$1500 to spend, but hopelessly lost (1 Viewer)

[Pat_C]

I'm looking for a HT system, which will primarily be used to watch movies. I've tried out some HTIBs, and found some I liked and some I don't. For istance, the Nakamichi 8.5 system sounded very good to me, but it was considerably more than what I have in my budget. I'm all for going the component route, but I have no idea where to begin.

Can anyone give me any advice/suggestions? If anyone has the time to suggest an entire set of components in my budget, I'd greatly appreciate it.

 

[JohnPop]

What do you need?

Receiver and the usual five speakers?

Sub?

 

[Pat_C]

Receiver, five speakers, and a dvd player.

 

[ChrisLazarko]

For a reciever I would recommend the Harman/Kardon AVR-125 at www.soundcity.com It runs $200 and is a great entry-level reciever.

For 5 speakers, considering your budget I would look at something more towards a satellite system, as fitting a more complexspeaker/subwoofer system within $1000 can be difficult. For some good speakers I would recommend this:

Klipsch Quintets
Athena Micro
JBL NSP1's

Those are the three best out there that I would recommend and they are all going to run you around $350-$400, minus the subwoofer.

Now for subwoofer. I would say spend about $300 at least on a nice one. I would shop around though, because subwoofers are hard to figure out what is good. SVS offers nice subwoofers but I believe there lowest starts at $549, which is a steal for the performance they give you.

Search around for companies...

Good luck.

 

[JohnPop]

I have about the same budget as you...

For starters, Look at the Wharfedale Diamond stuff.
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/buy-whar...amond-speaker/

About 600 I believe for the 5 speakers (2 8.1 bookshelve, 2 surround, 1 center) 100 more if you want the 8.2 bookshelve.

I have no clue about a nice sub...

I may go with a 5.1 Onyko receiver.

Also looking at Polk, Infinity, Paradigm, or Klipsch in the range of 800-1000 dollars. If the Wharfedales end up sounding great compared to those, I will get them.

I have yet to audition though, will probaly go on Sunday.

 

[Jack Briggs]

People, the Basics area is not where you discuss specific recommendations about specific receivers. This section is. Basics is for those who need to know what a receiver is in the first place, among other things. Please read the descriptive blurbs for each section and post appropriately. Thanks.

 

[Rich Wenzel]

first, i would like to make one recommendation, and thats to not go 5.1 right off the bat...just get a good pair of fronts and build the rest over time...if you dont want to do that...i would go as follows

dvd onkyo 301 - $140
receiver http://ww1.onecall.com/PID_20408.htm $150
speakers NHT SB-2 x 2 (for fronts and rears) and SC1 center, should be able to find a place to do that for $1000 or so, try jandr.com

thats $1300, the rest you can use for cables and save up for a sub later...

if you can hold off and get 2 channel, I would look at the NHT ST-4, can get them under $1000 and they have a built in sub in effect...

Rich

 

[Rich Wenzel]

oh you can try this place for NHT's as well:

http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fs_s...Ast26AAAAAAnht]http://show.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/shm...6AAAAAAnht[/url]

or this place, actually has the set im recommending in a package:

http://show.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/shm...Ast26AAAAAAnht

 

[Garrett Lundy]

4 Paradigm Atoms - >$378
Paradigm cc-170 center - >$199
Onkyo TX-SR501 6.1 reciever - $299
SVS PCi20-39 subwoofer - $599
Cheapie Apex - $25

In the future... pick up a sixth back speaker and your all set for the future.

 

[gregD]

Try to get as nice a speaker system as you can... at $1500, go for $1000 in speakers (a sub is a must!), $500 in receiver + DVD.

Give your local retailers a look if only to do some trial auditioning... but $1500 might get you a little more online.

Maybe Rocket ELT speakers: http://www.av123.com ... plus an entry-level receiver from hifi.com or AC4L... you should be able to find a serviceable DVD player anywhere for $80... at this level, don't hesitate to seek bargains on demo or discontinued receivers and DVDs from local retailers.

Or... try AC4L for a B-stock sat/sub speaker system (AR, Canton, Mordaunt Short), and refurbished Marantz receivers and DVDs: http://www.accessories4less.com

Or... for new and very decent Cambridge SoundWorks speaker systems that come with receivers, try: http://www.hifi.com

 

[BobAlbano]

I would recommend the ELT bundle package that has the ELT 5.1 system with a Denon 1804 receiver that www.av123.com is selling for $1250.00. I have the ELT package at my house now and I haven't hear any HTIB that can compete with the finish and sound quality of this speaker package. As far as a DVD player I would go with the Sony NS-755 DVD/SACD player. You should be able to pick this up online for about $175.00...Good luck with your decision!

