***Official HTIB Alternatives Thread*** - Page 16

It's not much, but it's a waste of money and space unless the TV is an exceptionally high wattage item. Try one strip first.

What you describe (sound going out) isn't power related. Might be HDMI, or could just be the antenna / signal.

But it isn't a good idea to power your gear by it being plugged into other gear, unless it's a reallly low wattage item (like a CD player) that you feel you need to switch on and off together.

You can find out the wattage by reading the label on the back of the gear, or maybe by looking at the mfr's site. Especially check the TV and the DVR.

I had decided on the Velodyne CHT Front Rows but it now appears that they are gone for good . What do you think the current best option for comparable bookshelfs and center is now. Compaarable in quality and in the $200-$300 range for 4 speakers and a center.

I do plan to match the speakers with the bic h-100 and the Onkyo 504.

Thank you

I still see the CHTs on their website. They are selling them as pairs I think...so you could get 3 pairs for about 207 and have one to spare.

Ruhnie and Ron, thanks for the responses.

I listened to the RTi6s and decided to go with them. I'm also definitely getting the H100 sub.

After reviewing my budget, I'd like to get a receiver for <=$200. The Onkyo 504 seems to be a popular choice. Are there any others you would recommend that may produce a little more power than the 504?

Depending on how you feel about getting a factory refurbished product that comes w/ full warranty, I'd also consider the HK AVR stuff from their ebay store. I just scored an AVR 340 for $260 shipped over the weekend, which seems like a really nice deal. I monitored alot of the auctions last week, and the 235/240 AVRs were consistently going for $150-$200. Worth a look IMO, but if you don't care about the lack of pre-outs, it does sound like the 504 is an excellent choice. Fry's had it over the weekend for $199 in-store.

Are these pretty good speakers, thats awful cheap. I know they are white but a little pigment in a can will fix that problem

Well after all my deliberations, I decided to break the bank and spend a bit more on some killer speakers. I'll be getting the SVSound SBS-01 System which is on sale right now (in white or silver). It's definitely more than I was going to spend all at once but I have read nothing but (extremely) good reviews about these guys. They're supposed to be an amazing value for the price and they're even on sale now so it's a hard deal to pass up.

I'll let you know how they sound with my HK340 in a week or two when I get everything in and setup. I'm sure my neighbors will be able to tell you all about them too. :-D

D

EDIT: Oh and gratz on your pickup Ruhnie. What speakers are you running the HK with again?

I need this exactly, but think it is severely overpriced at 50/each. Does anybody know of something similar to this that I can find cheaper?

http://www.standsandmounts.com/inde...ROD&ProdID=2011

Get the HK...the 2xx and up have pre-outs, you'll thank me down the road. HKs are warmer than Onks which works well with the RTis.

Nice score...

Which color? I know you're going to be happy...better get to know your neighbors

Hey that looks like a great choice too for speakers, hope you enjoy. I ordered a smattering of the av123 x-series line, sans subwoofer for now. Hopefully the lack of bass won't be too much of an annoyance in the short term

I'm probably going very similar (though considering a new Onkyo receiver), plus the H100. How are the speakers (forget the sub) in the polk sets for this setup, either the RM6750, the RM6880 or the Rm10set?

Jeff

I think you should compare the RM speakers with the R150s or R15s and decide which you prefer. The satelites are very good for what they are, but lack the midrange of the bookshelves...might have a bit more detail to the highs.

I want something easily mounted on the wall, but within my budget which is rapidly expanding. I also might be able to get a deal at circuit city where I am buying a bunch of other stuff in a special package So if you are considering just these, what do you think? Are the cheapest (RM6750) at least good?

I've never heard the sats for more than a minute so I can't tell you about any sound quality difference. Polks generally will sound better at each incremental price level. So go get a listen on...

I was looking at doing the same thing, starting with a couple x-series and then filling it out as I came across the cash. Then I heard the x-series was backordered and I saw this deal and I figured what the heck. :-D

And for the record I decided on silver. I have a nice steel Boltz TV stand and CD/DVD rack and I think they'll go well together.

D

G Star and Ron,

Can you give me your opinions on a comparison between the Velodyne Front Rows and the Polk R150's?

Thank you in advance

Hi again:

Still waiting on my speakers, so can't give any feedback yet. I do have a Q though. I will be using my system primarily for TV viewing, with a little bit of music. I have been waiting for my speakers, and wondering if they came with good wire, or if I needed to get better wire. I contacted the company and they suggested the following:

NeoTech NES-5001 Speaker Cable w/ banana termination

These cables are fairly expensive. Do I need these, or are there comparable alternatives. The speakers are the AV123 x-ls bookshelf and center speakers, as well as the x-sub. Does the sub get the same wire as the others? My receiver is the Yamaha 661 if that makes any difference.

Ron, if you are out there, maybe you can answer this for me.

thanks

CHTs and bookshelves are apples and oranges, if you look back a page or two, you'll see my opinion, not about the CHTs but sats in general. If you can handle stands or mounts, bookshelves always trump satelites.

Probably a sponser...though I do recommend picking bananas from Parts Express, just for ease of connection to the receiver at least

www.bluejeanscables.com (I think ?) has fairly inexpensive speaker wire and cables that are just fine. Personally, I use Home Depot 12 & 14g speaker wire without any complaints. The wire arguments and IC cable arguments from those pros and cons get heated. I don't want to go there.

Get a Bluejeans sub cable or go to Radio Shack for their Gold Series...work fine.

