home theatre setup

S

Sedius

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Oct 29, 2007
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So I consider myself fairly knowlegable with electronics and computers. But moving from computers to home theatres im kinda lost. I understand some of the specs to look for in a tv due to it being similar to a monitor. But the scale and certain specs needed for larger tv's is a dark area for me. Audio is way out the window for me since I use a headset on my pc. And media storage/capabilities/components is too far from a pc. So my question getting a new home and I have some specs I'm hoping to acomplish.
1. 48 to 55" tv ( looking at samsung led/lcd but I havent looked much into them. No projection tv's or projectors. I'm hoping for a good number of component and hdmi )
2. 7.1 surround sound ( I could settle for a good 5.1)
3. Blu ray player

Any pointers or personal ups and downs would be really helpful. I won't be wall mounting since I won't own the house and don't want to run the cables through the wall only to tear them out. Its military housing so I get inspected very hard for that kind of stuff. But if you could include rough prices that would be awesome. I don't mind buying of the net either. Thanks in advance.
 
You may still be able to find a good deal at Best Buy, since they were/are getting rid of the '09 models. Also i wouldn't worry about and connections on the TV if you are getting a 7.1 receiver as it will have all of the inputs you would ever need.

I prefer Plasma TV's. Onkyo receivers, and a ps3 for the blu-ray, because it can also be used as a media player for your computer content, and since the slim update it supports the new HD formats.
 
Sorry for the long time to respond I'm in the field so I don't get great reception on my phone. But I feally don't have much of a budget I plan to pay this off slowly so no real budget. I was kinda thinking a ps3 for the multi format plus. And I didn't even think onkyo so thx. I keep my research up.
 
I just picked up my first home theater audio setup last fall and I couldn't be happier with it. I got an Onkyo TX-SR507 5.1 receiver (found new for $250ish) and an Onkyo SKS-HT540B 7.1 speaker set (found new for $195). Call me lame but I just think anything over 5.1 is just overkill. The receiver has a powered zone 2 so I used the extra two speakers from the 7.1 set to play music upstairs as my zone 2. If you're like me and you've never owned a nice speaker set before - make sure you take notice of the speaker dimensions as they turned out to be MUCH larger than I'd expected.

I also picked up a refurb'd Samsung BD-1590 from Tigrdirect for $99 for Blu-Ray's but mostly for it's integrated Pandora service. Still working on the wife for a new TV but we'll get there soon enough! Enjoy the project...
 
Energy Take 5's for your 5.1 satellites - nice set of speakers I currently use

BIC H-100 for your sub - awesome sub that packs a whallop

any of the mid-range Onkyo receivers that fit your taste/needs as far as how many HDMI ports you need

I personally went with an LG BD390 network enabled blu ray for the Netflix streaming capabilities, but that can be done on a PS3 as well.

I also went with a SAMSUNG 46" 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV LN46B630 that I got on sale at Newegg in November for $899 with free shipping.

I also went with an Onkyo TX-NR807 that I got on sale at Amazon, but there again, look for the features that suit you best.

The Energys have been on sale on Newegg in the $130 range in the recent past, The BIC sub can be had in the $200-$250ish range, the Onkyo receiver can run anywhere from $250 on up depending on model.
 
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