School me on Home Theater Audio Systems and pick something to buy

Lanchester

I didn't find any threads in the Technology thread regarding this. I found things regarding TV's, but not much on audio systems...did I overlook it?

Anyway, I'm looking into buying an audio system for my somewhat new 54" Plasma HDTV. Here's what I have:

• Xbox 360 w/ HDMI cable
• PS3 w/ HDMI cable
• Wii w/ component cables
• DVR w/ component cables

I don't have anything 3D and don't really see going there anytime in the near future. Also, from what I've read, 7.1 seems unnecessary, so I'm looking at 5.1 systems.

I'd like to stay around $500 if that's possible (which would include the reciever, speakers, and sub). In order to get something that is good quality, is this possible?

Also, what exactly does the watt on the reciever mean? Or in other words, what's the big difference between recievers that are 650w and those that are 1000w?

What are you recommendations for sellers? Brands? etc.

Thanks H/A!

1ddqd

Ok so short answer as my time is limited, I'll fill this in later because I'm in the same boat.

You're looking for a "Home Theater in a Box" solution. Onkyo is the best value for money I've found. Newegg will get you started.

$500 will get you a lower-mid-range starter kit for HTIBs, but the best way to do it is Receiver + 2 fronts, then buy a hardcore center in the future.

Total Watts is what the amp can generate, you want to look at per channel - gives you an idea of how loud the speakers can get (if they can support more than the watts of the amp)

Skoal Cat

I'd sign up for NewEgg and grab whatever well reviews model goes on deep discount in the next email blast or two. The guy above me is right though.
Read the first few posts of the TV sticky in the tech forum, we talk about audio a bit in there, and then there is also an Audiophile thread in the tech forum that on the last page or so, we started talking about home theatre set ups.

If you could go to 700, I could probably find you a random assortment of deals that could get you a system you'd probably never feel the need to upgrade. Haven't looked at receivers lately, so it would depend on what features you want.

Lanchester

I looked at the sticky TV thread, but I will check out the audiophile thread as well. I'll also check out newegg. Thanks for the info.

vonPoonBurGer

There are basically two ways you can set up your home theater sound system: with the TV as the hub, or with the AV receiver as the hub. Using the TV as hub is only going to work if you have a surround-capable audio output (Toslink optical or SPDIF coax) from the TV. Otherwise you've got no way to pipe the surround audio from the TV to the receiver. It's cheaper to do things this way, since you only need a receiver with one optical or SPDIF input to match whatever your TV is putting out. It's also a simpler setup, but it requires that your TV have surround audio passthrough and overall audio quality is likely to be lower on any receiver that just has a single audio input.

You'll likely get much better results sound-wise if you establish your setup with the receiver as the hub (or at least buy something that gives you this option), but it does mean you're going to need to spend more money on the receiver. The cheapest HTIB kits have receivers with a bare minimum of inputs, certainly not enough for the 4 devices you have. From a quick glance at Newegg, the Yamaha YHT-395BL or ONKYO HT-S3400 would likely be good choices as both have enough inputs for all of your devices. I have a Yamaha receiver I've been pretty happy with, and Onkyo has a really good rep for exceptional price/performance ratios, so I don't think you'd go wrong with either.

One thing you may not be expecting, if you set up your home theater with the receiver as the hub there will be some remote juggling. As far as I'm aware, all receivers in this price range lack video upconversion. That means that the receiver can take a component video signal and send it back out on its component video output, but it can't upconvert that signal to send it out on the HDMI output. So to switch from playing Xbox 360 to watching TV on the DVR, you're going to have to select the DVR input on the AV receiver and switch to the component input on the TV. This is why Harmony remotes are really popular, they make it easier to use the system without having to memorize settings on the various devices.

Skoal Cat

Once you move into receiver land, a good universal remote (~$75+ for a lower Harmony model) makes all the difference.