before i start, sorry if this is not in the right board. i always miss some things when im new to a forum, so please, bear with me.


well my parents are really into Bose for some odd reason. probably because they're so 'small and nice looking', but they havent really looked around. however, their eyes are still set on a Bose setup.

ive tried talking them out of it, to no avail. finally, my mom told me to find something better at around $2500 or under. i thought this would be easy to do. problem is, im not too speaker savvy, and i want to get the best for the money.

ive hopefully come to the right conclusion when i say that an all in one box setup would not be my best bet. ive heard its best to individually pick out your speakers and receiver. i do have a little knowledge about speakers and such, but it only comes from my knowledge about other electronics (computers, somewhat tvs, etc).

anyways, please help to steer me in the right direction.. or completely pick out a setup for me to then judge. once again, anywhere at or under $2500.

i hope you guys can change their mind!

also, im not too sure between 5.1 and 7.1.
would it be bad if the media only supports 5.1, and you're trying to put it on 7.1? i somewhat know how it would handle this, but would it not immerse the in the same sense as it would if it was just a 5.1 set up?

I was all ready to recommend my setup, thinking to myself "this will be easy, I definitely spent under $2500..." and then I started adding up components. :eek:

You could easily beat a Bose system with something as inexpensive as the Klipsch Quintet SL system, a KSW-12 sub and an Onkyo 606 receiver. I would say invest more of your budget than that, but you can easily blow a Bose system out of the water with that.

how much would you be thinking to spend on top of 2500?

and are home theaters in a box necessarily 'bad'?

hows this?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882120124

What SIZE speakers are they looking for? if it is small small small then lead them to Orb Audio, A little Larger i'd say Ascend Sierra/CMT or maybe AV123 Rocket Bookshelves, Larger yet would be floorstanders from AV123. the onkyo 606 is a good choice, others have had luck with the Yamaha 663. As for the sub the AV123 MFW15 is superb and for a little less $$$ you could get the BIC Acoustec H100. If your interested in all the options then check out this list which i post in other threads asking similar questions:

Acoustic Research
Aperion
Ascend
Athena (ls series at audioadvisor, Brand discontinued by Klipsch therefore RARE)(I personally own a pair of ls-500 speakers)
AV123 (All products are excellent)
Axiom
B&W
BIC (good sub: HC-100)
Boston Acoustics
Canton
Definitive Technologies
EMP
Energy (C-series)
Fluance (Really cheap with good reviews, they have an eBay store)
HSU (good subs)
HTD
Infinity (Beta & Primus)
Jamo
JBL
KEF
KLH
Klipsch
Mirage
Monitor
Orb Audio
Paradigm
Polk (RTI8 and Monitor)
PSB
RBH
The Speaker Company
Streem
SVS (good subs)
Tweak City Audio


I should also note that many I.D. (Internet Direct) company's will offer risk free trials with free shipping both ways. Monoprice.com for ALL cabling. Don't forget about acoustical treatments which are not to be confused with sound isolation. You may be able to forgo the sub if you get tower speakers. Take a look into tactile transducers too. Before buying anything, spend many hours in the speaker section here, Audioholics, Audiocircle, and Ecoustics

Good Luck

Anyone feel free to correct or add stuff

if your parents really desire TINY speakers, and are willing to spend "Bose money", try the RC-micro setup from Energy for $999:
http://reviews.cnet.com/surround-speaker-systems/energy-rc-micro-5/4505-7868_7-33260627.html

Even the Take Classic setup for $499 would KILL a Bose cube setup, although the sats are a tiny bit larger.

The most important thing we might be skipping on considering is the Ease of Use factor. Will your parents be able to operate the gear or are they willing to learn about the product some. Today's 5.1 systems can be a little user unfriendly especially with all of the dvd/BD decoding and HDMI HDCP issues, some of these most notably in the 606. The Bose systems do offer some ease of use and the simplicity of the unit is what makes it very appealing to some.

When properly set up in the right space (read intimate or small), the Bose systems sound suprisingly good although i must agree that much better performance can be attained for the same amount of coin. If you are going to go with a seperates system, i would stongly suggest a programmable remote with macro features or One Touch operations, a graphic touch screen would probobly be even better with simple functions such as Watch TV, Watch DVD/BlueRay and Play CD. The Harmony units are very easy to program via online IR code database and very easy to operate and ergonomically friendly.

Before making any recommendations, it would be helpfull to know the room size and the type or playback and devices involved. You could build a really nice system including a remote and parent friendly with your budget so if your goal is to help them out, please take some of these recommendations/questions into consideration. Hope this helps. I'll keep an eye out.

I second the harmony remote suggestion, the 1000 has the touchscreen too. I personally have a harmony 550 but it is a little less user friendly than a 1000 would be.

i am kinda in the same boat as your parnets i am having a hard time deceiding which speakers to get..i have looked at svs scs-01 system and looked at energy system. i would like to stay around the same price range right now i have psb speakers and a marantz sr880 which i got 11 years ago and spent 2600.00 on .i would like to spend alittle less then i did 11 years ago to me what i spent on that system wasn't worth 2600.00 11 years ago..

like malovich said there are a ton of speaker comapnys out there and alot of the ID companys with give you a 30day return policy..he gave a good list so i won't repeat it ..

i was looking at the svs 5.0 Multi-channel SCS-01(M) speaker system with SBS-01 surrounds which is 740.00plus a PB12-NSD sub for 599.00 plus they are willing o give me 10% but they aren't shipping til feb. that total is 1205.00 plus shipping and i was looking at the denon 2309ci receiver..which should run me around 1750.00 total for this system not bad i don't think.....