Recoommend me a home Theater system

[virtuamike]

I've been trying to put together a system too. I haven't looked at a new DVD player yet, but here's probably what I'll get for audio (based on recommendations from avsforum). I've been looking pretty hard, seems like the best deals are on the direct from internet companies, plus they have good trial periods.

- Onkyo TX-SR504 ($150 @ Fry's thru 6/12)
- AV123 x-cs center channel ($140)
- AV123 x-ls bookshelf mains ($220 pair)
- Elemental Designs A2-300 sub ($350)

That puts me at $860, still need cables and a new DVD player eventually. I have a pair of Energy Take 5 satellites that I'll use for rears (don't really care to match em, just need something that'll put out sound).

 

[Rio Rebel]

Originally posted by: tHa ShIzNiT
Ahh I wish there was an easier answer when it came to this. The audio god (YoYo) needs to come out with a guide (ala Anandtech) with home theater budget, middle, and high end systems. Then I could just pick one of those and be done with it!

It's not that straightforward. With computers, the issue is direct (processing power/speed) and the features are usually rather standard. Sometimes a lack of firewire onboard or a wireless ethernet might make you choose one motherboard over another, but generally the differences in features are minor.

With audio, once you reach a certain quality point, it is far more subjective than objective. Obviously, you don't want an audio system where the speakers sound distorted at normal volumes. But once you pass that, most of the differences are strongly dependent upon personal taste and feature sets (which also are buyer-specific).

I could recommend my system (Paradigm monitor series, Denon 3805 receiver, Panasonic BD10 Blu-ray, Sharp Z-2000 720p projector). I love it. But right off the top, most people wouldn't use a projector. Any new purchase should probably involve a receiver with HDMI (and the lack of HDMI on my receiver is partly what drove me to a Panasonic over a PS3). And if you are a longtime Klipsch owner, you would probably find my speakers to be missing that dynamic "out in front" sound that you get from Klipsch.

Ultimately, it is impossible to put out a buyer's guide for audio. But you can give some generalities that can be helpful, if the buyer is willing to take that info and do his own listening to determine his own preferences.

 

[foghorn67]

Originally posted by: venkman
It will still work if you run a HD/BR player to the HDMI on the AVR and DTS and DD audio can still be passed through an optical cable to the receiver. It is just that you wont get TrueHD, PCM etc.

Just for future reference, Monoprice has great HDMI switchers for not too much money if you ever need a few extra ports.

Thank you for clarifying.

 

[oakland25]

sorry i have responded in a couple days

but what about this speaker set from AV123
and then i can get a cheaper receiver but which one should i get if I were to get the AV123 speakers?
Also I have a question about the reciver that I may get, will it be able to decode the Blu ray and HD DVD codecs? If I were to go with this reciver Id prob go with the Polk sperkers you recommended Venkman. They are nice but I have one question about that though, can u give me a link to the Sub and Center speaker you were taking about? Again thank you all for all you help

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

If you are thinking X-series from AV123, I'd recommend just getting a pair of X-LS intially and taking advantage of their risk free trial period to make sure you like them before getting the whole system.

I haven't done the math to figure out what kind of discount you might get there buying all at once, but you'll get "family pricing" once you've spend $200 with them, which would be equivalent to getting the package deal if it's cheaper than buying on their own separately.

If you send an e-mail to them, they'll be very helpful. Their customer service is first rate over there. I've had a couple issues in the past and they've been very helpful for me.


An alternative to getting a player that has audio HDMI capabilities, you could get a player that can decode them and send analog output.
As long as the receiver you pick has a multichannel analog input, you'll be able to benefit from those new sound formats.


For the polk speakers mentioned, when they're on sale, they'll come to the top of this link
http://shop2.outpost.com/searc...query_string=polk&cat=

R300s and R150s are on sale now along with Cherry R50s.

 

[venkman]

Originally posted by: oakland25
sorry i have responded in a couple days

but what about this speaker set from AV123
and then i can get a cheaper receiver but which one should i get if I were to get the AV123 speakers?
Also I have a question about the reciver that I may get, will it be able to decode the Blu ray and HD DVD codecs? If I were to go with this reciver Id prob go with the Polk sperkers you recommended Venkman. They are nice but I have one question about that though, can u give me a link to the Sub and Center speaker you were taking about? Again thank you all for all you help

Matching Center (CSI25)

It is usually about $15-$25 cheaper when on sale at outpost so it is your call on wheter to wait or not.


Matching Subs. I would recomend going with a different brand of sub as the Polk ones aren't all that hot until you get to much higher end one.
PSW10
and
PSW12

You could get something like Dayton Sub-120 if you need to stay in that price range. This is the only real decision I regret about my HT when I put it together last year. They are awsome in their price range but not very good overall. If I had to do it over again I would have just let the fronts handle the low frequencies in the short term until I could afford to add a decent sub to the system.

