I'm looking to start my own theater system. I'm going to purchase a Samsung LNT4665F 46" LCD TV and a PlayStation 3 for Blu-Ray playing. What kind of sound system would you suggest? I'm going to have HDTV as well as Blu-Ray going.

After the first two purchases my budget is going to be very low so anything in the $200 area would be very nice.

Thanks everyone (if this is in the wrong subforum I apologize).

Check out shoponkyo.com. I got the silver refurbished ht-s7100 htib system for about that, shipped to my door. I would have preferred black, but for that price, you can't really complain. I've seen it dropped to that price again several times since I bought mine. You just have to check in on it regularly. If you see it, you have to jump on it, because they sell quickly. It's definitely not perfect, but in my opinion, waaaaaaaaaay better than anything else you can get at that price.

Thanks! I've been looking at Onkyo quite a bit.

The only thing I'm not sure about, since I'm not really an audio junkie, is what I need in terms of inputs/outputs/HDMI and stuff with the sound system itself.

This system just has hdmi pass-through, which means you'll have to also use the optical out from your PS3 to the receiver, in order to get the audio. Basically, it just means that you'll have a few extra cables. Not the ideal, but in this price range, going to be one of the drawbacks. You still get the quality. If you hang out here enough, you'll learn quite a bit here. I don't know much about any of this stuff, but everybody here has been really helpful to me, and there is a ton of knowledge here. Get your cables from monoprice, you'll need the optical/toslink for audio, and hdmi for the video on this model. That receiver has more inputs than most of us will ever use.

I see.

The HT-S7100 looks to be a little out of my price range. I'm not quite sold on the idea of absolutely needing a 7.1 system right now and would probably be content with 5.1.

I found this system (http://www.shoponkyo.com/detail.cfm?productid=HT-S4100S&modelid=150&group_id=1&detail=1&ext_war=1) with Onkyo that I think might be the one. Will it work?

oops, I meant the 5100. 7100 was out of my price range too. I would hold out for a deal on the 5100 over the 4100 though. It is 7.1, but I'm only using 5.1.

That system looks just fine, especially for $200! Great find, I might pick one up for my office for that deal. Hard to beat Onkyo, really good product, owned one several years back, really liked the performance.

Alright, well let's say I do end up buying the system I linked to. What kinds of cords and hook-ups will I need to get this to play audio from my TV and PS3?

Sorry if I seem like such a novice.

With that one, I would suggest running HDMI directly to your TV for the video, and run an optical from the PS3. For audio from the TV, if you have a box, run the audio through the receiver, using whatever the highest quality out is, and just run the video directly to the TV. If you are running directly off of cable, use the optical out (if you have it) from the TV to the receiver. There might be a better way, but that is how I would do it. The cabling gets simpler as you move up in receivers.

Cool. Thanks.

I don't think this sound system has any HDMI inputs on it so that's not in question. Do I have to buy an optical or do they come with the PS3 or TV?

You might be better off posting in the HTIB forum in the audio section...a lot of knowledgable HTIB users over there familiar with specs and capabilities as well as problems with these systems.

Ah, will do. Thanks.

You aren't going to get much at all if you want a receiver/speaker setup for $200. Check out HTiB forum, speaker forum, etc. for some ideas.