Question about home theater

[lolopimp]

I'm a newbie with the Home Theater world so spare with me. I'm looking for a good HTiB that can sound great even at high volumes and a subwoofer that will shatter my walls. I was going to buy the Onkyo 770 which seemed like a powerful system and good for the price, but the company discontinued it. I went to Circuit City yesterday and my eyes saw the Sony HT-6900DP found here: http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTE...stems_HTSeries.

The system looked really nice and the subwoofer looked like the type I want. I heard Onkyo speakers were big so it was a relief to see these medium size speakers. The receiver seemed nice and had DTS-ES NEO, Dolby Digitak EX, Pro Logic IIx, and it all seemed to be a nice package. And yes, I'm looking for a system with 6 speakers and has the latest sound formats becuase I'll be watching movies like Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Indeoendence Day, and The Lion King. So does it seem like a good system? Is there anything I need to be awared of before buying a system? Would you recommend a better system that's around the $450 budget?

Help will be appreciated.

[David Meek]

Hi John, welcome to The Guide. :welcome:

I'm going to move your post into our The Starting Block forum, which is set up for basic/beginning issues. I'm not familiar with the Sony, but from looking at the specs on it, it does seem to have most of what you'll need to start out. I'm not sure just how much low bass you'll get out of a single 9" driver- don't expect 20 Hz output - but again realize that upgrading will forever take over your life.

[Clive]

John I'd like to also welcome you here. There are many manufacturers whom have put together some good systems out there. The one thing that one should look for when purchasing THIBs is to make sure that the sub is self powered.

Well that sony system seem to fit the profile. With a 10" sub and seem to have some headroom.

Panasonic also makes a decent system but I also believe that Onkyo does have a new system available, may not be at BB, or CC.

If your budget could allow for it, price out a system going with separates, just to see what the difference in price would be. You may start with a budget receiver, JVC, Panasonic, Onkyo, Sony, but as always suggested, that if you're going separates, start with the speakers.

Others will chine in here.

[aud19]

Yeah if there's any way you can fit a seperate receiver, DVD player and speakers in to the budget, do it! You'll save a tonne of trouble and money in the long run when the inevitable upgrades hit

[Kevin P]

If you HAVE to get a HTIB, I hear Kenwood makes a really nice system.

But I'd go with a receiver and separately bought speakers + sub if you can swing it. The thing is, the Japanese companies that are decent at making electronics (Yamaha, Sony, Pioneer, etc.) tend to stumble big time when it comes to speakers.

[aud19]

Energy makes some great intro-level speakers

[lolopimp]

John I'd like to also welcome you here. There are many manufacturers whom have put together some good systems out there. The one thing that one should look for when purchasing THIBs is to make sure that the sub is self powered.

Well that sony system seem to fit the profile. With a 10" sub and seem to have some headroom.

Panasonic also makes a decent system but I also believe that Onkyo does have a new system available, may not be at BB, or CC.

If your budget could allow for it, price out a system going with separates, just to see what the difference in price would be. You may start with a budget receiver, JVC, Panasonic, Onkyo, Sony, but as always suggested, that if you're going separates, start with the speakers.

Others will chine in here.

Thanks for the great advice, but I got a question. What's 'headroom' in your sub?

[Shane Martin]

What's 'headroom' in your sub?

Treat it like extra horsepower you are NOT using. The more you have on tap, the more you can tap into later. It is asking too much to expect a sub to flap your pant legs for the price tag you are suggesting. $450 for a HTIB setup will get you started but don't expect pant flapping bass or killer music. It will be nice to start with but will soon become a memory after you start upgrading.

Personally, I would buy some components to start and upgrade from there. If you are already pushing it with the $450 budget, then an Onkyo will do the trick for now.

If you could do w/o, I would start with a basic receiver and dvd player(unless you own a dvd player already) and buy a nice set of bookshelf speakers to start. Paradigm Titans would work. Then add a center and rears as you get more cash. I'm not sure where you live but if you want a sub that is highly capable then save up and buy an SVS. For $429 the Pb10 will crush anything in that range. It is a bit large but nothing too big. You won't be upgrading that thing for a while unless you are a hard core bass junkie.

[aud19]

Pretty much agree with everything he said :yesnod: I'll especially second the suggestion for a couple good quality bookshelves over 5.1 "cheap" speakers/sub. It will be easier and believe it or not, cheaper in the long run, to start with small, quality components that you can add to

[Shane Martin]

Another thing:
HTIB trap you into certain things. They often combine the DVD and Reciever together(ugh).

