Hows this HT System?

[JKBKS]

Hi All,

I am newbie on a budget who is going through this website for about 2 weeks now.After reading the various reviews and posts, this is what i have decided upon. Would appreciate, if you guys can point out anamolies in selection and suggest suitable replacements in a comparable price range.
I can get a good deal on Pioneer products so i want to go along with their Receiver and DVD player.

AV Receiver: Elite VSX 52 TX ($450 to me) or Elite VSX 74 TXVi ($855)
DVD player: DV 588AS ($100) or Elite DV-79AVi ($615)
Subwoofer: Advent ASW 1200 ($100 from Amazon)
Speakers: Athena 15345 Point 5 MKII System

I would like to go for Pioneer 52TX and 588As for budgetary reasons but if theirs a more than 50% difference in audio/video quality then i can go for the otherPioneer receiver/player.

Hope you guys pull me out of this quandry...

 

[mtrycrafts]

Hi All,


I would like to go for Pioneer 52TX and 588As for budgetary reasons but if theirs a more than 50% difference in audio/video quality then i can go for the otherPioneer receiver/player.

Hope you guys pull me out of this quandry...

I seriously doubt you will see a 10% difference, let alone a 50%.

 

[jcPanny]

HT Budget.

It sounds like you are willing to to spend >$800 or a receiver and >$600 on a DVD player but only $300 on speakers and a sub. I think that you are seriously short changing yourself of the speakers. The Point Fives are great and will beat any HTIB speakers, but a $200 receiver could probably drive them to their full potential.

Consider going for your lower receiver and DVD choices and putting the extra money into speakers. They next step up would be to Athena Audition or BIC Venturi bookshelf system ($100 / pair). For a little more, check out the new SVS bookshef system. Keep in mind that a good set of speakers can last 15-20 years, but electronics are outdated after 2-5 years.

 

[JKBKS]

Appreciate your quick response guys...

If the difference in output is not significant then should i opt for Pioneer VSX 1015 or 815K (not elite models) instead of VSX 52TX (Elite)?

Which subwoofer should I opt for in place of Advent ASW 1200?

 

[dloweman]

I would think that the 1015 would be lots, I have it and it drives my paradigm monitor speakers very easily. Has auto setup and mic, so easy to use, definate bargain. Save the money and spend more on speakers, and sub.

 

[Nick250]

It seems you are spending about $1800 on your system. With all due respect, youn allocations of your budget is way out of wack. You will get many magnitudes better sound than would get with your financial out lay if you reallocate your funds this way.

Receiver: $300
Sub:$300
DVD Player:$100
Speakers:$1000
MiscCablesEtc: $100

Remember the receiver has practically nothing to do with how good your system sounds. Focus on speakers and spend as much as you can on them, THAT is where you will find good sound.

 

[JKBKS]

I dont intend to spend more than $1000. But i wont spend more than $400 on receiver and dvd player combined now.

If receiver doesnt have much to do with sound quality then why do people spend thousands of dollars on receivers alone?

Can you tell me which cables have to be bought for connections?

 

[markw]

It's not all black and white. There's a balance to me had.

Work with us, guy. First you throw out all these of the wall, apples to oranges prices and now you say that your budget is only $1000. Make up your mind.

Choosing a system is almost a black art.

First, you decide on the speakers you like. Since these will have the most affect on what you hear, you should choose these firstand be a little liberal with the dollar allocation. It's not unusual for speakers to cost at least as much as all the other components in your system.

And, a $100 sub is almost guaranteed to disappoint.

Now that you have an idea of what speakers you like, you go about selecting a receiver that has the features you NEED and also has more than enough power to drive your speakers properly. Sme features and real, clean power can cost money.

Once the balance between these first two is met, you'll find that yoursource component budget may be less than you expected but remember, DVD players are available for a song and since you're using the DAC in your receiver, these are more less a commodity.

As for your cables, check out Home Depot. ...seriously.

 

[daneco9]

cableCARD

Where would I find a COX cable CARD?

 

[jcPanny]

Speakers and Sub upgrades

JKBKS,
To answer your PM questions:

Yes there is no problem purchasing the Mains, and Center speaker first and adding surrounds later. When the surrounds are not present, your receiver will pipe the surround track through the front and center channels. In fact, this is the upgrade path I would recommend: Mains, Subwoofer, center, surrounds, surround backs.

While it is important that the mains, center and surrounds tonally match, this is not the case for the subwoofer, any decent sub will cover the 100 Hz range down to 20 or 30 Hz and intigrate will with your other speakers. I would recommend getting a 10" subwoofer from SVS or HSU.

 

[uncle joe]

jkbks If I may ask can you say where toy are getting the pioneer vsx74 txvi and the dv 79 avi for those prices because i want those exact pieces but cant find them at those prices thankyou

 

[JKBKS]

Your query

I couldn't reply earlier as i was out of the country all this while. Pioneer is our client so we get good discounts, generally 50% on MSRP....