[xMx Reaper xMx]

hello all.


I'm in the market for a budget home theater system.

i've been considering the onkyo for awhile now, but after seeing that the sony is only 380 shipped from amazon, im wondering whether or not it is a much better system?


to help everyone with the recommendations, i will be connecting these components:


Xbox 360

PS3

DirecTV Receiver


im looking for the best system possible, and will take other recommendations also.


and i've conidered building a system piece by piece, but i dont think i could build one for the price range im looking in.


id like to look in the sub $400 range.

 

[xMx Reaper xMx]

can someone please give me an opinion?


also, i was considering the Sony HT-SS2300.


which is the best HTIB system?

 

[Deadkenr]

I just purchased the 7200DH and I like it a lot so far. I have to make it clear that this is my first Home Theater set, so I have nothing to compare it to. I will say that so far I only have the fronts/center/sub speakers connected and it sounds great!


The reason I am replying is to let you know that I just bought my 7200DH from B&H Photo in NYC on 12/21/08 and they also had it for $380 Shipped. I did find it at etronics (in Brooklyn) for $350, but they weren't open on Sunday. So, I called up B&H and they pricematched etronics for $350 shipped. I live in NY so I ended up paying $30 sales tax, so it totalled $381 shipped, and I got it on 12/23/08.


I dislike Amazon a bit after they canceled an order on me. It seems that they did that a lot for a bit. They'd offer a great price on an item and then cancel all the orders for it saying that it was a pricing error. In my most recent case it was for a Leatherman Wave. It was just before Fathers day and I wanted one for myself. Wouldn't you know that with all of the orders for that great low price it pushed it up into the 'Top 10 Sellers' spot? Just in time for everyone (wives, kids, etc) to see that everyone was buying these great gifts for Dad from Amazon (not seeing that most were canceled) and I am sure that they got a TON of sales from that. I am sorry if I sound like a conspiracy theorist, but it happened to a bunch of us at a different forum and that explanation seemed to make a lot of sense.


Take a look for a recent thread started by me about a budget home theater system for $250-$350. I received a lot of good suggestions in that thread.

Quote:
Originally Posted by xMx Reaper xMx /forum/post/15401224


hello all.


I'm in the market for a budget home theater system.

....the sony is only 380 shipped from amazon....


id like to look in the sub $400 range.

 

[samsurd2]

FWIW, the HT-7200DH handles all audio received over an HDMI connection including lossless multichannel PCM signals that've been decoded by a Bluray player. The HT-S4100 system requires a separate digital audio connection (coax or optical) from every HDMI source to be able to get legacy DD/DTS. It's not capable of playing the lossless audio formats (must bump up to the HT-S6100 for this feature).

 

[xMx Reaper xMx]

Well, as of now, im starting to consider the S6100.


comparing that to the sony, which is the better system out of the bunch?

thanks for all of the responses.

 

[samsurd2]

You don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure out the answers you'll get to this question from Onkyo and Sony owners/fans. Do your own research here on AVS and elsewhere and pick the system that has the features YOU want. Then buy it from a place that has a good return policy just in case.

 

[Deadkenr]

I don't want to come off as a 7200DH 'fanboy', but I do want to point out that in your original post you mentioned hooking up a PS3 to the Home Theater system. As far as I know, if you are planning to use the PS3 as a Blu-Ray player then I do not think you will get the full audio track if you don't get the Sony (out of the two systems that you mentioned).


As Samsurd points out the 7200DH can handle LPCM audio from your PS3 (over the HDMI cable) while the Onkyo can't. From what I understand, you will need to connect a Digital Coax or Digital Optical cable in order to get audio from your PS3 (if you have the Onkyo S4100). When using the coax or optical cable, you won't have the bandwidth to support full 5.1 audio.


Perhaps I am wrong in my beliefs, perhaps I am wrong in my description. I am confident that others here will point out any errors or omissions that I have made. As Samsurd pointed out it is up to you to know what you want to do with this system and then find the best system in your pricerange that does as many of the features you want as possible.


Have you checked out the thread I mentioned before? There was a lot of information in that thread and I think you could benefit from reading it.


-Ken

 

[jdubau55]

No you are right.


What is your budget?


The Sony will probably meet your needs rather nicely. The 4100 just doesn't compare well to the Sony. Will all 3 components be ran into the Sony using HDMI? If so then it is def the better choice as it will decode the HDMI audio from there. You will then only have one cable going to the TV.

 

[xMx Reaper xMx]

i've searched pretty much religiously for the last couple of days trying to find the perfect future proof system.


and after reading what you have said, and learning a lot of new things i've decided on a set.


the Onkyo HT-S6100.


for 550, i believe this is the best value i can find.

and i feel it is truly future proof.


can anyone else recommend a better system in that range?


thanks for all of the help, i appreciate everything.