Hey guys, I finally decided that I'll buy an A/V receiver and some speakers instead of buying a HTIB. I am on a $400 budget for the receiver and speaker system right now and I have narrowed my receiver choices into 3:

HK AVR 146

Pioneer

Yamaha

I am on a tight budget, so buying the HK will be pushing it. I might end up with some Yamaha 5.1 speaker system like this for the meantime.

I'll be using this in a small room with a PS3 and Blu-ray movies. Anyone else can recommend some good "budget" receivers that will be around 200-300?

Man I need some help. I have a 14 x22 home theater room. I was debating/hand wringing over whether or not to buy the Epson Powerlite 1080P projector, Sony Pearl, or the Panasonic PT-AE1000U. The $1k rebate and $3800 price at costco ($3k after tax and shipping) was too good to pass up - so I went with the Panny.

I almost bought the Onkyo 907 HTIB until I stumbled on this thread - G-Star..you definitely have been dropping some knowledge. If I pass on the Onkyo 907, I was considering some combo like this, help-guidance-feedback is much appreciated. I want to stay under $1k total if I can.

Receiver - Onkyo 674 or 604. Is HDMI switching that big of a deal between these two?
Subwoofer - BIC 100, HSU, figure I should budget about 250-350 here, any thoughts?
Speakers - Orb Audio looks decent, but my room may be too big. I need a simple 7.1 or 5.1 configuration, wall mount, need some direction here.

Lastly - should I even consider a painted screen for a 1080P projector? If not, what is the best $400 or so 100-106" screen I can buy

Thanks for your help people.

Nice size room. Really great video Options, the Panny, is a great projector, so I've heard. Now what about the audio?

Since it sure looks like you're going to put some effort into quality I highly recommend you put some time into building a system that suits the room environment, your audio goals and especially your ear. I would agree with your assessment of the S907 system. The speakers are a bit small in the bass driver. Matched, but small.

I place speaker position and directivity (dispersion) almost of equal importance to speaker performance. "Great" speakers might sound flat or dead in a room that is acoustically absorbed by furniture, carpeting, wall treatments, etc. In a more reflective room with bare floors, etc. the speakers may come off as bright and in many instances harsh. What's worse is when the speakers aren't matched. You'll get separation instead of fullness or lack of seamless immersion in the surround experience. Your seating choices will also affect the type of speakers you should select. Could be that dipole or monopole speakers may work best? In my case, the sweet spot is about 3 ft wide, you move off the spot and you can really hear a difference. Very directional. Since my sweetheart's on one side of the couch (usually) and I'm on the other, we both have to compromise. Well, I do, the TV speakers work fine for her!

Here's a good article on dispersion from Paradigm: http://www.paradigm.com/en/paradigm/...dispersion.php

Many speaker manufacturers have similar articles, as do the Ezines. The AVIA Guide to Home Theater is a good reference

This may not be the least expensive route but I'd hook up with a local audio shop that will let you try out some equipment. There's a lot to speaker designs and implementation. You'll get some good recommendations in this forum on speakers and in many cases its based on experience and success for them, but I'd take those recommendations to the audio shop and try them out.

For a receiver, I'd ask you to wait a bit. New receivers with HDMI 1.3 are due out shortly but no one seems to know exactly when, maybe a month. Mid - May has been cited. These new receivers will allow you the most versatility in getting the new Hi Def audio formats. You ARE going to want these. There are methods available with todays technology (I get the formats via 5.1 analog) to achieve this but more and more componentry is heading toward HDMI 1.3. Sorry to ask you to wait, but perhaps you'll thank me for it. One of the new Onkyo 605's has my name on it, if it ever gets released.

Good luck with your choices.

Well, I'd just point out 2 things to people:

- What Ron decided to get for himself was regular wire. If it's good enough for Ron, it's good enough for everyone else in this thread.

- There's no question at all that any money you spend on cables beyond the cost of regular wire would be better spent on pretty much anything else - speakers, receiver, etc. - if you want it to make your system sound better.

Remember that what you're buying isn't bettter sound, it's how the wires look, and convenience if they are pre-terminated (aka, have connectors attached already). Which is fine, as long as you know that's what you're buying.

At this level of system and in an average room, you're not going to hear any difference. If there's any benefit at all to cables, it's for people with very good hearing (ie, under age 25-30), listening to a near-reference system, in a near-ideal room.

And again, a reminder - banana plugs are also for convenience (hard to get to spaces behind a receiver or some mounted speakers) or fun, not at all required. Just be sure to allow for the extra space needed for them.

By the way, if for any reason people are looking for black speaker wire, try a car audio shop or the car audio section of a big store, or check online. Something like this: Stinger 14 gauge black wire at Car Domain. They have other colors too.

P.S. I'd suggest that this not become another one of those useless, AVS Forum trademark threads that rambles on and repeats the same stuff over and over. It stops being usable pretty fast, as it starts to get 50 pages long. Most other forums have figured that out. Scan the thread, or at least the last few pages. Don't expect people to repost stuff that's already been posted in the last couple pages - subwoofer cables, alternatives to the Velodyne - it's all in here.

Even better, of course, would be to collect some of the info into the OP. Or, better yet, if there was a way for us all to do that, like on Fatwallet.

Jeff,

Did you check out the extended warranty for your TV from the Forum deals? If I recall you were looking at a very expensive 3 year extension from CC. BTW good to see you here on the HTIB alternatives thread. The system CC was trying to sell you sounded like a massive rip-off.

Bruce,

I have not heard them myself. I am new to all of this as well. I was just pointing out that the CHTs were still available. Ron Temple and G-Star are the resident experts and they have already chimed in about the CHTs.

Go listen to the 790. It's the king of HTIB - Hail To The King