Basement HTIB

[ARES24]

Friends of mine want to install a home theater in the basement. The system they are looking at (said it sounded good at the store ) is Onkyo HT-S8400 - 7.1-Channel Network Home Theater Package with dock for iPod®/iPhone® | Model Information | Onkyo USA Home Theater Products. Here is the hiccup that I see, the room is approximately 30x30 with a 7 foot ceiling. The tv area does not take up all of the room; about 14w x 20 deep with the tv on the wall.


They only want to spend about $1000. How does the system above stack up against others? Should they spend the money on speakers and use an old H. K. 245 I have sitting around?

I was asked, I answered that I knew who to ask .

p.s. we are in canada

 

[sholling]

Unlike most brands Onkyo supplies a real receiver with their HTIB packages which has the advantage of giving them an upgrade path in the future. That said the weakness of every HTIB system that I've run across are the speakers and subwoofer and I'd have them listen first and see if they like the sound. It would be nice if they could piece together a system instead but prices are so high up there that I'm not sure how doable that is. One approach is to start with a nice 2.0 or 2.1 system and add to it over time as money allows.

Keep in mind that the room's size (6300cuft) and square shape will be a challenge for any system. The subwoofer needs to move enough air to slightly alter the air pressure in the room to do it's thing and in the US you'd be looking at a $1300-1500 subwoofer for a room that size plus room treatments to deal with issues caused by shape of the room. I'm not an expert on room treatments so I'll leave that to those that are.

 

[ARES24]

not entirely square, 7X11 off one corner for the furnace room and 7x15 added to one corner toward the stairs.