First apartment warrants first big ass TV

[kalrith]

I've been using a used Onkyo 6.1 HTIB that I picked up for $200 last summer. It worked but is getting long in the tooth and doesn't have any HDMI ports.

What's a good set of speakers for 400-500 bucks?

What model is the HTIB? You might be able to reuse the receiver and the surround speakers, and just buy a new front three for a halfway decent system.

In the price rang of $400-500 for speakers and a receiver, HDMI audio isn't worth it. You'd have to spend at least $200 (probably more) on a receiver that can handle HDMI audio, and you wouldn't notice the difference on a $300 pair of speakers.

Newegg's been running some good deals on Polk speakers lately. If you find the stuff on sale, you can get a pair of Monitor 70 and a CS2 as your front three for about $450. Just set up a deal alert for Polk on Slickdeals, and you'll get an email every time a new thread is started with the word Polk in it. You can search old thread to see the best prices, but I think it's been down to $175 shipped for the Monitor 70 and $100 shipped for the CS2.

You might be able to do better than that for the price, but those are definitely solid choices in your price range. You can always upgrade your receiver, sub, and surrounds later, but your front three will make the biggest difference in how your system sounds.

If you can't reuse the parts of your HTIB, then I still stand on my previous recommendation and would get a pair of Monitor 70 (or something else in that price range) with a stereo receiver.

 

[roguerower]

The HTIB is a Onkyo HT-S760 based around a TX-SR501. The system isn't doing too bad in it's present setup but I don't know if I can reuse the surrounds since they need a pretty hefty stand to keep them up.

Are these the Monitor 70s you're talking about http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc..._-NA-_-NA-_-NA

 

[kalrith]

The HTIB is a Onkyo HT-S760 based around a TX-SR501. The system isn't doing too bad in it's present setup but I don't know if I can reuse the surrounds since they need a pretty hefty stand to keep them up.

Like I said in the previous post, I think you'll get the most bang for your buck by spending your entire budget on your front 3 speakers. If you spent about $450 on a pair of Polk Monitor 70 and a Polk CS2, you'd have about $50 left for speaker stands. I'd use the mains from your HTIB as side surrounds, and it's up to you if you want to add another speaker to get 6.1 or just stick with 5.1. You could even start off with 3.1 until you had time to buy stands and route the speaker wire.

The next upgrade would be a new subwoofer (assuming your receiver has a sub pre-out). Then you can get a new HDMI receiver if you want. Surround speakers don't need to be that beefy, so you might get away with using your HTIB speakers as surrounds forever.

In the mean time, you can connect everything via HDMI directly to the TV for video and send a digital coax/optical cable to the receiver for audio.

Edit: With only $500 to spend and a decent receiver already, it doesn't make sense to upgrade the receiver right now. If you spent $250 on an HDMI receiver, you wouldn't notice a difference between the HDMI receiver and your current one with $250 worth of speakers. However, you would most definitely notice the difference between $250 speakers and $500 speakers.

 

[Excelsior]

I was in a similar situation about 7 months ago. I went with a 50" 1080p Panasonic Plasma. I don't regret the decision a bit. My viewing distance is about 7-8 ft and much larger would honestly overpower the room. I have experience with DLPs and while I do appreciate what they offer, they weren't practical for my setup. I left my 92" DLP front projector at the house for my dad.

 

[s44]

That low-end Onkyo should be great for entry-level use.

Polk is popular among tech folks because Newegg carries it cheap, but I'd look at the Infinity Primus stuff I linked in the other HT thread. A pair of the P362s ($400 shipped before BCB) should knock out any of the low-end Polk stuff, though of course YMMV.

 

[roguerower]

Went to BB today and took a look at the Plasmas. After looking at Panasonics and Samsungs I decided I liked the styling of the Samsungs better. The three that I saw and were in my price range were the:

PN50C550
PN50B850
PN58C550

Are there any other sets out there that I should keep my eye on or are these both good? Truth be told the 50" was pretty damn big for me so I'll end up staying at that level.

 

[Anubis]

there is a LG or 2 that come in 50in models that people like. the only issue with them as the cheaper models are mirrors. of those you have listed the 850 is the best of the bunch, however id look into the panny g20/g25 it may not look as sexy but its generally considered the best plasma at its price point

 

[kalrith]

Went to BB today and took a look at the Plasmas. After looking at Panasonics and Samsungs I decided I liked the styling of the Samsungs better. The three that I saw and were in my price range were the:

PN50C550
PN50B850
PN58C550

Are there any other sets out there that I should keep my eye on or are these both good? Truth be told the 50" was pretty damn big for me so I'll end up staying at that level.

My recommendation is always to buy a size or two up from what size looks good to you. If you buy a 50" that looks like the perfect size, 1-2 months from now it's likely to look too small. OTOH, if you buy a 58" that looks too big now, then 1-2 months from now it'll look just right.