Brand new to home theater (1 Viewer)

[Mark Riley]

Hi, I just signed up for this board yesterday and I'm totally new to this so please excuse my ignorance. I'm only a poor college student so I'm trying to build a nice low end home theater in my fixed up cellar.

I have an old 27 inch TV hooked up with only Coaxial(I know, yuck) but I hooked a VCR to that and that is going to my Sony STR-DE597 receiver as well as KLH 9250B front speakers, a Dreamcast, and an old Fisher Record player/dual tape deck.

I'm slowly trying to build up without replacing stuff yet. Since I only have the 2 front speakers, I figure I'd want to get a subwoofer next. I have no idea what kind or what to spend on one though. I guess I'd want something about the same quality as the 9250B's because if one is better than the other, things wouldn't sound right(too much bass or not enough) right?

 

[Jack Briggs]

Mark, since you're asking for subwoofer help I've moved your post to here, in Speakers/Subs. The Basics area is for general discussion at the beginner level strictly. For advice on what to purchase or for other input, please post in the appropriate hardware-related area. Thank you.

 

[MikeDuke]

Welcome
Since you only have the fronts at this point, I might suggest that you get a center and surrounds first. Then you can add a subwoofer. This way, you will have a much better home theater experience. The only thing missing will be the bass. You also did not say if you had a DVD player. That is a must. I think that a full set up minus a sub will be fine for now. You will be impressed with all of the movement around your room. Now, for possibilities, I would look at Definitive Technology, Plasma Docs look like they have some good stuff at a decent price. They both have speakers that are pretty reasonable. It will sound a little different, but it should still work fine. And besides, if you decide to upgrade your fronts, you will have a fine set up.

My very first setup was 10 year old pioneer stereo speakers and deftech center and polk surrounds with a deftech sub and a yamaha reciever. There was not that much of a problem with my center and Pioneer front speakers.
Good luck

 

[Evan H]

Mark,

I'll second Mike's assessment that the CC and surrounds should be your first step. As far as a budget goes, only you can make that judgement. It should be possible to set up all 3 speakers for less than $300. I can feel your pain, about 6 years ago, I was in your shoes trying to piece together a system on a college budget.

Do you have any spare speakers at all lying around... something from a "boom box" even? If you do then you could use them for the back and just get a CC as your first step. The best thing to do would be to buy your system one piece at a time to maximize your bang for the buck.

 

[Mark Riley]

I'm thinking that going for the other speakers is a good idea. I actually don't have a DVD player right now. The only one in the house now is an Emerson DVD Recorder/VCR but the only thing for my cellar is the VCR unless you count the PS2 I could put down there that plays DVDs. The most important things right now are music and sports, then movies so I want my sound based off of that. The way my room is set up, it fails all the big tests(open room, wide but not deep, concrete floor) but I'm not a huge audiophile yet.

Would a center speaker be the best thing to start off with? If so, I want something to supplement those 9250B floor speakers nicely. I'm not big on online shopping; I'd rather be able to test them out. Hopefully 100 bucks is enough for a decent center speaker since I still have to get the rears, a subwoofer, a DVD Player, and my dream, a megachanger for CD, SACD, and DVD-A if that exists.

 

[MikeDuke]

I would say that the center channel is a good choice. It will help tie what is going on the screen allot. About 75% of all the action and voices come from the center speaker. As far as your PS2, I am not that familiar with it. Unless it can output Dolby Digital and DTS you will be missing out on allot of the experience. If money is an issue, I am sure there are DVD players in the 40-50$ range that you could look into. Places like Best Buy and Circuit City should have some. Sam's club or Walmat as well.