Hey guys I'm trying to decide which route to go for a seriously low budget HT, we're talking less than 350-400 bucks for speakers and reciever. Has anyone looked at the Dayton Audio HTS-1200 at parts express? From the description it sounds like it ought to be better than what would come with the Onkyo HTiB setups. I am thinking with this setup I can splurge a little and get a better receiver than the Onkyo 304 or 504. Thinking maybe the xr57 from panasonic. Has anyone dealt with this speaker setup?

I have the same question as you.
I've heard a lot people touting Dayton's drivers quality as bang for the buck.
I wonder if this home theater system is the same build quality as some of their other products.

I wanted to match it with the Dayton SUB-80 8" subwoofer.

You can drive $88 speakers with a $2000 receiver, and it's still not going to sound any good. I think Dayton subs are well thought of here, but I have never seen this speaker set recommended. IMHO you would be better of spending more on the speakers, and less on the receiver. You could start with 2 Athena B1.2's, and the Onkyo 504, and build from there. If you wanted 5 speakers right away, then the Velodyne CHT's for $200 are highly thought of on the forum, add the Onkyo 504 to that, and when you save another $200, add a BIC H-100 sub, and you have a nice set-up. There are some Athena Micra's on fleabay at the moment, those are also a good starter set. Good luck.

Hey guys I'm trying to decide which route to go for a seriously low budget HT, we're talking less than 350-400 bucks for speakers and reciever. Has anyone looked at the Dayton Audio HTS-1200 at parts express? From the description it sounds like it ought to be better than what would come with the Onkyo HTiB setups. I am thinking with this setup I can splurge a little and get a better receiver than the Onkyo 304 or 504. Thinking maybe the xr57 from panasonic. Has anyone dealt with this speaker setup?
These speakers are without doubt ten times better, than the ones coming with Onkyo HT-S590 for example. You can team them up with Dayton sub and you will have a nice set up.