I am starting to research what I can get for my first home theater system and stay within my budget. I'm open to either HTIB or buying individual components. Here are some details about the room / requirements:
Price: $500-$1,000(ideally somewhere in the middle)
Receiver: I already have a Blu-Ray player/PS3/Wii/1080p HDTV so all I need is a receiver.
Speakers: 5.1, front speakers need to be bookshelf speakers (not standing) and rear speakers will be mounted on the wall and I would like them to be wireless. Sub can be whatever.
Accessories: I would also like to be able to connect my laptop or iPhone to play music.
Room: I already have a wall mounted home entertainment center cabinetry, so I would like to put speakers within. I am trying to avoid standing speakers since I have a dog and beacuse of the entertainment center. I have about a 1' x 1.5' space for speakers on either side of the TV and it is located near the floor (I can place them higher if necessary, but I lose some space). I need wireless wall mounted speakers for the rear speakers, again because I am trying to avoid standing speakers. Unfortunately I have a staircase / vaulted ceilling on the left side of my couch so the rear left speaker will be father away than the rear right speaker (if that makes any difference). The room is a vaulted ceiling room that is very open and has the dining room in it as well as connecting directly to the open kitchen.
I'm having trouble finding the right system since I have all these requirements and I am hoping that someone might have advice for me.
IMO, you could start out with 2.1 or 3.1 system and add the surrounds when you can. The front soundstage with the sub is going to give you the most impact.
Speakers like these from Ascend are well received. So are these from SVS. Both being good values, but ultimately up to your ears.
Wireless on that budget just isn't feasible IMO. Plus you still have to plug in the speakers somehow. Running the wire is your best bet either via the carpet, baseboards or attic.
Surrounds are best put more toward the side than the rear so maybe that opens up more options. The angle of preference on surrounds is from 90 to 120 degrees from the seating area.
Putting speakers in a cabinet gets you a lot of resonances so you will want to line the cabinet interior. I'm thinking peel-n-seal would work fine for that on a budget.
You don't need a center unless your speakers are at a wide enough angle to warrant one.
For fronts use a pair of Behringer 2030p's. Unless you don't want a sub. In which case I'd suggest the 2031p's.
Your cost would be ~ $749 with the Sub alternative 2 or $680 with the Sub alternative 1. I have put in the H100 and it absolutely rocks. So I would
save the money and go with the $680 setup.
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Advice on first home theater system
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