• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Budget Home Theater ideas

balloonshark

balloonshark

Diamond Member
Hi all! I need help with ideas for an inexpensive home theater setup. I'm also wanting it to be compatible for future digital upgrades. I only have a DVD/VCR combo and a SDTV. I took pics of their connections so you'll know what I'm currently working with.

http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/6694/dvdvcrconnections.jpg
http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/6599/tvconnections.jpg

I guess I'm wanting to get a receiver and then slowly get halfway decent speakers as I save money. For now, I have an old set of Technics SB-S29 surround speakers (specs can be found towards the bottom here: http://www.stereomanuals.com/vintagetechnics/loudspeakers/index.htm )

I also have 2 front and a center Emerson speakers from an old HTIB. I realize these are junk but if I have to use them for a while then that's ok.

I know it's asking a lot but I would like at least a 5.1 receiver and at least 2 speakers (bookshelf or whatever) for around $300. I'm not worried about a subwoofer right now as I live in a small apartment that is over a business. My room size is about 17'x13'.

Newegg will have this combo for $299 on Black Friday. Does it seem good to you?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16882115193
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16882269004

or perhaps I could get a receiver and a pair or trio of bookshelf speakers during this 20% off sale.
http://www.thespeakercompany.com/Bookshelf-C6.aspx

Or I've looked at this HTIB from Onkyo for $300.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16882120140

Any help and suggestions will be appreciated and sorry for my budget. I'm just looking for something that sounds nice, isn't too loud and is upgradable.
 
Last edited:
On the "isn't too loud" requirement, anything you get is going to have a volume control. YOU get to decide how loud any system is.

Bass frequencies do tend to travel the most to other parts of a building though, so if you're concerned about neighbors, then waiting on the sub is probably a good move.

For leaving yourself an upgrade path, I don't think the Onkyo is a good choice. If you eventually want to add a sub, you won't have a subwoofer pre-out, which would limit your options.

For getting a full 5.0 system with receiver, the $299 Yamaha / Energy set is a good deal. You'll likely be missing a lot of the bass though without a sub.

Will this system be used for mostly games / tv / movies... or are you going to be listening to a lot of music on it too?

For a mostly games / tv / movies usage system, the Yamaha / Energy set is probably a good idea for quality and leaving yourself upgrade options.

If you listen to a lot of music too, you might want to just concentrate on a good 2.0 setup for now and try to get the two best front speakers you can instead of trying to get a full 5.0 set in the budget.
 
Wow! Thanks for the fast reply.

I would mostly use it for TV/movies and music. I don't even have a cd player so I would have to use my dvd player to play cd's for now. I only have a 8500GT in my computer which I'm wanting to upgrade next year but other than that I don't have a game console.

Are you saying get a 5.1 receiver and a couple of decent front speakers for now? Or were you meaning get a stereo receiver?

Do you have any budget receiver suggestions? Or should I just get the yamaha/energy combo and add a sub later?

Thanks once again!
 
I don't mean get a stereo receiver. I just meant if music is a priority, you might want to just get two speakers instead of 5 and hook them up to a regular surround sound receiver.

That said, if your budget is right at $300, an entry level surround sound receiver is going to eat up $200 of that, leaving you just $100 to get two speakers.

With the newegg deal on the Yamaha and Energy set, you're probably getting one of the better entry level 5.0 sets that is usually about $150-$200 and on top of that a $200-ish receiver, so that's a strong option.
The biggest shortcoming is probably the lack of bass since they're designed to work with a subwoofer. That's something you can add later on though... and it sounds like you might not even want one now.

In order to make a 2.0 system a better idea, you'd have to find a good pair of speakers for pretty cheap. Since this is a system you want to grow with you, you'd still want to get a surround sound receiver that would be around $200 for a decent one. Without the advantage of the newegg combo pricing, that leaves you with $100 for a pair of speakers.

There aren't a whole lot of choices at that pricerange.
There are the typical Polk deals that show up regularly.
The Dayton BR-1 kit from Partsexpress (if you're into DIY) is an option when it's on sale.
Or, like you said, one of "TheSpeakerCompany" options, which is probably your best bet.

You'd probably end up with a better system for music. You'd get more bass out of the system as well since those bookshelf speakers from "TheSpeakerCompany" will extend lower than the smaller Energy system.


I guess it comes down to your long term plans for the system?
If you want total system cost to be in the $400-$500 range for 5.1 down the road, then you could get the Yamaha/Energy combo deal now... and then add a sub later and call it done.
If you want a higher quality system in the end, are willing to just do stereo for now (but get better bass too), then a $200-ish receiver from Pioneer, Onkyo, Yamaha, etc. plus a pair of bookshelf speakers from "TheSpeakerCompany" will leave you more room to upgrade components. Over time, you'd buy a sub, center channel, and surrounds. To keep consistency of the speakers going, that might mean the total system budget would end up at $600-$700 once you add in another pair of bookshelf speakers, a center channel, and a basic sub.

