Home theater in the apartment

[rufus]

Re: Home theater in the apartment

And don't even think about looking at Bose.

Don't let anyone try to convince you otherwise.

[Swansong]

Re: Home theater in the apartment

So the $1000 is for the non-TV part, including DVD player, receiver, speakers, sub, cables and whatever else?

If so, the two that rufus link to are a good start. If you like stupid-simple (meaning limited control, but really easy to use), Bose makes a couple of halfway decent HTIB systems for well under $1000. Don't fear the "simulated surround", it surprisingly works pretty well.

Beyond that, Onkyo makes very good low-cost receivers that can match up well with any speaker/sub set.

Also, I'd recommend a Blu-Ray player over a standard DVD player any day. I got the Samsung BD-P1600 a few months ago - it can stream Pandora and Netflix too and like all other BR players can play regular DVDs.

[Patman]

Re: Home theater in the apartment

What's your budget? The suggestions others have made are all fine in that low-end range, but it all starts on what you want to spend.

I haven't really figured that out... its been along time since i first thought about this... when I started grad school I said "I'm going to put this thing together and its going to be awesome"... now I'm more kind of "ok, lets just get this done and do it cheapish".

I figure about $1000 between receiver and all components. Honestly this is something I don't know much about and I don't know what kind of gains can be gotten by higher level components. I could be convinced to go higher but I see myself needing to also get furniture for this place. Big number figures all over the place for certain.

The TV I figure will end up being ball-parked at $2000 but that's mostly because I want the big screen.

[Swansong]

Re: Home theater in the apartment

What's your budget? The suggestions others have made are all fine in that low-end range, but it all starts on what you want to spend.

[hockeyplayer1015]

Re: Home theater in the apartment

I'll start here since I don't want to start poking around AVS Forums as a total newb... I'm looking to set up an audio system in my apartment. From what I can tell the walls are reasonably thick... i haven't heard the presence of any neighbor from either direction, up, down, left, and to the right. I figure that's pretty good but naturally I still have to be careful... anything that produces vibrations could be an issue.

I was wondering what some of you might have done or tried to do. I see a few "home theater in a box" setups on sites like NewEgg. My plan is to get a large TV (50"+) and I'll have 2 game systems (XBOX360 and a Wii). I'm also going to see what options i have in terms of music playback via wireless devices... apple seems to have some small one-off wireless devices for such things.

I was toying about a system to pump music into other rooms... but frankly its a 1bd apartment so its not like I need that much.

What kind of things should I be looking at and what do you think will be important in my case? I have no problem doing some research 'cause i couldn't mind it if I could pull off some slick ideas. My entire apartment hasn't been furnished at all so everything is incredibly open-ended.

It can't hurt to plug the surround system I have, although it isn't a true home theater system, it can play anything input by Coax, Optical, or 6 channel.

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/sp...s/224&cl=us,en

Although it can be purchased off amazon for $300 or so I believe. Solid sound all the way to max, no fuzzyness that I've noticed.

[rufus]

Re: Home theater in the apartment

Stay away from the HTIB stuff, cause it's not gonna be very good performance-wise. They're designed to give you the basics in a small package, so corners have to be cut somewhere; features and performance in the amplifier/processor, and sound quality and performance in the speakers. And don't even think about looking at Bose.

But obviously, you can't build a large system in a tiny apartment, so you gotta make compromises somewhere. I assume one of the game systems will double as a DVD player?

I'm not currently up on all the different connection options available, HDMI was just coming in when I sorta drifted away, but my recommendation is to pick up a moderately priced/powered audio/video receiver, and then add a small five speaker/subwoofer set to go with it. Will sound a lot better than any HTIB will. Course, this also depends a lot on your budget.

But just for starters, look at something like this setup.

Onkyo TXSR307

Paradigm Cinema 70 package

If you've got the space, or want better performance, you could try one of the bigger Cinema packages, or move up to their Monitor line of bookshelf speakers. Other companies you might want to look at for speakers would be PSB, and online direct sellers Axiom. If money's no option, I'm a huge fan of the Paradigm Reference line.

Just keep in mind that bookshelf speakers really shouldn't be put on bookshelves, but placed on stands, which are an added expense. If they're small enough, they can also be mounted on the walls.

[Patman]

I'll start here since I don't want to start poking around AVS Forums as a total newb... I'm looking to set up an audio system in my apartment. From what I can tell the walls are reasonably thick... i haven't heard the presence of any neighbor from either direction, up, down, left, and to the right. I figure that's pretty good but naturally I still have to be careful... anything that produces vibrations could be an issue.

I was wondering what some of you might have done or tried to do. I see a few "home theater in a box" setups on sites like NewEgg. My plan is to get a large TV (50"+) and I'll have 2 game systems (XBOX360 and a Wii). I'm also going to see what options i have in terms of music playback via wireless devices... apple seems to have some small one-off wireless devices for such things.

I was toying about a system to pump music into other rooms... but frankly its a 1bd apartment so its not like I need that much.

What kind of things should I be looking at and what do you think will be important in my case? I have no problem doing some research 'cause i couldn't mind it if I could pull off some slick ideas. My entire apartment hasn't been furnished at all so everything is incredibly open-ended.