Need some advice purchasing an entire set up

[watchdog]

NOTE: Sorry if there is another thread already which addresses this, but I could not find one. I have been lurking here for several weeks reading up on various equipment.

I realize that this question is open ended, so I will review and incorporate all feedback/suggestion to come up with a solution. This is a clean slate approach as I have not purchased ANYTHING Yet and looking to address all those nit picky questions that should be addressed before versus after. Not to mention equipment.

My basement remodel is nearing completion. I have prewired for 5.1 surround. The room is ground level with plenty of light. I plan on purchasing an LCD between 52-60" 1080P. I am leaning toward 52" based on cost differential. Room dimensions are 21'W X 17'L with 8 foot ceilings. On each side of the room are large windows. The couch will be about 13 feet from the TV which is going to be centered in on 8'wide X 8 high' wall. (Left is a fireplace right is the entrance to the room. I have made provisions for future speakers outside and upstairs as I have pulled (4) sets to those locations for later use.

I have two children, 3 & 5. I grew up listening to the 80's and in my 20's lived for music. Now, I rarely ever listen to music outside the car. So I believe the speakers will be more for the TV.

Budget: Like to keep under $7K if this is realistic

1) Recievers: Looking at Onkyo 605 or 805 unless I can be convinced that there is a compelling reason, go separates.
2) Speakers: I have analysis paralysis here with all the good speakers name brand and internet out there, not to mention the difficulty I have just getting time to go to a quality store to listen and compare. I need the most help here to move forward between bookshelves or towers. I am undecided about just getting an unobstrusive surround sound speaker package like Canton CD50 or KEF 5005's to mount on the walls in front and rear versus large towers to the right and left of the TV (I do have room though). How much will I give up with the experience?
3) DVD Player: No clue and haven't started looking need help
4) CD player: Need help
5) ??? What else need I consider?

I am also thinking of locating the electronics around the corner in the next room to provide a cleaner look with the TV location.

 

[rnatalli]

Start with speakers and go from there. Get out and audition until you're sick of it and then audition some more. Once you choose speakers, then you can figure out what else you need. How much music vs. HT do you generally do?

 

[mazersteven]

3) DVD Player: No clue and haven't started looking need help

http://www.oppodigital.com/dv981hd/dv981hd_index.html

 

[mazersteven]

NOTE:
5) ??? What else need I consider?

Cables, Speaker Wire

www.bluejeanscables.com

www.monoprice.com

 

[JonBaker99]

KEF 5005 kit is very solid for a flat panel style speaker. THe kit comes witrh a great little sub (KEF HTB2). I will caution you the 5000 series mount pretty far off of the wall. If you want a more flush appearance you may want to look at the 6000 series ($450-600 ea depending on where you purchase from).

 

[jcPanny]

HT options

Nice budget for the HT. Since you have a dedicated room, you should consider a 1080p front projector if you have good light control. Prices are under $3k making the cost comparable to a 50-60" LCD.

There are lost of speakers in your budget so demo several options. Generally, you will have to pay more for an in-wall type speaker that has comparable performance to a bookshelf or floorstanding version. Deciding on a speaker type should help narrow your options. Floorstanders are more critical for a large room (like yours) or for 2 channel playback without a sub.

Once you decide on speakers, pick a receiver or seperates with the power and features you need. One advantage to seperates is that I am using 2 channels of my Emotiva LPA-1 amp to power distributed audio in 5 rooms and the remaining 5 channels for the HT. I wouldn't recommend power your 4 pairs of zone 2 speakers off of a receiver, but an outboard stereo amp would work fine with impedance matching volume controls or speaker selector.

The Oppo upscaling DVD players are great and entry level HD-DVD players like the Toshiba HDA2 are just over $200. You can use the DVD player to play CDs or use one of those mega changers or an iPod to store lots of music.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I am leaning toward 52" based on cost differential.
Budget: Like to keep under $7K if this is realistic

1) Recievers: Looking at Onkyo 605 or 805 unless I can be convinced that there is a compelling reason, go separates.
2) Speakers: I am undecided about just getting an unobstrusive surround sound speaker package like Canton CD50 or KEF 5005's to mount on the walls in front and rear versus large towers to the right and left of the TV (I do have room though). How much will I give up with the experience?
3) DVD Player: No clue and haven't started looking need help
4) CD player: Need help

This is what I would get:

1) LCD: $2,500: http://www.onecall.com/ProductDetails.aspx?id=33765
2) Receiver: $400: Onkyo 605
3) Speakers: $3,800: DefTech BP7001(L/R) + CLR3000(C) + SM450(SL/SR)
4) DVD/CD Player: Panasonic Blu-ray for $600
Total: $7,300

 

[ParadigmDawg]

A 52'' TV is going to be small from 13feet away. I would go with what JG (or was it JC?) said and go with a PJ. I can agree with the Onk AVR but too many choices in speakers to just say "go with the DTs. No way around it; the OP has to audtion speakers. DVD/CD could be as simple as a HD DVD for 2-3 hundred bucks, PS3 for $499 or if he is not interested in HD yet; then the Oppo.

