Help with surround sound / home theater

I know that there are several audio enthusiasts here at B&B, so I'll give this a shot.

I'm currently looking to add surround sound to the tv / ps3 setup in my living room. I live in an apartment, and the living room is approximately 18 x 18. My tv is a Pioneer 5020, along witht he PS3 for gaming and blu ray / dvd viewing.

Due to some rewards points with Best Buy, and rewards with my bank, I have $375 in Best Buy gift cards, so I would prefer to purchase there.

I would like to get a receiver, 5 speakers, and a subwoofer. My budget is $800 - $900. I would be willing to go up to $1000 if absolutely necessary, but would like to stay below that.

Does anyone have any suggestions for receiver/speaker combos or home theater in a box systems? I've done some browsing online and in stores, and have asked a few questions on avsforum.com, and they seem to think that I should just get a receiver and a couple of decent speakers, and build up as I have the money. Is $800 - $900 a really low budget? I'm not trying to get movie theater sound, but I would like to get a decent system that I can have for the foreseeable future.

Sorry that this is so long, but if anyone has any suggestions, I would really appreciate it. I have absolutely NO experience with this stuff, so I want to gather as much information as possible before making a decision.

although its not a great budget... its getting easier these days to get good value surround sound amps.

My recommendation would be a DENON processor/amplifier their lower end models over here start at about £350 and i'd guess in dollar value dont differ too much.

Problem is.. thats half your budget, just for the most basic of surround sound amplifiers.

A half decent subwoofer will chew up another half of your budget, so really its not going to go too far. So to some extent.. i agree with the chaps on AVS.

Get the Denon (or a yamaha equivalent) and a really decent set of front speakers. This will give you a hell of a lot of bang for your buck and will sound good if properly set up.

Then when funds allow.. add a matching centre speaker (now dont scrimp here, its the single most important speaker in an HT setup, and i hate it when people have great front speakers and match it to a sad little centre speaker that looks like it fell off a mini system)

and from there, add your rears and finally a good quality sub.

Yes it'll take longer, but the results will be far far superior and will bring you into some seriously tasty home cinema sounds.

I agree with shrink, Denon stuff is great, I use their pro audio stuff for work often. The only thing I would add is DON'T get a "home-theatre-in-a-box" package...the components in those products are usually very cheap and WILL fail given time. Harmon-Kardon is likely to have a receiver in your price range that's very good...I have an HK receiver that has worked well for me for the last five years, and for its previous owner for 5 years prior to that. It's an excellent piece of equipment.

It would be better to get an absolutely stunning set of stereo speakers than half-*** a set of surround speakers. The difference is that noticeable. Plus, it won't take that long to save up for the rest of the surround set.

Good luck, and let us know what you've chosen.

Thanks to both of you for the suggestions. I have looked at some Denon receivers at Best Buy, and have researched a few online, all of which seem to get excellent reviews. What should I be looking for in the receiver and speakers? I'm completely new to this, and I would like to do it right the first time, even if I just buy a piece or two at a time.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Polk+Audio+-+Dual+5-1/4%22+2-Way+Floor+Speakers+(Each)+-+Cherry/8828021.p?id=1207956903558&skuId=8828021

Is something like this what you guys had in mind?

Check out Definitive Technology speakers. Best Buy carries this line in their Magnolia show rooms. Look at the Pro Cinema series ProMonitor 800 speakers @ $150 each. The complete ProCinema 800 series 6 piece set will run you @ $1200. They have a 600 series @ $700 but it was too small, I thought.

I have the ProMonitor 1000's for front and rear satellites a ProCenter 2000 for center channel and a ProSub 1000 for the woofer, I'm really impressed with these speakers I have a Yamaha RX-V1900 receiver driving them, I looked at the Denon receivers as well, they are top of the line but a little over my head. I found the Yamaha's a little more user friendly imo.

This setup will blow your budget but I think you'll be happy with the speakers.

