help with receiver/speaker selection requested (1 Viewer)

[binocularfight]

hey everyone! i'm brand new to these forums, so if i make a faux pas, i apologize in advance. thanks so much ahead of time for reading this and for your help.

i'm fairly new to home theater stuff. i've had a projector for about three years, but i've only been using a pair of rca wireless speakers for sound. i'm moving up to the world of owning a receiver, and i know very little about it. i'm trying to figure out what receiver and speakers to purchase. here's what i require:

- i don't have a tv or cable (you're probably tempted to tell me i'm a total weirdo right now. i've heard it all before, but feel free to try to come up with something new), so i don't need to input that.
- i need to input my dvd player (probably going to purchase a new one with hdmi soon, but current player uses s-video for video and rca cables for audio) and my vcr (uses rca cables)
- i'd like to be able to hook up my record player and ipod
- i'd like for it to have a radio, and built in tuner presets would be nice (only need about 10, but 20 would be great)
- i'd love for the speakers to be wireless because i'm too lazy to wire them in my house (but if price is too high, i'm willing to go wired)
- i'd like to spend less than $600 total on the package of receiver and speakers (and less than that would be way better).
- the projector i use is several years old and is a sharp notevision pg-b10s (i'm thinking of upgrading to a new projector soon, though, and i'll probably post about that in a different section).

a note on quality - i'm not interested in the cheapest of the cheap, but i don't need top of the line, either. i've been very satisfied with my crappy wireless speakers so far, but the constant switching of cables to choose which sound input i'm using is driving me crazy, hence my need for a receiver. so basically, i'm interested in a receiver and speakers that will produce a good sound quality, but nothing top of the line professional. and i don't care if it's 5.1, 6.1 or 7.1, either. it almost seems like it would be easier (and certainly cheaper) to go with a 5.1 system.

so what do you think? any advice you could give me on receivers and/or speakers is very appreciated. thanks so much for your time and take care!

 

[binocularfight]

also, i forgot to mention that i'm totally fine with used or refurbished equipment. thanks again for your help!

 

[Bluzman]

Trying to get the whole enchilada (receiver, 5 speakers and a subwoofer) for $600 or less is a toughy. A couple of options come to mind. One is a Home Theater In a Box which includes everything. The other is dialing back the initial speaker set up to 2.1 or 3.1 and going with a refurb receiver. My personal preference is the latter approach, particularly since you've already been living without a 5.1 set up. Here's an example of what you might do today. It's only an example and others will no doubt chime in with their ideas.

With a little diligence, a refurb Onkyo TX-SR505 can typically be had for about $200 at shoponkyo.com (Shop Onkyo).

You can go to Frys on line and get a pair of Polk Audio R150 (FRYS.com*|*POLK AUDIO) and a CSR (FRYS.com*|*POLK AUDIO) to use as L/C/R for about $150 shipped.

Finally, go to Vanns.com and pick up a nice Velodyne 10" VX-10 subwoofer (Vanns.com: Velodyne VX10 10" Class A/B Subwoofer, Video Gray (VX-10) Features) for About $170 shipped.

This actually gives you a 3.1 system with a receiver that you can grow to 7.1 by adding better speakers over time...and you've got some cash left for cabling.