This is what I would get:

1) LCD: $2,500: http://www.onecall.com/ProductDetails.aspx?id=33765
2) Receiver: $400: Onkyo 605
3) Speakers: $3,800: DefTech BP7001(L/R) + CLR3000(C) + SM450(SL/SR)
4) DVD/CD Player: Panasonic Blu-ray for $600
Total: $7,300

 

[MapleSyrup]

Watchdog;

For some reason I get excited advising others on setting up their home theater systems. I’ve even sold more expensive DVD players at Sam’s Club (more expensive than what the buyer wanted to pay for) just by pointing out the software advantages of the more expensive players. And I don’t even work at Sam’s.

My picks.

TV: Samsung’s LM-T408IF is a bit smaller LCD television than you mentioned you wanted (40”). But the LED technology looks very promising. I know Audioholics are skeptical about the promised specs (like 5000,000:1 contrast ration) but overall they seemed impressed with televisions using LED at the 2007 CEDIA Expo. Furthermore, for the past 5 years or so I’ve been quite impressed with the awesome plasma and now LCD sets Samsung have been producing. LED technology, being a new technology used for large screen TVs, is expensive. Samsung’s 46” set is $3,999 whereas the 40” is $2,999.

Alternative sets I’d recommend: Toshiba 47HL167 47” ($2,299 before price break); and Panasonic TH-42PZ700U 42” ($1,999 before price break – with that saving you can buy Porcupine Tree’s Deadwig DTS and other fine DTS recordings like Blue man Group’s “The Complex”. Both of which I bought in no small part to Audioholic’s rave reviews and I do enjoy them).


Samsung (40”):
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-JS43LH2IP2z/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=146350&I=305LNT4081

Toshiba:
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-JS43LH2IP2z/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=146350&I=05247HL167

Speakers: I’ve heard very fine things about Ascend Acoustics. Their high-end bookshelves were part of Audioholic’s recent shootout. Right now there is a great deal with their less expensive mini towers known as the CMT-340 SE.($458/pair vs. $568/pair). You can match this with their CMT 340 center and use their smaller bookshelves as your surrounds. It seems you will use a 5.1 set up. Although there is room to debate, I would recommend a 7.1 set up. I love my surround backs, especially when they go loud.

Ascend Acoustics (home page):


AV123 offer superb speakers as well. You can get their rocket towers RS760 ($1,499) and their RS 250 MKII ($699) as surrounds. If you prefer dipoles, than their RSS300 ($599) would be a great match. Heck, just get another RS760 or just their RS450 ($899). And maybe you can squeeze in their super tweeter (ERTs - $349/pair) if you buy their towers. AV123’s customer service I’ve heard, well, read, many times is top notch. They also offer stellar package deals. Give them a call.

AV123 Customer Support
http://www.av123.com/support_orders.php
Rockets:
http://www.av123.com/products_category_brand.php?section=speakers&brand=3

DVD:

The Oppo previously suggested is a killer deal. I’m kicking myself for having missed their products when I recently upgraded my own DVD player. Get one with very good upconversion (personally I suggest to wait on the high-def players. I hate format wars though Toshiba recently announced a player compatible with both Blue-Ray and HD DVD.). And as for conversion engines, you can’t beat Realta.

Denon’s DVD-2930CI sports such a chip and sells for ($849). I strongly recommend Denon’s DVD-3930Ci as it’s performance is almost impeccable. Though you may not want to spend that much on one ($1,499) although Dakmart is a liscensed Denon retailer and offers refurbished Denon products. Check them out for a deal. You might even find a Denon 3910 which also uses Realta and still a sound player. Though you’ll probably only get HDMI 1.1 with that product. If that matters at all to you.

2930CI:
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-6r5w1yov34U/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=54400&I=033DV2930C
3930CI:
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-6r5w1yov34U/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=54400&I=033DV3930C

Dakmart (home):
http://www.dakmart.com/
Dakmart (DVD players):
http://www.dakmart.com/items/38/

Receivers:

Onkyo is king right not as far as I’m concerned. They are offering more features for the buck than about anybody else.

