# Home Theater Recommendation



## jsfrederick (Jan 2, 2006)

I just upgraded to a DirecTV HD DVR (HD-DVR - HR22-100) and bought a nice 65" RP DLP tv. I'm looking for a recommendation for a decent packaged home theater system. Don't want to spend a whole lot as it's in the family room and not the (to be built) home theater room. A packaged 5.1 system would be fine. Any one have a system they'd like to suggest?

Thanks much.


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## Grentz (Jan 10, 2007)

Some of the best HTIB (Home Theater in a Box) systems you can buy are the Onkyo setups. They range in price depending on your budget as well.


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## sigma1914 (Sep 5, 2006)

What else are you hooking up? The Yamaha in my signature is affordable & handles Blu-Ray audio wonderfully.


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## Cholly (Mar 22, 2004)

Look at the products from Yamaha, Onkyo and Sony. All three have an assortment of Home Theater in a Box systems., some with wireless rear speakers. Check over at AVSforum.com --- they have an active section on Home Theater in a Box.


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## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

what's your budget?


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## Jason Whiddon (Aug 17, 2006)

Grentz said:


> Some of the best HTIB (Home Theater in a Box) systems you can buy are the Onkyo setups. They range in price depending on your budget as well.


Agreed.


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## puckhead (Sep 22, 2007)

spartanstew said:


> what's your budget?


+1 and, what is your long term plan?

If you want a HTIB and be done with it, great. If you are looking at a nicer system down the road, you might think about starting small and adding quality pieces as the budget allows and end up with a much higher quality system. Something like a 2 or 3.1 system to start with placing most of your budget towards quality speakers as good speakers can provide a lifetime of enjoyment.

As they say, buy cheap, buy twice. Good luck and enjoy the hunt.


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## Jason Whiddon (Aug 17, 2006)

I'd agree, after having two HTIB's, I decided on a good 3.1 system, and wish I woulda done it in the first place. I spent the dough last year on a Denon rcvr, a Klipsch 12" sub, a Def Tech center and two Def Tech bookshelves. Very nice 3.1 system.


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## RASCAL01 (Aug 2, 2006)

I have a Sony 5.1 and knocks peoples sock off


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## braven (Apr 9, 2007)

I swear by Denon.


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## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

braven said:


> I swear by Denon.


Me too, 3rd one and counting....In the way back days(Early 90's) I was a Yamaha man, still have an RX-V2090 that I use in the Bedroom...using a Denon 2809CI in the Living Room now...


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## olguy (Jan 9, 2006)

I just pre-ordered an Onkyo HT-S5300 from Amazon today. It looks like the 3300 is out because you can now order (for full price of course) off Onkyo's site. I currently use an Onkyo 605 that is being moved upstairs with a TV that is being replaced by a bigger TV.


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## olguy (Jan 9, 2006)

I received the 5300 and set it up. Sound was okay but not great. Then I put Jeff Beck Live at Ronnie Scott's in the Panasonic Bluray player. Almost immediately started having audio dropouts. After about 10 minutes I put another music DVD on and played about half of it with no problem. Put ol' Jeff back on and played all the way through. A few days later I tried Kansas - There's Know Place Like Home. It seemed like every 10 or 12 bars there was a drop out. Tried a multitude of settings, new HDMI cable etc all to no avail. Left the disc in the BD player. Swapped teh 5300 receiver out with the 605 I had moved upstairs. Played teh disc all the way through.

Called Onkyo support and he couldn't get his head around my problem. Simple problem really. It didn't work. But he kept telling me what I had done probably wrong. Dirty disc, bad cable, wrong setting on the Panny, etc. Called Amazon and the CSR understood immediately what the problem was and offered me an option of replacement or refund. Guess which I took? And my 605 is working great so now I need something for upstairs.


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

puckhead said:


> +1 and, what is your long term plan?
> 
> If you want a HTIB and be done with it, great. If you are looking at a nicer system down the road, you might think about starting small and adding quality pieces as the budget allows and end up with a much higher quality system. Something like a 2 or 3.1 system to start with placing most of your budget towards quality speakers as good speakers can provide a lifetime of enjoyment.
> 
> As they say, buy cheap, buy twice. Good luck and enjoy the hunt.


I cringe everytime I go to someone's house and they want me to hook up their new HD receiver or DVR to their "home theater", which inevitably turns out to be a HTIB with a DVD player, no HD capabilities, and analog stereo audio inputs. To me, for someone with a 60" HDTV, a DVD player is obsolete, and having a 5.1 speaker system with no way to get 5.1 audio from other components makes the whole thing worthless.

I know they make Blu-Ray systems now, but an amp and speakers can last 20 years, but most folks will probably replace their Blu-Ray player several times during that period, or something better will come out, and there will be additional devices you'll want to plug in. For those reasons, HTIB systems just never make any sense to me...


