Home Theater/Surround Sound

Bro I always like Yamaha myself. You can find them from like 299.00 and up. The come Home Theater system in a box. I paid 500.00 for mine in my garage 4-5 months ago, and the only thing that I replaced was the CD player. Still pumps out great sound, and you get great bass. The subwolfer that came with mine thumps. :ffic:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=pcat17080&type=page&qp=crootcategoryid%23%23-1%23%23-1~~q70726f63657373696e6774696d653a3e313930302d30312d3031~~cabcat0200000%23%230%23%23p1~~cabcat0203000%23%230%23%23w~~nf398%7C%7C59616d616861&list=y&nrp=15&sc=audioSP&sp=%2Bbrand+skuid&usc=abcat0200000

http://www.jr.com/JRSectionView.process?N=12105+402313&Ne=400000#Brand

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_p_4_8?ie=UTF8&rs=3025431&rh=n%3A172282%2Cn%3A1065836%2Cn%3A281056%2Cn%3A3025431%2Cp%5F4%3AYamaha

Thanks for the advice bro.

I was actually looking at a Yamaha system and a Pioneer system tonight at Best Buy.

I'll probably wait til after Christmas to get one though.

Four words: Stay away from Bose.

Klipsch is an excellent brand. I would look into their systems.

Denon is the only name you need to know IMO.

I used to be a Yamaha guy but there line from a few years back did nothing for me. I just finished converting fully to Denon components about a month ago.

Make sure you buy Euro, American or Canadian speakers.

"Desides wrote:

Four words: Stay away from Bose.

Klipsch is an excellent brand. I would look into their systems.

They make FANTASTIC speakers.

Other than finheaven, the following is one of my favorite sites:
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/index.php
Great place to start when looking for Home Theater.

My 2 cents. I would stay away from bose as well, way overpriced for what you get. I would also stay away from the home theater in the box set ups. For a few dollars more, you can get a great set up. I really think that you get shortchanged on the speakers in the HTIB when good affordable speakers are available. It has been awhile but there are several Canadian companies like PSB that make excellent and affordable speaker systems.

Check out these guys too: http://www.outlawaudio.com/

When I bought my set up (8 years ago, sigh) I spent a lot of time with the Outlaw receiver and was impressed. I have not been in the market recently.

Enjoy the hunt.

Thanks for all the info guys.

Speakers are they key. It really depends on what you're trying to do. Is this system strictly for home theatre or will you be listening to music as well? What are the size limitations for your room?

No Hi's No Lows - must be Bose. But for someone who doesn't want bigger speakers or have the space Bose is a nice choice if they're interested in home teatre ONLY.

Are you running wires to the rears? Infinity makes a nice pair of wireless rear speakers.

Just remember that you can drive the speakers with almost any of today's better receivers (Onkyo is my personal preference) but investing in a good set of speakers and a sub woofer (key for home theatre) is what you should be looking for.

And for the record - depending on your budget, stay away from the all-in-one boxed sets. The reason - cheaper speakers.

Bose knows! Have it. Love it! 5:1 right now.

"zackattack54 wrote:

Speakers are they key. It really depends on what you're trying to do. Is this system strictly for home theatre or will you be listening to music as well? What are the size limitations for your room?

No Hi's No Lows - must be Bose. But for someone who doesn't want bigger speakers or have the space Bose is a nice choice if they're interested in home teatre ONLY.

Are you running wires to the rears? Infinity makes a nice pair of wireless rear speakers.

Just remember that you can drive the speakers with almost any of today's better receivers (Onkyo is my personal preference) but investing in a good set of speakers and a sub woofer (key for home theatre) is what you should be looking for.

And for the record - depending on your budget, stay away from the all-in-one boxed sets. The reason - cheaper speakers.

Thanks for the info.

I have been looking at piecing together my own system. Not sure what route I'm gonna take just yet.

The system will be used for a little bit of everything. It will be on the main TV in the house so it will be for regular TV watching, Movies, Gaming, and probably music too.

I've seen plenty of stuff I'd like to have now I just gotta hope for a few gift cards for Christmas. :)

I have a set of the Klipsch 5.1 speakers I bought for the PC a couple years ago. I also bought a controller/receiver box from creative to use them as a home theatre system. I was not real happy with the results. Does anyone know if there is a way to use the subwoofer with a standard receiver? ANy help would be appreciated.

Speakers make it all happen bro. I am also on the JUST SAY NO TO BOSE bandwagon. Had some 501's once upon a time...bad choice that I made
Klipsch are VERY nice as are Cerwin Vega's

I have a friend that does home-installs for a living in Phoenix, its his entire lively hood.
He says Yamaha and Sony used to be the only way to go..now he says Yamaha is 1 way to go, and Sony shouldnt be on the Market anymore. Also as stated, piece it together.

onkyo makes the best HTIB's out there, imo

the receivers are extremely good for the price, and will last through replacing the speakers with better ones..

"azfinfanmang wrote:

Speakers make it all happen bro. I am also on the JUST SAY NO TO BOSE bandwagon. Had some 501's once upon a time...bad choice that I made
Klipsch are VERY nice as are Cerwin Vega's

I have a friend that does home-installs for a living in Phoenix, its his entire lively hood.
He says Yamaha and Sony used to be the only way to go..now he says Yamaha is 1 way to go, and Sony shouldnt be on the Market anymore. Also as stated, piece it together.

I hear you on the 501's. I believe they had 301's also. Those did suck. Their lifestyles hometheater rocks though. If you haven't tried it you should. Nice small cube spearkers with a kick butt sound. Thier new lifestyle(38 and up I think) media center now takes both blueray and hd/dvd. Also non HD videos are upconverted to the best picture automatically. Nice feature, but BIG BUCKS. You only come around once so what the hell!:thumbup:

Sony, Panasonic, Pioneer are good. A family member of mine used to work with sound (and audio engineers) in a music studio seems to prefer Panasonic stuff. We have large Panasonic speakers in the living room and it sound like you are in a theater. I personally love the sound of my friend's Sony Bravia speaker set in his apartment. He got it for $499 on Sonystyle.com.

