Does HTIB's make anyone else's stomach turn? (1 Viewer)

Now I'm not trying to sound eliteist or along those lines, but I'm getting sick of people asking my help when shopping for a " Home Theater ".

I'm flattered that they would value my opinion that much. But you know your in trouble when a) They don't know a budget b) They found a cool system at Costco.

My blood begins to boil, then I'm suddenly and mysterious busy for 3 weeks.

What is it with people that pop their wad on a $3000 DLP/LCD/LcOS Tv, and then subject themselves to a $200 HTIB?

Am I alone in this? have others experienced?

HTiB's have there place. But it's not next to a $3000 DLP. Give them the HTF web address. These guys will (politely) knock some sense into them.

Thanks for the reply, Gene.

I think I will do that.

The worst is:

"I bought a 60" Sony SXRD, so I need to get a $500 Sony home theater with it."

Ummmm, NO!

I share your pain.

My first system was an Onkyo HTIB. Nice receiver matched to cheap but capable speakers. I no longer own any of the components, but they served their purpose by giving me the "bug". I now own a much nicer system complete with SVS sub.

I think a HTIB has its place, but that's just me.

Well, things like that Onkyo, or the Denon/Boston systems are really not HTiB's, but home theater system that happen to be in one box.

Something like this is just a awful, terrible, piece of:

http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs...00000000005702

Good point Kenneth. I call the Onkyo's "receiver-speaker packages.

Every season has a reason. In other words they serve their purpose just like the Dayton subs. Now I'm sure their are some here that would not be caught dead with a Dayton sub but does that make it a bad sub? Same with the Onkyo HTIB does that make it a bad HTIB? No, so different folks for different folks.

While I agree with the sentiment, consider this.

People have different priorities.
And different tastes.
And different values.

And it IS possible to build a satisfying system at any budget. (to quote Stereophile magazine).

For me, while I'm willing to spend 10k on a plasma, 5k on a 2 channel music system, my HT will be budgeted under 2k. And that's how I see fit in my home.

Likewise, HTIB may find its home for someone looking for hassle free one stop shop for everything.

HTIB does have its place. Its for people that don't know much about home theaters, but would like to enjoy something that sounds better then the tv's internal speakers. Those ones BB/CC had on there after thanksgiving day sale for like $40 sound really good for $40 and are far better then the internal speakers on a tv. But for $500, I can find a much better use of my money.

Actually, it's not much different than a person with a $180 pair of speakers, but willing to drive them with a $1,200 receiver. (I'm actually having this debate with another individual in another forum at the moment.)

HTiB systems can be a good starting base. Many people never realize how much they're going to use their system in the beginning. Some don't - and end up taking it apart. For these people, the $200 investment didn't turn into a huge loss. Others, will realize they desire more and then upgrade. Finally, there's a part of the population that will be completely content if their bass doesn't go below 38Hz and they can have those nice "cute" little speakers on their shelves as opposed to the monsterous Cerwin Vegas they had while in college.

Hey I resemble this remark!!!!!!


Maybe I am forgiven, because I run my $2K AVR as a pre/pro now with all external amps that did not cost that much?


I love my JBL S38's though.

I have so many friends that do the same thing. They'll tell me they want an awesome HT and that they have $3000 to spend and they want this tv for $2700. I'm like, ok, go to BestBuy and shop away.
My favorites are the ones who buy the whole setup and then stick ALL the speakers on top of their tv. Or they'll go buy a giant ass projection tv and then they have to get small tiny speakers 'cause they or their wife doesn't want speakers taking up, or being seen in the room. I don't get that one.
Yeah I know priorities are different for everybody, but I have never had anybody, who has let me help them, say down the road, "Man I wish I would have boughten crappier stuff".

BTW I think the Onkyo HTIB sound great for the money. Seriously!

Sometimes it just might be a question of not knowing any better until you hear something better.

My neighbour was tickled pink with his $500 Sony HTiB until he came over and sampled my system (Rotel with B&W). Let's just say that he's not so happy with his HTiB now and I've probably ruined his current TV/Movie watching experience until he upgrades.

On that note, I did myself start of with a Yamaha HTiB that I was quite happy with for 2.5 years. On the other hand, it wasn't the bottom of the line one and did have a real receiver (RXV-540) and decent speakers. Only the sub really sucked. Only hanging out here made me wish to upgrade and see/hear every little fault with my setup.

