I hate this site (1 Viewer)

[James Linkous]

I bought my 15 year old an xbox for christmas. I saw it was DD 5.1 compatible. Whats that I asked myself. I've been wanting a better audio system, perfect time to upgrade(great wife story). So I just thought I would venture off to CC and buy 'the best', probably spend a grand.

Then I came across this site. Life will never be the same. It's been 1 1/2 months later, still havent bought a system, still not sure what to buy, but the grand wont come close.

I think it's impulsive behavoir disorter or penis envy.

Link

 

[Richard_T]

Don't worry too much about it James. I know there's alot of really cool equipment around this site, but just look at what you can reasonably afford. That's all that matters. There's alot you can do with a grand now days in HT. You may not be able to get everything you need (or want) but that's just the way it is. I'd love some of the stuff I see around this site but hey, I'm no rich man. Just keep looking and audition before you buy and you'll do fine.

 

[PaulKH]

Jame - Don't listen to Richard, he's just seducing you into this death spiral.

Just kidding Richard.

James - surround sound home theater with a rear or front projection display provides a terrific experience compared to just a TV or just a 'stereo'. While you have to pay to play, you don't have to jump in the deep end. Some investments like speakers are good for the long term though because they're unlikely to ever go 'bad'.

Good luck!

 

[dougW]

James, well, all I can tell you is follow your dream, whatever that is. Some 4-5 years ago, I would guess, I went to upgrade my VCR. It's rather ironic I suppose that now, that is the one piece of equipment I own that rarely see's service, lol. That turned out to be one expensive dang VCR, that's for sure. Sure, I had a DPL system at the time, and some very budget speakers. No sub.
35,000 bucks later, I am holding pat on my system(s), as they stand. Really, I am not a wealthy man. This involved a helluva lot of sacrifice, to get where I am. But on holding pat, I guess all one could say is, it's about time, lol. That includes the main theater, a bedroom theater complete with Panasonic portable DVD player, 5.1 audio, the main theater which of course, is maxed out for me. Also a test system, for my cable business.
Remember, when you get ready to upgrade, it's a perfect way to build a second system.
Anyway, have fun with it, nothing else matters.
Goodluck,
Lex

 

[Brian Fellmeth]

James, it can get much worse. My illness began when my 15 year old college relic stereo melted down during a New Years 2000 party. No problem, time to upgrade to a HT anyway. A month later, I was exactly like you. Gradually accumulated everything, then gradually upgraded it all. Kenwood receiver ----> Outlaw. Energy sub---->SVS. Wharfdale mains--->nOrh horns. Klipsch center and surrounds ---> ACI emeralds Then needed a decent stereo setup for another room- more nOrh's and a Creek integrated. Then it got really bad. DIY. Now my lungs are full of MDF dust, my garage is full of half used finish containers, and they know me by first name at home depot. Another 2 channel system, this time 4 figure DIY speakers and separates for electronics. DIY active crossover and more amps. DIY sub and of course a feedback destroyer to equalize it.

And its all because of HTF. If you hadn't found your way here, you would be blissfully listening to the Bose system that CC would have eagerly coughed up when you asked for the best they had. But its too late for that now. No ignorent bliss for you. Strap in buddy, its a rocket ride to hell.

 

[Brett DiMichele]

James Linkous,
I hear ya man.. I feel for ya..
I see setups on this site that make me drool and I think
my setup is pretty damn decent to say the least. But it all
comes down to your own priorities.
My problem is that I have many hobbies. If I were to ditch
some of my other hobbies I could tie up a fortune in home
theater and a music system in a years time that would rival
the best of the best. But unfortunatly I also have a love of
cars and car models. I collect diecast miniatures and those
miniatures come with monumental price tags for certain items.
For example I just bought a 1/4 Scale Engine and Tranny and
a 67 Corvette in 1:12th scale and those 2 pieces cost as much
as a good Receiver or a world class SACD Player or a top of
the line SVS Sub... I also collect real cars and that is another
story!
It's a shame when you have a millionaires taste on a middle
class workers wages! But hey don't get me wrong, I love my
job and at least I HAVE a job!
LOL where does it ever stop

 

[Ariel]

welcome james!
i was in the same situation as you about a year ago. until now, i cannot find a cure. just buy the equipments that can fit within your budget and after 3 months, double or triple that budget for the upgrades

 

[Kevin C Brown]

I have likewise found that my "upgrade-itis" is much worse since I've been trying to read HTF more regularly... :frowning:

 

[Mike Voigt]

Mass suggestivity
Seriously, James, for one, welcome to HTF, for another, take it easy on setting up the HT.
I'd go with getting a decent set of speakers for the front and a good receiver along with it. I'd probably spend more on the speakers than the receiver, mostly because the latter stands a better chance for improvement later...
So get the front 2 or 3 speakers, and a receiver. Use the speakers from your stereo as rears for now.
Replace those eventually with matching ones to the new fronts.
Then add a sub.
$1K? It can be done; there are several decent HTBs (Home-Theaters-in-a-box) out there. To be honest, though, most separate setups will be better - and hence more expensive.
Mine grew in a like fashion. I bought a receiver, then shopped around for speakers (unfortunately went for one of those sat/sub combos...) and a center. Then I got some decent fronts (NHT SuperOnes - you can get these for $200 a pair, and that is a VERY good price indeed). I still use those - 5 of them by now.
So, you can get a good receiver for like $500-600 bucks, and 4 NHTs for $400. There's a grand - and an excellent jump into HT. Run the center in 'phantom' mode for a while (this means you're sending the center signal equally to the front L & R speakers - in addition to their own one) and you should be all set.
Subs? Yeah, they're nice, since you won't get that really deep bass without them. Get a decent one (Adire & SVS come to mind) or build your own. A few hundred bucks on that.
All in all, you can have a very, very good system for around $1500 ($600 sub, $400 speakers, $500 receiver). It'll hold its own against those 2-3x as expensive.
Then you get into sources... DVD, VHS, etc., but that is another story.
Good luck!
Mike

 

[Chip E]

"My problem is that I have many hobbies."
Ain't that the truth.. I just dumped $1500.00 on new ski equiptment. (Volkl Motion package w/ technica's) Ya gotta have parabolic skis right? Lol...

