant relive the party!
So there I was, Heineken in the one hand, cigar in the other, trousers around my ankles, my balls slapping against her chin and I thought to myself, man, what a great fucking beer!
Autocrossing for a day is the best $25 you can spend
I assume if I set it flat it would screw up the sound?
Seriously, maybe it's worth a shot.