HT for 1500-2000 dollars (1 Viewer)

[Eric_Connelly]

I posted a while ago that my father in law was looking for a HTB setup for around 500-600 dollars.

Well now that he has gone out and seen things the budget has been revised.

He has looked at the BOSE LS12, $1,500, the LS28, $2,300, and the LS25, $2,100.

I told him he could probably piece something better together than the Bose unit for around the same price.

Can anyone make a suggestion on what would be available, or is the Bose his best bet for the money?

He'd need a reciever, fronts, rears, center, and sub.

Thanks

 

[Thomas_Berg]

no, Bose is almost never the best way to go. try this:
Onkyo 595 receiver ($359 www.jandr.com)
JBL NSP-1 speakers ($299 www.jandr.com)
SVS 25-31PC ($700 -- you might be able to pick up a b-stock for $600 like i did...if you're lucky)
this will blow him (and that Bose crap) away. i have that exact setup and am vey happy with its price/performance combo. this comes to about $1400 with shipping. if he's willing to spend $2K, ditch the JBLs and look at some Paradigm Titans or Atoms. this will surely kill any HTB or Bose system!
good luck!

 

[Trey Jones]

I hate to be the one to say this, but did he want bose specifically because of their size, or was it the name? To me and most of my friends here we have a little saying that goes:
Friends don't let Friends buy bose.
Okay, now that I have that out of the way, you can do MUCH better in that price range than bose. Here are a few
~ $1500
Paradigm Cinema 5 speaker set with Paradigm PDR-10 Subwoofer
Kenwood VR409 Receiver
Panasonic RV31K dvd player
Under $2000
Axiom Epic 40 Home Theater System
Onkyo TX-DS595
JVC XV-SA70B
both of these systems will IMO trounce those bose systems. The only issue I see is that some people don't like large speakers dominating their living quarters. Make sure that is not a priority. In any case, the paradigms will not.

 

[RichardH]

While I'm sure Thomas is loving his system, IMHO I think an SVS with the JBL NSP-1 is a little too heavily weighed toward the sub.

For $2k, you could do something like this:

Onkyo 595 (or 696) -or- Denon 2802 (could add rear center)

Ascend Acoustics 5.1 channel package with Hsu VTF-2 sub

Unless your father in law is a bass-head, the VTF-2 will blow him away and be more discrete at the same time.

Yeah, Trey makes a good point, if he's looking for discrete, you'll want to show him smaller speakers. A smaller set could be something like the Energy Encore. If you got something like that, you might be able to get a different sub depending on the dealer.

 

[Eric_Connelly]

Thanks for the replies.

I understand what everyone is saying about Bose.

Can anyone give a explanation of differences between these setups and the Bose. I don't doubt their superiority, but the best speakers are always the best ones you've ever heard and he's never heard these.

I don't have the technical expertise to explain why you should get brand X over Bose. I looked into this myself doing HT but have held off until we're in our new house to buy anything to I can get something that fits the room.

At the time I was looking at NHT and Paradigm.

Any place where you can point on the web would be great too. I plan on stopping by tonight and reviewing the thread with him.

Another advantage for the Bose that is kinda hard to pass up is one year no charge financing, probably the reason why the budget went back up.

Thanks

 

[Chuck C]

You'd be crazy not to look into Polk RTi speakers which are on sale right now at all polk dealers like crutchfield and circuit city. My buddy bought RT55i's, RT35i's, and the CS400i center, and a tear came to my eye as to how great it sounded and looked.

Main Speakers: RT55i $400

Rear Speakers: RT35i $300

Center Speaker: CS400i $400 retail

Sub: Velodyne CT120 and other Velos @ ebay or HSU VTF-2 $400

Receiver: Denon AVR-2802 $550 wholesale

If the price is too high, scale it down to an 1802 and/or 35i's all around. If the speakers are too big, then try some RT25i's and a huge sub.

 

[Thomas_Berg]

one main reason why Bose is so inferior is that they use small drivers that try to reproduce the entire sound spectrum you hear. basically, their small drivers are too small to produce accurate lows and too big to produce clear highs. not to mention that 'Bass Module' that 'hides away so you cant see (or hear) it.' that thing uses something like eight small 3" drivers to try to produce the big bass that you really need when watching movies...and it fails miserably. bass is such a crucial part of movies, however you dont know how important it is until you hear good bass and then have to go without it.
this will explain it better-- read Link Removed.
receivers: the Onkyo is the way to go IMO. it offers a MUCH better remote than the Denons listed here, which is probably crucial for your dad. he wont care much about 6.1 anyways. if you do go with Paradigm, dont get their sub, as there are better subs for the price (ex: Adire RAVA $400, Hsu VTF-2 $425). also, stay away from that low-end Kenwood receiver. you can afford the Onkyo and the Onkyo line is superior to the Kenwood line.
as for the other packages recommended here, the Ascend and Axiom lines are excellent pieces. (www.axiomaudio.com and www.ascendacoustics.com) the Ascend + Hsu combo will work well for your dad if he doesnt want to go with SVS and Paradigm (both combos are in the same price range). NHTs are great speakers and the older models can be had for cheap online (like at onecall.com or J&R). Paradigm is, sadly, not authorized for online sales. Polk has a good following, although i prefer these other brands to them. but, as they always say, listen to as many speakers as you can and let your ears --not anyone else-- decide!
feel free to ask anything else.

