Need Home theater advice (~$1000 budget)

[micksr]

Hello,

I'm going to put a home theater system in my living room and I'm mostly concerned with music being the best quality I can get. I also plan on using it for bluerays and games occasionally.

I was thinking of buying the Onkyo HT-S9100THX or the audioholics $1000 system.

What are your thoughts on these? I can go over my budget if convinced it's worth it. I mostly want to know what my limitations will be if buying one of these and what my other options are.

Also what are some of my options for actually getting the music to the receiver. IE, laptop, ps3, wireless streaming. I mostly have downloaded mp3s and not actual cd's but I know I'll probably have to get higher quality music than I have right now.

Thanks for any advice and ideas you have for me.

 

[jinjuku]

What is the size of the room in cubic feet?

If music is of importance then I would suggest concentrating on a quality 3.1 setup (front speakers + center channel and a sub).

Later on add your surrounds. How much will wife acceptance factor (WAF) drive the aestetic?

 

[bigaudiofanatic]

I would look at getting a good receiver with pre out's and have a amp like an adcom or outlaw for your fronts. That way you are going to get the best from them when you are in 2 channel mode. The Onkyo you are looking at is pretty nice but is more geared towards surround sound. Do not get me wrong it will still product good power for when in stereo sound. As said above what size room do you have?

 

[micksr]

Well my living room is L shaped and I'm not at home right now but total space for all of it was estimated at 2400 cubic feet. But obviously the 'sitting area' will be a smaller area (right now I have small square of couches/ chairs in the intersection of the L which is like 800 cubic feet, but not sure how I will arrange things when I get my system). There is no wife acceptance factor.

I also would prefer to have surround sound, as I'll definitely be watching blurays on there.

 

[jinjuku]

I would look at getting a good receiver with pre out's and have a amp like an adcom or outlaw for your fronts. That way you are going to get the best from them when you are in 2 channel mode. The Onkyo you are looking at is pretty nice but is more geared towards surround sound. Do not get me wrong it will still product good power for when in stereo sound. As said above what size room do you have?

Even if the budget was increased by 50% to 1500 that would be pushing it for an AVR with pre-outs that did HD decoding and an external amp.

Agreed on the Onkyo HTIB it really is setup for HT use primarily.

 

[bigaudiofanatic]

So you are are actually worried about both surround and stereo sound. Correct?

 

[jinjuku]

Are you wanting floor standers for the front l/r?

 

[micksr]

Yeah I would definitely prefer to have both surround and stereo. I really don't have a preference as far as speaker setup. I could be convinced to go to $1500 ( if it's really worth it for my needs), so you can give ideas that are over my 'budget'.

What are some of the ways you are playing music on your systems? IE cds, ps3, streaming, etc. And what kind of quality music will I most likely need (assuming compressed mp3s or whatever will not suit my system)?

Obviously I'm fairly clueless so thanks for all the help.

 

[jinjuku]

All my CD's are ripped lossless... Also you are going to want to demo as much as you can. You need to use your ears. They are the only ones that matter.

 

[micksr]

Well I've changed my mind and am going to hold off on the surround sound and just focus on getting a decent stereo system setup. So in general I'm going to need a receiver, subwoofer and l/r speakers? What else should I be aware of?

Also any specific suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for all the help.

Edit: Also I'm planning on skipping the TV and surround sound totally for now so I wouldn't mind spending ~$2000 on a stereo system. Right now I'm doing a lot of research on my own and it seems I want to get a stereo receiver for my specific needs. I am a bit confused about amps/preamps. What features should I be aware of?

 

[shadyJ]

You can get a surround sound receiver and use it for stereo if you don't want to be bothered to get a surround sound receiver later. It will sound just as good, but you will be paying a bit more initially for some features you wouldn't be using right away.

A amp or pre-amp might be advisable depending on what speakers you get. If they are really demanding ones, its something to look into. You should determine what speakers you want first, and then buy the right amplifier for them. A lot of speakers will do just fine with a inexpensive receiver.

You may not need a subwoofer if you get good, full range floor-standing speakers. On the other hand, systems integrated well with a good sub tend to have better low end performance than just full range speakers. If the music you listen to has a lot of emphasis on bass, then you should get a system with a sub. Depending on the music you like and the room you are in, you might even consider two subs. You would have to really love bass to do that though, as I do.

If I had 2K to build a stereo now, I would look at Ascend Sierra-1 speakers with a Rythmik or Hsu subwoofer, and I would look around in craigslist and ebay for a decent, inexpensive stereo receiver. Other speakers that I would look into with that budget are Klipsch RB-81s or Magnapan MMGs. That is what I would do, but you should look into speakers that will do well for the type of material you listen to.

 

[micksr]

Thanks a lot ShadyJ. I'm thinking of going with the Ascend Sierra-1 speakers with a Rythmik subwoofer, purchased form ascendacoustics. That adds up to around $1700 (sound right?) Anyway I will now need a receiver, cd player and cables.

I'm looking at these
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Products/HomeEntertainment/AV-Receivers/EliteAmplifiers/ci.A-35R.Kuro?tab=B
http://emotiva.com/shop/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=39
for an amplifier as I apparently don't need an actual receiver for my use. Is this a good purchase?

Also any suggestions on cd players? It seems I'm going over 2k but I guess it's ok.

I really don't know anything about cables.

Thanks a lot.

 

[shadyJ]

Yeah those amps will work, however the Pioneer one is right on the minimum recommended power rating for the Seirra speakers. That might not be a big deal if you aren't a hard rockin' guy, but I would still go for the Emotiva, even though the Pioneer has more features and inputs.

By the way, neither has a sub-out I don't believe, so you will have to wire the speakers through the sub, depending on your source. The sub will have inputs and outputs for high level speaker cable if you need to do that. What will be easier is if your source (ie CD player, iPod, etc) has multiple outs, you can just connect one of them to the sub. You will have to use the sub's internal crossover. For Sierra 1s, I would set the crossover to 50 hertz to begin with, and see if that sounds good.

As for speaker cable, there has never been any proven audible difference between fancy $3K cables and coat hangers, so don't let anyone convince you to get expensive stuff. Monoprice and Blue Jeans are good sources if you want to order, but I always just go to Home Depot and get speaker cable there, 14 awg is good enough for most runs.

CD players aren't really a big deal, past a certain point. I have a refurbished Denon CD player that cost me about $100, and since I am using the digital output, nothing is going to sound better than it, even though it isn't special. Since you are going straight into the amp from the CD player, you will want one with relatively decent, low noise analog outs. You should be able to find something like that for $150 or less. It would also be handy to have more than one analog out so you can run that straight into your sub, and not have to run your speaker cable through the sub.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.