 

[Jeff Adams]

Hey James, I think most of the people on this site started out the way you did. About 6 years ago all I wanted was a big screen tv. I had the owner of a local home theater shop come over to my house to evaluate what he could do with a dedicated room. He immediately said get rid of this little 50 inch big screen, for the same price you paid for that you could get a 120 inch front projection system. And I was hooked from there. I have been buying and upgrading ever since. I didn't buy everything at once. It took awhile for me to get everything, but it was worth it. In fact I didn't buy a real high end receiver until last week. A Marantz sr-9200! Start out with a descent receiver, there are alot of good receivers out there with Dolby Digital and DTS for very reasonable prices. Under $500. Then spend the rest of your money on a good pair of tower speakers. Then just go from there. Have fun and good luck!

 

[Scott Basham]

James,
I know just how you feel. About a month ago, I said, "hey Honey, we ought to get a DVD player to replace our worn out VCR. I already had a nice Yamaha stereo (more on that later), so I thought I'd just get a Yamaha brand to replace the Yammy cd carosel that we already had.
Well, with the new DVD player in hand, it seemed like a waste to have that great sound playing from a set of bose 6 series speakers and bose surrounds, so I decided to look for some new speakers. I got on this site along with audioreview.com and saw that a lot of people were really happy with their Klipsch RF-3s, but since they were changing over the to the series II, that just had to be the ones to get (so I did).
Well, as luck may have it, the store I was getting my Klipsch RF-3 IIs from also had a Yamaha RX-V1000 that could make use of the digital coax out found on my new dvd player, so I went with the new receiver also.
Of course, Bose center and surround speakers wouldn't do justice to my improved RF-3s, so a Klipsch center and surrounds were in order as well....
Wow, the HT was really starting to sound great, but guess what? The little 27 inch TV really didn't cut the mustard on the widescreen DVDs. And if you really want to make good use of the component video cables, you need a HDTV, so off I went for a tv. The first one to come home was a Hitachi 43" widescreen. While not being totally happy with it, it was pretty nice.
You know, it seems the only thing that was missing was a better sub than I already had.. hmmmm.. SVS.. yes.. ordered a 16-46pc..
In the meantime, I'm still not real happy with my Hitachi, the only logical thing to do is use the satisfaction policy to return it and go with a different tv.
In the end, the Mitsubish 55809 HDTV widescreen was the one to have (and I love it).
Am I finished?... well, there is still the issue of an audio rack (I'm close to running out of play money by now), but don't want to spend a fortune. Oops.. almost forgot.. A HDTV really isn't unless you're pulling in HDTV, so I guess some type of HDTV receiver is also in order.
The moral of the story... Hope that you can finish what you start, regardless of your original intent..
It really is a fun ride though, don't you agree?
Oh, one more word of advice... Unless you are getting a super deal when selling your "old" hardware, just keep them. I sold some of mine on ebay and to buddies, but in the end, I could have had a backup or second room system for next to nothing by just keep it all (with the exception of the tv).

 

[Parker Clack]

James:
Why do you think Ron and I started up this site? We needed to have a place where we could share our sickness and addiction with others.
Welcome to the Home Theater Forum. Your adventure in upgrades is just beginning.
Parker

 

[Jeff Adams]

Yes Parker, I agree with you. This is an addiction! My wife hates it. She likes the theater we have now, her only gripe is, "Why do you have to buy what we already have?" The upgrade bug, I just can't help it. But she also say's "I guess I can live with your addiction, it's better than a drug, porn or alcohol addiction!" She doesn't know about the porn, I keep that one secret! Just kidding. I love the Home theater addiction!

 

[Scott-C]

Yep, I thought I was ok with my system until I discovered this site...now I won't be happy until I have a dedicated HT with about $40,000 of equipment in it! Argh!

 

[Jeff Adams]

Scott, I am happy with my system, I just don't thin it will ever be done though. I could spend $75k on a system and next year there will be some new toy or technology that I will wnat to upgrade to. HD-DVD, 10.1 surround sound, I am even waiting for somw second gen dlp rear projector's to come out. Can't wait for that!

 

[Vinny Petronio]

I could repeat everyone elses replys but all I will say is you have to start some where and it never ends, if you love it as much as we do you will enjoy the experience over the years and pleasure it brings. My wifes favorate line is I thought you were finished and thats all you would need It sounds good to me why do you need to change it?

 

[Marty M]

We all started somewhere with this hobby/obsession. Start with a budget and what sounds and looks the best to you for the budget. Then as money allows, upgrade. Good luck and have fun.

 

[Ron Bartyczak]

James,

HT is a journey, not a destination. As new, better stuff comes out, you will undoubtedly want to see and hear it. Then you have to decide of whether to upgrade now or later because there will always be new, better stuff out there.

I am currently trying to decide between new front and center speakers or SVSubwoofer. I think I am going with the new subwoofer. Decisions, decisions, decisions. But there will be more decisions in 2002 when new, better stuff comes out!

 

[Kishu]

James,
I know your pain but now the forum can also provide you a solution (all you need to do is ask ). Forum members range from low-end receiver to high-end seprates-key is you can enjoy a nice system
So let us know
a.Your Budget
b. Your tastes (musical/movies)
The best minds here can give you best advice within your $$s
Let the madness begin
Cheers,
Kishore