Originally posted this in the wrong forum, my apologies. If a mod can delete the other it would be appreciated.

Hi All,

Very new to the home theater set-up and I need some advice. Looking for a decent quality set-up for my living room which is currenlty about 15 x 15 room with all your typical furnishings.

I am not looking for anything to blow the house down just a good quality foundation with the ability to upgrade in the future. My original thoughts were to buy a good receiver which will last me for some time and go a little bit less on the speakers being my room is not that huge (with the intent I will be able to upgrade the speakers if I every get into a bigger room) although I am not so sure that is the right thing to do(hopefully you folks can help me).

From a speaker perspective the size of the speakers are also important to me being the space available is small. I am looking more for bookshelf speakers being I can place them on my medial console as well as stands.

My budget consists of about 1k dollars (or less) to buy a 5.1 speaker system with an AV receiver. My current electronics consist of a Samsung 52 inch flat panel, PS3, XBOX 360, and High Definition Cable Box. I would also like the ability to play songs from my Ipod for my two kids which like to crank it up every so often when we dance!

Any advice would be appreciated. If additonal details are needed please let me know

You want to spend as much as possible on speakers/sub as you can. An AVR is more about features as the price goes up. Something like the Denon 1610 would be a fine choice for an AVR. That will leave you about $650 for speakers. I would look at the Energy C-50 (http://wwstereo.com/website/ecommerce/productdetail.aspx?productID=144501&menuID=33) for all 5 speakers ($50 a piece) and the HSU STF-2 (http://www.hsuresearch.com/products/stf-2.html) sub would be in your budget. For cables go to monoprice*com.

The system I listed would be a good system. I personally would go listen to speakers to see what YOU like. Speakers are a very personal thing as we all hear differently. You can always start with an AVR and a 2.0 or 2.1 system and add as more money comes along. $1,000 isn't chump change in the real world, but in the audio world it isn't a lot. Going to $1,500 could make a large difference in sound quality. Doing a little hands on research can go a very long way. Subs are best bought from internet direct companies as they offer, by far, the best bang for buck.

Good luck and welcome to the never ending hobby!

Thank you for the reply byrnes.

I was already leaning towards a denon receiver although I had the AVR-790 model as my choice. I like that fact it has a little more power and the 7.1 capability. I am hoping to buy a home soon and want the receiver to have ability to handle a bigger room then what I currently have. Let me know what you think.

Can you recommend what speakers you would suggest if the budget was around 1500 like you said (dont tell my wife though)? I really have no idea as far as speakers go but I would not want to go with a inferior choice over 500 bucks.

Please keep in mind the dimensions of the room and the fact that I do not need them to blow the house down but have some umph so to speak when I want to crank it.

Thanks again!

I would really go listen. There are so many options and many of them will be great. Speakers are so personal. What I like you may hate. Brands like Klipsch, Polk, Infinity, Energy, Jamo, Mirage, Paradigm, B&W, Definitive Technology, KEF, and a whole plethora of internet direct companies like Swan, Emotiva, HSU, SVS, Aperion, etc. None of them sound the same.

If you can find out what type of sound you like that could help people suggest ID companies. I highly suggest bringing your own demo material, CDs and DVDs that you are very familiar with. Take notes as it is easy to forget what you liked or disliked about each pair.

Don't get hung up on AVR power. going from 90w to 105w is an inaudible difference in volume. Every doubling of power = 3db louder. It takes 10db to sound twice as loud. Plus every AVR maker is lying about the actual power of their unit. Denon is one of the better ones and can usually come close to hitting their stated power numbers. the 790 is a good unit and would be 7.1 in case you can use that in the future.

There is no short cut with picking speakers. Many who buy without listening like their systems, but don't love them. They usually end up upgrading in a short period of time. Demoing is the best part of the process in my opinion. Especially if you can get a demo pair to bring home.

If you are on a budget, do not forget about all the teeny-weeny extras. They add up. When I was setting up my 7.1, the total for 16AWG wire, speaker mounting brackets, banana plugs, connector pins (I don't like bare wire) ended up costing an additional $300. I'd say total for extras is around $100-300.

If you want some serious expandability in the future, I'd consider an AVR with preamp outputs. Like Harman/Kardon AVR-254. It's power specs might seem a bit low compared to most other AVRs in same price range, but H/K is known for being a bit more honest about its amp power than most others. This AVR will have no problem filling a smaller room with sound, and preamps will let you use a separate amp if you ever want to drive some high-powered fronts.

Thanks for all the advice so far folks!

After doing some additional research I am pretty comfortable with the receiver I would like.

As for speakers, I think I am changing my strategy and moving to a slow and methodical process by going for better quality over a complete set at this time. I would really like to go and listen to the speakers but am having a hell of a time locating a place in New York (which I find it hard to believe) which would carry most of the brands mentioned above.

Does anyone know of places in New York which would have a healthy inventory of speakers? I tend to stay away from chains like Best Buy with these types of investments besides they do not carry most of the brands.

In looking at the Energy website the list of where to buy look to be incorrect or at least I am unable to find websites for them which are listed.

Any help would be appreciated

Your best bet is to go to a speakers website and find a dealer through them. Most of the time a dealer will carry 5+ brands and everything I mentioned doesn't even come close to all of the available brands. I ended up buying Vienna Acoustics speakers (Best Buy Magnolia funny enough), which I had never heard of before finding them. I have always been a go and listen guy, even when not shopping for speakers. I demoed my speakers several times and did a lot of research on them before buying. I put in a good 5 years of demos before I could actually upgrade.

Takes notes and bring your own material to listen to. I had a very good idea of what I wanted music to sound like (music much more important to me). I went WAY over budget for the fronts, but music is that important to me. To fill out the entire VA 5.1 will take a few years, but my current setup works very well for HT.

It takes 10db to sound twice as loud.

Can anyone else confirm if thats true? I had always been told that it was 6db louder = twice the volume level. I was told that by a couple people who actually went to college for sound stuff.