New to Home Theaters, Looking for Advice from Knowledgeable People (1 Viewer)

[hydrata]

Hi,

This is my first post. I stumbled across this forum a couple of days ago and have been using my spare time to try and read and comprehend as much as I can. However, I am very new to home theatre setups and am quite ignorant on the subject matter. My only experience involves plugging in the wires for my mom's Bose system several years ago. But, on to my questions...

I recently purchased a Samsung Home Theatre in a Box system a couple of weeks ago. I hooked it up and loved the surround sound and power, compared to the TV sound that I had been using. However, despite the improvement in sound, I was dissapointed over the lack of inputs on the dvd player/receiver and was dissapointed in only being able to run stereo sound from my older TV to the speakers for watching TV and playing xbox or the Wii.

Thus, I have decided to return the HTIB setup and I have purchased the Pioneer VSX-918V-S (sorry, not allowed to link until I post 10 or more times). I should also mention that I'm on a budget, probably no more than 1,000$ for the receiver and speakers and cabling, if possible. Do you guys have any feedback on that receiver?

My next question is where do I go from here? I obviously need speakers and a sub. I saw in a previous thread that a lot of people are fans of the SVS brand, and I checked them out, but they're slightly above my price range, but they do look AMAZING. I would like to keep the speaker and sub price around 400-600 dollars total, if possible. I'm not an audiophile and am not striving for the best sound, I'm just striving for an improved surround sound experience for my movies and gaming. Nothing too crazy either since I'm living on the 2nd floor of an apartment building and don't want to piss off the neighbors. I currently also own an older, analog TV, one of the Sony Trinitron's, I think (the LCD is the next purchase, but one thing at a time on my budget).

Thus, if you guys would offer recommendations or guidelines, I would greatly appreciate it. I apologize if this information has been answered many times before, but a lot of the unfamiliar terminology is intimidating at this point. I'll continue reading this site and searching for information, and thank you for any help you can provide!!!

 

[hydrata]

Alright, I'm not allowed to edit posts yet, but after reading around some more, another thought I had was to not buy a sub at the moment and spend the money just on speakers. If I did that I would be in better graces with my downstairs neighbors and I could buy better speakers, then buy a sub later when I saved up more cash. I'm open to either option, buying 5 speakers now and a sub, or just buying the speakers and getting the sub later.

 

[Robert_J]

I'm a huge fan of Pioneer receivers. I'm listening to a 16 year old one right now in my home office.

Speakers and subs - Check out Hsu and Elemental Designs.

-Robert

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

I'd suggest springing for the SVS SBS-01 five-speaker set for $600. It's a no-brainer, worth easily twice what they cost. You won't be disappointed. Since it's at the top of your price range, you could wait a while and replenish your funds before buying a sub. You can get this Dayton 10" sub for around $150 - it's gotten rave reviews as an excellent performer for the money. It should fit the bill for an apartment system nicely, rounding out the lows that the SBS' can't reach, but not so low so as to resonate throughout the whole building.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[hydrata]

Thank you very much for the advice. That SVS 5 piece speaker set looks amazing. I'm pretty sure I'll pick those up once they're available again and I save up a bit of cash.

In the meantime, I'll keep visiting these forums to keep learning about wiring, etc.

 

[Marty M]

If you are planning to use your setup primarily for watching movies the center speaker is the most important speaker. That is where over half the sound will be coming from. I suggest you get a five speaker setup you like and then save up for a nice sub.