HTB Questions... Please give me a few suggestions (1 Viewer)

[John Besse]

Ok, I have a friend that is looking into the Home Theater in a Box route. He doesn't want to spend much more than $500, so I can't persuade him to do a better system.
I reccomended a Kenwood HTB-503 to another buddy, and he thinks it's the best system in the world

Lol...
Anyways, I am torn between reccomending a few different systems. So, I came to the forum for some help.
Sears has a Denon HTB on clearance for $499. I have a Denon 3801, which I love. However, I know absolutly nothing on their HTBs. I took a listen to it, and was impressed at the system for the price.
Now, exactly what I'm looking for is a suggestion on which of the following you'd suggest.
Kenwood released an HTB-504 (I guess is this year's model of the 503). Would you advise him to get the Denon, the Kenwood HTB-503, or HTB-504.
All suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Thanks
- John
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[Vin]

Does the Denon package come with an entire set up like the Kenwood?
The Kenwood HTB-504 with the VR-507 receiver w/DPL II, 5 speakers and a 100 watt powered sub will be hard, if not impossible to beat at the $500 price point....IMHO.

 

[James Edward]

The HTB 504 is an excellent deal for the money. I set one up for my neighbor and am always surprised at how good it sounds.

 

[John Besse]

The Denon is a whole HTB Package. I don't rememeber the receiver model number, but it is one of their cheaper models. The Denon is just a DD amd DTS receiver with a 5.1 speaker set up. Similar to that of the Kenwood HTB-503. The drivers on Denon's speakers are not paper like Kenwood's. I think the Denon is of far better build quality. The Denon, like I said, is on clearance from $799 to $499.
I'm not to familiar with the Kenwood HTB-504. Does is it feature Prologic II? Hmm, now that I think of it if I remember right Pioneer DVD players don't output the PCM stream correctly to have a receiver with PLII to automatcially pick it up. So, PLII isn't the biggest deal to me.
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