I'll probably end up replacing my sub with something like the HSU VTF-1 or the SVS PB-10NSD

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: venkman

Originally posted by: oakland25
sorry i have responded in a couple days

but what about this speaker set from AV123
and then i can get a cheaper receiver but which one should i get if I were to get the AV123 speakers?
Also I have a question about the reciver that I may get, will it be able to decode the Blu ray and HD DVD codecs? If I were to go with this reciver Id prob go with the Polk sperkers you recommended Venkman. They are nice but I have one question about that though, can u give me a link to the Sub and Center speaker you were taking about? Again thank you all for all you help

Matching Center (CSI25)

It is usually about $15-$25 cheaper when on sale at outpost so it is your call on wheter to wait or not.


Matching Subs. I would recomend going with a different brand of sub as the Polk ones aren't all that hot until you get to much higher end one.
PSW10
and
PSW12

You could get something like Dayton Sub-120 if you need to stay in that price range. This is the only real decision I regret about my HT when I put it together last year. They are awsome in their price range but not very good overall. If I had to do it over again I would have just let the fronts handle the low frequencies in the short term until I could afford to add a decent sub to the system.

I'll probably end up replacing my sub with something like the HSU VTF-1 or the SVS PB-10NSD

The CSi25 isn't really meant to go with the R series though right?

I don't know what Polk really recommends to match the R series now though.
Maybe the CSR?
http://shop2.outpost.com/produ...sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

EDIT: Amazon link
http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Aud...&qid=1181776893&sr=1-1

 

[venkman]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: venkman

Originally posted by: oakland25
sorry i have responded in a couple days

but what about this speaker set from AV123
and then i can get a cheaper receiver but which one should i get if I were to get the AV123 speakers?
Also I have a question about the reciver that I may get, will it be able to decode the Blu ray and HD DVD codecs? If I were to go with this reciver Id prob go with the Polk sperkers you recommended Venkman. They are nice but I have one question about that though, can u give me a link to the Sub and Center speaker you were taking about? Again thank you all for all you help

Matching Center (CSI25)

It is usually about $15-$25 cheaper when on sale at outpost so it is your call on wheter to wait or not.


Matching Subs. I would recomend going with a different brand of sub as the Polk ones aren't all that hot until you get to much higher end one.
PSW10
and
PSW12

You could get something like Dayton Sub-120 if you need to stay in that price range. This is the only real decision I regret about my HT when I put it together last year. They are awsome in their price range but not very good overall. If I had to do it over again I would have just let the fronts handle the low frequencies in the short term until I could afford to add a decent sub to the system.

I'll probably end up replacing my sub with something like the HSU VTF-1 or the SVS PB-10NSD

The CSi25 isn't really meant to go with the R series though right?

I don't know what Polk really recommends to match the R series now though.
Maybe the CSR?
http://shop2.outpost.com/produ...sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

EDIT: Amazon link
http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Aud...&qid=1181776893&sr=1-1

The Csi2 was the perfect match for the R50s as it had the same size tweeter and woofer but it is discontinued and difficult to find. The Csi25 is basically the next best thing with a slightly smaller woofer size but an identical tweeter size.

A word of warning to Oakland25, whatever outpost tells you I can almost gaurantee that you will get the R50s with a Cherry finish. It looks pretty nice but if you want an all black setup, this wouldn't be for you.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: venkman
The Csi2 was the perfect match for the R50s as it had the same size tweeter and woofer but it is discontinued and difficult to find. The Csi25 is basically the next best thing with a slightly smaller woofer size but an identical tweeter size.

Seems odd to me I guess. I remember someone posting that they asked polk about using the CSi25 and got a response that it would work of course but wasn't really intended to go with the R-series.

I thought the lineup of Polk centers went like

LSi series + LSiC center

RTi series + CSi5/CSi3/CSi25 center

Monitor series + CS2/CS1 center

RM series + RM7302/RM302/RM6802/RM202 center

R series + CSR center

http://www.polkaudio.com/homea...ividual/center/series/

Looks like Polk themselves have the CS1 from the Monitor Series as the recommended center to go with the R30s though.
http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/r30/

I think that's due to the CSR being a new addition to the R-series that lacked an available center to match for quite a while. I guess they put a new one out to match the new R300 / R150s that came out?

 

[oakland25]

alright fellas i think i have made up my mind on the parts. I need your guys' opinions in the

parts.

