After posting many questions here on what to get, I finally broke down and Ebay'd myself a Harman Kardon 630 for $435. Since I spent a bit more on both the TV (Samsung 5667 - $2250) and on the receiver than I had originally planned, I jumped on a set of Onkyo 530 7.1 speaker combos for $220. Now, I had just heard this cheapo combo earlier in the day at circuit city and was impressed with how they sounded, but I knew the receiver was WAY too much for what the speakers could offer.
About 10 minutes after ordering the Onkyo set, I emailed Aperion Audio regarding their A/B stock stuff. I told the sales advisor Caleb that I was interested in their stuff, but that my budget was small and that it'd take me some time to put a full Aperion system together. So after talking to him a bit about what I wanted and expected, he recommended a set of their 533-PT (powered towers) for $838 delivered to my door!
http://cgi.ebay.com/Aperion-533-PT-P...QQcmdZViewItem
These were their factory show room speakers and were in perfect condition! I could not be happier at this point! Roughly $400 under MSRP AND he threw in a 50' spool of monster speaker wire, 4 sets of Dayton banana plugs and their standard speaker care kit. These speakers have piqued my curiousity since I saw that they were the highest rated floor standing speakers that Cnet.com had reviewed and to get them for $419 a piece just amazed me!
So guys, what do you think of my prices?
PS. I'd also HIGHLY recommend contacting Caleb if you're in the market for Aperion stuff. Not only was he a "no hassle" business man, he was VERY excited to work this deal out for me. He's a guy that loves his work and loves to see happy customers. I'm definitely one of them!
Now what do you guys think I should do with the Onkyo 7.1 system? I'm thinking about running the larger front speakers as rears, a set of the smaller rears as middles and using the subwoofer and center channel. Do you think this will take away from the sound quality of the towers?
