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Newbie looking for advice

#1
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11/5/09 at 12:39pm
  • Joined: November 2009
  • Post Count: 2
I am relative newbie in the Home Theater field, so I was hoping to get some advice.  I just got a really nice plasma (Panasonic TC-P50G15) and will soon be getting a blue ray player.  I am looking for a relatively inexpensive speaker / receiver combo.  I currently live in a small apartment, so a full surround system is out of the question now. 

I was hoping to get a receiver and a 2.1 or 3.1 speaker system (small speakers for my small apartment) and to keep the costs 1t $500 or less.  I know this is really cheap, but I think I should be be able to find something in this range.  

Thanks for your help.

Jake
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#2
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11/5/09 at 1:05pm
  • Joined: May 2002
  • Post Count: 297

One option that I only recently became aware of that might work well in your situation is this Sound Bar system from Sony.  The cool thing about this, is that the subwoofer works much like an A/V receiver - it does video switching and analog to digital conversion of all sources to HDMI.  This way, you can hook up your Blu-Ray, HD Cable/Satellite, game system(s), etc. and still be covered.

A drawback to this system is that should you decide to go full surround sound at some point in the future, you won't be able to make use of any of the parts of this system - it would at best be relegated to a bedroom or other smaller system, and you'd have to start from the ground up for true surround sound.

On the other hand, for $500, getting an A/V receiver that is at least moderately "future-proof" as well as even a 2.1 speaker system would be quite a challenge.

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#3
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11/5/09 at 5:11pm
  • Joined: August 2003
  • Location: SF Bay Area
  • Post Count: 2,353

It would be difficult to put together a receiver plus 2.1 speaker package for $500 but it can be done. Here's an example: A Pioneer-819, receiver ($265 from J&R) + Dayton-ES8, subwoofer  ($99 from PartsExpress) and Energy-C50's, speakers ($89 fron Crutchfield). Add shipping and you're right around $500. Maybe a bit more  .

"Everyday room": Mitsubishi 52631 RPTV, H/K 520, H/K dvd-5, H/K 8380, H/K CDR 20, OPPO BDP-83 BluRay player, Dish-HD, Infinity Beta 20's-C250-OWS1's, Dayton HSU10.
"Movie/Music room": Toshiba 65HM167 RPTV, Pioneer Elite 59txi, Elite DV59avi, Elite CD-59, Pioneer PD-51FD BR, Dish-DVR, Swan Diva...
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