How did I do? (1 Viewer)

[DanC]

After having everything stolen from my house last week, my insurance check is finally here (thank God). I went out to my local CC and this is what I've decided on:
Main speakers - Polk RT600
Center speaker - Polk CS245I
Subwoofer - Polk PSW350I (100w)
Receiver - Onkyo TXDS 595
DVD Player - Panasonic RV31
So how did I do? Thanks in advance for any comments.

 

[BryanZ]

Okay. You asked for it.

Panasonic RV-31K - $200 most everywhere. Good deal.
Onkyo TX-DS595 - $500. Not so good here. You can get it for $400 delivered from jandr.com. The Denon AVR-1802 goes for $355 plus shipping from crazyeddie.com but they are not authorized. J and R is an authorized Onkyo dealer.
Polk RT600 - $300 each for $600 total
Polk CS245 - $200
Polk 350I sub - $350
Speakers went for $950+tax (assume 7%) = $1,016.50. Add that to the savings for the Onkyo = $1,116.50.
I like your choice of receiver and dvd player. Get the receiver elsewhere and you save $100. For speakers and sub, I think you could have done better with either the Ascend Acoustics CBM-170 package w/HSU VTF-2 sub for $1,100 or the nOrh 4.0 package ($850) and a Velodyne CT-100 sub ($300). However speakers are indeed subjective so if you like it, then enjoy it for several years to come!

 

[Steve T]

Sorry to hear about your property being stolen.
I just wanted to advise against doing business with Crazy Eddies. I did not have a good experience with them last October, and will never order anything from them again. Actually, I am now very reluctanct to buy audio products from online retailers. If I can find the product I want at a B&M store, I would rather pay a little more and walk out the door with product in hand. Even if the online retailer is perfect, you still have UPS, FedEx, etc. to worry about.
Sounds like Dan has already purchased the products. Hope you enjoy them.
[Edited last by Steve T on August 21, 2001 at 04:00 PM]

 

[DanC]

Bryan:
I was able to get the Onkyo for $399 (open box buy) and the sub was only $100. I upgraded the 50w to the 100watt and just paid the difference (It's a Polk promo).
Steve:
I did buy through a B&M (Circuit City). Thanks for the advice though.

 

[Ted Lee]

i like those choices...of course the fact that i also have onkyo & polk (older models though) had absolutely nothing to do with it...honest...

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You step in the stream,
But the water has moved on.
This page is not here.

 

[Heinz W]

Oddly enough, I just brought home an Onkyo DS595 myself today. Playtime begins shortly!

Dan, let us know how you like your new set-up after she's up and running. I think you made a good choice on that receiver!

A very good unit for the dough; I bought it because right now I don't need component switching (the 595 only does S-video switching) since my 4 year old Sony only has S-video. When I go to a 16x9 tv and a progressive DVD player I'll probably need to upgrade the receiver, but that is years away at this point. I also liked the way music sounded on this unit.

 

[DanC]

Thanks for all the comments guys and yes ADT is guarding all of my equipment as we speak
I didn't really have too much time to play with my my new toys because by the time I got everything hooked up and calibrated, it was already 12:00am. I was able to test out the beginning battle scene in Gladiator and the Polk's didn't disappoint!
I do have one question regarding the sub set up if anyone can help. Like I said, I upgraded to the PSW350 and I'm just wondering, (for those that have it)what is your actual sub volume sitting on? How much do you have to turn it up to to get what's right for you? Right now I have it at almost half way with the receivers setting at 0 and it just doesn't give me that bass that I'm looking for. I'm going to turn it up a little when I get home (not enough time last night) and see what happens but I was just curious as to what others may have their volume knob at.
BTW, I did adjust the sub with the 595's internal tones but that made me turn the sub up very little (maybe 1/4) to register 75db. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

 

[BryanZ]

Get Avia or VE as the internal test tones of the Onkyo vary from unit to unit. (I am also assuming you have a sound meter.) Put the volume of the sub at around 90% and let the receiver handle the crossover (turn the one on the sub up past 100Hz). Then calibrate the sub to around 6 db or more higher than your other speakers. (That part is extremely subjective to individual preferences.) Good luck!

 

[DanC]

I would have used Avia but they stole all of my DVD's!
I just finished with my final adjustments on ths sub and man I didn't know what I was missing! Before I was running Sony's all the way around and it was a very enjoyable experience but nothing compared to these Polk's!
Thanks for the help guys.

 

[Evan A]

you could have gotten a pair of polk rt-55i's for $400
sorry to be the courier of such bad news.
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Evan Adams
[email protected]
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[DanC]

The money wasn't a factor for me since my insurance was paying for everything