HTF has done to me what I just did to my neighbour. However, I will still recommend higher end HTiB's to people who wish to get started and see what Home Theater is all about. Spending $5k right off the bat (or even $2k) can be a gamble if you don't get hooked into it. However, I will always advise people to stay away from smaller, cheaper HTiB's unless for a bedroom.

JB

In response to Kenneth's email regarding panasonic Ht930...
in my opinion that is rocking system as far as surround sound and theatre like experiance is concerned.

Over the last one month - I have bought several systems under $1000 - this is my first Home theatre - so didnt want to go broke! All I want is a decent surround sound effect for DVD movies.

I first bought bose 321 system for 950 $- but thats not really surround - it has a nice clarity but doesnt give suround effect.

I returned bose and then i went for onkyo 580, and then 680 and then yamaha etc - I had heard a lot of good things about these systems but for some reason these dont seem to be give the correct surround sound effect - these seem to be rather catered for simple music CDs. Let me explain.
1) there is a scene in Matrix reloaded, in Neos dream,, when Trinity is chased by Agent Smith. Trinity jumping off the building and shooting at agent Smith. With Onkyos and yamaha, you dont really feel the bullets going at different angles. Whereas in panasonic 930 , it was just tremendous to actually feel the sound of teh bullets as the trajectory changes.
2) There are otehr music CDs I had where the voice should come from rear left followed by rear right. The onkyos and yamahas seem to send that sound from both the rear speakers etc.
I have tried all the modes, I even put monster cables but the decoding of the rear channel,s itself was really faulty or incorrect in my opinion.


- Then I stumbled on under $400 panasonic 930. FIrts thing is its Bass is 230 watts which was amazing and instantly gave a home theatre effect. I did not understand the importance of bass until I played panasonic. I am not into rap music much - and I thought Bass was meant only for that kind of music. But boy was I wrong.
The wattage on onkyos and yamaha bass was lower than yamaha - that could be a reason.

But for $400 i get a HTB, which is doing better than 500 - 600$ AVR set , and better than Bose 321.

The problem with panasonic - and the reason I struggled to find a system symilar in AVR which costs per my budget - it doesnt have digital inputs. Plus the connections are kinda proprietary so if the DVD player goes bad, I would have to pretty much throw the whole system out.

But I couldnt find a good enough AVR for a substitute to the HT930.

Has anybody else felt this!

I asked teh tech guy and he admitted and agreed with my month long experiment filled analysis - that panasonic was one of the better HTB and to get surround sound effect, the panasonic would be better than the onkyos and yamahas. The only AVR setup tha tcomes close to what yamaha sounds like was a harmon Kardon system and I will have to pay 1600$.

see I have a normal 300$ TV and I dont want to spend thousands on a Home theatre - I would spend more on both if I could because we play a lot of movies , a lot of songs etc.

Just want to know what is the opinion of the ppl on this forum - Am i missing something here - because I thought HTBs primary purpose is the surrouns sound effect - the dolbys , DTS etc - if these onkyos and yamahas arent meant for that - why do ppl even discuss these.

I think the HTiB has their place. They make great small room set ups for kids or even for video games. They also make for a decent bedroom system.

My problem is they should be priced accordingly. The prices they put on most are just silly for what you get. They should charge for the receiver/dvd player and throw the speakers in for free! I wouldn't feel right about paying any more than $200-300 bucks on a HTiB system.

I have no idea what you mean...

The Onkyo systems, give you real surround. DTS and DD...

I don't think you had your DVD player setup correctly.


I don't know what to make of your experience. I have help install several Onkyo systems.

I agree with John S.

The Onkyo's I have heard, sounded great.

"I have no idea what you mean...

The Onkyo systems, give you real surround. DTS and DD...

I don't think you had your DVD player setup correctly."

Not sure about the other HTIB that were mentioned but with the Onkyo you can keep the reciever and upgrade speakers for a better sound. So it does not have the built in obsolesence of the others.

Most Onkyo systems are pretty good for what they are, but the 580 isn't. Very week receiver by Onkyo standards, cheap plastic speakers and a passive sub make this one to avoid. Especially at $299. The 680 is pretty much the same except it has a powered sub. Still, I wouldn't recommend anything less than the 780. The 500-510-520 of a few years ago were very good entry level systems but Onkyo has really dumbed-down their bottom end. Sorry for being blunt but go to CC and compare the 780 to the 580. Like night and day.