What speakers to get for home theatre setup?

bucwylde23

Diamond Member
Apr 21, 2005
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Ok, I currently have a pitiful home theatre setup and am clueless as to what to buy.

I have a 37" LCD and while the sound is OK from it's speakers, it just isn't good enough.
I also have a xbox 360 that I want to be able to take advantage of the speakers.

What kind of equipment do I need? Also, what speakers to buy? I do not want to spend too much money, but I do want decent quality and reliability. Would just 2 speakers be enough? As in one on each side of the TV?

I do not have super sensitive ears like some people, so I don't need absolute perfect quality.

Any advice/suggestions?
 

isekii

Lifer
Mar 16, 2001
28,578
3
81
just pick up a cheap 5.1 setup from bestbuy or even ebay.

You can get a decent one for under $200 bucks.. HTIB (Home Theater In a Box)
 

santz

Golden Member
Feb 21, 2006
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Originally posted by: chrisg22
Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
Badly? Get Bose.

Well, not THAT badly ;)
I have been to a Bose store, I walked out quickly...

haha, get logitech z-5500.
excellent quality, made for gaming. the sub woofer can deafen your neighbors, if you so chose to,
 

bucwylde23

Diamond Member
Apr 21, 2005
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Originally posted by: santz
Originally posted by: chrisg22
Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
Badly? Get Bose.

Well, not THAT badly ;)
I have been to a Bose store, I walked out quickly...

haha, get logitech z-5500.
excellent quality, made for gaming. the sub woofer can deafen your neighbors, if you so chose to,

I will definitely check into those, as I mostly do gaming anyways :) And yes, I want to deafen the neighbors while their son tests his subwoofer in his car for 3 hours :laugh:


 

ChineseGuy

Senior member
Aug 20, 2004
332
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Check local Craigslist listings. You will probably be able to find some nice tower speakers. Age of the speakers does not really matter, as long as it is in good condition, and built well. Getting your own receiver, and speakers is pretty much better than any hometheather in a box solution. If your speakers are large enough, you might not even need a subwoofer right away, it might pick up enough of the low frequency with the speaker alone. You can always get like a 7.1 receiver, and set it up to use 2.0 for starters, then maybe 5.0, then 7.0, that is if you feel that you do not need a subwoofer.
 

MrChad

Lifer
Aug 22, 2001
13,507
3
81
What is "too much money"? Can you be more specific about your budget? How big of a room are we talking about?
 

AgaBoogaBoo

Lifer
Feb 16, 2003
26,108
5
81
Originally posted by: isekii
just pick up a cheap 5.1 setup from bestbuy or even ebay.

You can get a decent one for under $200 bucks.. HTIB (Home Theater In a Box)
Are you serious in even the slightest way about that? Getting those is not worth having, they'll take up space and that's all, no joke.

If you want a HTIB, try to go with Onkyo, they make decent ones. If not, give us a budget and we can work with that.
 

bucwylde23

Diamond Member
Apr 21, 2005
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well, I would like to stay under or around $200 ..... I certainly have more money if necessary but would like to limit myself with christmas coming up :)
 

funboy6942

Lifer
Nov 13, 2001
15,311
395
126
Z5500 in the $200 range is your best bet for sound, matching speakers, lots of rms power, and a very loud, deep bass, 180 watt rms 10" sub, IMO because I own 2 sets.
You will piss of anyone around you if you live in a apartment or have close neighbors.

$265 Shipped
 

YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
Aug 6, 2001
31,204
45
91
Originally posted by: chrisg22
well, I would like to stay under or around $200 ..... I certainly have more money if necessary but would like to limit myself with christmas coming up :)

You can barely get a receiver on that budget, so no real options for getting your own set of speakers + receiver.

You're pretty much limited to a entry level HTIB or a set of computer speakers for surround sound. The z-5500s mentioned will have decent connectivity options that you'll want for HT use.
$200 HTIB sets are generally crap.

If you see yourself buying something right now and not wanting to mess with buying anything in the future, a set of z-5500s will be decent. Not sure on your $200 budget though with that option.
A bit more you'll get into some Onkyo HTIB systems that will be another good option.

If you could see yourself getting into this, then you might want to try to get a basic receiver and a pair of speakers. You could add a sub and other speakers at a later time. If you really don't care about this sort of thing though, then don't bother with that route.
 

Hyperlite

Diamond Member
May 25, 2004
5,664
2
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Originally posted by: funboy42
Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Originally posted by: funboy42
Originally posted by: iliopsoas
Get some BOSE.

Where can you get a amp and a set of bose speakers for $200?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16800998071 :p

OH MAN you be shaking the sh!t off the walls with the bass off them babies!

QFT. hey, well at least it looks like no one has wasted their time and money trying them.
 

bucwylde23

Diamond Member
Apr 21, 2005
4,180
0
71
I'm not looking for something absolutely spectacular in sound, just better than the TV speakers... i'll look into the logitech speakers as they sound like a good fit for my needs :)
 

funboy6942

Lifer
Nov 13, 2001
15,311
395
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Originally posted by: chrisg22
I'm not looking for something absolutely spectacular in sound, just better than the TV speakers... i'll look into the logitech speakers as they sound like a good fit for my needs :)

Believe it or not if you get the logitech Z5500 you will get spectacular sound, if you get them and crank them up for the first time the first thing that will go through your head, as it did mine, is "WOW, wtf these are just $250 speakers, how did they sell something so loud, sound so good, for that cheap? How loud can I push them? WTH my ear are hurting and my stuff fell off the walls!!!!" I should say my wife hates it when I am blasting them for she has to keep an eye on her stuff in the other living room and keep pushing her nick nacks up her shelf so they dont fall off again.

I cracked a window in the kitchen "testing" mine out, and yes my stuff falls off the walls, and shelves, if I blast the music or movies to loud, and this is all over my house not just in the one room where the speakers are at :eek:

I took all the reviews I read with a grain of salt till I actually had them in my hands and after that I was sold, sold enough to go the hell with putting together another HT system these will work just fine and bought another set to go in my HT room.

Im sure you will report back once you get yours ;) I wish I could say I am exaggerating, but Im not. Some point YoYo is going to get tired of me pushing these and buy one and confirm what I been saying :D
No one seems to believe anything any one says unless yoyo chimes in and agrees :eek:
 

Fritzo

Lifer
Jan 3, 2001
41,917
2,157
126
I'm a big fan of Cambridge Soundwork's Newton series. Been using them for years. Great warranty on them too. They'll even replace them if you scratch the wood :)
 

FlashG

Platinum Member
Dec 23, 1999
2,709
2
0
Onkyo has there refurbished CS-V720S + an IPOD dock for sale at $199. I bought my son one of these last Christmas and he loves it.

It?s not high powered but has a LOT of features plus the speakers have 5 ¼ woofers and soft dome tweeters. I only wish that Onkyo would sell them separately because they look good and sound great.

Maybe YOyoYOhowsDAjello will chime in and offer some speaker suggestions for me.