Home theater audio for the complete n00b

[Kabob]

Alright, first off, I know very little about audio. Surround sound, etc is all foreign to me. I'm more of a video focused guy. I'm marrying a girl who says I can get an HDTV (yay) but she wants a surround sound system to go with it for herself. So questions:

-First off, we're going to be on a bit of a budget once we get married. What is the best sound system you can get for the least money? I'd assume it's a pre-packaged all in one home theater system but I'm not sure.

-Second, what are some of the better brands to go with?

-Third, 5.1, 6.1, or 7.1 sound? I figured 6.1 and 7.1 would be a good bit more expensive, plus I don't know where I'd put all the speakers 😛

-Fourth, what are some key features I need to make sure that each system has when considering a purchase (HDMI, Optical Sound, component connections, etc?)

-And finally, anyone have some specific models/systems that you all can suggest? I'm not sure what the average price is of a complete set is...and I'd rather keep it cheap. But I don't want to go so cheap that the sound quality is bad. Good quality plus cheap, I know it's never simple but what's good?

Thanks!

 

[MustISO]

Start Here

Crutchfield

A less expensive system is usually a HTiB (home theater in a box). Some are good, a lot are crap. 5.1 is normally fine for most situations/rooms.

 

[imported_Imp]

Can't help you much on the home theater aspect, but I recommend you check out avsforum which specializes on that.

On that note, I recommend you shell out a few grand to get the latest and greatest Bose system. Yes, you too can feel the 'wave' of good sound. :shocked: (Mass sarcasm alert in case you didn't get that).

Anywho, pre-packaged sets usually range anywhere from $50 and up. A quality/value set such as the Athena Point 5s is about $1000 CAN, ~$500 US. I hear Infinity has a pretty good set as well at roughly the same price as the Athenas. These are 5.1 sets, some deals usually have a receiver included with it. Brandwise, as mentioned above, Athena and Infinity are pretty good, when going into full-size, bookshelf speakers, you can't go wrong with Paradigm, Boston Acoustics, etc. However, just a reminder that even good brands have duds.

Not that sure about 6.1 and 7.1, but depends on what you want. Personally, I don't see the use of 1/2 extra rear(s). Quite a few new discs are supporting 6.1 now.

On key features, all depends on the receiver. Speakers just hook up to the receiver and play what the receiver puts out through its decoding features and jacks. If you want one with XM radio and all the other stuff I never looked at, it'll run you at least ~$300 US.

Good luck, and enjoy.

 

[Kabob]

Good stuff, I'll look at the AVS forum when I get home.

Crutchfield is good stuff you say? I don't know anything about that company.

Umm, also, you say most in a box systems are crap, what are some that aren't crap? And how much more expensive is it to build your own theater system??

*edits (since the post above was put up when I was writing this one):

Yeah, I've heard people rave about Bose forever but I figure alot of it is probably brand name loyalty by now. Are they really any better than the others?

I figure 5.1 will probably be fine for us. We're not die hard perfect audio fiends or anything, but I would like some surround sound for when we watch movies or when I play Xbox.

And I highly doubt we'll have any use for XM whatsoever. I don't listen to the radio anywhere else but my car as it is.

I've never heard of Athenas or Infinity...what's with all the good sound brands being stuff I've never heard of before?

P.S. I know this is really stupid but I really like the look of the really tall and thin speakers. Do they sound as good as the short and wide ones?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: kabob983
I'm marrying a girl who says I can get an HDTV (yay) but she wants a surround sound system to go with it for herself.

:heart:

I have a link about bose in my sig if you want to take a look.
I put together a little General Audio thread here (please excuse the complete lack of organization)
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...hreadid=1810562&enterthread=y&arctab=y

Here's another pretty decent place to look for basics, but it's a bit outdated
http://www.polkaudio.com/education/advice.php


For a cheap system, an Onkyo HTIB would be my suggestion. You get a pretty good receiver and some adequate speakers.
For bottom of the barrel, http://www.shoponkyo.com/detail.cfm?pro...delid=89&group_id=1&detail=1&ext_war=1
($169)
This would be a step up and you get HDMI and a DVD player included
http://www.shoponkyo.com/detail.cfm?pro...elid=111&group_id=1&detail=1&ext_war=1

I wouldn't worry too much about HDMI since you should be able to connect the video straight into your display unless you have a lot of HDMI sources. HDMI receivers are getting more affordable, but the basic receivers still tend to lack them.


5.1 vs. 6.1/7.1 isn't a big deal.
This would be what you're trying to do for placement of speakers
http://www.dolby.com/consumer/home_entertainment/roomlayout.html
check out Dolby Digital EX for what 7.1 would mean for placement.


If you have the money for it, putting together a system from components can get you a much nicer system in the end.


Putting together a system on your own wouldn't necessarily be that much more expensive than a HTIB system depending on what you want to get.


Just to put some ballpark figures out there:

$175 could get you a basic HTIB system like that first onkyo
$400-$500 could get you a pretty good HTIB system like that second onkyo
$1000 could get you a system with some good speakers and a budget receiver of some kind.
$1500 - $2000 you'd have some nice options for more speakers that open up

You can pretty much keep going with the budget as high as you want to, but I suspect I've probably passed what you want to spend already.

It might be a good idea to go out with the future wife and listen to some stuff in some AV stores. You'll be able to bring some source material and listen to a variety of brands to see what some different options sound like.

I've had some very good experiences with online brands personally.

Without a better idea of how much you really want to spend on this, it's hard to say anything specific.

How big of a room is this going to be in? (LxWxH)
Do you plan to listen to movies loudly? Action movies and such?

EDIT:

Oh, and what do you mean by "I know this is really stupid but I really like the look of the really tall and thin speakers. Do they sound as good as the short and wide ones?"

I'm wondering if you mean "old school" towers with 12" or 15" or whatever woofers on the front vs. more modern looking floorstanders

OR

Standard modern floorstanders vs. very thin floorstanders


Examples:
old school
"Standard" modern
"Thin" floorstander