New house - first purchase (1 Viewer)

[danmcd]

Hello,
We just purchased a new home in a small town in Arizona (Casa Grande). We are in the market for an entire entertainment system including TV, receiver, amps, DVD (maybe Blue ray) and speakers. After price comparing, we are considering Best Buy, Fry's Electronics or Circuit City. The determining factor will be installation since we are not skilled enough to tackle the job. Does anyone have any advice on which retailer to go with - or stay away from - when it comes to purchase and install?
Thanks.

 

[Al.Anderson]

When you say you're not skilled enough, do you mean to handle the connections, or is there physical construction to be performed? If it's connections you're concerned with, the forum can walk you through that.

As far as the retailers you mentioned - most of us wouldn't trust any of them. Beyond that, they really vary by location. So the BB 5 miles away might be leaps and bounds better than the one 7 miles away.

For cost, they're all about the same. For the best price you probably want to go on line. (But that's not the best way to buy speakers; for speakers you really need to hear them.) But the biggest knock on the big box retailers is that they probably don't have the demo units set up correctly - which includes calibrating them consistently; so unit comparisons will be worthless.

I'll end with this, if you do go to one of these stores, do not under any circumstances purchase the Monster cables. (They're average quality and stupendously over-priced.)

 

[danmcd]

Thanks Al for your reply. I meant that I can handle the basics but wall mounting a large screen LCD is probably beyond my skill set. You mentioned better pricing on-line.
Any suggested vendors?
Thanks.

 

[Al.Anderson]

I'm not the best resource for pricing; it's usually not my primary consideration. I usually either buy from Costco, which has decent prices, but I really love for their return policy; or J&R.com when I need selection. J&R will occasionally have a good deal, but you can't count on it.

With any luck you'll get other cost-focused suggestions.

 

[LewB]

Here's an online cable vendor with a good rep and great prices.
HDMI Cable, Home Theater Accessories, HDMI Products, Cables, Adapters, Video/Audio Switch, Networking, USB, Firewire, Printer Toner, and more!

 

[Michael Reuben]

It is almost certainly beyond the "skill set" of anyone employed by Circuit City, Best Buy or Fry's. If you want someone who knows what they're doing, you'll need to employ (or buy from) an audio-video specialist. Get references.

 

[Greg_R]

The people who install systems from these companies know about as much as you do right now + a few hours of training. I would strongly suggest doing your research in this forum and learn how to hook things up yourself... it's all really simple now, especially with HDMI cables. If you don't want to research each component, just post a budget here and ask for some recommended systems. Additionally, there may even be someone who can come over to help you hook things up (you live very close to Chandler / Phoenix). We won't steer you wrong... good luck!

 

[danmcd]

Thanks, guys.
Dan