Since you have those technics speakers available too, you wouldn't even be limited to just "stereo" if you bought a pair of bookshelf speakers and a receiver for now. If those speakers still work, they'd probably be perfectly adequate for surround duty.

For your room setup, how is the seating arranged? Will people watching movies be seated right in front of the screen (between the front two speakers)?
If viewers are roughly centered, then running a "phantom center" where the two front speakers take care of the center channel track can be pretty effective.
If you have seating that is off to the side too, then having a center channel is more important to keep the center channel track tied to action that's happening right on the screen.
 
i was in your situation a few months back. i wanted 5.1 right away, but i wanted to keep it cheap. this wasn't a system I would upgrade slowly, it was just something to have. i'm going to throw the entire thing out/resell it in a year or two.

i ended up saving for a few months, so my budget was around $600

i got my speakers from the speaker company:
lcr1 front/center:
http://www.thespeakercompany.com/LCR1-P-Series-Home-Theater-Front-Speakers-P39C37.aspx

p5 surrounds:
http://www.thespeakercompany.com/P5-PR-525-2-way-Bookshelf-Speaker-Pair-P42C37.aspx

ASW10 sub:
http://www.thespeakercompany.com/ASW-10-10-Subwoofer-P62C17.aspx

there's a coupon code "Most15" for %20 off.
i suppose you could skip the sub for now if you want. the speaker's have decent bass for music, but you would want a bit more for movies. overall for $272 bucks they sound great.

for the receiver, I got a denon 1610. there are frequent sales at places like 6ave or electronics-expo which bring the price down to around $275. I got this because I needed hdmi and analog>digital upconverting. if you don't need all that, you could get by with an older receiver (like a refurb onkyo) for much less


edit:
my point in all that was that if your budget remains under ~$600, you're probably better off skipping on 5.1 for now and sticking with stereo. I think that $500-$600 is a realistic min for decent 5.1 sound.
 
Last edited:
There are lots of great resources in this subforum and others too of course. I'm just around here more due to a lack of a life 😛
 
I really want to thank you all for your help and time.

I think were on the same page now and I agree and understand your suggestions. I'm seriously thinking about getting either the P5 or P6 bookshelf speakers as they are now 33% off. http://www.thespeakercompany.com/P-Series-Bookshelf-Speakers-C37.aspx

So, would it be better to get the 2 P6's and the RC1 center for $100? Or would it be better to get something like the LCR-3 set for $120. Or the P5's with the RC-1 center for $87? Even if I got one of the above, I could use my Technics for surround and then eventually get 2 towers and a sub and move the bookshelf's to the rear.

What about a receiver? I get really confused as to what I need (decoders or what vshah mentioned "hdmi and analog>digital upconverting" ) for my current setup and what I would need in the future. I probably won't get a LCD for another 2 years and won't buy a blu-ray player until prices come down but I want my receiver compatible with them. My first upgrade will be a cd player.

As far as my room goes, it's not the best layout but I will have my chair pointed towards the TV and speakers.
 
Last edited:
balloonshark said:
I really want to thank you all for your help and time.

I think were on the same page now and I agree and understand your suggestions. I'm seriously thinking about getting either the A-5 or A-6 bookshelf speakers as they are now 33% off. http://www.thespeakercompany.com/P-Series-Bookshelf-Speakers-C37.aspx

So, would it be better to get the 2 A6's and the RC1 center for $100? Or would it be better to get something like the LCR-3 set for $120. Or the A-5's with the RC-1 center for $87? Even if I got one of the above, I could use my Technics for surround and then eventually get 2 towers and a sub and move the bookshelf's to the rear.

What about a receiver? I get really confused as to what I need (decoders or what vshah mentioned "hdmi and analog>digital upconverting" ) for my current setup and what I would need in the future. I probably won't get a LCD for another 2 years and won't buy a blu-ray player until prices come down but I want my receiver compatible with them. My first upgrade will be a cd player.

As far as my room goes, it's not the best layout but I will have my chair pointed towards the TV and speakers.
Click to expand...


weird...i don't see any speakers called A-5 or A-6. as far as i know TSC only has the P series and the T series. did you mean P5 and P6? I have the P5s, and for my room which is roughly 15x14, sitting about 11' from the TV, the P5/RC1 are plenty. (i did get a subwoofer though)

when choosing a receiver, the main thing is to know what all your sources are. your dvd/vcr and tv both have component, so any current or even older receiver will work. do you have any other sources such as game systems etc? If you want the cheapest receiver that will work for you today, you should get something used or refurbished, that has a few component inputs and a component output. you can find something that will work for under $200

if you want to future proof yourself, get one with HDMI inputs (for your future bluray player) and HDMI outs for your future LCD. You will need to find one with the analog>hdmi conversion i mentioned. this willl allow you to plug in your older sources with component, and have the signal go out to the TV over HDMI. The cheapest you'll get here is $250-$300, and that will be if you find a coupon code, or something on sale. The denon 1610 i mentioned is a good choice.
 
Your right, they are the P5 and P6. I'll correct my post. It's good to hear they sound ok.

