Does HTIB's make anyone else's stomach turn? (1 Viewer)

[Justin_Smith]

I'm more a fan of those now that I have one, then I ever was in the past. I used to always make fun of the people that went to Best Buy and bought those kits...then I became one. At that time...it WAS the right move for me to make. My girlfriend had complained for 2 years about her surround sound being broken, so a $700 kit was her Christmas gift. 6.1 Sony surround bit, with seperate 5 disc changer.

A year later, we've upgraded to a 7.1 Marantz receiver, and a MX-850. Having a working surround, gave me the bug to go on to a bigger and better surround. Knowing we plan to sell this house in the next few years, I know not to dedicate TOO much to the house itself. In the past 2 weeks I've already spent $400 running a structured setup with cat5e runs for data/phone, and RG6 coax, to every room of the house. I've pulled 14/4 cable to various places in the house for volume controls.

Admittedly, we lose a lot with the current speaker wire, speakers, and midgrade interconnects-but upgrades are coming. Speaker wire will never be a top priority here, as I know I will be leaving it behind shortly-and a grand in wiring won't help sell the house.

That said, the home theater worked fine for our living room, as it definately is NOT a theater room.

 

[Ron_L]

Wow, It appears I'm not alone!

To those who started with HTIB and upgraded to something better, Congrats!!

That being said, wouldn't it be better to say take the 200-1000 dollars you would spend on a HTIB and sink it into a decent receiver and a pair of speakers? A kickin' two-channel system and then when you have the money, buy that center channel or subwoofer.


As for the comment on Dayton Subwoofers, the whole Dayton name is all over the Parts Express website. Is that their house brand or something?? The guys over at the DIY sites seem to really dig Dayton drivers.

 

[gene c]

Parts Express is located very near "Dayton" OH so I think they chose that as their in-house brand name.

 

[LanceJ]

Many of those $300-$500 HTiBs, like that Panasonic, actually sound pretty decent for what they are asking.* But as others have basically said, for the non-audio people out there they sound much MUCH better than any TV speakers do. They also don't take up much space-while I think it's cool to have a rack of gear in my room, many people think it's an eyesore.

I've been into this hobby for 27 years, and early on I finally had to realize that many people simply don't care about good sound, period. But I *do* at least try to show them what's possible if they have never heard a nice system......and surprisingly, many people haven't.

* when I listen to such gear, I listen for *unmusical* qualities, like brittle/glaring highs or boomy/flabby bass. And (for example) that Panasonic doesn't have those things. Designing a system that does this takes skill, as strange as that may sound. >>> Because with unlimited $$$, it's easy to get good sound, but when you have limits you gotta compromise, and you have to know what to keep.....& what to sacrifice. So sure, it's not exactly a revealing, high resolution system, but at least it's not irritating to listen to. Because I have definitely heard my share of irritating component gear that costs much more, but these include some brands much talked about here so I'll stop now. :wink:

 

[LanceJ]

I have to throw in a special mention for this Yamaha HTiB, not because it plays both surround music formats, but just because it plain sounds good:

Yamaha DVXC700

I listened to it again today (was originally checking out those two Denon HTiBs they sell now), using my Crystal Method dvd-audio and really like the way this system sounds. Not just for an HTiB-it simply sounds good. And no tiny cubes for the front mains (which also use schmooooth soft-dome tweeters)! And, it's black! And I'm still amazed that such a dinky sub can sound so good & get so loud for an HTiB. No, it doesn't do subterranean bass, but what it does generate sounds fine to me. It only uses a 6.5" woofer but if you put your hand on it while its going you'll find out what the phrase "high excursion" means. For a bedroom or a small apartment living room IMO this would be a great choice.

 

[gene c]

At $500 and above there is some decent stuff out there. It's those at $300 and less that really show their weaknesses.

