My brother who lives in Toronto, has just moved into his new downtown condo. He is ready to get his home theater setup, and being new to it all, wants to get the best bang for his crappy canadian dollar! The room he has is not very big. 9-10' width at most, so a huge RPTV is out of the question. 40-50" screen max. Also, being in a condo, he obviously can't have it cranked up, so I don't know if this would affect what audio choices you would make. I have told him that the Panny RP56 is a good DVD player, but I'm sure he would prefer one that could scale. Anyway, being the older married one with kids that wouldn't be able to spend that kind of dough, I'm not familiar with higher end stuff! I appreciate all the input, as will he; and thanks in advance. (He'd ask himself but doesn't own a computer, unbelievable!)
Is that $12k??? Eee gahds! I can't even imagine what I could do with that kind of dough. 40-50" Max ok go with something like a 47" panasonic or 40" Toshiba ($3199 CDN). You said he can't crank it? Well either way, I am going to be buying some B&W 602's he might want to look at those, he may even be happy with them without a sub, 5 of them go for around $2500 CDN. Then a good amp, maybe a rotel 1066? How about a Denon 3802 they are $1600 or so, or even a 4802 for around $3000, so that's close to all. Dvd-player get the Panasonic RP-91 although the 56 is good as well I suppose, it's $899, you can probably get it cheaper. Add taxes and cables and that should top you off at 12K, I guess I could imagine spending it
Thanks James; I know, I almost fell of my chair when he told me what he was looking to spend! Appreciate the info. Dan
It's going to be almost impossible to spend half of that budget on a 50" TV, so that leaves LOTS of money for the rest of the stuff. You can certainly find equipment that costs that much, but I wonder if he's going to realise the benefits of it in that space?
You bring up a good point Johnny. I have the cheapy Kenwood HTB-504 system, yet it still does a pretty good job when I crank it up and it shakes my house. This cost me a little over $400. We've talked about whether he should spend more or most of the dough on the new DLP sets or even plasma, since he truly won't get to be able to put the audio through its paces. What's more important in a case like this, incredible video with average audio, or a good mixture of both? The pitfalls of condo living! Thanks for the input guys.
Based on what I carry, I'd suggest something like a Toshiba 50HX81 50" widescreen, a Harman/Kardon AVR320 receiver, an H/K DVD25 DVD player and an Infinity Modulus speaker system. You're looking at roughly 9.5 grand with taxes. Geez, I guess it's much easier to spend 10K than I thought! This ain't a quote though and I'm not trying to sell you anything. Just giving ideas.
We beat the Condo Apartment thing to death, so going for LOUD ain't an option. Going for clean sound is... and more importantly, your brother should put the priority on the viewing experience. The room he is setting up in, you mention it is narrow... is it bright? This could affect his viewability with a Rear Projection unit. He could as well blow the whole shot on Plasma unit and not leave anything left... ...or he could look at say a tube (say a 36" to 40 " XBR) if his room is short (lacking depth) and the kids are going to be lying on the floor close to the unit. I have the Sony 51" Widescreen. This has a suggested viewing range of minimum 8 feet. I found that it had the best picture from off direct viewing than any other. It can be picked up for about $3400. Living in Canada we are lucky enough to purchase Paradigms for better pricing than our American friends. I would suggest powered fronts (the 90P's) to give your brother low end. Should be able to pick these up with center and Mini Monitors for the rears for about 2500 in a package deal. Now he's spent about half the budget. Receivers... H/K 320 / 520, Marantz 7200, Denon 2802, are all good choices. Budget here is between $1000 and $1500 CNDN. He could up this a bit and go with the Marantz 8200 but I think that might be overkill? DVD Look for a Progressive Scan Unit that has 6 channel Audio. $450. CD Another $500 Cables/Wiring about $500 Other items to consider: Dimmer Switches, Window Treatments, Rear Speaker Stands, Comfortable seating, VCR. All this can be done within budget. Personal note: I would suggest the HK (my choice) as it offers an ability to move up to 6.1 or 7.1 with external amplification. Your brother could broaden the sound instead of increasing the dB's.
Can't crank it in a condo. Too bad. Tell him to consider a receiver with Dolby Digital Headphone output. That way if he wants it loud for personal use, he can at least have it loud for himself.
It should not be bright. He is setting it up in a den room, which is to the right of his condo as soon as you walk in. Here is a link to get you to the floorplan. http://www.tridel.ca/tridel.html Click on The Icon 1+2 in Toronto, Floorplans, then model 1L2+den. He will put the television along the front wall. It is a solid wall on the backside, he did not get the pass-thru. He already had them run his wires when they were building. Viewing will mainly be direct. Kids, none! Furniture already taken care of, well, except for whatever he will use for equipment, etc. Once again, thanks guys for the feedback and suggestions!