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## mutelight (Oct 6, 2008)

If you get a home theater in a box from a big box store, they are a decent price but you can paint yourself into a corner if you ever choose to upgrade.

For my friends that ask for the same type of system, I highly recommend that they purchase a capable receiver and go for this SVS system.

http://svsound.com/products-sys-sbs_black.cfm

It may seem like more than you want to spend right now but in the long run it is a much stronger system. It is easily one of the best bang for your buck systems on the market and the performance for the price is downright staggering. Recently I set up one of these systems for a friend and he cannot believe the sound quality produced. In fact, when my mom renovated her home theater room, I installed the SVS SBS-01 system and she could not be happier. (The system before the revision to the SBS-02).

Here is a review of the older model:
http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/speakers/satellite/svs-sbs-01

If you Google "SVS SBS-01 review" you will see that the reviews are stellar and this is the model before they further improved it. (It seems there are not many SBS-02 professional reviews)


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## Cholly (Mar 22, 2004)

Most of us have less than ideal conditions for a Home Theater system installation. In my case, I have installed audio equipment in 5 rooms in the home I share with my oldest son and his family. They vary from basic stereo to basic HTIB to midrange component systems, evolving over the years.
Our primary "home theater" is our family room - about 17 X 20 feet, with 20 foot ceiling. It's open to the kitchen on the rear (half wall) and to a second floor hallway - less than ideal. The walls are all sheetrock, with no drapes for sound absorption. In all, it's not the type of room you'd want for a Home Theater installation. The equipment configuration is listed in my signature, below.
In my 11 x 14 den, I have an Onkyo HT-S760 HTIB, upgraded with an Infinity C25 center channel speaker, together with a 32 inch Sony CRT HD monitor TV, Dual 1218 turntable, Panasonic Blu-ray player, Toshiba HD DVD player, Panasonic DVD Recorder/VCR and (for the present) a Philips TiVo Series 1 DVR (which will be replaced by one of my HD DVR's).
In my bedroom, I have a Vizio 37" LCD HDTV, Yamaha RX-V657 receiver, feeding a 5.0 configuration consisting of Acoustic Research AR-3 front speakers (50 years old! and still sounding great) and Energy Take Classic center and rear speakers. The equipment is rounded out by TiVo HD and TiVo Premiere HD DVR's, Panasonic DMP-BD60 Blu-ray player, Toshiba HD DVD player, Ion Audio turntable and Kodak HD theater.
In my son and daughter in-law's bedroom, there's a 31" Sanyo CRT TV, a vintage Philips Magnavox 5.1 HTIB "upgraded" with the center speaker from the Onkyo HTIB, TiVo Series 2 DVR, Panasonic VCR and RCA DVD player.
Our living room stereo is comprised of an Onkyo stereo receiver, a pair of Energy Take Classic speakers, Technics cassette recorder and a Panasonic DVD player serving as a CD player.
Nothing earth shaking in any of the systems. The sound quality varies from excellent in the family room (thanks to the Paradigm speakers), to quite good in my bedroom, to pretty good in the den and acceptable in the other rooms. As I mentioned, the equipment has evolved over quite a long time -- The AR speakers, Dual turntable and Technics cassette recorder are from the living room stereo system in my former home. The Philips Magnavox HTIB was my first venture into surround sound and was followed in a few years by the Onkyo HTIB. When I moved to NC, I invested in the Sony 55" LCD RPTV, Yamaha RX-V657 and the Paradigm speakers. The various DVD players completed the systems over the years. The Energy speakers came from Woot! and the Onkyo stereo receiver had been used with the AR speakers before I went surround in my bedroom.

Would I like a truly great Home Theater? Of course, but I have to deal with what I've acquired over 50 years. If I had my druthers, I'd have a big screen 3D TV and 3D Blu-ray player or a really good front projector, a better Paradigm subwoofer and front and center channel speakers and the newest generation of either Yamaha or Onkyo surround receiver. I'm not a fan of Pioneer or Denon receivers.


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## wilbur_the_goose (Aug 16, 2006)

Denon. Denon. Denon.

And buy the model from 2-3 years ago used off eBay or similar place.


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## simonsparker (Sep 24, 2010)

jsfrederick said:


> I just upgraded to a DirecTV HD DVR (HD-DVR - HR22-100) and bought a nice 65" RP DLP tv. I'm looking for a recommendation for a decent packaged home theater system. Don't want to spend a whole lot as it's in the family room and not the (to be built) home theater room. A packaged 5.1 system would be fine. Any one have a system they'd like to suggest?
> 
> Thanks much.


I recommend you to buy this one is best for you Aperion Intimus 4T Hybrid SD (cherry).


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