System Ideas

[Jeff R.]

I had a good friend ask me to recommend a good home theatre system. I have been off the site for several months. Here are some of the system requirements:

Total Cost: $1500-$1800
Needs: Reciever/Blu-Ray/CD/5 channel surround

Right now I am leaning toward the following:

Reciever: Refurbished Onkyo HT-RC180 THX 7.2
Blu-Ray - DMP-BD65
CD - ???
Speakers:
1) KEF IQ30 (fronts), KEF IQ8DS (rears), KEF IQ60c (center)
2) Usher S-520 (2 pairs), Ushe S-525 (center)

This is just my current hunch....Please let me know if anyone has some other ideas.

He does not want towers at all, all bookshelf sized speakers.

I am suggesting he hold off till on the sub for the short term and add it in the mix in a few months. There is some extra money for the sub maybe $350-500 at the most that would go past the budget above.

Thanks for your help everyone!!

 

[Jeff R.]

Hard to believe there are no suggestions from the crowd. I stumbled across some reasonable packages from NHT any opinions on those. I know they were great 10 years ago, are they still a good option?

 

[Pyrrho]

One thing we need to know are the prices for the things you are recommending. If you are getting a great price on a speaker or receiver (or whatever), it makes a difference for what is best at the price point you are asking about.

Generally speaking, for a cheap BD player, I would go with Panasonic, with the cheapest that has the required features (which, with a new receiver, is probably the cheapest current model). I would not bother with a separate CD player at this price point, and use the BD player for playing CDs. That way, more money is available for things that actually affect the sound, like speakers.

For the speakers, your friend needs to go out into the world and audition different brands, of different types (e.g., ribbons, domes, horns, whatever) to see what satisfies your friend. There is no such thing as a perfect speaker (particularly at the low end, but even at the high end...), and so it is a question of what virtues your friend requires and what vices your friend can tolerate.

For the receiver, at the price point you are discussing, assuming that the speakers selected do not have any special requirements, I would go with the cheapest one I could find from a reputable brand (such as Yamaha, Denon, Marantz, Pioneer) that had all the required features.

The biggest effect on the sound will be the speakers, and so the greatest care must be taken with them. And as different people have different taste in what qualities matter to them, your friend must go out into the world and listen to speakers if your friend wishes to have a reasonable chance of getting speakers that your friend will regard as good for the money.

And if your friend does not care about the shape of the center channel speaker, a perfect match can be had by getting another bookshelf speaker of the same type as the front right and left speakers. Such a speaker should be oriented exactly like the front right and left speakers, at the same (or nearly the same) height. There is no better voice matching than that.

For the subwoofer, you can't go wrong with an SVS, for any price point for which they make a subwoofer. The minimum from them is about $500 (delivered in the continental U.S.), and frankly, I would not bother with getting one at all if I did not have that much in my budget for one.

 

[sholling]

Reciever: Refurbished Onkyo HT-RC180 THX 7.2

I like Onkyos but I'd pass on that one because there were reports of problems. New models are being released and you can pick up what's about to be last year's model TX-SR508 cheap ($250) on Amazon.

Does your friend have a PS3? If so they make great Blu-Ray players

Speakers:
1) KEF IQ30 (fronts), KEF IQ8DS (rears), KEF IQ60c (center)
2) Usher S-520 (2 pairs), Ushe S-525 (center)

I have not heard the KEF but I used to own the S-520s. The Ushers are good speakers as long you have a subwoofer. You can bottom the woofer at high volumes if you push them without a sub. Also the center is 4ohm and needs a 4ohm capable receiver - which will cost you a lot more. IMO Ascend Acoustics's CBM-170SE or CMT-340SE are better choices. A mix of the two will run $900-1100 depending the mix (3x 340s & 2x 170 vs 4x 170s & 1x 340 as center) and if they have any b-stock available. You could even save a few more dollars using their sealed HTM-200 bookshelves as surrounds ($270/pr b-stock). I own 340s and have heard the 170s but full disclosure I have not heard the 200s. Either way you still have room for a sub. Review

A step down in price but still a decent system would be an Infinity Primus bookshelf system using a pair of P162 as mains, a PC251 center, and a pair of P152 as surrounds. These are front ported making them easy to place. You should be able get the whole setup for around $500-550 which with even with the receiver leaves $1000 for a nice sub. Review

Just bear in mind that speaker selection is very subjective and my tastes may not match your friends.

I am suggesting he hold off till on the sub for the short term and add it in the mix in a few months. There is some extra money for the sub maybe $350-500 at the most that would go past the budget above.

The sub will make a huge difference in how the above systems sound and I wouldn't wait or skimp on the sub. Just keep in mind that the total volume of the room is important in selection. I'd work with Elemental Designs and Hsu Research to choose a sub to fit the space and if he is in an apartment you'll want an isolation pad under that sub to keep the neighbors peaceful.

 

[AVRat]

SVS SBS-02 5.0/PB10-NSD for around $1300 shipped with the electronics the others mentioned.