If you had to skimp on your home theater

[3db]

becuase of budget, would you skimp more on the audio or the video side? Just kinda curious where everyone's priorties lie. For me I would skimp more on the video side as the audio side is more important to me.

 

[manofsteel2397]

personaly i would skimp on the audio because it is easyer to to to build your audio system up over time or upgrade one peice at a time

 

[Adam]

Anyone who followed my system thread knows that video is where I skimped.

 

[robbit]

becuase of budget, would you skimp more on the audio or the video side? Just kinda curious where everyone's priorties lie. For me I would skimp more on the video side as the audio side is more important to me.

I think it depends on what type of technology you enjoy most. For example, on the video side, you have a wide variety of technologies to pick from. Fortunately, at this point in the game they are all pretty well developed and are fairly equivalent in terms of performance. But, if the newer LED or OLED TV's seem more interesting to you, you may want to go cheap on a TV now so you can splurge more once your desired technology comes out (me personally, I'm excited to see how OLED develops).

I made the mistake of not considering this factor and ended up with TV that displayed in 1080P but did not accept a 1080P signal (a little trick they used back when 1080P was just coming out). Don't get me wrong, the model I picked was great (Mits 62" DLP), but I would have chosen differently had I known more about the different technologies and their true capabilities.

If you feel you can be completely satsified with a current technology, then I would go for it. Nothing beats a nice display. And like one of the other members stated, audio can be added in small increments as your budget allows.

 

[JerryLove]

All decisions are *always* a trade off.

I don't think "skimping" is a valid option. You have a budget and it is what it is.

If we are saying that my budget is so low that I need to actually not get portions of a 5.1 theater....

TV first. Can't do anything without the TV. Better to get a (let's say) 40" HDTV by itself than a 20" and whatever $200 buys in speakers/amps.

Source for TV (DVD/Blue-ray player?)

After that, two channel audio (better decent two channel than awful 5-channel). Bookshelves (unless I can find cheap enough but good floor-standers), and ones for which a matching center exists. If I have to go cheap on the receiver, make sure it has good power and can take the digital in (if not HDMI).

Then a sub (unless they were full range floor-standers).

Then a center.

Then surrounds.

You can build a decent (won't compete with good stuff, but very pleasant) 5.1 for $250 plus TV cost if you are willing to hunt used.

 

[mperfct]

becuase of budget, would you skimp more on the audio or the video side? Just kinda curious where everyone's priorties lie. For me I would skimp more on the video side as the audio side is more important to me.

I think it depends. Most people skimp on audio because a crappy display is easy to point out, versus bad audio is what most people are used to. I think you need to hear good audio quite a bit to create a lasting impression to where it's easy to separate bad/average/good audio setups.

We use our eyes all the time, but rarely do we use our ears.

 

[chris357]

I have upgraded my system as i've learned about different way sof doing things. Although when i bought my TV I could get a 55" rear projection(1080i) for 2k or a smaller flat screen for 4 or 5k. I went with the 2k since I new that in 4 years the flats would be better quality and bigger and cheaper.

and they are the same 4k spent (2k then, 2k now) will get me a way better TV than I could have gotten back in 2004.

Audio, back then I had a Denon AVR3200 and thought it was the $h!t, then I learned that a fellow coworker was into high end audio and opened my eyes to separates and now I've been focusiing on that and have been happy with my older rear projector.

and now I've learned even more from being on here and am going to build my own subs.. again pushing back a new TV

my thinking is buy thw best I can afford at the time.

 

[manofsteel2397]

yea that has always been my way of doing it just bought the best the i could afford at the time with the knowlage that i had at the time. if i know what i know now i would have done it a little differently. everything that i have with the exception of tv was bought in 200 to 300 increments..

 

[chris357]

I think it depends. Most people skimp on audio because a crappy display is easy to point out, versus bad audio is what most people are used to. I think you need to hear good audio quite a bit to create a lasting impression to where it's easy to separate bad/average/good audio setups.

We use our eyes all the time, but rarely do we use our ears.

that is a true statment!!

my friends dont really care about the audio side, and like to say how bad the picture is on my TV(however they all want to watch movies at my house even with the lesser TV, hmmm???)

as for upgrading, i made a hige jump.. Sold 2 ch, I had to complte my 7.1 (amp and speakers) and 2 old pre/pros(b&k ref 30 and ref 50) tp get my krell hts, then used my entire tax refund to get my 3250. I never in my life thought I'd spend what I did on 2 components, in my ears it was worth it. I did buy it all used and saved tons.

 

[3db]

that is a true statment!!

my friends dont really care about the audio side, and like to say how bad the picture is on my TV(however they all want to watch movies at my house even with the lesser TV, hmmm???)

I guess I'm the exception here because fidelity has always been more important to me than visual. To me sound conveys the mood way more than the visual. My worst fear in life is going deaf and becooming hard of hearing.

