Stuff at Best Buy worth to buy? (1 Viewer)

[AlanLm]

I work there so I get a discount on the stuff. I was wondering if any thing there was good home theater equipment?

hows the athena floor speakers?

How many watts would I have to power them with?

Would I need any other speakers to make it sound good?

thanks

 

[Stephen Hopkins]

Working at best buy is about the only way to get good deals on their equipment (compared to online prices, even factoring in shipping). If I worked there I would probably go with a Yamaha 5790 receiver, JBL E90 mains, EC35 center, E20 surrounds, and the JBL Studio sub if they still have it. The athena speakers are also good, and the klipsch synergy series is very good as well, but I prefer the sound of the JBLs. Stay away from Yamaha and Sony speakers as well as Sony receivers. Bose is a 4 letter word. The lower end kenwood stuff isn't worth your time. I don't think best buy carried a better receiver than the 5790 and the whole yamaha line is respectable. The Pioneer stuff is also solid at the price point.

TVs, appliances, computer stuff, DVDs, and several other items are often available at great prices through best buy, but audio gear usually is not, so take advantage of your employee discount, but also check online and make sure what you find is the best deal.

Hope this helps

 

[Jimi C]

Best Buy dosnt carry kenwood.. but what is so bad about low end Kenwood? imo it is as good if not better than most stuff at the same price point. Kenwood has improved alot over the last 5 years if you ask me.

 

[Stephen Hopkins]

Best Buy does indeed carry kenwood, both receivers and HTIBs. There's nothing wrong with kenwood, especially the higher end of their consumer line. I even have a 6060 in my bedroom HT (same as your 6070 but w/out THX and pre-outs), but their lower level stuff (60x, 70x, 80x) really isn't the best you can get for the money. They use much smaller power suplies and they cut many other corners to keep cost down. These aren't a problem in the higher end of the consumer line (4 numbers, 60x0, 70x0, 80x0). In the sub $300 range i'd usually pick the yamahas or pioneers over the kenwoods.

The real deals on the kenwoods are ar ecost right now. I got my 6060 for $135 shipped and the 6070s are going for $200 shipped. A bargain for receivers measured by S&V to put out a TRUE 92wpc w/ all channels driven full range.

Didn't mean to offend w/ my kenwood comment and it was aimed mainly at the 3 number receivers, the 4 number line is indeed much much better.

 

[JamesCB]

Best Buy Sux

 

[Cam McFarland]

Not to hjijack this thread, but what are peoples opinions
of these JBL speakers (Northridge line I believe)?

 

[ColinM]

Anything Athena seems to be very good for the money. I have and love the B1's, which are now $129/pr. Unreal.

 

[Jack Gilvey]

I'd suggest a pair at minimum.

 

[Jimi C]

Your right, my mistake, i must have been thinking of Circuit City. I wasn't offended, i honestly just wanted to know what peoples gripe with kenwood was. I hear people saying its no good all the time, but never with any facts or reasons why. Ive read pages and pages of reasons not to buy bose, but with Kenwood its just, don't buy it.

 

[Adam.Heckman]

Athenas!!! At my local store (hopefully nation wide) ALL ATHENAS are 25% off. This puts the AS-F2s at 375. Amazing price for speakers that have been reviewed and compared to 2000 dollar speakers. For the price you can't beat that, however, the other brands mentioned are great, but cost a bit more.

 

[Willy_Loo]

I agree with the above recommendation to go with the Yamaha receiver 5790, and the JBL E90. I'm not familiar with the other suggested equipment so I've no comments.

I recently did a one-on-one comparison between the E90 and the B&W DM603 S3. The two models are very fairly matched, and I had a hard time debating which ones to go with. Eventually I decided on the B&Ws. I'm now having second thoughts because they didn't seem to have enough bass, so I might have to fork out extra $$$ for a subwoofer. IMO you'll be getting much better value with the E90s.

 

[Billy K]

JBL Northridge series are great. You will not be disappointed.

 

[Fred_Krampits]

Cam McFarland:

I own a 7.1 setup with (4) E50s as surrounds, a EC35 center, E250p sub and I have on the way (2) E100s as fronts.

They are great speakers. I mostly listen to movies, but they are great for music too.

 

[AlanLm]

would it be pointless to buy a receiver with 7.1 or 6.1 capabilities if I only had to floor speakers?

 

[Cam McFarland]

Thanks Fred,

I have not had an oportunity to listen to them, but I keep
getting "drawn" to them for some reason.

They dont happen to get much mention anywhere it does not seem like.

 

[Jed M]

I have always been happy with Kenwoods. The only negative I could say is compared to my other receivers I have owned they tend to break more, or at least the two I have owned.

 

[ColinM]

"would it be pointless to buy a receiver with 7.1 or 6.1 capabilities if I only had to floor speakers? "

If you never ever plan on going surround, no, it wouldn't make sense. But if you got the itch, having the capability would be a good thing. And these days a 5.1 / 7.1 receiver is the same cost as a very basic 2-channel preamp - amp combo or good 2 channel receiver.

 

[Shane Morales]

JBL N's or Athenas or Klipsch. Listen, pick the ones you like better.

If you don't work at Best Buy, or don't need the financing, get these online for much less. Otherwise, grab 'em and enjoy.

The Yamaha and Pioneer receivers ain't too shabby.

 

[Drew_W]

Not following the logic here. What good is a pair of speakers if you need more speakers to make it sound good? You might want to get the rest of the surround setup though. Start with a stereo pair of speakers and go from there.

You can get alot from reading these forums. I mentioned before that the Search feature is your friend.

My absolute best advice though is to audition. You won't know what you like until you try. It's like buying a car. Would you buy a car without driving it?

 

[Drew_W]

That depends where you want to go with your system. If you're staying stereo, why would you? If you're expecting to go full blown multichannel, that's probably smarter than buying a stereo piece now, and then a multichannel receiver later on.