The biggest thing in a receiver i looked for was multiple HDMI jacks this will reduce the wire clutter and utilize all your systems components to their full potential.

These options were not important to me when I bought my receiver but I use these features all the time!
- Ipod docking
- Sirius Satellite Radio
- Multiple zone control (control speakers in another room)

Research and have fun, but take your time.

I am by no means an expert, but I just recently purchased a home theater set-up myself.

I went with the following:

Denon AVR-1910 receiver - $380
2 x Polk Monitor 60's for my front L & R - $120 each.
Polk CS2 center - $100
2 xPolk Monitor 30's for my surrounds - $100 for the pair.
Bic Acoustech PL-200 sub - $280

I know that this set-up is out of your budget...but I just thought I'd show you some options. The Polk Monitors are some very good budget speakers, imo. You could also just set-up a 2.1 system first and slowly add to it.

jones2289 said:

Thanks to both of you for the suggestions. I have looked at some Denon receivers at Best Buy, and have researched a few online, all of which seem to get excellent reviews. What should I be looking for in the receiver and speakers? I'm completely new to this, and I would like to do it right the first time, even if I just buy a piece or two at a time.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Polk+Audio+-+Dual+5-1/4%22+2-Way+Floor+Speakers+(Each)+-+Cherry/8828021.p?id=1207956903558&skuId=8828021

Is something like this what you guys had in mind?

Click to expand...

I know you have gift certificates to Best Buy, but you can buy the Polk Monitor series at Newegg for much cheaper than the newer models at Best Buy (and most report that the Monitor series is the same speaker, just the old cabinet design). Maybe you can find a friend or relative to trade cash for the Best Buy reward certificates (since I doubt you can sell on ebay since they probably have your name on them).

xbwolfx said:

I know you have gift certificates to Best Buy, but you can buy the Polk Monitor series at Newegg for much cheaper than the newer models at Best Buy (and most report that the Monitor series is the same speaker, just the old cabinet design). Maybe you can find a friend or relative to trade cash for the Best Buy reward certificates (since I doubt you can sell on ebay since they probably have your name on them).

Click to expand...

After thinking it through, I may just use the gift cards to buy the receiver at Best Buy, and buy the speakers at Newegg. Thanks again for everyone's help, I really appreciate it!

Im never sure what speakers are available in the US as im UK based, and the market here for stereo and surround speakers is very different. If you were over here i'd have recommended some mission speakers, as they are simply superb value for money and sound great with music.

The definitive technology and polk offerings, although superb value, and great home cinema speakers, are not great music makers by any means. It depends how highly you place music in your setup.

Brands like. Dynaudio, Focal, Kef, Tannoy, Paradigm, B&W are all staple suggestions.

in fact you should be able to set up a B&W 600 series setup for not too far beyond your budget.

Shrink,

My primary use for the speakers will be for home cinema (movies, sports, gaming, etc.). I'm not dead set on the Polks, I've just been looking at them since I can find them locally and was wondering if they make a good quality product.

Does anyone have any other suggestions? My primary use will be 70% TV and movies, 20% gaming, 10% music, or somewhere around there. Once I move out of an apartment, I will probably use it quite a bit more for music, as I can turn it up louder. Thanks again for all of your suggestions, as I'm a complete newbie to this.

my setup is pretty basic but it gets the job done. frankly, I can't imagine needing more than what I have because my living room isn't that big - it would seem like overkill.

my setup:

Sony receiver
Bose bookshelf speakers

I have a Klipsch subwoofer but it's incompatible with my Sony receiver because the receiver is outdated. either way, my receiver and speakers work great and it still sounds like i'm in a theater when I watch movies or play video games

Does anyone have any experience with Infinity speakers? I check out the Infinity Primus p362s and they were pretty nice.

Yeah, my childhood best friend's Dad was/is a big home theatre nut and had a set of Infinity speakers in their living room. I don't remember what model they were, just the front pair was black with a mesh grille about 3.5 feet tall, with about a 2 foot wide base. They sounded great to me.