 

[Eric_Connelly]

The only other thing to consider is room size. Its a fairly large room. 16x14 would be my guess and everything is situated "square" to the TV.
He already has a DVD player, its a Toshiba unit, I forget which, its 2 years old and it has the optical outs, its either a late first gen or early second gen unit. We bought it for them for Christmas 2 years ago.
BTW, its my father in law, my father insists everything still be tubes
It seems to me that either things have gotten cheaper or people's range of "what is good" has changed since I first looked at HT back in 99.
I was looking at quite a decent amount for a HT setup, 1K for a reciever at the time, the Denon 3000 I think. Now the performance for the dollar has either gone up, or what is considered mid range parts has moved down.
Gets me thinking about putting a system in.
On a totally unrelated note, how would a Electrohome unit, and I do not have the model, but it was a 15K unit 2 years ago, used for very large presenation rooms do for a temporary HT viewer? The room is in the basement so its completely dark, something I realize you need for CRT projectors. I'd be hooking it upto a DTV system and using a DVD player. The guy who offered them says with a line doubler you'd get very good output on the DVD. I can get a unit with approx 60-75 percent of its light life left for 500 dollars US, no shipping.
I can get the model number, I just want to know if its a decent projector and will the video quality be close to that of my Toshiba 36" TV. This may deppend on screen size, but I'm not sure how big I can go.
This is through our vendor at work who does all of our conference rooms. We do alot of 3d model work and there is a huge push to move to LCD vs CRT for our needs, this has led to a large number of the CRT units available for cheap buys.
Thanks

 

[Eric_Connelly]

Well I just returned from their house and he bought a system.
He was stuck on 100 watts+ per channel no matter how I may have tried to explain that it wasn't totally neccessary.
This is his first system and I think he may have overbought and mismatched the speakers a little but at least the surrounds were inexspensive and he can move them up later on to better units and grow more into the reciever and sub.
We had started out with the Denon 280x model, but it was 90 per channel so he wanted the 380x model w/ 110 per channel. That beat out the Yamaha 8203(I think) after comparing the specs. Surely don't think he went wrong their but it may be too much for his needs and the surrounds/center he bought.
The sub...well someone mentioned the Velo CT-120, we found it on the web for a decent price, but the CT-150 at one vendor was on clearance for only a 50 bux more. I think the CT 150 is going to be WAY to big, but we'll see.
The surrounds/center is the JBL NSP1 speakers setup.
Still have to get cabling and all that stuff, fiquire we'll wait for it to arrive to see what needs to be hooked up and how.
Actually I'm now thinking of doing the same thing, just getting a better surround/center setup than the JBL's. Good thing is the JBL's were 309 shipped, so if in 6 months to a year when he learns more about it he's not out too much if he sells them and moves to a better set of speakers without incuring too much loss.
How does that setup sound and what changes would you make to it? I'm real interested in one now, I had planned on waiting till we move but my basement is absolutely perfect for a setup and our living room is already down there.
I fiquire the 3802, Velo CT150, and a good set of surround/center speakers would make a great system for a decent price.
Thanks for everyones help, I just can't wait to see the look on my Mother In Law's face when she finds out that the sub turned all the way down still isn't enough
She was none too happy, doesn't understand the whole buying off the internet thing and thought we should truck on down to Best Buy and pick something up.
Oh, total was $1,621 shipped. Shipping was pretty high and I'm sure they were making their money off of it.

 

[BryanZ]

Too bad the money's been spent. I was going to suggest nOrh ceramic or wood 4.0s ($75 price difference), Denon AVR-3802 (even if the 2802 is cheaper and the db difference is less than 3, not that he'd notice), and an Adire Audio Dharman or Rava. Granted it is towards the $2,000 top end but it would be worth it IMO. Enjoy the system when it arrives!

 

[Sam_h]

I just spend about $2k I got the following

Norh 4.0 ceramic video system $850

SVS 20-39 $450

Parts Express plate amp $125

Denon 1802 - $335

This in my opinion is one kick ass system.

To top it off I am recabling everything with

DIY cat5 speaker cables for the fronts and center $40

Some Belden 1585A coax for the interconnects with canare tips $100

 

[Bert D]

My recommendation would be:

A. JBL S-312's from UBID.COM,new,shipped, $ 390.00

( Or S-310's from other E-tailer for about $425 )

B. JBL S-38's surrounds/S center,from many e-tailers

at about $ 450.00 shipped.

C. Harman Kardon AVR 310,new,from UBID.COM,shipped

$ 300. ( Or H/K 220 for about $ 400 )

D. Panasonic rp-56 DVD/CD player,from E-tailers $225

shipped. ( Panny rv-31 to save about $60 )

E. Adire Dharman sub for $590 shipped.( Or Rava, to

save about $ 150. )

I have all the above except the subs and S-312's, ( have the 310's) so i am biased, a "newby", and have not listened to many other options, but this set up is very nice.