Completely lost need help.Please.....

[youyou]

Hi everyone,
This is my first post on the site...
I have a couple of questions and am completely unknowlegable in terms of what i'm about to ask so please bare with me...
So I just decided to redo my home theater and I kinda went nuts.
Initially my plan was just to change my tv.So i purchased a Panasonic 50" th-50px60. After coming home I decided it was time ro change my Panasonic HTIB. So i went back to future shop here in Montreal and decided to purchase a new home theater. So first off I decided to purchase the Bose Acoustimass 16 home entertainement speaker system.Which is the double cube 6.1 channel... So here comes my first question. Is this a realll good system and is it worth the big $$$$??? I mean in the store it sounded phenomenel but you never know once you get home...
So after that The salesmen told me I needed to buy an Amp and suggested the Harmon Kardon avr 240 which in its own has a hefty price tag... Now here comes my second and most important question.... When I looked at this thing from the back I was completely completely lost... I mean I have no idea what all these connections are for. All i know is that I need to conect my new Bose system to it and that's the whole purpose of this thing. Now the salesman was not very helpful and everything he said about the hk amp sounded like chinese to me. I have been reading some reviews and am wondering what the fuss about this machine no having hdmi connection on it.
Now I bought a samsung dvd player with hdmi connection and my Panny Plasma has an hdmi connection as well so won't i be getting the hdmi signal. I mean don't I have to just connect the dvd player to the tv? Does the dvd player need to be connected to the Amp? Again please forgive me for overwhelming you with all these silly questions but at this i am completely lost.
So ya I mean how exactly does it work out in terms of the video that my tv will be projecting. Will it be running through my HK amp? I also have a xbox 360 and a direct tv philips tivo machine that I will be hooking up. Will that be hooked up to my amp as well? And what about the optical outs? Is that something important will that give me better sound coming from my direct tv receiver?
So there you go i've kinda summed it all up... Mainly I want to know as well if i did a good choice with my Bose sytem and the HK Amp. Will it give me good/great/outstanding sound...
I have my 50" Plasma , my Bose acoustimass 16 system and my HK avr 240 sitting in the boxes in my house waiting for someone to come set it all up for me this week...
Thank you all very much for reading my post and hopefully helping me resolve my questions and concerns...

I POSTED THIS SOMEWHERE ELSE AND DON'T KNOW IF IT WAS THE RIGHT PLACE TO POST IT. I AM A NEWBIE SO I AM SORRY FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE THIS MIGHT HAVE CAUSED OR IF I BROKE ANY OF THIS FORUMS RULES...

 

[Kai]

Generally forum members and audio enthusiasts consider Bose systems to be over priced, under quality and over hyped systems.

You can do much much better by doing some shopping at your local audio/video store. Often Bose products are pushed because of the heavy duty marketing by Bose and their salespeople.

There are many people, not forum members hehehe, that buy and love their Bose products.
Your ears are what you are trying to impress.
Try to compare the Bose speakers to other brands and you will generally find that to be difficult to impossible mainly due to Bose marketing requirements.

There are many great speaker manufacturers out there so bring your favorite cd and dvd and start comparing. Taking the time is worth the effort.

HK is reputed as excellant gear.

 

[JES14]

Read above! If you're happy with the Bose, a'salute, but if you're concerned about that hefty price tag then shop around. In the HT market you can find better at about half the price of Bose, in my humble opinion. The HK AVR 240 is on the other hand a good unit.
I would do as Kai recomended and shop your dollars around, if you're stuck with what Future Shop has you may want to try Polk or the cheaper Athena.
Good luck and enjoy!

 

[Kai]

Regarding your Samsung dvd player with hdmi. Read and follow the instructions in the owners manual.

My honest opinion, at least what I would do in this situation, would be to return the Bose system and get a receiver that has hdmi connections for your dvd player. I would then, if money allows, buy a set of bookshelf speakers for the front channels, a center channel speaker, 2 surround speakers and a subwoofer. There is no need for the HK amp, imo, at this time. You have not spoken about what your HT needs are so it is difficult to be more specific...do you need to have small satellite speakers for room decor purposes or are larger speakers fine?...what do you want from your HT system? movies, music, gaming etc. Are their room limitations? etc.

A receiver with hdmi is around $1000 though you may be able to get one for less...search around.
The speaker system may cost another $1000 depending on what you want. So basically for 2K or a bit more you will have a great sounding system...much better than the Bose...and the ability to run your dvd player through the receiver to the tv.
Your Philips direct tv should also be able to connect to your receiver via component video cables providing a great picture.

