I just bought the Sony 50WE655 LCD TV for my 17'x25' room. I want to get a good home theater system to go with it and really don't know where to start. I've looked at Denon & Onkyo receivers and dvd players but really don't know what I need and don't need or what's worth the money. For speakers I've been looking at Polk and Infinity surround sound systems. I'd like to keep the budget around $2K before cables. Any advise from you guys out there would be a big help! Thanks Scott
I've heard that the Denon recievers are better than the Onkyo, although I have no experience in either brands. I believe the 3801 is the Denon, and I've read that alot of people like HK. As far as speakers, only your ears can tell you which is better. Last time I listened to Infinity, I was in a Circuit City and sounded like it was lacking mids (was a few years ago). I would give some other speakers a listen to unless you've already done that and are settled on those 2 brands. Klipsch has some nice speakers as well. My reference 35 setup work real well with my pioneer vsx-d811s, but who doesn't like their own equipment? Klipsch also has the senergy series at bestbuy if you don't want to go to the "botique" stores looking for speakers.
One thing I forgot is that I also want to be able to run two additional speakers outside to the deck so I'll need a receiver that will allow for that type of setup. Thanks
Scott, I'm pretty new to the home theater game myself but, I can share one nugget that was helpful to me.
I purchased my Onkyo receiver and Onkyo DVD player off of Ubid.com. I also just bought a Sony 50" LCD there as well. All of these items were "manufacturer refurbished" and had one year parts and labor warranties from the manufacturers (which was as good as you'd get on new product...at least for the Sony).
Bottom line...I saved a TON of money and got significantly better "starter" equipment than I originally would have gotten had I not found Ubid.
I don't know what others will say about Ubid...but, it damn sure worked for me.
Also...for a starter system...I bought Fluance speakers (7.1) setup. I know the audiophiles may not agree but, they are a real nice "starter" system.