hey all : i remember this conversation about 9 months ago.talking about tv's and all. i really out of it. is this the year to look for the bargaings on this stuff. i know i'm do to upgrade all my stuff. tihs boy still has a stereo from about 75 or so. panasonic mcs 3233 reciever.current tv is a 19 inch magnavox. who knows how old that is. the wife had it before we were married. had a 27 inch samsung that burnt up after 4 years. nice set,just didn't last. been hearing about the surround sound system that has no wires . i really like the lcd tv's. a lot of money and i want a 40 inch or so. i have a really small house. gotta make the best out of the space.those in the know can update me here. yes,money is an issue but i'm willing to bend. no hurry on this stuff.can wait until about christmas time. who's got some cool stuff. the wife wants furniture, i told her to look at the important stuff....electronics !!! what do you all think...joezee

 

about 3 weeks ago...circuit city slashed $1000 of one of sony's 42 inch hdtv's...from $2500 to 1500...it's last years model but still the best quality for the buck...it's a tube tv though, not lcd or anything but the picture was amazing...you may want to check to see if your CC still has any in stock

 

where do we start...

As in most things, but paticuarly in electroincs, there is the "point of diminishing returns". You have you to decide where you fall along along that line. For me it was at the $3K mark for the TV, $2K for the two front speakers and $1400 for the sub. For other people, it may be higher but more likely lower.

One thing is for sure, the TV I paid $3K for 2 years ago is still an increadible TV but today that kind of money will buy a TV that was $5K two years ago.

Here are my general opinions (my rules):

TVs:

1. When in doubt, get the smaller TV. All other things being equal, it will have the better picture and is easier to decorate around. Also likely cheaper.

2. Don't buy a TV based upon the picture in a store like Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. They are never adjusted properly. I can make a $10K TV have a worse picture than a $100 TV.

3. The size of your room, and how far you sit from the TV should determine the size you want. Sitting 6 feet from a 65" TV is not the best expereince, neither is sitting 15 feet from a 19". If you want something under about 32", then a direct view (traditional CRT) is probably the best way to go. Larger than that, it depends on your budget and space and how bad you want to hang it on a wall. For really large rooms, dedicated to Home Theater, a HDTV front projector is the way to go.

4. Pioneer, Toshiba, Mitsubishi, Sony, Panasonic, Hitachi all make great TVs. I think Samsung has a good picture and a good price but I've had problems with their reliabilty.


Stereo speakers:

1. Decide if it's for music or HT. If both, decide which is more important. A certain amount of money can either buy 2 really awsome speakers (and a sub) or 5 or 6 lesser quality speakers. I went with really good main speakers and a sub and bought the surrounds later.

2. Don't buy Bose. (let the flame wars begin)

3. Stick with same line of speakers for all. Except it's not neccessary for the subwoofer.

Receiver / amp:

1. If money is an object, don't buy a receiver with more than 5.1 channels. More channels = more speakers needed, more space needed, more wires, etc and not usually better sound.

2. the power rating means nothing. There is no industry standard for testing this or how to list it, and manufactures' integrity varies. Plus you only need a few watts of power to drive a reasonably efficent speaker to deafening levels. Think quality not quanity. For mass marketed receivers, I like Yamaha and Denon.

DVD player:

A $150 Panasonic, Toshiba, Pioneer, etc will buy all you need unless you buy a large screen HDTV. Then we get into other issues.

In case anyone is interested, my setup is:

TV: Toshiba 57" widescreen HDTV (57HX81)
Speakers: Soliloquy 5.3, Soliloquy S-10C, Soliloquy SAT5
DVD: Panasonic RP-56 (will upgrade sometime)
HT Receiver: Yamaha RXV-995

near future: Marsh or Odyssey amps and a 2-channel pre-amp with HT bypass

 

wahoo's response is dead on. before my truck became my "hobby", my home theater was my "hobby". i don't have a very expensive setup, but it works for me. a good source for info is avsforum.com. personnally, i would stay away from a "Home Theater In a Box" aka HTIB. my niece bought one and it sounds horrible. that's not to say there aren't some good HTIB's out there. you will get very good advice at the avsforum on acceptable HTIBs. the last thing i would suggest is to buy your stuff from costco. there are 6 costcos in colorado. here is why(many don't know this):
you can return anything you purchase at costco for a full refund at any time. (except computers). that's it in a nutshell. my next big screen will come from costco, because i know that should anything happen to it, i can go back to costco and get a new one, no questions asked. my HT speakers are from costco so if i ever blow 'em up, i can return them. good luck.
my setup:
TV:Hitachi 60" ultravision (5+years old)(darn thing wont break)
HT Reciever:Yamaha RXV-596 (do you see a pattern here? yamaha's are great)
DVD: Toshiba SD1200 (not the best, but it was free)
speakers: Auido Source (very, very cheap. 100 bucks for whole set, but was a gift from the wife so i don't complain. actually, they sound pretty good.)

oh, and i would recommend an MX-500 universal remote. it's 100 bucks but worth it. see the reviews at remotecentral.com

 

I agree with everything they said. I built my system while in college working part time. As far as speakers go focus on the front channels and the center channel. I liked pioneer in the past but next go-round I will be buying Harman-Kardon or Denon. As far as TV's go if I were getting a big screen it would be a Mitsubishi or a Hitachi. I will be upgrading my components in the near future. Ohh, yeah, Bose is crap in my opinion too! I'm sure I will get flamed as well.