 

[Jesse Sharrow]

Well I personally am a hometheater electronics installer. Thankfully its at a pretty high end little shop and not many customers do HTIB's. Unless you count the mirage omnistat systems. Acctually I have only installed 2 HTIB's. 1 Cheap POS sony system that sounded pretty terrible. The sad thing is they spent over $200 just to have us install it. But we did flush mount all 4 speakers onto the walls, no showing wires. Then also a nice Onkyo system that sounded pretty good.

The only experience I have had with a HTIB is I bought my brother a $150 Yamaha system. Powered sub, tiny sats, handles DVD-A. Sweet system for $150. Then he had to go ruin it by buying white van speakers for $800! O.O

I personally have never had a HTIB. I originally got a pair of Boston V-40's I think. Towers with AMD tweeters and dual 5 1/4's. With a yamaha AVR-440. But soon after upgraded to a 1400. With sony towers for rears and got an infinity alpha 37C for a center. Then I bought my SVS sub.

But then my wife had to go an get me a pair of Dunlavy SCII A/V's and then later on a pair of SM1's and Dunlavy prototype towers! :-D I love her.

But I definitly would look into a HTIB for my bedroom or my sons room. Unless I could afford the SVS system.

But the experiences I have had with HTIB's I do agree it would be better to do a better 2 channel setup. Well anyways Ill shut up.

 

[venkat_d]

Thx to all those who replied to my concern rgdg Onkyo 580. After a lot of reading thru the manual and going through all the options, I figured out that I had to set the DVD player to Dolby digital – then I got the correct surround sound effect. That brings me to another peev rgdg the components – we have three remote controls now to worry about – one for dvd player, one for receiver and one for the the TV, VCR (that one is a combo remote that I have)

But still I was not happy with the passive subwoofer. So I returned it and bought a Yamaha YHT160. had to go 100$ over the prior configuration , but I got a powered subwoofer – 100 W. Again after some dabbling with the options – I could get the surround to work correctly but still the clarity Is not there – compared to the Panasonic 930.
The subwoofer of Yamaha YHT 160 especially doesn’t cut it. I bought it cause I thought – its powered – it should be better than the onkyo. Well it does have more power than Onkyo (which was just plain wimpy even for my medium size 18 ft* 15 ft room) , the subwoofer sound is not that good. The subwoofer doesn’t neatly blend with the rest of the system – you can always distinguish the subwoofer sound. Unless , I bring down the volume of the subwoofer a bit, it makes a horrible sound instead of provide a bass that blends with the rest of the system. It is possible that again I have not setup something correctly, please guys let me know if I am missing something.
I will prolly spend a couple more days before I decide which one to keep – Panasonic 930 or the Yamaha YHT160.

Rgdg the comment by Gene c – that “At $500 and above there is some decent stuff out there. It's those at $300 and less that really show their weaknesses. “
Anybody can make a good system by putting more dollars in. The trick is in keeping the cost down and yet provide a good system. And looks like Panasonic did a really good job with it $400 system . The only thing they lack is digital inputs. If they had that I would not even have entered this discussion . Because I see the need for digital inputs, have to venture out and compare other systems. If Panasonic could build such a good system for less, what stopped the onkyos and Yamahas from building a better system for less?
Also, I wonder what stopped Panasonic from including a couple of digital inputs to an otherwise fine system. Things like this makes me wonder whether the Marketing people who do the research of the market to design the next best system , do they really take notice of whats needed in the market or they just try to advertise/sell what ever comes out of the factory?

 

[Shane Martin]

Ron,
I agree with you except for the fact I think HTIB's are good for a bedroom system.

Now if someone wants to plunk down $1k, I can put together a component based system that will stomp the HTIB. Less than $500, the HTIB's do their job which is make noise

As far as creating a surround experience, no they do not do that IMHO. I am spoiled in that regards but I don't compromise that much when it comes to my "home theater" experience.

 

[Ron_L]

Exactly Shane,

With all the HTIB it had me thinking that I was stupid for purchasing a Servo15 :S

 

[Mark Cappelletty]

This thread is pretty condescending. I live in an apartment and got a Kenwood HTiB -- after getting some advice from this same forum -- back in 2001 for about $400 from Fry's (I still remember getting it back home by myself in one giant box!). I'm finally replacing the receiver, but the speakers (and powered sub) still work fine for my needs right now. I'm sure I'll replace them in due time, but my system has worked well for me these past 4+ years. If I had a big living room, it would be another story. But for what I've got, it's been fine.

