looking for a modestly priced home theater setup

with dvd player would be nice, but basically it is going to be the root of my home theater system... i will be purchasing a flat screen real soon, and i am having direct tv installed, so that gives you an idea of what ill be working with
your suggestions are appreciated!

 

Your best bet would be seperate components,not HTB.If you can give me your budget we will at least have a starting point.

 

500-600ish preferably not much more

 

Well it's going to be tuff so let's start off with the brains of the system...The receiver.I'm assuming your in the U.S. If so this might be a nice receiver to start with>http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Onkyo-Surround-Sound-Receiver-TX-SR503-/sem/rpsm/oid/120213/catOid/-12949/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do
Take a look at it.Onkyo is a highly respected company.

Now you did say modest so I'm trying to build a system around your budget.The Dvd player we will choose last as that will be the least expensive item.

We can look for speakers next.

 

And, if in some case you do have to resort to a HTIB; I reccomend an Onkyo or Yamaha.....(preferably the Onkyo HT-S790)

 

ok well heres a little more info...

(sorry i have just moved and do not yet have internet access in my new place... thus the delays in replies from me)

i have a direct tv hd reciever installed... i am going to be getting a nice flatscreen on the wall in the living room... i am just trying to go as cost effective as possible, my budget is not really a set limit, just trying to keep it cost effective as i said

your help is appreciated guys!!!

 

Let us know when you get settled in and we can pick up from there.

 

ok i have access in my new home now

should i go ahead and buy the onkyo reciever? will i get better bang for the buck buying components separately? or should i just get the Onkyo HT-S790 and be done with it?

i am thinking about buying the Sony KDS-R50XBR1 50-inch SXRD HDTV. it appears to be a rear projection. im pretty sure i want a 50". good choice? i want to keep the tv budget around 2k, 2.5k is a definite max.

thanks for your help dudes

 

bump

 

My preferance leads me to the Pioneer end of the spectrum. I find Onkyo's and Yamaha's make my ears bleed. I like a warm sounding reciever, personally. I have always had tremendous success with Pioneer. I have used Denon, Onkyo, Sony ES, Sony, Marantz, Pioneer, and Pioneer Elite recievers. In fact, I am still using my Pioneer Elite (VXS 45TX) as a pre-amp untill I can save my pennies to complete my dream system (got my Butler 5150, and 2250 tube amps, now I need my Anthem Statement D2 pre-amp/processor).

My preferances in SQ were (from best to worst) Elite, Pioneer, Marantz, Denon, ES, Sony, Onkyo.

The feature sets from best to worst Denon, Elite, Onkyo, ES, Sony Pioneer, Marantz. However, the Pioneer unit was very old (I used it for 7 years, all the others I had in the space of the last 3 years). Nowadays the Pioneer units are similarly featured to the Elites, but the Onkyo betters the Pioneer in this regard.

I suggest Pioneer. Expect to spend ~$300 for a decent unit. The VSX-816-S is roughly $300 at Worst Buy, and a fair starter unit.

Their DVD Players are nice too, and can be had for under $200. In fact, alot of modders use Pioneer base units due to quality boards, and great price. Most modding is done to the pre-amp section and involve tube pre-amps.

I don't suggest HT in a box. The speakers are typically junk and the reciever quality is horrid. However, Tweeter used to have some nice Mirage/Denon HT in a box units... but I think they stopped selling them.

If Ebay is your thing, try looking for some Elite units. Anything from a 45 series up (ie: VSX 45TX, VSX 55TX, VSX 49TX, etc). Audiogon might offer up a rare reciever deal too, that will go chep. Those high end buyers are looking for components not recievers and you can really steal one from there if they pop up. http://audiogon.com/

Expect to pay a few hundred for decent speakers.

 

hi guys im new on this music theater thing so i want to know if this is good choice , check this out :
JBL
E150P 10" 150-Watts Front-Firing Powered Subwoofer - Black $ 169
JBL
E50 E Series 8" 3-Way 175-Watts Horizontal Mirror-Image Bookshelf $230 pair
JBL
EC25 E Series Dual 5" 2-way 150 Watts Center Speaker - Black $ 90
JBL
E80 E Series 6" 3-Way, Dual 200-Watt Floor Standing Speaker $305 pair
Harman Kardon
AVR-240 50 Watts per Channel x7, Built-in Dolby Digital & DTS, AM/FM $ 340
grand total /shiping $1,167.65 all this is from www.b&hphotovideo.com
thats is the amount of money i think to spend no more than that so if ur know some better just tell me and i chekit up!!!
so guys what u think i dont know if the right forum to post but i didnt see another one so sorry about it , i hope somebody giime some feedback thanks guys!

 

@DSouth

I don't like to play bossy around here; but I will say if you want to have re's on you reply about your setup; start your own thread instead of hijacking someone else's.....just a thought.....


But; as for your system; I'd say that the subwoofer you chose looks a little weak to me. When you look at the total price on that whole system; you should have went a little more up the scale by getting something like a Hsu; SVS (my fav); or I've even heard that Velodyne makes decent subs.....and remember, I'm not saying that JBL is a bad sub; but in my opinion, I would have chosen something from the brands I mentioned....

 

ok guys, got a 50" plasma picked out, gotta drive about 3 hours next week to the nearest circuit city to pick it up. sad huh?

so I figure while I'm there I might as well pick up my home theater junk and get at least most of my shopping done with.