Check out the Paradigm line of speakers...they are Canadian and, imo, sound great...they also have several lines from modest cost to "whoa how much?" levels. I have the Titans which cost $220 US and the Atoms costing $200 US and love them.

Good luck and keep us informed.

 

[youyou]

Well thank you for your honest opinions and suggestions.
My needs basically are to have a good sounding system that looks good. I want it to be small and compact and don't want big towers...
I live in the basement of my house so my room is fairly big. I will be using it mainly for dvd's and tv. And with the HK i can hook up my ipod which is great because i have over 6000 tunes. I do some gaming as well but not huge amounts... I previously had a samsung sc-ht 1000 htib with big tower speakers and the dvd player had hdmi connection. But I just changed my tv and got a plasma and just decided to go all out and buy myself a real home theater system. I mean the samsumg htib was ok sounding but nothing more.
So after doing some reading on different websites and listening to some opinions I don't know if I should just return everything and get myself a new sony or panasonic htib... There are so many options when building a home theater that i'm sooo overwhelemed and it's kind of scaring me and that's why I don't really know what to do.
Here in Canada things are more expensive then the states and so a receiver with hdmi connection is minimun 1400$. Which is alot for me at this point after spending so much money on the tv and everything else...
Thank you again and please let me know what you all think...

 

[BMXTRIX]

I would not get a receiver with HDMI connectivity at this time as the added cost doesn't offer a ton of versatility. If you have need for multiple HDMI connections and a single HDMI connection on your plasma, try picking up the 5x1 HDMI switcher at www.monoprice.com which is a great value.

For speakers - return the Bose. You get the same quality out of speakers costing 75% less.

If you want some good speakers, then do some research at a specific budget that you are trying to reach. Keep in mind that to hit all the frequenices that audio puts out you have something of a need for a decent size speaker, not necessarily huge, but well built. Not tiny and cheap.

While I am a fan of Axiom and the Midi series may make you happy - http://canada.axiomaudio.com/epicmidi_main.html - They may be a bit more in size than you want.

So, why not try the Def-Tech Mythos series?
http://www.definitivetech.com/loudspeakers/mythos/mythos.html

Specifically the gems which are said to have very good sound for the money:
http://www.definitivetech.com/loudspeakers/mythos/mythos_gem.html

For a receiver - there are a lot of good ones for the money, but you can often go online and pick up last years model and get 98% of the performance of this years model for half - or less - the price. My receiver is pushing 3+ years now and I don't see any need to upgrade for several years to come yet.

 

[jcPanny]

HT system

Post your speaker and receiver budget and you will get plenty of suggestions. You should consider some of the Canadian speaker manufactures including Axiom, Paradigm, and PSB. There should be plenty of dealers in your area.
If bookshelf speakers are not small enough, there are a few options. Axiom and Paradigm have on-wall versions of their speakers. Orbaudio is another manufacturer that makes small speakers that sound much better than Bose.

The HK is a good receiver by check prices on the net from authorized dealers. The sale prices at BB/Futureshop are usually much higher then online dealers. Once you buy the right gear, we will help you set it up.

Check out this good looking bookshelf system for a fraction of the price of the Bose:
http://www.av123.com/products_category_pack.php?section=speakers&brand=55

 

[jake51s]

Another good Bose alternative

http://www.roundsound.com/

 

[3x10^8]

And another good bose alternative:

http://www.orbaudio.com

 

[3x10^8]

The problem with Bose is this... The majority of what you pay for is their marketing, not their R & D.

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

The key with Bose is its market penetration, but also it's WAF. Chix love the small cubes, as they don't interfere with the decor. If that's the case, check out this setup - add a sub and save $100:

http://www.hsustore.com/vt12.html
HSU Research : Ventriloquist VT-12

If you can afford a larger bookshelf speaker, and are on a budget, check out these. Lots of members have them and all comment positives about their bang for the buck factor.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006JPDI/sr=8-1/qid=1145979497/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-1587837-3731801?_encoding=UTF8
Amazon.com: BIC America Venturi DV62si Bookshelf Speakers (Pair, Black): Electronics

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00009WBYL/sr=8-4/qid=1145979497/ref=pd_bbs_4/103-1587837-3731801?_encoding=UTF8
Amazon.com: BIC America DV-62CLRS 6-Inch 2-Way Center Channel Speaker: Electronics