Home Theater System Suggestions

[flamingchina]

I'm looking for a home theater system for my living room to match up with my projector.
Basically need something with a decent amount of inputs (video)
Not looking for something super expensive. I'd prefer it to be in the 300-700$ range.
Any suggestions? Is it better to buy your receiver and speakers separate?

[GoinAllTheWay]

If you can beleive it, apparenlty the speakers in the link below would do very well as part of a home theatre:

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Product...18428(ME).aspx

SOLID, SOLID speakers, the amount of sound they generate could blow the doors off my office. Incredibly powerful sub, and you can't argue with the price.

[LockedOut]

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

If you can beleive it, apparenlty the speakers in the link below would do very well as part of a home theatre:

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Product...18428(ME).aspx

SOLID, SOLID speakers, the amount of sound they generate could blow the doors off my office. Incredibly powerful sub, and you can't argue with the price.

Those are pretty useless for home theatre unless it's coming out of a computer or you want matrix surround. The Logitech Z5500's work better for home theater since it has optical and coax inputs and a built in DTS and DD decoder but even that's for people who want a home theater and computer speakers combo on a budget.

[flamingchina]

yeah, the living room is a decent size, and am looking for something that can take in multiple video inputs and output them to one video output
(got wii, xbox, dvd player, computer, satellite, etc. all too be hooked up)

[Thor]

Originally Posted by flamingchina

I'm looking for a home theater system for my living room to match up with my projector.
Basically need something with a decent amount of inputs (video)
Not looking for something super expensive. I'd prefer it to be in the 300-700$ range.
Any suggestions? Is it better to buy your receiver and speakers separate?

My advice is to spend more if you can, if its not an option there are lots of decent home theater box systems which include a receiver.

A quick search found something like this (not necessarily the best one, just a decent set)
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/pro...gon=&langid=EN
** Includes free harmony one remote (which is awesome btw, cost me $229 just for that)

However if you plan on upgrading, consider maybe spending the money on a solid receiver, I got a $650 Onkyo which rocks my world. I'm still using 4 year old Energy 5 speaker set which I bought back then for $1500, still sound great but its my next thing to upgrade. My subwoofer I got for a ridiculous $299 from Futureshop when I got a kick ass deal buying the motorola PVR and convinced this guy to give me a great deal on the sub.

The reciever is the heart of your system, cheaping out on it really sucks down the road cause you will have to replace it.

Maybe buy a cheaper 5 piece speaker system for now, get a solid receiver, and save up to upgrade your speakers when you can.

There are other factors to consider too, are you mostly using it for movies or are you going to listen to a lot of music as well?

How big is your room, is it closed like a theater room or quite open? High ceilings? How many windows? etc..

Certain rooms are perfectly ok with those theater in a box systems, but some rooms require more ooomph and you'll be disspointed in the smaller in a box systems.

Also another thing to ask, are you going to be using whatever you buy now for many years or do you forsee this as a purchase to hold you over until you can afford to spend more?

Ultimately the best thing to do is find a bunch of systems you have narrowed it down to, search online for reviews by audiophiles (there is tons of websites devoted to just this) and remember to always be ready to test it in your home and don't hesitate to return the whole thing if you aren't happy with it.

It might sound great in a store, but end up disappointing in your specific room.

If you find any systems that peak your interest, post it here, there are some very smart people who can help you get good quality for a good price.