That being said, anyone who gets one of those sub-$100 sets is worthy of some scorn-- man, there are some cheap-ass components out there.

 

[gene c]

Ya, I have to agree that there have been some pretty harsh replies, even by me! :b . But the main focus of this thread is those who buy an expensive flat panel tv and then surround it with an in-expensive htib. Just dosn't make any sense.

 

[Reginald Trent]

"Ya, I have to agree that there have been some pretty harsh replies, even by me! . But the main focus of this thread is those who buy an expensive flat panel tv and then surround it with an in-expensive htib. Just dosn't make any sense."

What if the person spent all of their money buying the expensive display and wants a higher level of sound that cannot be reproduced by the speakers in display but they only have money leftover for a HTIB? They also know that the HTIB will only be used as a stop gap solution not be used permanently with the expensive display until they can afford better equipment? With the intention give the HTIB away or use it in a bedroom setting?

Does that make sense?

 

[Tim Hoover]

Like lower-priced items of any kind, HTIBs serve a two-fold purpose. #1- They are a starting point into our HT hobby. I'd like everyone to think back to their first system and compare it to what they have today. #2- Low-cost HTIBs fill the needs of people who'd like a basic system but don't give it high-enough priority to justify paying more. My neighbor is the perfect example. He owns a Kenwood HTIB that suits him just perfectly. Sure, he's heard my system numerous times and enjoys it, but HT isn't a big concern for him and he feels his funds can be better used where his real interests lie.

I have a really cheap coffeemaker. We rarely drink coffee around here and the unit works just fine for us. Connoisseurs may scoff at our little $10 Sunbeam, but then again they're more interested in coffee than we are

 

[Carl Johnson]

What makes my stomach turn is seeing someone with an HDTV watching video that's fed fed with a single rca cable. It's just as offensive to see someone who has a respectable sound system that's either not in use (let's listen to the speakers built into the tv) or is hooked up completely wrong (tiny surround speakers are hooked up as mains sitting on top of tower speakers that aren't plugged in at all.

 

[Gralen]

My first system was a 400 dollar yamaha reciever, a 400 dollar
zenith t.v and a 25 dollar fisher speaker system. When I switch to ac3 I upgrade to a 500 dollar yamaha reciever, 900 dollar panisonic t.v and 1500 dollar mirage speakers and a center channel. because of this fisher htib I was bitten by the bug.My best friends has a good jbl/sony htib system which is pretty good My next upgrade is a 65 in t.v a 1200 dollar yamaha reciever (to upgrade from a 900 dollar yamaha reciever)
and a 15 inch sub. (just recieved a 10 inch velo) So htib can be the start of something serious quest for something better after you get good t.v and crappy speakers

 

[FeisalK]

topics like this make my stomach turn.

imagine a newbie - one of those ron_l pointed to HTF on gene c's suggestion (reply #1) coming to HTF and scanning the topics list

i was there - a newbie once - and I can imagine what he would think. "oh my these guys are so snooty, condescending and arrogant" and not bother to click - in fact probably leave altogether. very helpful

 

[Kenneth Harden]

You got to remember - you need thick skin on the internet - its like the wild west

 

[Jongyoon Lee]

I'm with you Feisal.

 

[FeisalK]

wild west? Kenneth, this is not directed to you personally - but oh, I've heard this so called 'wild west' so many times... to condone boorish behaviour.

is that what new frontiers are? an excuse to act uncivilised? or is it ok so long nobody knows you personally?

how about this.. every time anybody posts anything on here, it reflects on you personally - and because it is accessible internationally - on your whole nation. you are effectively an ambassador. Not only that (I could care less about you being an ambassador of your country) but it reflects on this community of your peers, who also post here constantly. Now this is me, you and everybody on HTF. How about that?