Only have $500 max to spend on my audio for my HT

[Renob]

Hello People,

I only have $500 to spend on sound for my HT system, yes yes I know its not much but it is the max I can spend so I need speakers and a Receiver to drive them, need to have a sub to.

I can live with no HDMI if the Receiver has component in and out on it, I will only be running a HD Cable box and a DVD player through it.


You all have any ideas what I could get for this price.

I had this Yamaha in mind, Dell has it for $499

Would love to have some tips/feedback.

Thanks

 

[darkswordsman17]

http://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-HT...&qid=1189728078&sr=8-1

I recommend that. You might be able to sell the sub or the front speakers to help pay for an upgrade there, although you may find that unnecessary after setting it up. I'd actually say wait and save up to make a bigger upgrade. You'd probably need the extra money for stands for the time being anyways. Depending on what your use is, if you decide to upgrade, I would say, fronts, sub, center.

 

[krotchy]

*edit*Onkyo TX-SR800..... Darksword beat me to it

 

[kalrith]

I spent about $500 to first get into HT. I bought a Panasonic XR55 for $230, a pair of Polk R50 for just under $200, and a Samsung DVD player for $70. I lived with just the two speakers for about 8 months and then had enough money to fill out the 5.1. I bought a sub, matching Polk center, and some surround bookshelfs.

This method isn't for everyone, but it will give you much better upgradeability and in the end a much higher quality 5.1 system. Just the two speakers sounded better than the HTIB I've heard. Of course, there was no surround sound, but I was willing to forego that for better quality and the future opportunity to upgrade. All total I spent $770 on the 5.1 system including the receiver and DVD player. Waiting to buy the rest of the speakers gave me time to shop around for some great deals.

 

[cheesehead]

I'd go for a nice used Yamaha reciever, and three pairs of Insignia NSB-2111s, of which you can sell me the extra for $25 and bring the total cost down to $200 or so for the speakers. Parts Express sells some decent subwoofers under their Dayton house-brand; I'd reccomend the $150 12" model. (http://www.parts-express.com/p...fm?Partnumber=300-635)

For the DVD player, go get something nice and cheap, and upgrade when you can afford it. I spent all of $5 on my Sony DVD player at a garage sale - while it lacks HDMI, it's quite good nonetheless, which makes sense considering that it cost around $300 new.

This setup is pretty nice all around. The DVD player you can replace with something better later; you can save a lot of money by getting a used HT reciever that lacks HD input/output and just connecting your DVD player to your TV. Plus, if you want even better sound quality, there are a variety of inexpensive upgrades you can perform to the Insiginas, including better damping (pillow fluff works well for this) and a crossover upgrade (the stock crossover, while simple, really sucks.)

 

[montypythizzle]

The Onkyo system suggested is GREAT, it also has a component switcher for 3 devices to one output.
3 optical inputs and one coaxial SPDIF input, not to mention the other thousand bajillion analog inputs and composite inputs.
The sub can be the weak part of the system but it is GREAT for the price, and with that receiver you can update stuff slowly, like the fronts and center or the sub and then update the rears/sides.
I love it and has worked flawlessly for about 3 year,s I have had its older model and it is unreal the sound it puts out. (just different looks of the speakers and addition of XM radio on the receiver I believe)

 

[montypythizzle]

Oh, I guess new one has an HDMI switcher and now 2 coax inputs and only 2 optical inputs.
NICE.
I don't think it will strip the HDMI audio though.

 

[Renob]

Wow thanks for the info/tip/ideas very helpful.

So I have a credit at Dell, I was thinking og gettting this Receiver Please let me know that you think about it, oh and with my credit I can get it for FREE! yes FREE

I was thinking of then getting two of the NSB-2111s and the Sub then as I have more money I can get a nice Center and Main speakers and move the NSB-2111s to the rear.

 

[montypythizzle]

If the receiver is free, then yes I would go that route.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Yeah, if you can get that reciever free (might just do a quick check around and make sure there weren't any issues with that specific model or anything, doubtful as Yamaha has a good reputation). Then put that $500 towards speakers.

AV123 has some nice B-stock items right now:
http://www.av123.com/products_...on=stock&product=113.1
http://www.av123.com/products_...ion=stock&product=93.1
http://www.av123.com/products_...ion=stock&product=60.1

I think I would lean towards the bookshelf ones. If you go the x-ls you'd still have about $300 to put on a subwoofer. Hmm, doesn't look like Vanns is doing any specials on the Mirage subs. You might look on Audiogon and see if there's anyone selling anything.

 

[Renob]

Dam that credit I have for Dell is from my American Exp card for points and dam it can only be used for a computer or TV, so that sucks have to rethink everything now.

Bummer!

 

[darkswordsman17]

Ah, that's a bummer.

