Can I do better than this ? (1 Viewer)

[Steve Larson]

I have decided to put together my HT system. The push over the edge came when I blew up my left speaker during the battle scene in Star Wars: The Phantom menace. I've read the basics, and understand what the different stuff does, but not what's actually important. So, I started looking at systems from the various $350 HTIB units to a THX receiver and Polk Audio speaker set @ $1600+. Currently I'm looking at three options.
1-Pioneer HTP-720DV ($475) good price but doesn't have dual front center speaker setup and I'm not sure if the sub will be able to handle the bass. I live in a house and like to hear and feel the dinosaurs, explosions, etc.
2-The same system but find a different sub.
3-Pioneer VSX-D811S receiver and Infinity HTS-20 speaker set. ($800 for both) a little pricey, but the sub is a 12" 150 Watt sub.
My question is not which one I should choose, but rather, are there better choices for the same price, or equal setup for a lower price?

 

[Ottis Fletcher]

I have the VSX-D811S HTIB, the receiver is good, since Im in school right now and only work a few days a week I didnt have the money to build my dream theater. I think the its really good for the price, tons of inputs, a bunch of user options, there are connections to hook up pre-amps to every channel, and it has 7.1 Dolby Digial EX and DTS ES. So when DVDs are starting to be encoded with with 7.1 mixes you wont be left out. The bass handles very well, I have to turn it down for many movies. I found the whole set up on www.bhphotovideo.com through www.pricegrabber.com for $543 shipped, thats all most half of what it cost on www.pioneerelectronics.com. I really cant comment on the other receivers because I havent heard them, the last one I had was a Sony DAV-S500 Dream Theater, I got my mom Sony DAV-C500 Dream Theater for Christmas and the Pioneer is 10 times better then those two. If you have any other questions about the Pioneer Ill get back to you after I get home from work.

 

[AaronJB]

Pioneer VSX-811 ($399) or Panasonic SAHE200 (349 @ jandr.com I think). The SAHE200 for $349 @ J and R is a pretty incredible deal. Makes me wish I hadn't paid $269 for the SAHE100, because I'd have certainly paid the extra $80 for the 200. I love (and I mean love - I think it's a terrific piece of equipment for the price) my 100, but the 200 has more power.

The Onkyo SKSHT-500 speaker set is $299 at Circuit City (according to the website, it's $269 on sale now). It comes with a 150-watt downward-firing subwoofer that costs $150 on its own.

 

[JeremyFr]

7.1 is currently a manufacture feature only not a set format by either dolby or dts. in all honesty they'll probably stay at 6.1 for quite a while. 7.1 is like PL II or NEO 6 is just the DSP set in the reciever adding another channel. So as you say you wont get left out unfortunately you would since it cant decode something that hasn't even been officially made by either company let alone any equipment built to actually decode such a format.

 

[AaronJB]

I don't know about 7.1 (I do know there are no 7.1 soundtracks, but I just haven't experienced 7.1 vs 6.1), but the system that I recently put together has 6.1 and personally, I wouldn't recommend going with a 5.1 system, unless the person has a space issue on the back wall. There are a few DTS-ES Discrete 6.1 titles - "The Haunting" and "Lord of the Rings:EE" for example - that sound truly amazing. There's several DTS-ES Discrete titles now (although mostly from New Line) and a number of DTS-ES Matrix titles ("Cast Away", "Jurassic Park III") You can also process a matrix back surround from any 5.1 soundtrack, anyways (although, of course, how effective this will be depends on the material.)

 

[GregoryW]

I'm going to back AaronJB on the Onkyo SKS-HT500's. I demo'd them and was impressed! My recommendation is to go to ShopOnkyo.com and register. After registering go to the product page for the SKS-HT500's and you will now see them for $255 (since you're a member). It gets better. Add them to your cart and watch the price drop $10 (because you registered). The icing on the cake is that there is no shipping or taxes. That's right, delivered to your door for just $245. Ok, I'm starting to sound like a frick'n commercial. Sorry, but it's a heck of a deal! I will receive mine this week.

As ArronJB already knows, I also went for the Panasonic SA-HE100. That’s also arriving this week. I got it for $255 at BestPriceAudioVideo.com shipped. They still might have a few in stock.

 

[Steve Larson]

Ok, now I need to check out the Panasonic receiver. Other than the headphone output, any other reason to pick it over the Pioneer? The Onkyo appears to only have an 8" sub. I'll have to see if they have a 12" sub option. Thanx

 

[GregoryW]

The Panasonic seems to have a higher quality amp. Some have complained about the music quality through the Pioneer. Keep in mind that the Pioneer was also reviewed along side the Panasonic at Consumer Reports. Consumer Reports rated it as the top dog and Sound and Vision mag reviewed it among their top 5 receivers. See article. Granted the Pioneer has 5-way binding posts. If your're using 12,14 or 16 gauge speaker wire this shouldn't make a difference performance wise.

As for the Onkyo sub. Don't be turned off by an 8"sub. Keep in mind it fires downward. I have heard great things about it's power. You also want the sub to be accurate and not just boomy and muddy sounding. Remember, if worse comes to worse you can upgrade the sub later if windows aren't breaking to your likeness.