Any opinions on this HT setup?

[Shawn]

If you are going to spend $219.99 you might as well get an HD DVD player. You can get the Toshiba HD-A2 for that price and it is an excellent upconverter.

 

[Deudalus]

Originally posted by: Shawn
If you are going to spend $219.99 you might as well get an HD DVD player. You can get the Toshiba HD-A2 for that price and it is an excellent upconverter.

I agree 100%.

 

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by: A5
I wouldn't bother with the Marantz DVD player and just get an HD-DVD or Blu-Ray player for a little more money...any of them will upscale DVDs nearly as well, and you get the option of real HD content.

Or at least the Oppo DV-981.

http://www.amazon.com/DV-981HD...nverting/dp/B000LU8A7E

A great upconverter and universal player.

 

[sdifox]

Descartes, where do you live? Maybe someone on here is in the same city and could just help you do this. I am sure a nice dinner would do as payment.

 

[s44]

Cables are snake oil -- especially digital ones. $340 for a six-foot HDMI connection!? Insane.

Also, I'd go with low-end Triads in-ceiling and the Era Design 4 LCR (or PL24 if you're wall-mounting the center), but those would probably bump your budget a bit...

 

[Descartes]

Last update for a while.

I decided against the Marantz DVD player as some of you suggested. I have an XBox 360, so I'll either continue to use that, buy the HD-DVD add-in or simply buy an HD-DVD/Blu-Ray player. I'm not real concerned about that at this point.

Tentatively, I've decided on AIM3s for the front and AIM2s for the rear. I'm also going back to the B&W center and sub in place of the Klipsch.

Finally, I am going to go with my own cables. I agree the price is insane.

I'll let everyone know how the installation goes. Thanks again to everyone for all the help!

 

[Deudalus]

Originally posted by: Descartes
Last update for a while.

I decided against the Marantz DVD player as some of you suggested. I have an XBox 360, so I'll either continue to use that, buy the HD-DVD add-in or simply buy an HD-DVD/Blu-Ray player. I'm not real concerned about that at this point.

I'd very, very much seriously consider a Toshiba HD DVD player if you are going that route.

Xbox 360's burn out fast enough without you watching movies on it too and the Toshiba is probably only about 50 dollars more.

Tentatively, I've decided on AIM3s for the front and AIM2s for the rear. I'm also going back to the B&W center and sub in place of the Klipsch.

Finally, I am going to go with my own cables. I agree the price is insane.

I'll let everyone know how the installation goes. Thanks again to everyone for all the help!

You are welcome I hope it all goes well.

Post pics

 

[Descartes]

I posted an update in the OP...

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I'm glad to hear that you're not going to spend the extra $3k on this as originally planned.

I'm really lazy and since I forget if it was asked already, but did you listen to any of these speakers yet? I really have no idea how they sound or whether the B&W center would sound anything like them.

Oh and yeah, auto calibration for the room is advancing quickly and there are some pretty impressive ones out there now.

For a midrange receiver, I would recommend looking at something like the Onkyo 605 as a starting point to compare to the Marantz.

 

[krotchy]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
I'm glad to hear that you're not going to spend the extra $3k on this as originally planned.

I'm really lazy and since I forget if it was asked already, but did you listen to any of these speakers yet? I really have no idea how they sound or whether the B&W center would sound anything like them.

Oh and yeah, auto calibration for the room is advancing quickly and there are some pretty impressive ones out there now.

For a midrange receiver, I would recommend looking at something like the Onkyo 605 as a starting point to compare to the Marantz.

I was going to recommend the Onkyo 605 or even the 705 as well for their HDMI audio processing abilities and impressive feature sets/sound for the price. Both have a remote interactive ipod dock available, which is something you expressed interest in. Both of them also have the Audyssey Room setup which does the auto speaker detection for you. The 605 is around 400-450 dollars on a good deal, the 705 can be found for as low as 590 or even 550 if your really lucky, but more easily around 610-630 (I paid 610 for my 705).

Just for reference the 705 has the following over the 605:
THX Select2 Certification
Neural THX 7.1 DSP
10W/channel more power
Powered Zone 2
Pre-outs for all 7.1 speakers
Extra HDMI Port
Extra SPDIF Inputs
A Phono Input (If you have a record player)
The Audyssey auto-calibration has more zones for setup (9 instead of 2 I think)
A much better learning remote (Seriously this thing is really nice)
oh and most importantly...
Blue Light behind the Volume Knob (Worth the price of the reciever easily )

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
I'm glad to hear that you're not going to spend the extra $3k on this as originally planned.

I'm really lazy and since I forget if it was asked already, but did you listen to any of these speakers yet? I really have no idea how they sound or whether the B&W center would sound anything like them.

Oh and yeah, auto calibration for the room is advancing quickly and there are some pretty impressive ones out there now.

For a midrange receiver, I would recommend looking at something like the Onkyo 605 as a starting point to compare to the Marantz.

Thanks.

No, I have not listened to these speakers yet unfortunately. I can't find anyone that actually has them available for listening. It's a bit of a risk in that regard. I'll probably go check out some other ones just for comparison.

I'll take a look at the Onkyo, thanks!