Set up Home Theater with AV Receiver or just with a HTIB (1 Viewer)

Hello,I am trying to make a difficult decision to set up my home theater.Should I buy a AV receiver or should I just buy a HTIB?I want to have a good home theater system, but the simplicity of a HTIB is tempting and I have the feeling that the sound quality may be good enough for me.The two options I have been looking at are:Option 1 - AV Receiver: Sony STR-DN1050 with Bose 6 Acousticmass speakersorOption 2 - HTIB: Sony BDV-N7200WIf I go with the AV Receiver I would then look into something else to have the full system, potentially a HTPC.What would you guys recommend?Thanks,Javier.

First, do yourself a favor and research speakers. Bose is not a brand anyone should consider (search for the many reasons why)...

I will also say that while Sony is not as bad as Bose, there are many better AVR choices on the market for similar prices (Onkyo, Denon, Yamaha, etc.).

Next, a HTiB is not "easier" than an AVR with separate speakers. It is just an AVR and speakers that ship in the same box. To keep the price down they generally compromise on both the AVR and the speakers.

What is your budget? Do you have to use the tiny Bose like speakers or would regular sized bookshelf speakers work for you?

You should get an AVR and speakers over any HTiB set. The Bose speaker set will probably not get many votes from the users on here. The way I see it you have a few options:

[*]Get a Prepack system
[*]Get an AVR and a packaged speaker set
[*]Get an AVR and separate speakers to make a 5.1/7.1
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Now you have to ask yourself what is my budget? What setup am I going for 5.1/7.1? What is the size of my room? What features am I looking for in my AVR (network integration, bluetooth, wifi, two zone, ect.)?

Ok, no Bose. I will do better research for speakers. I prefer them to be somehow small for the higher WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor) but they do not need to be tiny.The features I am looking for are 5.1, bluethooth, LAN/Wifi, NFC, airPlay, Spotify Connect and a good user interface for on screen menus and such. 6 HDMI inputs will be more than enough for me. Nice to have, but not mandatory, would be a Zone 2 and 7.1, but I may not even use it at first.My budget is $1,000 or so.I am considering a HTiB because it comes with DVD and CD player, and they are usually smaller (higher WAF again). However, I see disadvantages in sound quality and upgradability.Thanks for the earlier responses, I think I am leaning towards the AVR, I just need to finally convince myself.Javier.

So from what you've provided you're going to need something like this Denon S700w ($450 or get the refurb for $300) and some speakers. What speakers you get seems to be greatly influenced by the WAF score so good luck on picking some out. If I were you I would focus on satellite based speaker sets as they seem to be what you're going to need to get the project approved. Here are some options to look over.

If you aren't opposed to refurb then I would look a these sets:

[*]BA SX 5.1 $250 about as small as you're going to get.
[*]KEF Kht1005 $400
[*]Focal Sib and Cub3 $500
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If you want new I would look at these as examples:

[*]DT ProCinema 400 $450
[*]DT ProCinema 60 $500
[*]Energy Take 5 Classic $300
[*]Polk TL1600 $400
[*]Polk TL1900 $300
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