Thanks for explaining analog>hdmi conversion. I would like something with HDMI inputs but I see that some are pass-through only. I guess that's not a problem.

I could go $250 for the receiver but that would be my limit. I'm not asking for much am I LOL.

I almost forgot, I have no game systems.
 
I can't find any deals on the Denon 1610 but I can find a refurb for $270 which is close to the sale price. I can find a refurb 1909 for $325 + s&h and possibly a new 1909 for $450. I also think I can get a 1910 new for $400. The higher priced ones are probably more than I need.

The Onkyo 507 is $279 but from what I'm reading it's not quite as good as the 1610. The Onkyo 607 is $379.

Out of those above, which do you like?

Are there any other receivers that I should be considering?

What do you think about the Denon 1909 refurb? Does it have everything I need and is 1909 good? It's from an authorized dealer and has a 1 year warranty.

Thanks once again for your patience with this AV newbie.
 
Last edited:
Do you know what speakers you might end up with for the front eventually?

It might make more sense to hold off on the center until you know what you'll be getting down the road. It's a good idea to match the front 3 speakers from the same product line from a company.
In the case of movies, the center channel handles maybe 70% or so of sound from a movie. If you get a budget center now and better front speakers later, you may end up wanting to upgrade the center again to match.

On the other hand, you can always move the first center to rear speaker duty later on too.

For the receivers, any of those should be a good choice. I haven't researched them enough individually to know off hand what the best value is.
 
I have no idea which front speakers I will end up with. They will end up being something on sale.

You make a good point about the center speaker. I'll have to give it more thought.

The reason I looked into the 1909 was I read on a forum that it had better sound than the 1610. It's way more than I need though. I'll keep looking around and see what I can find.
 
It's tough to pick this stuff out because no matter where you start looking, you'll always find suggestions about "if you only spend X dollars more, you can get this thing".
 
YOyoYOhowsDAjello said:
It's tough to pick this stuff out because no matter where you start looking, you'll always find suggestions about "if you only spend X dollars more, you can get this thing".
Click to expand...
Boy you can say that again LOL. That's how I ended up looking at the 1909.

It's also hard because you keep thinking "oh, I need the feature" and those add up quickly.
 
Just an update of what I ended up purchasing.

ONKYO 7.2-Channel Home Theater Receiver HT-RC160 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-146-_-Product

TSC’s LCR3-P http://www.thespeakercompany.com/LCR3-P-Series-Home-Theater-Front-Speakers-P41C37.aspx

TSC's P5-PR http://www.thespeakercompany.com/P5-PR-525-2-way-Bookshelf-Speaker-Pair-P42C37.aspx

Receiver $318
Front bookshelf and center $90
Rear surrounds $42
-------------------------------
Total $450

I know it doesn't seem like much but I'm sure this system will blow my socks off.

I may end up getting a sub after listening to the system but I need to keep it mild because of living in an apt. over a business.

Maybe later I can pick up better fronts with a matching center but that will come after player and TV upgrades.

My next thoughts are to get a cd player/changer and/or find a way to stream internet radio to the receiver. Do people still buy cd players or do they get dvd or blu-ray players that also play cd's?
 
Report back with your thoughts once you get everything set up.

Did you buy speaker wire already?

I have my computer in another room hooked up to my receiver with a digital coaxial cable for sending audio.
You can get fancier if you want, but this works fine for my purposes.

Some people use their DVD player / Blu-ray player as their CD player. Some people (who have spent a lot on their system and feel that the quality of their disc player is the limiting factor) end up buying a dedicated CD player.

Based on where your system is now, I'd say you probably want to get a blu-ray player that does everything.
 
balloonshark said:
Just an update of what I ended up purchasing.

ONKYO 7.2-Channel Home Theater Receiver HT-RC160 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-146-_-Product

TSC’s LCR3-P http://www.thespeakercompany.com/LCR3-P-Series-Home-Theater-Front-Speakers-P41C37.aspx

TSC's P5-PR http://www.thespeakercompany.com/P5-PR-525-2-way-Bookshelf-Speaker-Pair-P42C37.aspx

Receiver $318
Front bookshelf and center $90
Rear surrounds $42
-------------------------------
Total $450

I know it doesn't seem like much but I'm sure this system will blow my socks off.

I may end up getting a sub after listening to the system but I need to keep it mild because of living in an apt. over a business.

Maybe later I can pick up better fronts with a matching center but that will come after player and TV upgrades.

My next thoughts are to get a cd player/changer and/or find a way to stream internet radio to the receiver. Do people still buy cd players or do they get dvd or blu-ray players that also play cd's?
Click to expand...

Grand Master YoYo, if I added in a sub to that system how would it work out for my requirements?
 
kazaam said:
Grand Master YoYo, if I added in a sub to that system how would it work out for my requirements?
Click to expand...

That would work.

If you can squeeze the T-series bookshelf speakers and center for the front three, it might be worth it too.

With the sale now, it's not too much of a jump to get those. I don't know how much better they're supposed to be though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top