Help AV noob put together a home theater rig

Hi all

My cheapo 5.1 Panny HTIB finally kicked the bucket this week, so I am in the process of replacing it with a grown-up home theater system. I just realized I am really in the tall grass...I don't know anything about this stuff.

From what I've read, buying an up-market HTIB is an easy, but imperfect way of getting into the home theater game. For example, I kicked around just buying this [shoponkyo.com] Onkyo system for $481.18. It'll be lightyears ahead of what I have now and, not being an audiophile, I wouldn't know the difference.

Still, the SD'er inside me says "you can do better for less." I understand I'll need a receiver (I'll buy a refurbed network Onkyo system), floor standing speakers (missed out on these, sadly), surround speakers (lovely to find wireless), a center channel speaker, and a subwoofer.

Is there anyone out there that has put together a budget home theater system recently?

Honestly if you were considering those Polks, I'd stick with a HTIB until you can afford better.

Quote from dealgate : Honestly if you were considering those Polks, I'd stick with a HTIB until you can afford better.

Are they no good?

With respect to budget, the sky's the limit, but I'd rather be in the $500 range as I am not an audiophile. Is that Onkyo HTIB an okay choice? Better than piecing together a system with the polks as my FR and FL channels?

I'm sort of looking for guidance here.

Those speakers are garbage. They sound like shit. They are the lowest line that Polk makes and frankly it is an embarrassment to Polk. You should be looking to Klipsch for your speakers. Klipsh invented speakers. NO speaker sounds better than Klipsh and even their lowest end stuff is better than most other makers of speakers top lines. You can get some incredible sounding speakers for a lower price.

Is $500 for the receiver and speakers?

Here is one option close your range

http://www.amazon.com/Klipsch-HD-...ds=klipsch

http://www.amazon.com/Harman-Kard...man+kardon

Quote from dealgate : Those speakers are garbage. They sound like shit. They are the lowest line that Polk makes and frankly it is an embarrassment to Polk. You should be looking to Klipsch for your speakers. Klipsh invented speakers. NO speaker sounds better than Klipsh and even their lowest end stuff is better than most other makers of speakers top lines. You can get some incredible sounding speakers for a lower price. Is $500 for the receiver and speakers? Here is one option close your range http://www.amazon.com/Klipsch-HD-...ds=klipsch http://www.amazon.com/Harman-Kard...man+kardon

Thanks...

Quote from msiegal : Hi all My cheapo 5.1 Panny HTIB finally kicked the bucket this week, so I am in the process of replacing it with a grown-up home theater system. I just realized I am really in the tall grass...I don't know anything about this stuff. From what I've read, buying an up-market HTIB is an easy, but imperfect way of getting into the home theater game. Still, the SD'er inside me says "you can do better for less." Is there anyone out there that has put together a budget home theater system recently?

First off, you are ahead of the game just by acknowledging that you don't know jack about the topic. I was in your same spot about a year and a half ago. I went over to AVSforum.com to read up on HTIB systems as I thought that that was what I was gonna get (again I had ZERO audio knowledge and am not an audiophile) and had my eyes opened completely. So first things first, head over to avsforum.com and read through some of the general information pages they have there in the audio section. Super-helpful stuff in there that really breaks things down well for a complete audio idiot (like myself).

Now, I'm not in your head so I don't know if you just never considered learning about audio stuff or if you just don't want to. If it is the latter, then here's my suggestion for your audio system:

Get the Pioneer low-end series of speakers. This set consists of towers - Pioneer FS51's, a center - the C 21, and 2 bookshelves - BS21's. Normally the towers run $200 for the pair, the center is like $80 or $100, and the bookshelves are $100 for the pair. For a 5.1 setup, the "set" of those pioneers has a Pioneer sub, the SW-8, that is intended to be purchased and used with the speakers. It lists at $160 or so. Now, I now that that puts the price tag at $560 w/o a receiver, but there's a catch. This set of speakers just got updated by Pioneer and the new versions are about to replace these old ones as of the middle of this month. So there have been lots of sales (at least on newegg) of these speakers. On sale, you can find the pair towers for $130, the center for $50, and the pair of bookshelves for $50. The towers are quite impressive and depending on your personal tastes, you may not feel the need for sub after listening to them. If you do though, the Pioneer SW-8 usually goes for $80 on sale at Newegg. Now, I can't speak to quality of the sub, but I own all of the speakers I just mentioned. They rock. If you don't believe me, you can check out this 89 page thread about them on AVSforum: http://www.avsforum.com/t/1278774...rice-point

All told, when on sale, (with the subwoofer included) you're looking at $310 shipped to your door for a 5.1 system that will blow pretty much every HTIB system away. $190 isn't gonna get you a mid-end receiver or anything, but you knew that coming in with only a $500 budget, and it is sufficient to get you an entry level 5.1 Denon, Yamaha, Onkyo, Pioneer, etc. I originally powered mine with a Denon AVR-391 5.1 receiver and that worked pretty well IMO. I really cannot emphasize how much of a better option this is than a HTIB.