Any good speaker can sound "good" when played loud. The key is to listen to the highs/middles/lows at normal volume. Do the highs distort? My family member got me Creative speakers for my computer christmas many years ago and they are the best speakers ever; so I trust her greatly.

I agree about the avoid Bose idea. The brand seems way too expensive for what it is.

"Desides wrote:

Four words: Stay away from Bose.

Klipsch is an excellent brand. I would look into their systems.

:lol:

all highs, all lows....must be Bose.

"zackattack54 wrote:

Speakers are they key. It really depends on what you're trying to do. Is this system strictly for home theatre or will you be listening to music as well? What are the size limitations for your room?

No Hi's No Lows - must be Bose. But for someone who doesn't want bigger speakers or have the space Bose is a nice choice if they're interested in home teatre ONLY.

Are you running wires to the rears? Infinity makes a nice pair of wireless rear speakers.

Just remember that you can drive the speakers with almost any of today's better receivers (Onkyo is my personal preference) but investing in a good set of speakers and a sub woofer (key for home theatre) is what you should be looking for.

And for the record - depending on your budget, stay away from the all-in-one boxed sets. The reason - cheaper speakers.

it's really a combination of quality speakers and clean amplification. you can have the best speakers in the world( ex. Martin Logan ). but if you connect them to a noisey amplifier, then they are gonna sound like crap. the trick is to find the right combination that is gonna fit your needs, your room and your budget.

in the upper mid level of amplifiers, found at places like Best Buy, Circuit City etc., i have found that Onkyo and Yamaha have the cleanest amps while maintaining true power. Pioneer is a work horse but not the cleanest and Sony makes a very complicated, clean sounding but very weak amp.

in this range, there are two kinds of speakers; those made by speaker companies and those made by electronics companies. you can find value in both, but for the money, speaker companies are usually more reliable, better sounding.

speaker companies, like Klipsch, Polk Audio, Paradigm, JBL, Cerwin Vega make a wide variety of quality speakers. Onkyo, Yamaha, Pioneer, Sony make several components including speakers and, though they can be decent over-all speakers, generally are not complete sounding and often leave gaps in frequency and may not handle true, clean power from a quality amp.

there is value in home theater in a box or HTIB setups, but a few things should be kept in mind. when looking for these as your primary target, keep in mind that with the higher end brands they use recievers that are usually part of their component line. they can be purchased seperately. lower end units will usually be cheaper in every way imaginable. look for HTIB's that have powered sub woofers. there is a difference. with the powered sub, you will have more control of the cut-off on the cross-over resulting in a fine tune ability that will suite your room better.

finally; Bose. love it-hate it. most people will bye Bose products based on the name. "oh look at my sound system. why yes. those are BOSE speakers...." please. some will bye them for their function. probably the all-time best, can't destroy 'em if you try speakers ever made were the Bose 901s. you can literally plug them into a 110 wall outlet and they will not blow. i have seen this as a demo by a Bose rep, so i know it is true. their speakers come in a multitude of sizes and styles, as well as prices..

Bose speakers use a nearly 40 year old technology and except for speaker cabnets, they have not changed much since their inception. Bose use a deflecting technique to expand their sound. in the perfect room, they sound AWSOME. problem is most rooms are not ideal for this technology and often leave purchasers with one of two feelings: all highs all lows, must be Bose. or no highs no lows, must be Bose.

finally, when planning to make a purchase, figure on spending 25% of your budget on connections. though it is important to get quality cables, it is not always necessary to purchase the most expensive cables( Monster, Audio Research, etc.) regardless what the sales person says. you should invest in power management, especially when a HD TV is purchased--yes, they do make a difference.

hope that helps. if you have questions, let me know. :up:

I just got a couple of Klipsch F-2's at Best Buy on Black Friday. 50% off. I saved $350. Still haven't shipped though... My brother has them as well, and I would definitely recommend them. We also have a Harmon-Kardon receiver, and although I don't have anything to compare it with, it has done the job.

Beautiful too

go bose and you'll never regret it.

i have a bose surround setup for my home theater; all it has is a subwoofer and two tiny little speakers - but those speakers throw sound behind you like you wouldn't believe.

seriously, more than once i've paused a movie thinking that i heard something elsewhere in the house and it turned out to be a sound in the movie.

oh, and the power...blow-your-windows-out power.

"2k5 wrote:

I just got a couple of Klipsch F-2's at Best Buy on Black Friday. 50% off. I saved $350. Still haven't shipped though... My brother has them as well, and I would definitely recommend them. We also have a Harmon-Kardon receiver, and although I don't have anything to compare it with, it has done the job.

Beautiful too

I really like those. I was looking at them the other day. If I had known they were on sale on Black Friday I would have grabbed a pair. Very nice.

J&R.com are having a after Christmas electronics sale in case anyone is interested. They are having great deals on Home Theater, IPod speakers, and Cameras as well. Just thought I would pass it along.

http://www.jr.com/

I got this IPod speaker system. I checked around and the cheapest I found it was for 115.00 at Walmart until checked here. 59.99

http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process?Product=4129255

I just got a Samsung Home Theater system at best buy for my room and the speakers sound great! Funny thing is, my best buy didn't even have it on display. I had to look up at the top shelf on top of the TV's to find it. They happened to be on display but in the DLP HDTV's section. Tested them with a CD and they sound better than the other home theater systems not to mention a little bit lower price. All in all I am pleased.