 

[gmichael]

I think that I skimped equally on both. My display is 106" screen, but it is a "budget" screen only costing $300. The projector was one of the cheapest 720p available at the time. Still, it looks nice.
My audio is just an AVR, but one of the nicer ones available at the time. The speakers are very nice now because I upgraded. When I put the system together, I used Infinity Primus 360's. Not bad speakers, but definitely budget speakers.
I ended up spending about the same amount on both sides. At least before I upgraded the speakers. Next upgrade would be a 1080p projector.
Sorry to been in the middle of the road here, but I've always believed in balance for all things.

 

[manofsteel2397]

I guess I'm the exception here because fidelity has always been more important to me than visual. To me sound conveys the mood way more than the visual. My worst fear in life is going deaf and becooming hard of hearing.

and that is why you come to this forum and most people who cant hear the difference between HTIB and a good system (with the exception of bass) dont.

 

[sawzalot]

I think I went light in my loafers with the video side, which isn't half bad, but as this hobby goes my receiver is showing its age as in no hdmi and I have yet to upgrade my speakers.I still feel as though the audio side is by far better overall.

 

[chris357]

it is a balance but yeah i imagine everyone here is biased towards audio. I think no matter what nobody here is going theater in a box just to get the best possible TV they can..

 

[majorloser]

I skimped on both at the beginning. Been upgrading ever since (over and over again). But the secret is to not skimp on the infrastructure of your system. It can save you big dollars in the long run.

>Planning out the cable runs in advance
>Installing good quality cables in walls
>Putting conduit in the walls for future installation
>Installing dedicated eletrical circuits for equipment
>Taking into account room acoustics and ambient noise
>Taking into account room lighting control and ambient light
>Buying a rack large enough for additional equipment
>Providing proper cooling for equipment
>Cable management and organization

Out of those items, room acoustics and being able to control ambient lighting in the room will make the most out of the experience. Great equipment can be made to perform horribly in a poorly thought out room. And the opposite is true with lesser equipment and a well thought out room.

 

[j_garcia]

I just bought a new TV to get 1080p, but I still skimped on that portion of the equation Audio is my focus.

 

[highfigh]

If the audio is bad, I'm never happy. Some issues can be dealt with fairly easily but plain bad sound isn't going to work, for me. A lot of people would be amazed by how good a lower grade signal can look on a display that has been set up for that signal. A large CRT with composite video looks far better than any kind of flat panel with bad/mismatched video signal.

Nothing is worse than great audio/video quality when the movie or music sucks, though. That's just a waste of time and money.

 

[Fenix]

This is a tough question to answer.

Growing up my family never had the best stuff. I never had surround sound, or even a big TV.

In the past I would have jumped quickly to say that I would skimp on audio, because I never had great audio and I was all about seeing things bigger and better.

Well I bought my HDTV about a year ago along with a Blu-ray player and was amazed at the quality and detail of the picture (and I now had a big TV that I was happy with). It didn't bug me that I didn't have a sound system, I was perfectly happy with the picture.

Then, I had friends starting to get 5.1 packages, so I started to look around. I knew that I didn't want an HTiB because they weren't all that great (at least the ones offered in the big box shops, BB, CC, Fry's, etc.). I had a budget in mind and I listened to everything around that was within my budget and eventually bought my system. After setting it up I was amazed at how much of the experience I was missing by not having the sound. The house shaking bass, the crack of the guns, the clarity of instruments, the sounds going on all around.

Now, I don't know which one I would skimp on. Of course with my system I bought everything at separate times (about 6 months or so apart) and found the best that I could within my budget for each of the components.

I would want to say that if you don't have a lot of money that is probably the best way to get yourself a quality setup. Just set money aside for a while and as you have enough for certain components, buy them. Though, when thinking about this process and if I were to start at nothing, I would most likely buy the TV first.

 

[lsiberian]

My theater is all skimping. LOL. My speakers all cost under 100 bucks each. MY PJ cost me 150. I do have a PS3, but had that before I dove into this hobby head first last fall.

 

[john72953]

I guess I'm the exception here because fidelity has always been more important to me than visual. To me sound conveys the mood way more than the visual. My worst fear in life is going deaf and becooming hard of hearing.

I'm 100% with you on this!. And whomever said we use our eyes all the time but not our ears is in need of a hearing test. You can hear in 360 degrees, but unless you have eyes in the back of your head...seeing in 360 is impossible.

It would be interesting to see/hear the following test.

10 people are forced to WATCH a movie WITHOUT sound.
10 people are forced to LISTEN to a movie WITHOUT picture.

Which of the 2 groups would have a better experience? Which of the 2 groups would be able to more accurately interpret the story as intended by the director?

I'll put my wager on HEARING!

John