First, a $1500 system. *Then* a talk about digital amps. (1 Viewer)

[Mikey*Z]

Ok, so I'm kinda new to home theater. I have a pretty basic knowledge of speaker terminology and other things. I'm going to buy a home theater, but I really don't know which brands are the best. I'm looking to spend about $1500 Canadian, not much more. And I've got my basement wired up for 6.1 so that would be pretty good too. Thanks.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Mikey, if you want our people to put together your system for you, ask it here. The Basics area is for general discussion at the beginner level. Thank you.

 

[Jeremy Swenson]

including the tv or just the rest of it?

 

[EricRWem]

Whew. $1500 CDN?! That's a big challenge you've put forth, my friend.

What's an Onkyo HTIB 870 or 877 cost out there? How about the 770 or 777? 670 or 677?

 

[Ian-Fl]

I'd stick to Cdn. speakers. There's Fluance.com or Athena speakers that will give you good value. I found online speakers gave me the best bang for the buck. http://www.ecoustics.com/ was a good place to get consumer opinions from.
There's the Dayton sub from parts express going for $100 US.http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshow...=300-632&DID=7
Do a search here you'll see a lot of people are happy with that sub.
I had my receiver shipped from the states because it was cheaper at the time. There's ecost.com etronics.com or jandr.com that will ship to Canada.
I needed warranty repair after a year on my Harman Kardon and etronics were great at repairing it. Onkyo is another good receiver and I've heard the new Yamahas are nice.

 

[matt-f]

You gotta about spend a lot more than that to get a good HT system.

A Harman Kardon AVR 630 reciever is $1000+ CDN already.

 

[Rob Silver]

Well, you can buy a HTIB from Good Guys, Circuit City, Best Buy, etc, and a 32" flat screen CRT and call it a day. At $1500, you ain't gonna get any killer system like the boys around here.

me/ checks sig... damn, I could've bought a killer HT w/ that kinda money.

 

[John Garcia]

Not supposed to list your gear in your sig on this forum...

Loving my slim PS2 too. DAMN that thing is tiny.

I would also consider used gear for a budget like that; it takes longer and is a little more risky, but you can end up with a much better system for the $$.

For the money, the Onkyo systems are not bad at all.

 

[Rob Silver]

OT: Hmmm... I read the 15 forum rules and no where does it say it's not allowed. I don't mean to brag, but I'll move it to my profile.

 

[John Garcia]

That might be because signatures have their own little section (#6):

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...ge=1#signature

 

[Rob Silver]

I see. Ok, I'll just put the stuff in a JPEG.

 

[DevinJC]

Panasonic xr25 reciever ~$250
paradigm atoms 2 pair ~$400
PE dayton sub ~$125

$775 american... is that close?

Killer? no. Better than a HTIB, ya.

Not a bad way to enter the HT world. No idea about CDN prices, maybe squeeze Titans in instead of Atoms. Or another set of Atoms for CC and RC.

*note, prices sort of pulled out of the air here.

 

[NickSo]

Au contraire:
Prices in canadian dollars before taxes, assuming you have a display and DVD player...

Panasonic XR25 - London Drugs (on sale for limited time)= $200
Paradigm atoms x 4 = $800
Paradigm CC-170 = $300 (?)
= $1300
+ $200 sub

= a VERY decent system...

edited: i cant add!! Now i can...

 

[DevinJC]

what nick said.

 

[matt-f]

Good Guys don't exist in Canada BTW!!

Nick, it depends, if you go to FS and get a HK 630 reciever, it's going to throw things off already. Add in some Polks too!

 

[AzeemE]

Hey Mikey,
If you're located within the GTA, you may want to take a look at our website because we're offering free local pickup on Fluance speaker orders until December 29th, 2004.

 

[NickSo]

Eh, seeing the reviews for the panny digital amps, i think the $200 XR25 will keep up with the H/K 630. I think the paradigms from a smaller dealer would be a better deal than at big-box FutureShop for polks.

 

[matt-f]

I looked at the specs but the XR25 it doesn't mention about having dedicated power capacitors nor dedicated DACs(1 per channel) which the HK 630 does which will prove a significant advantage when it comes to sound performance.

 

[FeisalK]

matt, what good is the 630 if it's out of budget? the panasonic on the other hand... (see here)

Nick - thats an awesome price for the XR25. wonder if they ship to Singapore...

 

[matt-f]

FeisalK

What you buy is what you get - besides it's a 7.1 reciever.

Budget isn't so much a concern since one can save to expand their budget which can be done. I've done it myself to get what I have currently and the same with others.