The previously mentioned 605 is a great receiver. I have the 505 and with the 605 you’ll also get the newest HD Dolby and DTS sounds (in case you do get a high-def player). It also has Sirius satellite radio though I really don’t care for satellite radio. But you might.

The Onkyo I bought was about four months ago and a huge selling point was its offering of Audyssey room set up. I’ve read nothing but superb reviews of this software and indeed I’ve never heard my surrounds and rear surrounds come so alive than when I used the Audyssey set up. I love it.

Here’s several Onkyos.

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-6r5w1yov34U/cgi-bin/prodgroup.asp?o=m&g=10420&l=&avf=N&pg=2

Notice I’m a Crutchfield fan? Their customer service is wonderful and you pay no shipping over like $200 of purchases and returns shipping is also no charge. OK you ultimately pay it in the price of their products but their prices are not any more than what you’ll find in a typical brick and mortar store. Furthermore, you’ll get customer support for life. You can literally call them about anything regarding your purchases. Try that at Best Buy, Tweeter, or Circuit City.

Subwoofers:

For space saving but killer bass, I recommend SVSound’s (are they allowed to be mentioned here?) cylinder subs.

http://www.svsound.com/products-sub-cyl-plpow.cfm (These are their medium-priced cylinder subs.)

For the box subs. Try SvSound or HSU Research. The later I think has a bit more value plus the have a new mid-range bass module that’s supposed to enhance the upper bass frequencies.

http://www.svsound.com/products-sub-box-plus.cfm (Again, their medium-priced subs)

http://www.hsuresearch.com/subwoofers.html (All their subs).

I think I gave you enough to mix and match as to not go over budget and still get a great HT set up. Enjoy!!!

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

A 52'' TV is going to be small from 13feet away. I would go with what JG (or was it JC?) said and go with a PJ. I can agree with the Onk AVR but too many choices in speakers to just say "go with the DTs. No way around it; the OP has to audtion speakers. DVD/CD could be as simple as a HD DVD for 2-3 hundred bucks, PS3 for $499 or if he is not interested in HD yet; then the Oppo.

Yeah, I think he should get a bigger screen too. What's an awesome projector in this type of budget?

Okay. Okay. How about the $2,700 Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 1080? It got an awesome review from the best source---Audioholics professional review staff. Add $200 for the 80" Widescreen ELPSC80 = $2,900 Total.

Then how about get 5 of the NHT Classic Four 41" towers (w/built-in 10" subwoofer, freq response: 27-20,000 Hz +/- 3dB) for $3,500 total?
That's perfect soundstage/image matching. I think for this price, this package is the perfect speakers for movies with five identical FULL-RANGE TOWERS with a total of 5 subwoofers built-in.

That's now $6,400 total.

Add Onkyo 605 for another $400 = $6,800 total.

Then add a $220 Toshiba HD DVD player (plays HD DVD 1080p/DVD 480i/CD) = $7,020 grand total.

Personally, I would get the Panasonic DMP-BD10A Blu-ray (plays Blu-ray 1080p/DVD 1080i/DVD-Audio/CD), which I got at Best Buy for $420. This would make the total $7,220. And I would also get the Toshiba HD DVD for a grand total of $7,440.

Man, if someone were to buy my entire HT system, I might just consider buying something like this with the following exception:

1) I would get the Denon 4308.
2) I would get a 100" Da-Lite Widescreen for the projector.
3) I would wait and get a blu-ray & hd dvd player with DTS-HD MA bitstream.

Then I would have to change my name

 

[Fred333]

Not to go off topic but I was wondering did you consider a protection setup? I mean just a thought but you could get a lot more screen for your buck. Just a thought.

 

[rnatalli]

Spend about half your budget on speakers. Go audition first to figure out which ones you like and then go from there. You have a lot of options and only your ears will tell you what to go with.

 

[aberkowitz]

First time posting to this site... just discovered it yesterday.

To the OP- I know the Onkyo 805 is more money than the 605, but I think its absolutely worthwhile. The two biggest kickers for me were the fact that it had 3 HDMI inputs (key if you want to buy both an HD DVD and Blu Ray player) and the fact that it can in theory support 3 listening zones. I've had the 805 for 3 months now and there's nothing it hasn't been able to handle. My only piece of advice is that the sucker is bigger and heavier than most comparable AVRs (I also was looking at the Denon 2708- but for the same price Onkyo gave much more) and if not ventilated well it will heat up like a mother. Make sure you leave plenty of space in the cabinet for it to keep cool.