Center

Mains

Surrounds

Sub

Receiver

My only question is the DVD player? I want to get the HD DVD player with 5 free movies(link?)

but I don't want to get it and then Blu Ray wins and im stuck wit the player(opinions?). So what

upconverting DVD player would be good If i don't get the HD DVD player although it is

tempting

 

[oakland25]

?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I good upconverting player like one of the Oppo ones is going to cost about the same as an HD-DVD player that can upconvert as well. I'd say it's the way to go.

Even if HD-DVD "loses", you'll still have a good upconverting player for SD DVDs and there are already a significant number of HD titles out there already to watch as well.

Crutchfield was the place selling them for $199 and it looks like they raised the price. I'm not sure if there is a new place to get the deal.


For the speakers, they're all made by Polk, but I honestly think they're not matched very well.

You have the old R-series up front, the old R-series behind, and the RTi/CSi series as the center.

Crutchfield goes through the voice matching on the centers as well here http://www.crutchfield.com/S-x...archDisplay=Polk+Audio

I still think the CSR is the center that's supposed to match the R-series the best, not the CSi25.

That said, you also have different colored speakers in your system too. I don't know if that's something that matters to you or not.

R300s up front with R150s as surrounds and a CSR center would match better aesthetically and sonically imo.

I agree with venkman about picking something other than Polk for the sub. At this pricerange, the dayton subs for a new one are a good option and should be better than the polk options.

If you're willing to go used, you can get much better bang for your buck with something like this http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bi...pl?homesubw&1187056498

The only reason I'd get a receiver like the Onkyo 605 right now is if I knew I was going to be using some kind of HD player. If you're not going to do that right away, then I think the point of getting it is rather lost. Features are constantly getting more affordable and moving down through product ranges to the lower end models.

If you're just going to have a single HDMI source in your system and HD audio formats aren't going to need to be played, then you could just run that single source to your display and just run audio to the receiver (that's what I'm doing with my own upconverting DVD player).

I'm not saying that buying a receiver with HDMI audio capabilities is a bad thing to do, but rather that I think spending half your total system budget on your receiver isn't the best way to go when the main feature of it is something you might not even use.

 

[oakland25]

well looks like ill get the R300's and the R150

(I have a question bout the R300 and R50, is there any major differences between the two and also which one is better?)

And would it The R50 still go well with the CSR center and

R150 surrounds if I werent going to get the R50s instead of the R300s?

with the CSR center and I have a

problem with buying used (had some bad experiences) so Ill prob get the

DaytonSub (thoughts?)

Also Im probably going to get the HD-A2

from Amazon for about $260.00 (I get the 5 free HD DVDs!!)If any body can find a

cheaper price for the HD-A2, please let me know.

So what are the thoughts of the set-up.

Thanks again for all ur guys help

 

[venkman]

Originally posted by: oakland25
well looks like ill get the R300's and the R150

(I have a question bout the R300 and R50, is there any major differences between the two and also which one is better?)

R300s are just re-branded R30s which were a step down from the R50.

Originally posted by: oakland25
And would it The R50 still go well with the CSR center and

R150 surrounds if I werent going to get the R50s instead of the R300s?

According to this thread on the Polk Forums the Csi25 is the match for the R50s. Can't speak for the other R speakers though. The only thing you have to consider is if you don't mind cherry speakers with a black everything else.

Originally posted by: oakland25
with the CSR center and I have a

problem with buying used (had some bad experiences) so Ill prob get the

DaytonSub (thoughts?)

Good quality sub for the price but it isn't a world beater.

Originally posted by: oakland25
Also Im probably going to get the HD-A2

from Amazon for about $260.00 (I get the 5 free HD DVDs!!)If any body can find a

cheaper price for the HD-A2, please let me know.

So what are the thoughts of the set-up.

Thanks again for all ur guys help

I think the Toshiba $100 promotion is over so Amazon is probably your best bet for price.

Good setup you got going there, just make sure you get good quality connectors and cables. Monoprice is a great place to look. I think i gave you some links in another post in this thread.


PS. If you have a Frys in your area then you may be able to find the speakers instore and save yourself a few bucks in S&H.

 

[oakland25]

Alright then, Im final on the parts, R50's for main, R150's surrounds Onkyo 605 receiver, Csi25 Center and Dayton SUB-120, with an HD-A2 HD DVD

player!! Any Final thoughts?

 

[venkman]

http://www.polkaudio.com is a very good resource with a ton of educational information and some pretty good forums. I would check them out.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

"If I bought a pair of R300s and R150s, what would be the better center
channel to match that set?

CSR or CSi25?

Thanks!"


Polk response:

"Hello,
Thanks for contacting us. I would suggest the CSR as the best center
channel match to consider.
Regards, Ken, Polk Audio"