Complete Novice - Advice for HT in Basemnt (1 Viewer)

[Timmy_N]

Hi. In process of finishing off my basement and thought that a home theater would be a good addition as well. Any advice? I thought that while the walls were open that I'd have the electrician do the wiring for the speakers as well but this is necessary? I also saw some Bose 800 HT pkg w/DVD at Sam's Club for $1300. Is this a good buy? Any other recommendations in the $1000 price range? And what's the difference between a HT system pkg and just buying separate speaker components?
Any advice/recommendations/suggestions would be appreciated. Contractor is starting in a week so I need to make some decisions quickly....thanks again.
Timmy_N

 

[Bill Catherall]

For the most part, a Home Theater In A Box (HTIB) usually has inferior components. Depending on the manufacturer, you can get some pretty lousy speakers and an underpowered receiver. I would really stay away from Bose. They aren't as good as they are hyped to be and are priced too high for what they are worth. I've heard that Pioneer and others make better HTIBs.
Personally I'd rather put together a system. You can usually buy separate speakers, receiver, DVD player at equal quality or better for the same price, or slightly more. It's a good place to start though, but you'll find yourself wanting to upgrade soon. Also, smaller speakers and a low powered receiver may not sound good if your room is large. How big is it?
If you decide to prewire the walls for sound, be sure to take into consideration future upgrades. You may want more than 5 speakers and a subwoofer in the future. Do you know exactly where your speakers are going to go? If not, pull wire to several locations and leave a lot of wire hanging out of the walls. This will give you room to change things later.
As for recommendations, shop around. Listen and listen some more. If you want answers to your questions about hardware, visit the Hardware section of this forum. Don't expect to get any reliable answers from people at Best Buy. Salesmen in general don't usually have much knowledge of what they are selling, so take what they say with a grain of salt.
EDIT: Oh, and I forgot to mention that if prewiring the walls for future expansion is too expensive then you could put in PVC conduit and you'll be ready for pulling all the wires you need and it won't be as expensive.
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Bill

[Edited last by Bill Catherall on August 07, 2001 at 10:14 AM]

 

[Dan Hitchman]

Please Tim, don't get sucked into the evil world of Dr. Bose and his traveling carnival of crappy speakers at outrageously high prices.
Ask your question in the hardware section and you'll get lots of ideas.
Dan
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[Dan Hitchman]

If you're on a budget, how about some Energy Take 5.2 speakers and a Denon 3801 receiver at a discount (since the new 3802 is out)?
You add two more Energy speakers and BOOM! you have instant 7.1 surround!
Try a Panasonic DVD-RP61, or better yet the more flexible DVD-RP91 (if you can swing it). They have DVD-Audio and progressive scanning too.
Dan
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Stop HDCP and 5C-- Your rights are at risk!