 

[aberkowitz]

One more thing- Crutchfield is absolutely the way to go once you've decided on equipment. No tax, free shipping (Fed Ex 3 Day), and some of the best customer service I've ever encountered.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

One more thing- Crutchfield is absolutely the way to go once you've decided on equipment. No tax, free shipping (Fed Ex 3 Day), and some of the best customer service I've ever encountered.

I called Crutchfield once to see if they would price match on the Onkyo 805 for $900 because both J&R Music World and Onecall.com had it for $900 (no tax/ free S/H). Crutchfield said "NO." I like Crutchfield, and I have bought things from them before, but they just don't have the lowest prices. I bought from onecall.com & J&R, and I like them both.

 

[aberkowitz]

I called Crutchfield once to see if they would price match on the Onkyo 805 for $900 because both J&R Music World and Onecall.com had it for $900 (no tax/ free S/H). Crutchfield said "NO." I like Crutchfield, and I have bought things from them before, but they just don't have the lowest prices. I bought from onecall.com & J&R, and I like them both.

I love OneCall as well- they are fantastic to deal with as well. I find you can sometimes Price Arb between OneCall and Crutchfield based on who's offering free shipping and temporary sales. I've been extremely soured on my experiences w/ J&R based on their retail store in NYC. Since I live in the city I prefer to go in to the store as opposed to order online- their store is poorly set up, salespeople tend not to be knowledgable, and half of the equipment isn't even properly hooked up for demos!

 

[MapleSyrup]

I called Crutchfield once to see if they would price match on the Onkyo 805 for $900 because both J&R Music World and Onecall.com had it for $900 (no tax/ free S/H). Crutchfield said "NO." I like Crutchfield, and I have bought things from them before, but they just don't have the lowest prices. I bought from onecall.com & J&R, and I like them both.

Yes, that is a downer that Crutchfield doesn't price match. to get a lower price from them one will have to be patient and wait until a sale (which is very frequent at Crutchfield but not necessarily on the specific equiment you want) or until it is up on their Scratch and Dent site. I made two purchases from Scratch and Dent and they in one case the product worked perfectly fine but it gets better in the latter. My subwoofer can with a hum. i called the manufacturer (big mistake) and after about 30 minutes nothing was resolved. I then slapped my head and realized I can call the vendor (Crutchfield). Within 7 minutes after picking up the phone the problem was solved. I got instructions to pack the old sub in the box the new sub will come in (which came arrived the very next day) and take it to UPS. I waited in line there only to finbd out I didn't have to. Since return shipping is already paid by Crutchfield, I could have just plopped it on the counter and left. So I got a brand new subwoofer by sending back my scratch and dent subwoofer.

Crutchfield's service is phenomenal

 

[MapleSyrup]

One more thing- Crutchfield is absolutely the way to go once you've decided on equipment. No tax, free shipping (Fed Ex 3 Day), and some of the best customer service I've ever encountered.

Great point aberkoitz. I forgot about the no taxes except for Virginian residences.

See Watchdog, your options are growing!!!

 

[MapleSyrup]

First time posting to this site... just discovered it yesterday.

To the OP- I know the Onkyo 805 is more money than the 605, but I think its absolutely worthwhile. The two biggest kickers for me were the fact that it had 3 HDMI inputs (key if you want to buy both an HD DVD and Blu Ray player) and the fact that it can in theory support 3 listening zones. I've had the 805 for 3 months now and there's nothing it hasn't been able to handle. My only piece of advice is that the sucker is bigger and heavier than most comparable AVRs (I also was looking at the Denon 2708- but for the same price Onkyo gave much more) and if not ventilated well it will heat up like a mother. Make sure you leave plenty of space in the cabinet for it to keep cool.

I completely agree with you.

 

[MapleSyrup]

Spend about half your budget on speakers. Go audition first to figure out which ones you like and then go from there. You have a lot of options and only your ears will tell you what to go with.

I agree. Crappy speakers will still sound crappy even when hoked to a great amp (which applies to receivers) but good speakers will sound better than crapy speakers even if hooked to a crappy amp. You follow? (Dont know if I do, that was sort of wordy)

I'm not referring to the ones that replay everything thorwn at them with precise accuracy; but I don't think Watchdog wil be getting anything crappy. Not if we have anything to asay about it.

So Watchdog, focus on speakers. I also like AcuDefTechGuy's suggestion on getting a projector. Epson is a good pick as well. You can research reviews right on this site as well. A projector will give you an enormously large viewing range.