$500-$700 budget for complete system

Well, the 2 biggies in here seem to be the Samsung HT-AS720 and the Onkyo HT-SP908

Take a look at their threads, both seem to have great reviews (more reviews on the samsung right now). The Onkyo is a 7.1 and comes with DVD player and ipod doc, and is a bit more expensive.

I suggest reading through the threads on each...

Onkyo
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=926665

Sammy
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=912466

Hey killer31,

Welcome to AVS! Anyway, about your question, NefariousOne gave a good suggestion - those two threads are excellent threads to read. Your budget is a bit low for me to start recommending that you piece your system together, especially since you want a receiver that will have the features to last for a while without becoming outdated. I would personally recommend the Onkyo 908 HTIB. It sounds as if you at some point would be upgrading your speakers, and the receiver that comes with it (Onkyo 605) is an excellent receiver brimming with features. For the time being, the speakers in the 908 aren't terrible (though you'll certainly notice a big difference when you upgrade to something else), and again, the receiver should have most everything you'll need for quite some time.

I'd personally recommend the Onkyo 908 over the Samsung 720. The receiver for the Onkyo is a higher quality receiver, and will definitely be able to handle bigger speakers (should you choose to upgrade, of course) much better than the Samsung. I'd ignore the slightly better price of the Samsung - the Onkyo 908 is still in your price range ($669 at amazon right now) and should be a better performer, both out of the box and once you upgrade the speakers. Just my two cents. Be sure to read up plenty, though. Make informed decisions - there's a lot of good advice on AVS, and some not-so-good advice, but make sure you end up getting what suits YOU best, not what I or anyone else says is best. Good luck!

Stephen

I would buy an Onkyo 605 for $400 and then pick up the Polk RM6750 system for $250. This would probably be much better than any all in one system you could get.

Here's another thread addressing your circumstances: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=942156

It looks like the Harman Kardon AVR 247 is suggested, along with the Denon SYS-76HT 7.1 speaker package. You have a slightly larger budget, so I'd say definitely go with the Polk RM6750 speakers as mentioned above. And/or go with the AVR 347 as an alternative to the Onkyo 605. The Harman Kardon's can be found on eBay as factory refurbed units directly from Harman Kardon. Worth checking out if you don't mind refurbed gear. My friend picked up the 347 from HK's eBay store, and he said it was flawless.

Good luck!

Yeah, the RM6750s are nice. I paired them up with a Sony STR-DG810 receiver (just under $300) and am extremely happy.

Thats awesome to hear! I am getting the RM6750's for Christmas.

Not quite true. The 347 does process HDMI audio, its not a pass thru only model. I don't think it handles TrueHD but your HD-DVD or Blu-Ray player can convert the signals to lossless PCM and send it to the receiver as multichannel PCM via HDMI.

Do you have an HD player?

accessoryforless.com and look at the Marantz 4001 AV receiver. High quality refurb. unit can be had for $249.00,which is a steal for this unit. Every bit as good as the HK 247/347 units,maybe better according to some,def. more watts.

Then find the Polk 6750 speaker pkg. for $239.00 and you are set.
If you can afford to go a little more go for the Polk 6800 pkg.

Bottom line for $500.00 you will have a nice quality system that should last for years and later on you can add a couple of more Polk speakers to finish it at 7.1.

Marantz 4001 is a great deal, but keep in mind it doesn't upconvert composite, s-video and component to HDMI like the two HK's you referenced.

If that's not an issue, it is an outstanding receiver.

I just got the 6750's at Fry's (in-store) for $199. What I didn't realize is that the set comes with a sub. Last week, I bought the Velodyne VX-10C at Fry's for $129. My question is this; do I keep the Velo sub and sell the Polk sub on craigslist, or keep the Polk sub and simply return the Velo?

Also, thanks to the many posts of you experienced folks, I have been watching the shoponkyo site and picked up the 505 for $149 (including tax and free shipping).

Now, I just need to pick up cables and wire from monoprice and I am initially done. Thanks to all of you that contribute so much to this site. You have made decision making alot easier for us newbies!

Merry Christmas!

Can you wait till you try both subs out or do you need to return the Velodyne sub soon?

I bet the Velo sub is all over the Polk, but try them both and sell or return the loser.

I'm betting with afrogt. comon we need some takers on the polk side, I need some cash.

I'd have to bet on the Velodyne being better than the Polk sub as well. I own a VX-10 and it's not a bad sub - an excellent deal at $129. I don't own any Polk subs, but I've demoed some and really didn't like their lower end subs at all. But again, as people have been recommending, listen to both and see which you prefer.

I have been checking out the Polk 12in. sub and it sounds fantastic compared to the 10in. I wouldn't think that they would be that different but to my ear it was night and day.

Reciever: $200
http://shop2.outpost.com/product/516...CH:MAIN_RSLT_P

Mains: $120
http://shop2.outpost.com/product/400...H:MAIN_RSLT_PG


Center: $80
http://shop2.outpost.com/product/496...H:MAIN_RSLT_PG

Surround: $50
http://shop2.outpost.com/product/496...H:MAIN_RSLT_PG


$450 plus shipping. It'll sound great too!

If you want a more future proof receiver. go with the Onkyo 605 or Yamaha RX-V 661. Either will put you total price to about $700.

Where's your subwoofer?

Well unlike most HTiB the above can do without a sub. But if you insist: http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshow...TOKEN=44261808

Add $94.

I was on about the same budget and just ordered everything last week. Here's what I ended up with:

Onkyo TX-SR505
$124.10 shipped from shoponkyo.com
The receiver shows up for $239. Sign in and it shows up for $149. When I ordered it friday, they took another 10% off of that and then $10 off using the 10 clubonkyo points.

Mission m70s
$69.99 + shipping a pair from tsto.com

Mission m7c1i center
$99.99 + shipping from tsto.com

Dayton Sub-120
$139 shipped from partsexpress.com

Total came to around $525 shipped for everything.

I see a lot of people finding the 505/605@shoponkyo but i can't find it

How many pairs of M70's did you get?

They don't seem to list any at the moment, keep checking they'll come back in stock soon.

Those Dayton subs are great for the money, for HT. Id like to see anything compare. I have the Sub80 and it is plenty for my apartment. Too much at times.

Two

The only problem is that they only have the m70s in silver and the m7c1i in black.

Well I hope you know the 505 doesn't process audio over HDMI which IMO is a pretty big shortcoming.

I realize that, but with 4 optical inputs, I don't see it being a problem.