Home Theater Advice
 

Hey ya'll,

I'm looking at buying a home theater system before the second game of the season. Any advice on a good fairly inexpensive boxed set? I maybe have a budget of about $400-$500. I'm looking at this Panasonic one right now that's 800W of power with those floor standing supports for the speaker.

Re: Home Theater Advice
 

The Onkyo HT-S580 has also come highly recommended from people I work with.

Re: Home Theater Advice
 

I have a Sony that I bought a few years back that has 1000W of power. I love it, but everything that I have ever read about home theater systems pretty much say that just about any reciever will do, but the quality of the system is in the speakers... Any how I would go with Sony I really like there products...

Re: Home Theater Advice
 

With that budget you should be able to find something pretty decent.

Hell I only spent $125 or so a while back and I'm pretty happy with what I got.

It's nothing special but almost anything is a big improvement over the factory speakers in your TV.

Re: Home Theater Advice
 

Redskins8588, I've had good experience with Sony in the past. The reason I'm looking for a box set is because one time I tried to piece together a set and no matter HOW big the center channel I bought was, the dialogue was always WAS lower than everything else.

Matty, what kind is yours? I had a cheaper one at $200 a few years ago and it did great. I'm looking for something that's pretty high quality, and if I can get that for $400 that would be awesome.

Re: Home Theater Advice
 

Mine was a box set also, sorry I forgot to mention that, it came with a 5 disk dvd player also, I bought it in 2002. I agree with matty, you can get decent box sets for like a couple hundred bucks now a days...

Re: Home Theater Advice
 

I am not sure of how fond you are with wal-mart, but here are some pretty good home theaters in a box that I found...

[url]http://www.walmart.com/search/browse-ng.do?ref=125875.244724+500000.500592&path=0%3A3944%3A133251%3A77622[/url]

Re: Home Theater Advice
 

Off hand I don't remember the brand, probably something cheapie like audiovox or something like that.

Re: Home Theater Advice
 

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the system I want needs to have a real "receiver" with it. Not one you plug directly into the DVD player. I think I'll need optical output because I use that for PS2 and TRUE 5.1 surround sound.

I AM fond of Wal-Mart for some decent box systems. I was there the other day looking at the only one they had that had a standalone receiver. I need one that has AM/FM because I listen to my old high school football games on the radio on Friday.

Re: Home Theater Advice
 

[QUOTE=TheMalcolmConnection]Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the system I want needs to have a real "receiver" with it.[/QUOTE]

Funny, that's the same thing Gibbs told Gardner when he traded him.
Ba-Zing!

Re: Home Theater Advice
 

LOL LOL!!! That was DEFINITELY worth a "Ba-Zing!" HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

That was pretty clever, I gotta' give you that.

Re: Home Theater Advice
 

[QUOTE=TheMalcolmConnection]Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the system I want needs to have a real "receiver" with it. Not one you plug directly into the DVD player. I think I'll need optical output because I use that for PS2 and TRUE 5.1 surround sound.

I AM fond of Wal-Mart for some decent box systems. I was there the other day looking at the only one they had that had a standalone receiver. I need one that has AM/FM because I listen to my old high school football games on the radio on Friday.[/QUOTE]
I am not sure that I understand what you mean by a real reciever, I run everything through mine, my tv, satalite(directv), dvd player, ps2, and I have my computer hooked up so that I can play my mp3s directly from computer and also it still has the radio function...

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Yup, that's exactly what I'm talking about. So that's perfect then.

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[url]http://www.crutchfield.com/S-uPnQ6fqQekd/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=37600&I=580HTS780B[/url]

Onkyo HT-S780 (3 optical inputs)

The biggest thing to look for is a powered subwoofer. Many times, those boxed sets do not have a powered subwoofer, and the sub that comes with it are pieces of crap.

My Mom and I got my Dad a Sony one several years ago, and it is great.

Re: Home Theater Advice
 

BDBonzie, that one was AWESOME. 3 optical?! Yeah, passive subs suck, but for now I'll just deal.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'm going to go with the Onkyo. I appreciate all the help...