Home Theater in a Box - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Top Shelf · 09-30-2006, 10:28 PM

Hi all,

Just wanted to get some opinions on HTIB. Does anyone have any of these setups, and if so, can you please share your experiences, whether they are good or bad?

This is the one I am looking at right now, it "seems" okay to me, but i'm not really an audiophile, so i'm not sure if this is a good setup or not.

http://www.samsung.com/ca/products/h...t_tq85txac.asp

Thoughts, comments, criticisms....please, I would like to hear it all.

thanks,

Graeme

Neeper · 09-30-2006, 10:49 PM

The best one is the BOSE Lifestyle units. The clarity is incredible.

http://www.bose.ca/controller?event=...dvd_index&ck=0

DementedReality · 09-30-2006, 11:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neeper

The best one is the BOSE Lifestyle units. The clarity is incredible.

http://www.bose.ca/controller?event=...dvd_index&ck=0

wow ... price .... wow

this is a Flames board, doesnt mean THEY post here. j/k.

it better be awesome for that much dough!

underGRADFlame · 09-30-2006, 11:28 PM

BOSE is over priced shat! Its better then your normal futureshop noname brand, but not worth the price. You can get better sound quality out of a nice set of JBL's with a good reciever will blow a BOSE system out of the water and cost 1/4 the price.

ken0042 · 10-01-2006, 07:53 AM

What is your price range?

In my experiences most HTIBs are quite limited in both sound quality and upgradability. For example I have 5 devices that use optical output so I need a receiver that can handle that many. If cash is the issue you are better to get a decent receiver and a good pair of speakers, then add the speakers as you can afford to.

Lanny_MacDonald · 10-01-2006, 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Top Shelf

Hi all,

Just wanted to get some opinions on HTIB. Does anyone have any of these setups, and if so, can you please share your experiences, whether they are good or bad?

This is the one I am looking at right now, it "seems" okay to me, but i'm not really an audiophile, so i'm not sure if this is a good setup or not.

http://www.samsung.com/ca/products/h...t_tq85txac.asp

Thoughts, comments, criticisms....please, I would like to hear it all.

thanks,

Graeme

I had a similar product and wouldn't recommend it. The "all in one" aspect is garbage. The 5 disk DVD player took a dump on me and the repair cost was more than the system was worth. DON'T DO IT!!! You can do better by piecing a system together and have more security knowing that if one piece takes a dump on you, you only have one component to replace. I bought a Yamaha receiver, an LG DVD and a Yamaha powered base driver and its way better than the Samsung I had. I miss the ability to plug a USB drive in and have access to all my music, but there are solutions to get past that hurdle.

Fozzie_DeBear · 10-01-2006, 10:42 AM

Having just gone through this, I was about to buy a Samsung (a different model) but then learned about the Onkyo 790 series

I think it is great value if you are looking for a system you can grow into...it can be had for $740ish at visions, it has killer sound (google some reviews) has 3 optical inputs, is a 7.1 system and component switching (you can plug the audio and video from 3 devices into the reciever and let it do the switching). The downsides no HDMI switching (meh), it doesn't come with a DVD (meh) and it is a heavy sob.

I guarantee that it will be at the top of any list of systems in this price range

JD · 10-01-2006, 11:52 AM

Home theatre in a box is good for you if you can't afford much. I got a Philips system, and while it sounds great, the DVD player is absolute junk. Doesn't work on progressive scan mode (never has) and discs get stuck in it, and it does really unpredictable things upon pushing play.. you just never know what part of the movie you'll start in...

But overall, the system is doable "for now". Eventually, I plan to do what the folks here are recommending and do it right: get a real receiver and amplifier, and upgrade components as I go along. Having huge sound isn't a big deal right now since I live in a condo and can't crank the volume anyway, but down the road...

Top Shelf · 10-02-2006, 09:57 PM

Interesting, thanks for all the advice guys.

After many visits to various electronics stores, I have decided against the HTIB. Like Lanny said, even if one of the speakers craps out on you, you are going tog et dinged pretty hard to replace it.

There seem to be some pretty decent receivers out there right now. Some nice Yamaha's at Soundsaround, I think i'm leaning that direction.

So that kind of leads to the next question....what's a good receiver for under 500 bucks? I'm not looking for HDMI either.

cheers and thanks again for all the helpful ideas,

Graeme

Mightyfire89 · 10-03-2006, 01:29 AM

^^^Good decision to stay away from "Home theatre in a box" systems. They're junk.

I'm assuming your budget is around $1000.00. If so, you could do alot worse than the following system:

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/pro...0077063&catid=

Then all you need to add is a DVD player, which can be had for super cheap these days.

That's not necessarily the ideal recommendation, but it'd beat the crap out of any HTiB out there.

If you're willing to buy stuff over the 'net from the states, then you can really start to build yourself a killer system for relatively little money. For example, the Yamaha RXV-659 receiver retails at A&B Sound for about $800, you can order it over Ebay from the states for about $350. When you add in the cost of shipping, the exchange and the taxes, you're still saving about $300.

If you really want to make an informed decision on this, visit the forum at the following site and read, read, read. The collective knowledge there on all things audio/video is staggering.

http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/idealbb/

And here's a little education for anyone considering buying anything made by Bose:

http://www.intellexual.net/bose.html

Just say no to Bose...overpriced garbage.

GreenTeaFrapp · 10-03-2006, 06:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Top Shelf

So that kind of leads to the next question....what's a good receiver for under 500 bucks? I'm not looking for HDMI either.

A good place for online deals of home theatre stuff is AudioShop at http://audioshop.on.ca. You can't go wrong with a Yamaha receiver paired with an Energy 5.1 speaker setup.

ken0042 · 10-03-2006, 07:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimmy Krack Korn

Just say no to Bose...overpriced garbage.

I have to disagree. When looking at higher end speakers I found Bose had the best sound IMO. I'm not as much of a fan of their Acoustimass speakers, however.

Bose might be out of the price range of the OP. However with respect to the Yamaha amp; I would say they have very decent receivers for the price. I haven't looked at them recently but it used to be the case where they had seperate amplifiers within the unit for each of the 5 channels; whereas ones like Kenwood did not.