Brand new to HTS, lookin for some help

The stuff you linked to, should be just fine.
They all add up to about $625 though...............

 

Hey DVDBack! You chose some nice equipment! The speakers are quite nice and the price can't be beat. Same is true with the onkyo....they make a good AVR; it has a lot of nice features and not all that long ago, you could NEVER have gotten HDMI upconversion for anywhere near that price.

The only thing I question is the sub...I'm not saying it isn't a good one, I don't know and couldn't find any independent professional reviews athough user forums and reviews said a lot of good things...still, I've got this feeling that it isn't in the same class as your speakers. You see, with the sats your getting, you'll have to choose "small" from the speaker menu of your AVR...now that's not a bad thing, in fact, a lot of guys with tower fronts still set the AVR fronts to small when watching video because it emphasizes the sound effects in the video ... there use to be this saying that, when it comes to speakers, "bigger is better" but that simply isn't true necessarily anymore. Also, aside from being good speakers, its wise to buy them as a set because they're timber matched which is critical BUT, when you set your fronts and perhaps center to "small" what you're doing is rerouting the lower mid range and bass of the two front mains to the sub ... in short, you're working it considerably harder so its important to have a good one or it will drag down the sound quality of your otherwise great system. Again though, I'm NOT saying they're aren't good but do some homework and see if you can find some professional rather than user reviews. Also, bear in mind that March and April are the best times of the year to buy equipment because the stores go into clearance mode to make room for the new models and sell the previous models really cheap so, regarding the sub, I can't help but wonder is you might not be able to find a really decent Klip, Velodyne or Mirage in clearance for the same price. Still, really nice system indeed.

 

Ok......... I took it for granted that you were going with a new receiver, instead of refurbished.

Hey gerry.........a pro with that Harmony remote by now, huh? )

 

@DVDBack...very nice sub indeed. It's a bit more powerful and, while not critical, is helpful in delivering a nice clean sound as you'll be using it for more than LFE signals. Also, its well constructed. Almost all subwoofers will give you a deep sound, that's their purpose, but its the quality of that deepness that's most important...nothing worse than a muddy and boomy bass. A good firm bass is just as deep but you can hear all the nuances like a figer running down a string, or the "crack" before an exposion in a video, a string against a fret, a sharp bass by the bridge or smoother one by the neck, a bow again a string or the air hissing from an organ pipe. Muddy and boomy bass will cover all those little things that make such a difference. Using towers, much of that would come from the mains but with sats, the frequency cut offs are higher so a little more of the effects come through the sub than usual. Since its sold out until 3/8, I'm home for a couple of days because I threw out my back so I'll post links to some good deals if I see any. I've seen some good high quality clearence models at great prices but I don't remember where; I've got to look around.

@JVC...the remote is awesome! It's so nice not to have to fiddle with a dozen different remotes and it won't go through batteries like my denon which lights at the slightest vibration rather than a push of a button. Though there are choices on the small LED Display, it will be much easier once I'm use to it because it isn't purely menu on top of menu with no buttons. Its still a bit frustrating because I'm not use to everything yet but its already a big improvement and will be moreso once I'm use to it. Thanks for the recommendation!