Anyone into home audio?

Macdaddy4738

Macdaddy4738

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 1, 2005
Now that I have a decent TV (Panasonic ST55), I think its time to put a surround sound system in.

Unfortunately, I don't want to spend another grand on the surround sound, Im looking at around 400 dollars max. I figure if I get one of those HTIB systems, as long as I grab one with a decent receiver I can upgrade the speakers as I see fit.

Any recommendations on a good starter system? Might as well go 7.1, IF my room can fit it...I think the room size is going to be an issue.

Room is approximately 12.5' wide by 22' long, weird size. Its all hardwood floor and has old school plasterboard walls, so I suspect it has a tendency to echo quite bad. I also don't know exactly how to mount these speakers. I sit about 12 feet from the TV, so I have a little over 10 feet to the back wall. Luckily, the molding a the top of the wall isn't completely flush, so I think I can get my cables in there with relative ease to hide everything.

The system I am looking at right now is the Onkyo HT-S5400, seems to have better reviews than the HT-5500. Again, I know next to nothing about audio so I have no idea if this is a good system or not.
 
I have onkyo and klipsch surrounds and sub with advent mains. Ive collected this stuff over a few years and Ive had good luck on craigslist.
 
Most of your HTIB systems are going to be a compromise on both the amp and speakers. I've been seeing a lot of problems with Onkyo and Denon losing the HDMI boards. Pioneers don't seem to be performing like they used to, either. Yamaha is always a pretty solid bet, though. I'd look at Yamaha first, then Pioneer. Sony doesn't pop up on my radar. Watch Newegg for speaker deals. They've got some really nice packages from the likes of Energy, Martin Logan, etc. that tend to go on sale for very reasonable prices. And I personally wouldn't worry about 7.1. 5.1 is plenty in my opinion, especially for a smaller room. The benefit of a 7.1 amp is that most of them today will do dual-zone. You can dedicate two channels to auxiliary speakers in another room or outside, and run a different source to them. Pretty cool.
 
I have 7.2 onkyo setup with polk surrounds. WAY too much for our little room but it makes the kids think we are at the movies and the dogs wig out. All my stuff is older but i won the receiver in a sales contest when i was sales manager at circuit city and got the speakers through accommodations program so got them for 75% off so i went over kill with dipole surrounds and dual subs..
 
Well I would recommend piecing a system together, rather than getting a bunch of cheap speakers and a receiver. And to be honest having just two really nice speakers can make just as enjoyable movie/tv experience as any surround system. Sure the bullets whizzing behind you sounds cool, but really 98% of the movie audio is right in front of you. So I would say start there and as your budget allows add more to your system.

I actually scored my receiver at a local thrift shop for $20 (they only asked 10 but I told them it was worth more). Its an older Kenwood but it works great and because I basically stole that receiver I was able to buy some 'open box' Polk Audio RTi A3 Bookshelf speakers from an online store. They were pricy (about $400) but they are worth every penny because they can be moved to become rear surround speakers in the future when I get better/larger front speakers. I don't even have a subwoofer on this system and these oversized bookshelf RTi A3's occasionally hit some noticeable lows that I can actually feel. I made my own stands for them at ear level and they really make movies and music come alive. My next purchase will be a subwoofer in the 10" or bigger range.

As rokntoy said collect your home audio pieces over time and craigslist is your friend. Not to mention if your married spreading these kind of pricy purchases over time always helps too! And don't forget to get good audio cables, don't skimp here either!! As they always say, "The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys"

some reading for you new addiction:
my speakers --> http://www.stereophile.com/content/polk-audio-rtiii-a3-loudspeaker
arrangement --> http://www.crutchfield.com/S-LRsQVnaZepo/learn/learningcenter/home/speaker_placement.html
really good how-to guide --> http://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/how-to-buy-speakers-a-beginners-guide-to-home-audio/


HTH
 
I bought the Yamaha Aventage A720 receiver in December for $650. My speakers are all Definitive Technology, BP-8040ST towers for the front, ProMonitor 800's for the rears (not wired yet) and a ProCenter 1000 center. I have plans to pick up some SR-8040BP's for additional rear surrounds but I haven't yet. My wife is putting up resistance already.

Granted, this system will completely blow your budget, but I an extremely satisfied with my sound quality and the overall performance of my setup so far. I can't wait to finish installing and wiring the rest of it.

The Yamaha isn't the most user friendly, but it's menu's are manageable and setup is not too much of a pain to work out.

I had a Sony HTIB and hated the lack of customizable menu options and no seperate channel volumes. I have a hard time hearing the commentary through the rest of the background sounds in a lot of programming, so I had to get something where I could boost the center channel.
 
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