 

[JohnPop]

Where is it with the denon receiver?

 

[JohnPop]

doh

http://forum.av123.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1097

 

[Pablo Abularach]

Pat,

Receiver, five speakers, and a dvd player.

JBL is a great entry level brand, you can build up a killer system with Studio series, they are very good speakers for HT, their bookshelfs go very low. The studio series is being replace with a new series next year, you can find very good deals. My personal suggestion would be to check,

JBL S26 $150 X 2
JBL S CENTER $150
SVS PB1-ISD $599 or SVS 25-31PCi $549
Pioneer VSX-D912K A/V Receiver $299
Sony DVP-NC685V 5-Disc DVD/CD/SACD Changer $205 or Sony DVP-NC665P/B Progressive Scan 5-Disc DVD/CD Changer $147

This more or less land on the $1500 budget, and would be a great setup for movies, I have the S26s with S center and SVS 25-31PCi and for the money you can beat it. The pioneer is a great value reciever for the money and does a great job in HT (in music isnt that great, but as you said it will be mainly used in HT, and at that price is great option). I have the 655 DVD changer and works very good, easy to setup, I just wish 685 were available when I bought I could have added SACD player for little.

Another suggestion that I want to give you is that if you can stetch you budget a little, the JBL S38 $250 is a superb speaker, goes lower and its the best bookshelf I have heard in this price range, as well as the S26 you cant beat it for $150, both very good speakers for the money.

Good luck with you setup,
Pablo

 

[Victor Chan]

Pat_C,

HTIB is typically not the best bang for the buck because they typically do not have the best components for the price and whatever components that they do include are too lacking in connectivity to enable you to use some parts of the system while upgrading other parts.

This is what I feel to be the best system that can be acquired for around $1500:

Ascend Acoustics CBM-170s for the front 3 speakers, HTM-200 for the surrounds ($698 + shipping).

http://ascendacoustics.com/Main/HT/2000mtx.asp

The CBM-170s are virtually peerless in their price range and are very good speakers regardless of price. When I compared them to other speakers, did not find a single pair for under $1000 that I preferred over them. The rave reviews that they have garnered from both professional as well as anecdotal reviews I think speak of how good these speakers really are... and what a relative bargain they are in the audiophile world.

http://www.goodsound.com/equipment.shtml
http://ascendacoustics.com/Main/Revi...dReprint.2.pdf
http://ascendacoustics.com/Main/Revi...endreprint.pdf
http://www.audioreview.com/Main+Spea...8_1594crx.aspx
http://hometheaterforum.com/htforum/...hreadid=168984

For a complimenting subwoofer, I would pick the newly released Hsu Research STF-2 ($399), which is the non-tunable and thus cheaper version of the award winning Hsu VTF-2. Same performance as the VTF-2 for $100 less.

http://www.hsustore.com/stf2.html

I don't think you will find a better combination of bass extension and accurate bass reproduction anywhere near the price.

http://www.liquidtheater.com/editorials/89
Link Removed
http://www.goodsound.com/equipment/hsu_vtf2.htm
http://audioreview.com/Subwoofers/HS...0_2741crx.aspx

For receivers, you have a lot of choices in this area, but 3 of the ones that fit within the budget and come highly recommended include:

Pioneer VSX-D712K ($200)
http://www.etronics.com/product.asp?...2k&svbname=425

Harmon/Kardon AVR-125 ($180 refurbished)
http://www.ecost.com/ecost/shop/deta...=email,ECOSTPG
http://ecoustics-cnet.com.com/4505-6...ecoustics-cnet

Onkyo TX-SR501 ($185 refurbished)
http://www.ecost.com/ecost/shop/deta...ail,ewbfroogle
http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/art...ber=4&preview=
http://ecoustics-cnet.com.com/4505-6...ecoustics-cnet

Refurbished electronics might seem sketchy, but the ones above are actually factory refurbished and this is one way to get very good components at $100s off the usual market rate for the products.

For a good DVD player, I think one would be hard-pressed to find a better bargain than the Pioneer DV-563A, which would enable you to play CDs, DVDs, SACDs, and DVD-A... all for around $150.

http://www.etronics.com/product.asp?...3a&svbname=403
http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/art...ber=1&preview=
http://www.hometheaterspot.com/html/...iew.php?rev=21
http://ecoustics-cnet.com.com/4505-6...ecoustics-cnet

This is a system that I think you would have to spend considerably more in order to get noticeable improvement on and is about as future proof as you can expect: A receiver with all the latest functionalites, a DVD player that can play every single format thus far devised, and a speaker and sub combo that blows away anything that is remotely in their price range.

Hope this helps,
Victor

 

[Pat_C]

Thanks for all of your input/advice. I truly appreciate it.