Want to build a modest speaker home (apartment) theater set up

[pennylane]

So we finally got a TV in the apartment (I'm in college). That's all we have. We have a PS2 which we'll use for DVDs for the moment.

I'm thinking of stopping the headphone stuff (I have a solid rig at a solid price-point)... and expanding into a modest little set-up (usable for both audio and movies). That is, gradually adding components. Maybe starting with a source. Adding a 2.1 speaker set-up. Maybe add another pair of speakers later. I'm in no rush. I don't need everything at once.

Is that a good plan? Where should I start?

 

[ooheadsoo]

Start with a receiver? The panasonic xr-(25/45/50/70) would make a nice choice for the optical output on the playstation 2. This can last you for many years if need be. It should be able to handle any configuration of speakers you throw at it, be it 2, 2.1. 3.1, 4, 4.1, etc.

Speakers depend on your budget.

 

[CRESCENDOPOWER]

If you have a modest budget you should consider Phase Technology speakers. They are more forgiving of cheaper electronics.

 

[Edwood]

You forgot about the all important info.

What's your starting budget?

-Ed

 

[pennylane]

I forgot about the budget... though, honestly, I don't know much about this sort of thing so I don't know how much "reasonable" is.

How does a $100 reciever and $200 speakers sound?

 

[ooheadsoo]

You sure you can't bump up the receiver budget? It will last you MANY years, realistically, if you get either the JVC or Panasonic digital receivers.

 

[pennylane]

I potentially could. What's a reasonable price? I'm flexible (well, right now I'm just thinking it through).

 

[RnB180]

JVC and Panasonic receivers are not very good.

towards the end of the year Harmon Kardon receivers go on sale, $500 receivers drop to $300 and so on.

any budget receiver that is not high current will most likey not be enough to power decent speakers in the future.

a good starting system would be one of theose $500 onkyo home theater in a box. the only problem is that those onkyo receivers are not that strong either.
but its a nice system for the budget minded that does not plan on upgrading in the future.

If you do plan on upgrading, Id recommend you bump the receiver busget to $500-$800 for decent receiver that will last a bit.

Ive listened to the pannys before and they tend to have high distortion levels and low power output.

the denon 2805 might be a good buy $899. If you want to upgrade look for one with pre outs, and then you can start using mono blocks or seperate amps to power higher end speakers in the future. You should take note that the upgrade bug on home theater is tremendous and the money that it requires to keep up will knock 3-5 digit numbers per purchase, itll an akg + tube amp or omega stax look like chump change

Harmon Kardons are nice powerful receivers for budget minded consumers, so is anything Denon 2805 and 3805 and anything above that, they are both good for music and movies with a lot of features.

speaker wise. Canadian manufaturers are good.

Mirage, Athena, Paradigm, and Energy are great speaker companies.

If you like the Grado sound, then Klipsch is the perfect speaker company for you.

I currently use Mirage omnis and an HK receiver. Its served me well for the last couple of years, but Im in serious need of an upgrade.

SVSub, then the Rotel preamp and mono block amps then some Martin Logans.. unfortunately, I cant afford any of that

LOL.

 

[dreamnid]

Out of curiosity, what series of Panansonic receivers did you listen to?

I have seen high praises for the XR series since I believe they are class D amps as long as you use the digital inputs. Thus, the audio signal will stay digital even to the speakers.

And besides, they are much cheaper (I think around the $200 range) than the $300 + receivers that you're suggesting.

 

[RnB180]

its been a couple of years, there were the models that were listed in consumer reports 2 years ago. they have mirror front panel, I recall them having high distorion rates.

Panasonic is not really known for good audio or speakers. At least not to my knowledge. BTW no matter what those panny receivers will only output a fraction of the claimed wattage specification.

 

[dd3mon]

You're both wrong - in different ways.

The new Panasonic amps (XR series ONLY) use a new kind of all digital amplifier. It's great new technology that provides awesome performance into a small range of loads. Panasonic's digital amps will only work decently with 4-8ohm speakers and are said to sound dark w/ 4 ohm, bright with 8 ohm and great with 6 ohm. I have 6 ohm speakers and these new Panasonic units (with an upgraded power cord & a high quality transport) can compete with real stereo gear (kilobuck gear that would leave anything else mentioned in this thread in the dust).

If you use a digital input, there's no analog stage to this amp, the output to the speakers is digital (it's ultra high frequency, so it sounds like analog). It's somewhat old technology that has had some recent advancements to allow it to power full range speakers properly. If you use the analog inputs, it first converts the signal to digital (using an ADC) then treats it as another digital input.

These amps have price/performance off the charts, it's an early example of how this technology will take over amplification in the future. If you have speakers with a nominal impedence near 6ohms, you owe it to yourself to check out these new kind of amps - plenty of power, extremely compact, dirt cheap and hardly any heat (in comparison to a standard analog ss amp). The Panny units are cheaply made with crappy remotes, cheesy plastic housing and a horrible power supply (which makes it very very sensitive to power cord and power conditioning changes!) - just like any other cheap consumer receiver. They just stumbled upon some awesome amplification technology to put inside first used in $10,000 TacT amps.

What RnB was saying was generally true for Panasonic amps, and still is for any besides the XR series.

Any skeptics, please wander over to AudioAsylum.com - their amp forums have been buzzing about these Pannies for over two years now.

-dd3mon

 

[RnB180]

Quote:

If you use a digital input, there's no analog stage to this amp, the output to the speakers is digital (it's ultra high frequency, so it sounds like analog). It's somewhat old technology that has had some recent advancements to allow it to power full range speakers properly. If you use the analog inputs, it first converts the signal to digital (using an ADC) then treats it as another digital input.

speakers are analog by nature, your speaker cabling is analog cabling the output plugs on the back of your receiver is analog. even if your amp is a digital amp. Am I missing something here?

 

[soupy]

the XR series receivers are really good for the price. Im running a 5.1 set of Fluance SX-HTBs on it and it gets really loud without any distortion. It's really cheap for what you get and it's good enough for my studio apartment (i'm a college student too). http://www.fluance.com/fluan5speaks.html
I believe there was an article from one of the audio mags where they did a round up of several 200-300$ amps. The panasonic had the highest actual output when running 6.1 compared to the rest. I believe it won with round up, along with a yamaha? Neway, I'm pretty happy with this setup for my movies+video games, total was like $580 I think. I don't really use it for music...my Jolida+Von Schweikerts handle that

.

 

[ooheadsoo]

Don't worry about what RnB is saying, he's merely behind the times. Audiocircle.com is another resource on panny and jvc digital receivers. The JVC are tripath like in that they are modifications to class d amps but they really sound good as well. I got rid of near $1000 of amplification for the JVC. The JVC is source sensitive while the Pannies are meant to be fed a digital input.

 

[swiego]

The Hsu Ventriloquist (VT-12) system is a phenomenal HT-in-a-box speaker set. I don't know of any speaker system anywhere near the price range that competes. I can't speak highly enough of the set. It's available for $250 in quite a few places. Just add a receiver (digital Panasonic), Home Depot cable, and you'll be set until the bug bites again. (e.g. when you stumble across the right deal on a subwoofer.)

http://www.hsuresearch.com/

I have no idea why RnB would be suggesting $900 receivers when your budget is what it is.