Home Theater Package Suggestions

[ibluetooth]

Hey all,

I'm looking for a good mix of affordable and perfomance home theater speaker setup. 5.1 is what I would need for a room that is 16' x 11' with an 8' ceiling. There is a half wall on one side so it's kinda weird for accoustics.

This has to be a budget setup as I will go high end next year.

I currently have a Yamaha HTR 5790 receiver and a Toshiba 5700 dvd player along with a Samsung Tantus 47" widescreen tv.

I will be looking at movies 20%, listening to music 60% and watching cable tv 20% of the time all in 5 channel stereo mode.

Budget for this project is $1200 CAD which really limits my choices but I need something just to fill the gap until I can finish my dedicated media room and get high end stuff.

I currently have the Bose AMK 6 system...but this sounds terrible in the room. Not enough Bass, Terrible Voice reproduction from the center channel. I still have time to return it to Best Buy, so please any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[mattburk]

I picked up a killer deal on a elt system from av123. I upgraded the fronts to cse's and could propaly add there new powered stand for under a total of 800usa. They make deals, it would not hurt to check them out.
How do you like that yamaha? I now need to purchase a receiver and I was thinking of the pioneer 1014 or the yamaha 5790.

[ibluetooth]

Hey Matt,

Thanks for the advice, I will definitely check them out. As for the Yamaha 5790. It's a great utilitarian receiver. It does everything you would want a home theater receiver to do. Plus it also has THX Select certification - great for looking at any new Disney made DVD's as they are almost all THX certified.

I can't say that it's the greatest for listening to music in 2 channel as I think that it sounds a little over processed, but that's just personal preference (My wife who grew up around musicians can't really tell the difference) Note this may be because I am connecting the DVD player (Toshiba 5700) to the receiver via an optical cable right now. I've heard that once I move to a digital co-ax, it sounds much better.

The one sticky point that I have with it is I need more video inputs. Not sure what you're planning to connect to the receiver itself, but I've got; DVD, Cable Box, Satellite, PS2, Game Cube and VCR. There just aren't enough inputs for all of these. 2 Component Ins, 5 S-Video/Composite Ins, but two of the S-Video / Composite are labelled DVD and DTV (the same as the Component Ins) I don't think that they are assignable to other sources either. I haven't seen anything in the manual about it. So effectively, you have 5 Video Ins at the most.

Bottom line is if you're looking for a receiver for home theater, at this price point, I don't think that you're gonna find much better. Maybe a Denon without THX Select but that's about it I think.