The main reason I recommended the Onkyo setup is that if you plan on upgrading anyways, its makes things a bit easier. The Polk speakers from Outpost are decent, but I would personally go with the Onkyo as you get everything you would want for the time being and can then upgrade at your own leisure. If you think it might be a while before you upgrade (as in years) then I would probably say to go with just two nicer front speakers (and maybe a sub). For me, I think it would be more cost effective to start "lower" quality on the speakers but everything situated/thought out (placement, etc) and then save up and spend higher (so, start with say spending $100 and then go spend $900 instead of spending $350 and then $650, not sure if that makes sense). This route would be more likely to get you something you'd be content with for a long time and not get the upgrade bug as much as well.

 

[Renob]

Woot Im back in the game with getting a Free Pioneer Reciever lol I could use my CC points to get Home Depot gift card!

So I wish I could of stuck with the Yamaha but Im sure this will fit my needs and more.

 

[montypythizzle]

Originally posted by: Renob
Woot Im back in the game with getting a Free Pioneer Reciever lol I could use my CC points to get Home Depot gift card!

So I wish I could of stuck with the Yamaha but Im sure this will fit my needs and more.

Well, it looks about the same as the Yamaha, but I am still not sure if any of these listed will strip the HDMI signal of it's audio. It could be I haven't read the specs on any of them

 

[Renob]

Montypythizzle yes they do strip the HDMI of its Audio, which leads to a question.

How much better is audio and video running through HDMI compared to component cables?

 

[SithSolo1]

Originally posted by: Renob
Montypythizzle yes they do strip the HDMI of its Audio, which leads to a question.

How much better is audio and video running through HDMI compared to component cables?

Audio should sound the same and video will (possibly) be better. Also that is a nice Pioneer receiver. I have the older VSX-1014TX and I love it. I know the 1014TX was just a re-badged Elite model and I'm sure the 1016 is near the same quality.

As for speakers I would checkout the AV123.com B-stock items. They get good reviews and you can always upgrade later. Most of the time B-stock audio items are Mint. I got a B-stock sub from Outlaw Audio once. It was $200 cheaper because it had been machined wrong at the factory and the glass insert(which has no effect on the sound) on top was 3mm higher than it should have been.

You could get the B-Stock: x-ls
A regular: x-cs
and a:Dayton 12" sub

 

[krotchy]

Originally posted by: Renob
Montypythizzle yes they do strip the HDMI of its Audio, which leads to a question.

How much better is audio and video running through HDMI compared to component cables?

Audio VIA HDMI has much more potential than other sources. It can handle higher bitrate audio than even Optical/coax SPDIF.

When you say Audio over component what do you mean? Component is just Video (3 cables). Typically things with component out also have some form of SPDIF or simply L/R. HDMI audio is comparable or better to SPDIF, but will smoke L/R 10 ways from Sunday.

Also Video over HDMI is better than over component in almost all situations. However how much better is debatable, and depends on your TV and other things. For some sources they could very well be identical in every way.

 

[montypythizzle]

Some receivers just act as HDMI switchers, that is why I said that. Only until you get in the higher end receivers do they use the TrueHD and WTFever the DTS version is.

 

[Gunslinger08]

Originally posted by: krotchy

Originally posted by: Renob
Montypythizzle yes they do strip the HDMI of its Audio, which leads to a question.

How much better is audio and video running through HDMI compared to component cables?

Audio VIA HDMI has much more potential than other sources. It can handle higher bitrate audio than even Optical/coax SPDIF.

When you say Audio over component what do you mean? Component is just Video (3 cables). Typically things with component out also have some form of SPDIF or simply L/R. HDMI audio is comparable or better to SPDIF, but will smoke L/R 10 ways from Sunday.

Also Video over HDMI is better than over component in almost all situations. However how much better is debatable, and depends on your TV and other things. For some sources they could very well be identical in every way.

I've found that component video quality is significantly better from my Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300HD cable box, compared to HDMI.

 

[krotchy]

Originally posted by: joshsquall

Originally posted by: krotchy

Originally posted by: Renob
Montypythizzle yes they do strip the HDMI of its Audio, which leads to a question.

How much better is audio and video running through HDMI compared to component cables?

Audio VIA HDMI has much more potential than other sources. It can handle higher bitrate audio than even Optical/coax SPDIF.

When you say Audio over component what do you mean? Component is just Video (3 cables). Typically things with component out also have some form of SPDIF or simply L/R. HDMI audio is comparable or better to SPDIF, but will smoke L/R 10 ways from Sunday.

Also Video over HDMI is better than over component in almost all situations. However how much better is debatable, and depends on your TV and other things. For some sources they could very well be identical in every way.

I've found that component video quality is significantly better from my Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300HD cable box, compared to HDMI.

As I said, in *almost* all situations, and it depends on your television, and how you calibrated your TV. Still 9 times out of 10 HDMI has the edge, but I admit its not by much... which I stated but you didn't bold.

The bigger issue with HDMI vs component, is component tends to soften the image a little. So when you have a bad source with high compression (like HD Cable) you will see all the errors a bit more pronounced on HDMI since it is passing them discretely. However some TV's can account for this and have noise reduction and other processing features which will attempt to fix this.

So yeah HDMI should be better than component in all scenarios, but theres just to many factors to consider to say that it actually is better in all scenarios.