Newegg has been having sales on those speakers and that subwoofer on and off for the past month or two, so I'd advise just checking back daily or setting an alert or whatever. And one final note, I liked these speakers so much that I ended up giving the first set to my parents and then I went out and bought another - like a week ago. And when i did that, I bought the BS41 bookshelves instead of the BS21's. The BS41's run $100 when on sale (as opposed to the $50 for the BS21's on sale) but are apparently a big upgrade and one I would advise you to at least consider. People on AVSforum gush over the 41's. Mine arrive tomorrow and I couldn't be more excited.

Let me know if you have any questions. And I am clearly biased about the Pioneer Speakers b/c I own them personally, but you can verify and check all my statements about their awesomeness over at AVSforum. Good Luck!

Thanks colgancm.

Unfortunately, before I got your helpful message, I pulled the trigger on the Polk Audio Monitor60C when this deal came across the feed. I am, however, going to start shopping the Pioneers you've recommended as satellites and a center channel.

Notwithstanding dealgate's warning, the Polks seem to have pretty good treatment on AV Forum and elsewhere as far as semi-discontinued budget speakers go. Plus, the fiance thinks the cherry cabinet goes with our decor better than black.

Had I seen your message, I probably would have pursued the Pioneer route. Just would have burned my ass to pay full price as I used to know an employee of Pioneer who could have gotten them for me for better than half off!

I am sorry to hear that you bought those Polks. But it is all a matter of personal preference. Since I have been exposed to higher quality speakers (klipsch) I understand how bad the lower quality ones really are. It has made me a speaker snob and elevated my listening standards. As bad as those Polks are, and to be fair, to the untrained ear they sound fine, they are WAY better than the Pioneer ones. Of all speakers, the only ones worse than Pioneer are the ones sold out of the back of a truck or maybe Sony or those types (lower mid-range electronics makers).

Once you make the transition to the higher end audio world, you won't be able to go back, and your wallet will be thinner!

Quote from msiegal : Thanks colgancm. Unfortunately, before I got your helpful message, I pulled the trigger on the Polk Audio Monitor60C when this deal came across the feed. I am, however, going to start shopping the Pioneers you've recommended as satellites and a center channel. Notwithstanding dealgate's warning, the Polks seem to have pretty good treatment on AV Forum and elsewhere as far as semi-discontinued budget speakers go. Plus, the fiance thinks the cherry cabinet goes with our decor better than black. Had I seen your message, I probably would have pursued the Pioneer route. Just would have burned my ass to pay full price as I used to know an employee of Pioneer who could have gotten them for me for better than half off!

Hey, as long as you enjoy what you bought, at the end of the day, that is all that matters. I know there are better systems out there than that Pioneer, but I think it's debatable as to whether anything is as good as it in its price range. I for one, love that I can't tell the difference between a super high budget speaker and a mid-range budget speaker. I couldn't afford a really high end system anyway, so for me, ignorance is bliss.

Oh, and the Wife Acceptance Factor is always important for household harmony so maybe it is a good thing you didn't get the Pioneer's. They aren't the most attractive set of speakers I've ever seen, but to me, that doesn't particularly matter.

Finally, I'm sure Dealgate and the guys over at AVSforum will echo this sentiment, and that is that when you are putting together a speaker system, you REALLY want to have all of the speakers be of the same brand at a minimum, and ideally, for all of them to be from the same set as speakers designed as a set are designed to work in harmony with the others from the set (or something to that effect - I just know that its important to match speakers for best sound results).

his up, but feel free to ask around yourself, but I wanted you

+1 - you want to have your speakers matched as close as possible. Where one speaker's frequency wanes you want the next to pick it up. And you want the speakers to be able to reproduce what they need to. So centers are optimized for voice, right/left music/voice, etc. Matching the speakers also ensures they will be very close in volume and "sound the same". Getting them the same brand is the best way to do this. But there are also variations within brand, so getting them all at the same time and within the same manufacturer's model/line is also important. You will often see these as "voice-matched".

Quote from dealgate : +1 - you want to have your speakers matched as close as possible. Where one speaker's frequency wanes you want the next to pick it up. And you want the speakers to be able to reproduce what they need to. So centers are optimized for voice, right/left music/voice, etc. Matching the speakers also ensures they will be very close in volume and "sound the same". Getting them the same brand is the best way to do this. But there are also variations within brand, so getting them all at the same time and within the same manufacturer's model/line is also important. You will often see these as "voice-matched".

Great tips, thanks. What about subwoofer. Is it important that I buy a matched subwoofer? I was looking at a Velodyne 10" subwoofer.

Quote from msiegal : Great tips, thanks. What about subwoofer. Is it important that I buy a matched subwoofer? I was looking at a Velodyne 10" subwoofer.

Subwoofer is not so important to voice match (not even sure if you can). But bigger is better. Get no less than 200 watts. have 250 watts and it is not nearly enough for most action movies.

Quote from msiegal : Great tips, thanks. What about subwoofer. Is it important that I buy a matched subwoofer? I was looking at a Velodyne 10" subwoofer.

If you have the money to spend, the BIC F12 is rated very highly over at AVSforum. It is what I purchased originally to go with my original Pioneer speakers. It rocks. It runs around $180 on sale online and is really, really good value at anything less than $200 IMO. You can find more suggestions for sub's on AVSforum. but I really do heartily endorse the BIC F12.

Do either of you know anything about Fluance [fluance.com] speakers?