So knowing circuit city's selection, and my modest budget (more than I thought I had before) do you guys have suggestions on what to pick up? I need it all, speakers, reciever, dvd player. Also there's a best buy there too, so I can comparison shop.

Speaking of dvd player, I was at a local electronics store (top dollar, usually around 1k more than circuit city/best buy) and the salesman said there are DVD players made for HD tv's - no, I don't mean bluray or HD-DVD, but I guess the picture is enhanced for HD tvs, or something like that. Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

Also I might get an xbox 360 while I'm down there, how does that double as a dvd player for an HD set?

Many questions I know, any help is truly appreciated.

heh one more - also the best place to get a really good HDMI cable on the cheap would be a help. thanks!

 

The only thing I can think of is that the DVD player has some sort of digital output interface... Like HDMI (which you mentioned) or DVI etc, etc...

I mean at the end of the day, there isn't a whole range of difference with DVD players once you're buying brand name products. However I have noticed different types of video coming out of some of the players I've purchased. I guess they use different decoding software, and that would be very much a choice of personal taste... Whether you prefer a sharper image or one that's a little softer etc.

Other than that, he's probably just doing his job... Being a "Salesman"...

About the XBox... well I am a Sony loyalist but ok, ok I will try to help. The 360 comes standard with component output so picture quality will be good. I am not sure how user friendly navigation and set-up would be for DVD movies... And more importantly it will put wear on the laser. It would probably be cheaper to buy a whole new DVD player than to replace the laser. Obviously this would be more a long term thought but I don't play DVD's on my PS2 for that reason.

Just a note... I bought a component cable for my PS2 and there definately is a noticable difference (of course... )... Especially on high contrast edges. So anyone wavering on that thought, don't procrastinate any longer.

 

i will take your advice on the dvd player vs using xbox for dvds, dvd players are so affordable anyway why not

now what do you mean about component cables? isnt HDMI the best way to connect your hd components?

thanks for your quick reply bro.

 

Well yes... depending on what you want to do.

HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) basically combines Digital Video and Audio into one connection. So unless you want to seperate the signals (for example connecting the optical audio signal to a reciever) that is the best way to go. Some higher end recievers have HDMI input anyway.

The reason I mentioned component for PS2 is because the PS2 only comes with the regular Yellow RCA jack for the video, and with the quality displays today, that just doesn't cut it.

With a Yellow RCA all the video (chroma, luma etc.) is streamed down one wire. Component (Red, Green, Blue) seperates these signals to enhance the quality.

 

ok

I'm ready to put together home theater audio components.

I know people have said HTIB's suck, I tried to punch in the Onkyo HT-S790 on pricegrabber and got:

Onkyo HTS790B Home Theater System
Onkyo HTS790S Home Theater

pretty sure the only difference is color, as they are the same price. Best price offered by crutchfield $420ish with shipping.

I have no problem buying each component separately, suggestions are appreciated.

-----Also----

I'm having a hard time envisioning how all these components will work together cable wise.

DirecTV HD box has an hdmi out. That plugs into the Plasma obviously. I see the DirecTV box has an optical audio out. I assume that is the best choice to connect to the reciever. But what about the DVD Player? I am going to get one with HDMI out, to use with the 2nd HDMI input on the plasma. But for audio? I guess Optical Audio is the best option for sound quality right? SO I guess I need to find a reciever with 2 optical ins?

having said all that when I pick up an xbox360 there will be no way to hook that up. the HDMIs will both be used!

 

To be honest I have no experience with HDMI as my media centre PC which is my HD tuner has DVI out, so I just use that in conjunction with optical for audio.

Yes, optical is the best choice for audio. However, comparing it against HDMI, I really couldn't say. I'd imagine they are very much on par with each other. In theory I would think that optical could be better as it uses light to send the data down an optic fibre cable... But... HDMI offers the convenience of combining Video & Audio into one connection. Waaa!!! It's all getting too complicated these days...

You mentioned that your DirecTV has HDMI and optical, but can they both run at the same time? As you would be sending two seperate digital audio signals, one with HDMI for the plasma and the other via optical for the reciever.

OR!! Does the Plasma have an optical audio pass through? That way you could simply plug the optical audio into your reciever from the plasma.

Sorry, if I am making it sound confusing because it really isn't. Once you start putting it all together, you will see it's actually quite enjoyable experimenting with different configurations. At the end of the day, it's up to you to decide what you think is best.

About the reciever, you shouldn't have too much trouble finding one with multiple optical inputs. I have one with 4 input / 1 output. And they are all accessed easily on the remote by simply pressing the device you want to enable. I have choices of DVD, HDTV, VCR, CD. The optical inputs are also clearly labelled to which device you should plug in. So they are very user friendly to set up.

And lastly, in regards to the XBox 360, if you have run out of HDMI inputs... You could always use the component plugs. These offer great quality also.

 

some good thoughts there, thanks for your posts!

does anyone know about those Onkyo speakers that come with that HTIB? are there better quality but affordable 7.1 speakers i can get?

thanks

 

someone recommended definitive technologies speakers to me, anyone know about these? from what i can tell they are really expensive.

i know everyone hates on HTIB but does anyone have a thought on this

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-IT4nPe...+VENDORID580&searchdisplay=Onkyo&i=580HTS790B