[lolopimp]

Another thing:
HTIB trap you into certain things. They often combine the DVD and Reciever together(ugh).

Lol, don't worry I won't fall for it. I already owned a Bose 321 and it stunk.

[ThomasW]

From an investment standpoint having a separate receiver and DVD player is solid advice.

General speaking the things that die first are the servo motors (aka mechanicals) in the DVD player. If you have an all-in-one device you're looking at replacing/repairing everything if you have a combined unit.

With DVD players as low as $40 you can afford to throw it away if it dies out of the warranty period

[Andrew Pratt]

I agree with the advice given above. What I'd strongly suggest is that you look into buying these items seperatly and not a HTIB. For example take a look at this package

DVD player $75
Sony

Receiver $200
Pioneer or Denon

Speakers $200
Fluance speakers

That's slightly above your budget so you could aways skimp on the dvd player buy picking up an ultra cheapie at wal-mart for the time being. This system doesn't have a subwoofer but the larger towers will provide you with some decent bass for the time being until you can save up a little more. If those speakers are too large you might look into buying a couple of pairs of a bookshelf speaker like the Paradigm Atoms. Later add the center and then a subwoofer.

I know there's the temptation to buy it all at once in a neat little package but trust us you'll only want to upgrade it all in a short time anyway since it won't do what you want so take it slowly and buy items that will grow with you instead of just being toss aways.

[lolopimp]

That's great Andrew, just what I needed. The whole package looks promising. But I still have a question, the HTiB that I posted when I started this thread (see link above) says that each speaker will deliver 140W, while those you listed deliver 100-120W. Isn't the HTiB better or they're just trying to trick me as well as the general costumer.

[ThomasW]

Marketing nonsense regarding power ratings for speakers, is just as preposterous as saying 300 hp tires for your car ..... :wink:

[lolopimp]

Marketing nonsense regarding power ratings for speakers, is just as preposterous as saying 300 hp tires for your car ..... :wink:

Then is not really 140W per speaker? It's all b/s? Then what's its "real"peak power?

[Andrew Pratt]

RMS or peak power is typically how speakers are rated..but in reality speaker power ratings aren't much use as you're very unlikely going to damage a speaker with too much power unless its highly distorted from an amps that's being pushed well beyond its limits...and if that's the case very few speakers will survive. The only really useful speaker number you'll see is its sensitivity as expressed as dB per watt. Its usually somewhere between 85 and 95 dB for 1 watt. Where this comes into play is that the more efficeint speaker will require less power then one rated closer to 80 then 100...now that's not to say high efficeny speakers sound better based soley on that but it can be a factor to consider all things being equal (which is rare!)

As I mentioned above what you really need is an amp that can provide clean power and not distorted power. Most amps/receivers will be displayed as having "X" watts but where it pays to pay attention is just how that number was derived. For example lets take two receivers that both claim to be 5 * 100 watts. Model "A" was tested at 1 KHz with only 2 channels at once while model "B" was tested from 20 Hz-20KhZ with all channels being driven at once. Obviously model "B" is a much better receiver as it managed to hit the advertised rating for all channels at once throughout the full frequency range. If you benchmarked the model "A" receiver using the same test as model "B" you'd likely find that it really should have been advertised as 5 * 50 watts...but of course that wouldn't sell as well so the marketing types spin the numbers. The HTiB's typically have to save as much money as they can to hit the magic price points...and to do that means you aren't going to get a quality receiver and usually the speakers are very low quality...esp the tiny ones. Its far cheaper to buy a quality component once then to replace cheapies over time...though it takes longer you'll be happier along the way.

[ThomasW]

Then is not really 140W per speaker? It's all b/s? Then what's its "real"peak power?

'Peak power' is another nonsensical/basically meaningless number. It's the max power an amp can provide for a fraction of a second, before it overheats and shuts down (or burns up). The only power rating that's important (as Andrew noted) is RMS (Root Mean Square).

Any statement like "XXX Watts/speaker" is just marketing hype designed to impress people that don't know the number is meaningless

[Azeke]

Here is an URL that should assist you:

HTIB

Good luck,

Azeke

[H.Donald]

Good speakers at good prices....check out Cambridge SoundWorks,if they have a showroom in your area.If not they have a website and their stuff is all over eBay.