My system (Remember I was bought all this on a part time job):
TV: Sony 27" Wega (KV27FS13 i think)
Receiver: Pioneer I dont know the model # but its 5.1 100x5
DVD: Pioneer 5 disc (DVC-503) It was a gift but its been great to me.
Speakers: BIC America DV64CLRS Center Channel, DV736 TowerFronts, and DV62si,
V-80 subwoofer. I got the Tower fronts off UBid.com for $19 bucks each about 3 years ago before I knew much about this stuff. Then I found out the center channel was highly rated, so I bought it and the others. The subwoofer is decent at best. Good luck man, and decide what you want and how much you want to spend.

Heres what I'm going by:

TV $2500 max (I have a small room though)
Receiver: $700 max
DVD: Keeping Mine til it breaks
Speakers: $1k

 

Just out of curiousity, why not Bose? I have the surround (two rear, two side) and center channel, and I am very pleased with them. Keep in mind they are not the "cubes" or whatever they are called. They are the actual add on kind (don't know how else to describe them). I'm not arguing, just curious.

 

i think, (correct me if i'm wrong), that the dislike of bose is more directed at the cube speakers. i have heard the large speakers and they also sound good to me. my old neighbor gave away his kenwood HT speakers and bought a whole bose HT system. my 100 dollar set of speakers blew away his high priced bose cubes. i own a bose wave radio that i absolutly love. but that's just for the garage.

 

What those guys said.
Think seriously about going with a front-projector, though. Prices have really come down a lot, and your friends will worship you like a god if you have an 8 foot diagonal screen. You'll need a screen, or a very white wall (there's some Pratt & Lambert ultra white that is supposed to be good screen paint). The rest of the room has to be dark, because every bit of stray light that gets into the room, or bounces back onto the screen from something light-coloured will reduce the contrast of the picture.

Build your own subwoofer boxes: do a search for Adire Shiva or Adire Tempest for a couple of subwoofers that offer excellent bang for the buck. Having enough bass to crush chests is another route to home theatre godhood.

 

The Bose cubes series are called thier "acoustimass series" . I bought the acoustimass 6, series III set about 6 years ago when I first thought of trying to put together a home theater system but had no idea what I was doing. Thier advantages are that they're small and easy to place. Thier disadvantages are the cheap drivers they use and physics.

Bose has the best marketing campaign of any product that I know of and for the average consumer they are fine. The problem is when you walk into a high-end audio store and discover that same amount of money could have bought you much better sound. Then you get upgraditis.

Thier normal bookshelf and tower speakers have better sound than the acoustimass but are still medicore at best. The acoustimass fill a room with sound, but the imaging is poor and muddled. That being said, no matter what speaker you use, the most important factor in what it will sound like is the room's acoustics!

My advice to anyone putting together any audio or HT system is list what's important to you in order of priority and make some purchasing decisions. After you buy that equipment, don't second guess yourself, browse audio or HT forums, or even walk into a high-end store for the next 10-20 years. It will drive you (and your wife) crazy. Fortunatly, most audio electronics last decades. There are amplifiers out there that come with 20-year, transferable warrantys! Bryston for example.

 

I have the bose 901s and they sound great.

 

Sony 27" (HDTV to come very soon)
Pioneer DVD player
Logitech Z-680 5.1

Future: 30+ Widescreen HDTV
Yamaha Reciever (I'm liking the Denon's lately though)
Harmen Karden speaker's
Undecided on the sub just yet, I've heard alot lately that I've been impressed with

 

i got the bose lifestyle 28 system......feels like my house is gonna fall down when i crank it. i don't care what i paid for it....it was well worth it and by far the best system i've owned. not to mention the simplicity and space saving. all depends on what you want though....

just picked up a sony 32" wega....it's a pretty nice tv that didn't cost too much....bout 600 with rebate. first sony i've purchased....and wow are they heavy tv's. booklet says it weighs 175 pounds. pain in the butt to get in the entertainment center......

 

I knew I would offend some Bose owners (and I am one, they're in kid's room now) with my comments about Bose. For that I am sorry. If you are happy with them then that is all that matters. However, how good or bad a product is, is relative to what your comparing it to.

For those of us that suffer from the curse, it's all about the quality of the sound. There are several forums dedicated to audio and video that are a better place for in-depth discussusions than FTE.

Jozee... my advice is to not put too much thought into it. Go with your gut feeling and be happy.

The worst day of my life (and my wife's life) was when I first saw a 50" Pioneer Elite HDTV hooked up to a Meridian DVD player, playing the Eagles "When hell freezes over" concert DVD through a EAD processor/amp to some Silverline speakers and pair of Talon subs. This was when I had my 27" Sony TV and Bose speakers. Now, I can't afford that set-up, even on the highly discounted "pre-owned" market, but it showed me what else is out there besides the mass-marketed, highly advertised stuff being pushed by the part-time working teenager at the local Best Buy store.