What are your favorite components?

[Stu]

I was thinking of buying a Denon A/V receiver and JBL speakers and sub woofer. What do you all think of this combination?
What kind of components would make a good system. It is a loaded question, it like asking a hunter what is the best caliber to use.

[Matt Sprouls]

As far as electronics. I think Rotel and Anthem offer the best bang for the buck.



Regards,
Matt

[dave]

I've got to agree with Matt, I don't think you can go wrong with either of
these products they offer a high degree of quality for the price.

Regards, Dave...

[Glen]

I went with the Rotel and Paradigms for that reason. Excellent quality for the price. You've gotta jump a fair bit in price before you'll get better quallity.

[aud19]

Rotel & Energy...see Avatar :B

Jason

[Andrew Pratt]

What are my favorites or what should you purchase? These might very well be very different answers depending on your budget and your tastes. What sort of budget do you have to work with?

[David Meek]

. . .a Denon A/V receiver and JBL speakers and sub woofer. What do you all think of this combination?

To get back to your original question, that might not be a bad combination. To my ears the Denons are a bit rolled off on top, and pairing them with JBLs which - again, to my ears - are a bit hot, could give you a decently balanced combination. However, it's all in the listening, and I'd pair them up and give them a good audition before I took them home.

P.S. I can't really comment on the JBL sub as I've never heard one.

[jose]

Stu,

Good choice with Denon. Go with the AVR-3803 it will up convert any video signal to component video out. Nice piece of equipment --using mine for 6 months and love it. I went with Axiom speakers --better sounding than any speakers in the price range I was looking at. Read the reviews at axiomaudio.com Only down side is you have to purchase them online without hearing them first. 30 day money back guarantee though. Good Luck

[Stu]

More Questions Fellows

What is interesting in the responses is that I have never heard of Rotel or Anthem. I started to do some research on the receiver and the speakers and so far the reviews appear to be very favorable. This is my first home theater set-up. I am in the process of building a new house and will be doing the hard wiring (inside the walls) shortly. I was planning on using Monster Wire for the speakers. Initially I was leaning towards the JBL speakers; I am familiar with the speakers and their rating are relatively good overall. I was looking at spending $2,000 or less on my first system. I already have a good quality DVD player but I may update that as well. Also, from what I have read the powered sub woofer is preferable. I guess you need to make sure your receiver has enough amps to carry the speakers to get the full sound quality out of the speaker. Jose it sounds like you really like those Axion Speakers. How is the quality of the construction and how do they price out? Is the sub woofer powered? I guess one of my concerns is that some of the speakers that were describe above is that I have not heard of them before and was wondering if they are being made in someone’s garage which may be fine, but I still wonder about quality.

[aud19]

I can assure you that Paradigm, Energy and Axiom are not made in anyone's garage :lol: Those are just a few of many high quality speakers companies out there that tend to be better quality than the typical "consumer level" companies. A few other companies to look at IMO would be PSB, B&W, Athena, Totem and another internet brand, Onix Rockets. (I'm sure I missed a couple if anyone else wants to jump in... )

As for Monster cables..... just walk away while you can 8O Check out the link for Cat Cables at the bottom of the page. I guarantee you that for the same money Doug at Cat Cables will build you better cables matched to your gear and personal preference. :T

BTW I own a JBL sub and I'm quite happy with it. Keep in mind though that there cheap subs are cheap. You'll have to spend a fair amount to get a good sub out of them. Other companies to look at for subs would be SVS, HSU, Adire and Velodyne.

At a budget of less than $2000 for everything you're pretty much looking at a "mass market" receiver (I'd recommend Denon, HK and Yamaha) or used equipment from the likes of Rotel/Anthem/Nad and a smaller speaker package likely sub/sat or at the most small bookshelves and sub.

Jason

[jose]

Yes..... I like my Axiom's. My wife was not too excited about big floor standing tower speakers. I almost went with Definitive Technology speakers but then I stumbled across Axiom. A friend at work had a set of 22Ti's and when I listened to those, I was sold. The 22's give you a full, rich sound that you wouldn't expect from a bookshelf speaker. I ended up the the Grand Master setup and I couldn't happier. Set me back about $1700 for the speakers and about $650 for the Denon. But I'm using mine in a dedicated home theatre environment with 8' ceilings 17' x 14' room size. Talk with the staff at Axiom and they'll steer you in the right direction.

[aud19]

Any updates Stu?

Jason

[Stu]

Update As To Where I Am Now

Jason thanks for the inquiry. I am still looking at what is out in the market. I will probably buy my system near the end of this year or the early part of next year. As I said earlier I am in the middle of building a new house and I am at the stage where I will be doing the wiring for the home theater system. At the moment I am trying to determine the best way to wire for a satellite system. I am currently on cable but am considering moving over to a satellite. I will still have cable to connect the computer to the Internet but will use satellite for the televisions. I plan on putting in a nice home theater system in the family room and less expensive system in my “get away” room upstairs and possible another less expensive system in my daughter’s bedroom. In the next couple of weeks I will be doing that wiring for the satellite, cable, and home theater systems before the sheet rock is installed. If anyone has any suggestions on wiring for the satellite system I would appreciate the info. I will probably have three televisions operating on the satellite system. I do not know if you can do this, but I expect you can; I would like to be able to take one of the satellite receivers with me to the hunting camp for a long weekend and attach it to a dish that I would keep at the camp. Someone told me I need a phone jack. I do not believe that is true since people with RV’s do that all the time. Also, if anyone has suggestions on hard wiring the home theater system, please let me know. Thanks You All

[aud19]

I don't have satellite so I can't say for sure but basically it will stop you from ordering any PPV etc, It might also be where the unit obtains it's EPG info but if it's recently updated I don't see it being a problem unless you're gone for a long period...

Jason