new member looking for HT advice! (1 Viewer)

[audiodunce]

Hello,

I’m a newbie and would appreciate some good advice. I’m trying to make the most of the following scenario.

I recently moved to a duplex apt. and would like to get surround sound for my main entertainment area in a small basement room that’s 9 feet x 15ft with a 7ft ceiling. I’m putting a flat screen on a wall facing the shorter dimension so viewers will be about 8-9 feet from the screen.

I currently have a Technics SA-DX930 receiver and no speakers. My 'wife-approved' budget for right now is $500 although I might be able to leverage a bit more with a compelling argument.

Should I slowly build a system and start by investing in a couple nice speakers like the two fronts and maybe a sub? Is that possible for around $500? If so, does anyone have good suggestions? I’d need speakers/sub that work well with my current Technics receiver (100 watts x 5 channels) and would also work well with a new receiver/system when I upgrade in a year or two.

My other option is to spend the money on an HTIB like the Onkyo TX-SR605 system that gets good reviews. This might work well for me cause I don’t need overwhelming power for my small space and I can’t picture spending more than 2-3 thousand total on a system over the next few years. I haven’t had any surround sound ever, so maybe I’ll appreciate an inexpensive HTIB enough as is.

The only other factor in all this is that I play almost all my media - music and movies - off my laptop. In my dream world, I would be able to listen to music from either floor of my home and watch movies downstairs using 1 receiver. Is there something on the market that uses bluetooth to make this happen? I see a Sony HTIB that has some Bluetooth capability, but it gets bad reviews and I don’t see much else out there. If wireless isn't an option, is it possible to have a system where I could wire another two speakers and another sub upstairs all from 1 receiver? Is my current receiver capable of running 5.1 surround downstairs and another set of speakers/sub upstairs? There have been times in the past when it clicks off when i have the volume up high with just two large stereo speakers attached. If not, would the Onkyo receiver be capable of doing this?

Thanks in advance to anyone who has some time to help me out - I really appreciate it.

 

[Robert_J]

Try ED's HT package builder. Get the bookshelves with the smaller sub. It was $531 shipped. Later get a set of towers with a matching center channel and move the bookshelf speakers to the surrounds.

You want a multi-zone receiver. You should also look into the Popcorn Hour Media Tank. It's a media server that you can put a drive in, network or both. There are dozens on the market but that's the latest I've read about.

-Robert

 

[audiodunce]

Hey Robert. This sounds great - I wasn't expecting to find such an easy answer that I could actually afford.

Thanks again for the advice.