New, and I come with questions!

[USUAggie]

Hello all,

My name is David and I am a college student in Utah, living on campus in the dorms. So that is a great lead to my questions, right? Good! Sorry if this is the incorrect place to post this, please move it if you feel the need. I just felt this sort of question would be best in the beginners section.

So, I live in a dorm, and I am a college student, if it was not obvious, I am not rich, and I do not have much room to work with. I have about $1,000 to spend on my audio system. I already have an HDTV and a DVD Player, so what I am really looking for is this:

The least amount of cables and clutter that will make my tv and computer audio come to life in my small dorm room. I would like a decent receiver and nice speakers with a sub. Keep in mind, I do not have the ability to bury or put wires in the walls or such. I was looking at the Bose 3.2.1 system, and I like how it has so few speakers, and to me anyway, sounds decent.

So... could you all make any suggestions for me?

Thank you so much,

David

 

[Haoleb]

Im only going to make one suggestion and that is stay away from bose. You can do much better for your money.

Are you set on getting a whole 5.1 surround setup or would 2.1 be good. Everyone seems to keep on saying 2 channel is dead but whatever. The bottom line is you can get a pile of crappy speakers for the same price as two decent ones. 1k will get you quite a stereo if you shop smart.

 

[USUAggie]

I would not mind starting out with just 2 speakers and a sub and a receiver, or maybe 2 speakers, a sub, and a center? I am not sure. I just would really love some suggestions from the experts on what I could spend my money on, that I can upgrade later to 5.1 or 7.1, and sounds great with my tv and my computer.

 

[holden_stroker]

personally i would make the first step and get a decent receiver. this is generally what you would base your system on. i have recently upgraded to a 7.1 receiver although im still only using 2 main tower speakers at the moment alone. because i spent a fair amount to start with on a receiver i can now build on this, and shortly i will look at adding a centre, a sub, and then shift my current mains to the rear speakers and purchase some JBL L series or something for the front.

i would recommend doing it this way rather than getting a basic receiver, a couple speakers and a sub or something, and then no be able to upgrade to due the receiver not having the capabilities you require.

hope this helps, matt.

 

[aberkowitz]

I only partially agree with the previous poster... you obviously need a receiver, but being that you are in college and that in 3-4 years you'll have more money to upgrade, I wouldn't put such a premium on getting a future-proof receiver. The general rule on audio is to spend twice as much on speakers as you would on a receiver.

Being that it's a small dorm room I don't think 5.1 should even be an option. That's just too much enclosed space for the surround sound to sound its best- and if your dorms are anything like mine were in college, the fake wood and cement bricks make for terrible acoustics. Throughout college and even in my first apartment bedroom I only ever had 2.0 sound, and it was more than sufficient.

All of that said, I would probably recommend looking at a receiver around $200-300 and spending the rest on 2 main channels and possibly a sub if you can afford it. At that price range both the Onkyo 505 and the Yamaha RX-461 are great bargains- the main difference being that the Onkyo has 2 HDMI inputs while the Yammy has none. It's not the worst thing in the world b/c you can always run your HDMI cable directly to the TV and connect the audio via optical cable should you prefer the Yamaha. The HK AVR 147 tends to be a bit more (around $370) but it also has 2 HDMI inputs.

As for speakers- I am still a novice with these so I will let somebody else provide you with more detailed advice, but I know that Polk makes some great speakers and here's a set of mains that you can get for $300 a piece:

http://shop1.outpost.com/product/375...H:MAIN_RSLT_PG

As for cables- monoprice.com. You can get your HDMI, optical (if necessary), computer connections, and speaker wire all for very cheap.

Don't go off the deep end trying to pimp out your dorm room- most likely you're only in this particular room for another 6 months or so, and then you're going to pick up your system and have to move it.