Home theater help

[zap]

WHat's the best brand of home theater system? I want it all, speakers and dvd player (I guess not *all* because I'm NOT looking to buy a TV right now), but I don't want to spend a fortune. Where would I find the best deal? Online or not? Any advice is greatly appreciated!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Kurt_eh]

I'm drooling over the Yamaha RVX (or is it RXV) 2400 receiver. Although I hear Harmon Kardon is just as good...

In the words of Cartman: Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet! :D

[who45]

I have a Panasonic DVD player and a Yamaha Dts/Dolby digital surround sound system..including speakers and sub woofer. I have had them both for about 3 years and have been very happy with them. I bought them at a local store that I usually deal with.

[TechnoBoY]

For a surround system a really good one is the Onkyo 770, you can get it for about $400. Its a reciever and surround speakers. Its really good for the money.

[LT Garrix]

We've got the Yamaha HTR-5660, about 6 months old complete with 8 speakers (2 towers 5 satellites and a center channel) and subwoofer. It pretty well kicks eema. It's pretty high end, but as I wasn't here when he bought it, I'm not sure how much it cost.

For DVD we just have a player, but it's a Panasonic 5 disc with optical connection. DVDs look absolutely amazing, of course we also have a 50" plasma. All told the whole thing with extended warranty cost about $10k. I think the stereo system and DVD player ran a little less than 2K all told.

The best way to do it would be to go to a store that specializes in home theaters and see if you can give the system a try (some Best Buys have a Magnolia home theater store). Get pricing info and then you can compare online. Just realize that shipping for some of this stuff could be pretty pricey because speakers are pretty large. Free shipping doesn't always apply to oversized items.

[Kurt_eh]

The Yamaha systems are cool. For the record, I mentioned the RVX series, and LT, the HTR series. To the best of my knowledge, the only difference between the series (at a comparable price) is that HTR is built for Best Buy-type shops, and the RVX for speciality shops...

[Third EYe]

There are no better audio video recievers than Denon and Yamaha, all others are beneath them, that's not an opinion, it's just fact.

Depends on how much money you want, (or have) to spend. You have a lot to consider, where do you live, I have a house, so I can almost be as loud as I want. My speakers are small in size but mighty. There is a great deal of arguments on speaker quality, I can tell you this, if they are good for music, like ARs or Klipsch, they are probably not so good for movies. I know many people think that those tiny little Bose speakers are great, and I almost purchased them myself until I heard the Infinity speakers, they are better for home theater, they excel in one area more than the others, and that's in the voice rendering, with other sets I find that I can't hear regular conversations as well as I can with these, background noise tends to overshadow convesations on some speakers when you set you levels correctly.

Do you want HDTV, just flat screen or a projector. I chose the projector because i wanted a larger image to look at, but you may want an HDTV. If your budget permits you can get HDTV capable projectors. I was limited this time around, so I got what i could.

Check out Home Theater Forum (http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htforum/index.php) . There are some Scapers there. There is so much information there, so many great arguments about what's better here and there and whatnot, it's great. They have tutorials and primers to read.

I hear, yet cannot confirm, that either the Denon or Samsung Farouja chip DVD players are great and are reasonably priced.

I would not purchase any "combo" sets, not ever, not for any bargain, space saving reasons or laziness.

I have

- Reciever Denon AVR-1604
- Dual Cassette Deck Teac W-518R
- Record Player Optimus Lab-1100
- DVD Players Panasonic DVD-525 and CyberHome 300 (I want the Denon 2200 or Denon 900 w/DCDi Farouja chip)
- TV Toshiba 36"
- Projector Epson Home 10
- Projection Screen Da-Lite 52" x 96"
- Sat Reciever RCA Ultimate TV
- CD Player Pioneer PD-F407 25 cd Changer ( no need for more with MP3 technology)
- VCR GO-Video DDV9500 (I've had this player for 8 years, works great)
- Speakers Infinity Modulus SW1
- Radio Shack AV Switch
- I got tons of remotes, but I use one more than the rest and it is the Sony RM-AV2100.

Now for HT #2, the upstairs (great room). It use to be the main theater and we thought it was great.

- TV JVC 36"
- Reciver JVC RX-7010V (don't let the cheap price tag fool you, it's a great unit)
- DVD Player JVC XV-S60
- Sat Reciever RCA Ultimate TV
- VHS Samsung (not sure of model, didn't look, it plays like crap)
- Speakers Klipsch sub-woofer and unknown brand built in wall speakers.

[Kurt_eh]

One of my neighbours in my condo has the HD Samsung "system." He's got the HD DVD player and one of those DLP thinscreens! :thud: :drool: :faint:

It's THAT good!

[Defect9]

There are no better audio video recievers than Denon and Yamaha, all others are beneath them, that's not an opinion, it's just fact.

you obviously dont read Home Theater Mag then, becuase that statement is infinitely untrue. yes, those are AWESOME for the basic consumer market (i'm not saying they're bad at all, cause they are great), but for true enthusiasts you have made an omission in your statement. I have heard Marantz, Sunfire and Meridian recievers, and they are insanely better. but, they, even are not the best (though for the price you'd think they should be).
Ultimately though, its not the reciever that makes the biggest differrence in sound. Its your speakers. Speakers change the sonic characteristics of the sound the most, so put the most money into the speakers. If you could afford them, i would recommend some B&W speakers, though this is just an opinion. you can build a great system with Yamaha speakers too, and i really like Monitor Audio and Klipsche (though the Klipsche i like more with tubes than solid state). Acoustic Research also makes some wicked audio (once again, if you can afford it), even their old stuff like the AR92 speakers from 1972 are awesome. or you could get a bunch of bookshelf speakers and a powered sub and get some wicked sound without taking up a bunch of space.

this is my advice, and its not the only good advice in this thread: Listen to a bunch of systems, and take note of what sounds good, ask the staff why the speakers sound a certain way (like why do some have better, cleaner treble while some have better bass response) and learn as much as you possibly can BEFORE buying anything. this system will be with you for a while. get the best one for YOU.

-J

[zap]

Thanks for all the advice yall. Most of these product suggestions are way too pricey for me, but I think it is sound advice to go and listen to various systems. I may end up saving my $$ for this instead of another trip to Europe next year........um.........well, I will go listen to different systems at any rate! Thank you all kindly!

[LT Garrix]

That's the best advice it to listent to the system. Depending on the store, keep in mind that your place has walls and ceilings. Next time I'm in Best Buy I'll stop in the Magnolia area and see if they've made it more homelike. From the outside, it is enclosed on the sides and appears to have a lower ceiing than the wearhouse height of the rest of the store.

The size and shape of your room will affect the acoustics. Some speakers are made for larger, high ceilinged rooms and others for smaller 8-10ft high rooms.

Some companies that offer the really expensive stuff also offer less expensive stuff. I would try to go with someone who has high end stuff as well as more affordable. They tend to use bits and pieces of the same technology throughout thier catalog. Also, you may want to look and see if they have any sister companies. Sony and Technics were sister companies, pretty much the same technology under different labels. That may be a way to save some money.