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Help with a home theater system, please. :)

post #1 of 6
6/10/11 at 1:25pm
Thread Starter 

Hi all,

We use our rec-room as our gaming/movie room. The dimensions are 14ftx18ft with a 7ft ceiling(split-level house). We are not audiophiles by any means. I play my Xbox 360 a lot, we watch movies and TV down there. Right now I have a Panny 53" 480p/1080i rear projection TV and is soon to be replaced with either a Panny plasma 50-58" 1080p or a LG LED 50-58" 1080p and a BR player. Right now I have a Harmon Karden receiver and a pair of old tower speakers that I'm running in stereo mode (I know, it's sad)!

 

Due to the short ceiling and relatively small room, since seating is about 8ft from the TV...we really don't have to have a balls-to-the-wall home theater. I think a good HTIB would be fine for this room, and maybe swap the typical 100w powered subwoofer for something like a 250-300watt powered unit. Which system/s do you all think would be a good match for this package? Running wiring to the rear speakers doesn't bother me at all, so I don't think I'd really want wireless rear speakers, in case anyone was wondering...some people don't want bothered with the rear speaker wiring.

 

I have AT&T U-VERSE with high definition. I would like to run the U-VERSE receiver, xbox 360 and maybe a PS3 with HDMI to the receiver and then HDMI from the receiver to the TV. We also would like to be able to use an IPOD with the home theater. What are your suggestions?

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post #2 of 6
6/10/11 at 1:36pm

Do you have a budget for speakers, receiver, sub?  This might help in getting you some recommendations that are good bang per buck within your budget.

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post #3 of 6
6/10/11 at 1:58pm
Thread Starter 

I'm thinking $500-$750 for the HTIB and then $200-$400 for the sub

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post #4 of 6
6/10/11 at 2:06pm

Let me start with balls to the walls HT is good, HTiB is not so good. 50-58 Panasonic Plasma is good, the bigger the better. My advice is to get an inexpensive receiver and build your speakers system over time and it will be better than any HTiB.

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post #5 of 6
6/10/11 at 2:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by 99monguse View Post

I'm thinking $500-$750 for the HTIB and then $200-$400 for the sub


Get an inexpensive receiver (upgrade over time), and maybe start with something like this:  http://www.hometheaterforum.com/forum/thread/312027/ascend-cbm-170-4-and-cmt-340-1 for speakers.   I have no relationship to this seller, but these Ascend Acoustics speakers are really good.  You'd probably be satisfied with them for a long time.  MUCH better than most HTiB you're going to see.

 

So if you spent $500-ish on these (or something like these), $200 on a receiver with HDMI inputs, and $50 on misc cables from http://www.monoprice.com, you're in pretty good shape.  Add the best sub in your prices range, and voila!

 

For subs, look at SVS, HSU, or Elemental Designs to see what is in your pricerange.  These places make very good stuff for reasonable pricess and will rock the socks off of any comparable HTiB product.

 

All the best,

 

John
 

 

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post #6 of 6
6/10/11 at 2:24pm

$1150 for a receiver and surround mmmm. Denon AVR 1312 $250, Energy Take Classics $400-600, NHT Super Zero surround set up $800,and that is just the beginning I am sure there will be a lot of  opinions on this subject. let the fun begin

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