Well I guess this would fall under Theory :D

If you were to design a HTIB, what would be in your box? (Receiver - Speaker Combinations?)

Price Points Less than $1500 and a Higher End $1500-$3000

Sell me on your 'creation' (justify your choices, price? quality? features? system works well together? or 'just cool looking lights man! :eek:)

Yes I know HTIB is the Bane of alot of Audiophiles, and there is no 'perfect' system for everyone, but this is for fun (and to gain more knowledge on my part!) :D

At a minimum, a 5 channel receiver, 5 speakers and a powered subwoofer. Just like 98% of all the HTiB systems. ;)

Most important... a user's guide that has to be completely read before the system can be powered on.

I'd start with a much bigger "box."

With a $1500-3000 budget, one would have to be half crazy to consider a HTIB. You can put together a pretty sweet component system for that.

Ratman, I definately agree w/ the R.T.F.M. :)

Tatanka I'm not crazy about considering a HTIB, except for 1 thing 'Ease of assembly' :)
I just flash back to my early stereo Component days, this Amp, w/ that Receiver (Pre-Amp), with the other Tuner, with this thingamagig TURN TABLE (Yea, I'm That Old!)

I was hoping for, 'I'd build a box, with an Onkyo (blah blah) with (enter brand, type) speakers, with (enter brand, type) Powered Sub-woofer. I'd do this set up, because (enter reasons) It would be 5.1 or 7.1 or (whatever). :)

Ratman, I definately agree w/ the R.T.F.M. :)

Tatanka I'm not crazy about considering a HTIB, except for 1 thing 'Ease of assembly' :)
I just flash back to my early stereo Component days, this Amp, w/ that Receiver (Pre-Amp), with the other Tuner, with this thingamagig TURN TABLE (Yea, I'm That Old!)

I was hoping for, 'I'd build a box, with an Onkyo (blah blah) with (enter brand, type) speakers, with (enter brand, type) Powered Sub-woofer. I'd do this set up, because (enter reasons) It would be 5.1 or 7.1 or (whatever). :)

Oh, I hear ya...

Thing is, these days with a HTIB, you get 6 speakers and a receiver. If you go component, you get... 6 speakers and a receiver. The difference is that if you avoid the HTIB, the receiver and speakers are much better.

Some folks do separate out the amp, pre-amp, tuner, etc., but most of us don't these days. There are some very nice receivers out there, and with HDMI, connecting a DVD player or cable box is 1 cable. Speakers wire up the same whether it's a HTIB or not, so the only ease of assembly is that some HTIB's have built-in DVD players (ick).

BTW, I'm using a Yamaha RX-V1800 receiver with JBL Venue series speakers. Add a little cabling, and it's still under $2K. MUCH better than any HTIB out there.

I see HTIB more as a solution for people who just want surround sound for under $500. Don't get me wrong -- there is a place for that, and HTIB serves it pretty well. But, if you want GOOD sound and have a little more money to play with, there are far better options. Decent receivers seem to start around $500, and it's not hard to put together some good speakers for under $1,000. And, except for the HTIB's that have the built-in DVD players (ick), it all connects the same -- in fact, it's not that likely that you'll find HDMI in a HTIB at all, so connecting an HTIB is likely worse than a higher-end receiver.

Yea, HTIB does have its place, for like a smaller family room, vice a home theater/Media room situation. There are so many options out there Receiver/Speaker wise, its tough to sort through all of the data to make a truely informed decision. That is why the reason for the question.

I figured it would be more original to ask 'How would you create a complete system' for the average Joe (Similar in theory to an HTIB) Than the just plain vanilla Questions of 'So much data, tell me what to buy, and I'll do it routine' :) That was the only idea behind this thread :) but I do appreciate your input :) (add to notes, research Yamaha RX-V1800 and JBL speakers) :)

Oh, I hear ya...

Thing is, these days with a HTIB, you get 6 speakers and a receiver. If you go component, you get... 6 speakers and a receiver. The difference is that if you avoid the HTIB, the receiver and speakers are much better.

Some folks do separate out the amp, pre-amp, tuner, etc., but most of us don't these days. There are some very nice receivers out there, and with HDMI, connecting a DVD player or cable box is 1 cable. Speakers wire up the same whether it's a HTIB or not, so the only ease of assembly is that some HTIB's have built-in DVD players (ick).

BTW, I'm using a Yamaha RX-V1800 receiver with JBL Venue series speakers. Add a little cabling, and it's still under $2K. MUCH better than any HTIB out there.

I see HTIB more as a solution for people who just want surround sound for under $500. Don't get me wrong -- there is a place for that, and HTIB serves it pretty well. But, if you want GOOD sound and have a little more money to play with, there are far better options. Decent receivers seem to start around $500, and it's not hard to put together some good speakers for under $1,000. And, except for the HTIB's that have the built-in DVD players (ick), it all connects the same -- in fact, it's not that likely that you'll find HDMI in a HTIB at all, so connecting an HTIB is likely worse than a higher-end receiver.

actually sony, yamaha, onkyo, and samsung all have hdmi htib....hell one of the onkyos has the 605 reciever but the speakers are meh.

actually sony, yamaha, onkyo, and samsung all have hdmi htib....hell one of the onkyos has the 605 reciever but the speakers are meh.

Probably true, I haven't really checked. I recently bought a mid-range Yamaha HTIB as a Christmas gift, and it didn't have any HDMI. Give it two years, and everything will have it.

My point is that the speakers are always "meh" and the receivers are about what you'd expect, given the price.

Have you ever noticed that the top receiver brands and the top speaker brands are different companies? Nobody buys Sony, Yamaha or Onkyo speakers and the good speaker brands don't even make receivers.

HTIB is a compromise, but not necessarily a bad one. The few I've heard beat built-in TV speakers by a very wide margin. It all depends on what you want. For the vast majority, HTIB is a huge leap in technology, and it works well. But, this is AVS. Not average users. :D

The better HTIBs allow you to graduate to better speakers later. :)

along with the obvious components required, which is purely subjective, it would have to have a user friendly owners manual (which is also fairly subjective) and a good universal remote...:)