Help buying a Home Theater


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My family wants to buy a new home theater. I dont know which to choose. We need one which price is between $500 - $700.

That includes DVD and 5.1

Please help me to choose one!

I don't know to much about home theater. I saw one that had 1000W and was cheaper than the one with 800 watts.

What should I know when buying one and which are the best brand; I know Bose has the better home theaters ,but it's pretty expensive

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You're better of buying separate components as you will get better quality. A decent receiver will set you back $300-400, a good DVD player $100-150, and a 6.1 speaker system $300-400.

This is similar to what I use; pretty good sound quality for the money, and plenty of input options on the receiver. I paid twice that for my speakers. The satellites are very small, and have a cool piano black glossy finish.

Sony DVP-NS775V DVD/CD/SACD

Sony STR-DE897

Yamaha NSP436 6.1 speaker system

$129.99 + $319.99 + $168.99 = $619.97

Also, Sony has an upconverting player with HDMI output coming out soon for $150.

Sony is a good brand for mid-level receivers. Other good ones are Denon and Onkyo but they are out of your price range. Yamaha makes very good stuff as well. Stay away from Bose; they have no mid-range speakers! Higher wattage gives you cleaner sound.

The Crutchfield Advisor offers tips on shopping for home theater products.

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Sony receivers.....bleck. Also, wattage is far from the first thing you should be looking at.

For what you are looking for, I suggest the Yamaha YHT-360 ($399) with the Yamaha DVS5750 ($150) dvd player. Awesome combination. You could always go for a cheaper DVD to cut back on cost a bit. The Sony DVPNS50P is a nice alternative though it lacks fiber optic output and the CD upsampling present on the Yamaha.

Also, if you are looking for a cheaper surround sound system, look at the Yamaha YHT-160. It comes with the 5830 receiver and smaller speakers which can always be upgraded later on. That system retails for about $200.

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You could also consider the Onkyo Home Theater System (HTS-770). It's 399 on Circuit City's website and has gotten some favorable reviews.

Although, maybe it would be best for you to build a little at a time and buy a good receiver, some good front right and left channels, and a good center channel. If you want to you can skimp a little more on the rear channels since they are less important. I hear that for about 1000-1100 bucks you can build a pretty decent 5.1 surround system that's better than these boxed sets anyways. So you guys couldn't have it all at once, but maybe listen to the different components you would put into a custom set and see how they sound compared to one of these boxed sets. Also, don't be afraid to return stuff. You never know how it's gonna sound until its in the actual room. Finding the right speakers can be a pain sometimes, lol.

Either way just go listen to the stuff and see what sounds good to you.

Edited by SonComet
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You could also consider the Onkyo Home Theater System (HTS-770).  It's 399 on Circuit City's website and has gotten some favorable reviews.

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Yes, I should have mentioned that one too. I believe I recommended it once before.

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i reccommend denon receivers as i have had one for 10+ years and its as good as its ever been. yes i know its time for a new one but this thing has been solid and given me no problems in the time i have had it.

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you definitely want to go with Bose for your speakers. go to a circuit city or best buy and just sample the bose speakers compared to other brands. bose wins hands down. i've had many different brands of speakers including yamaha and have been most pleased with the bose set that i have now.

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you definitely want to go with Bose for your speakers.  go to a circuit city or best buy and just sample the bose speakers compared to other brands.  bose wins hands down.  i've had many different brands of speakers including yamaha and have been most pleased with the bose set that i have now.

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maybe now but i remember back in the day they pretty much sucked. i wouldnt buy them now either. for the price it may be good but thats about it.

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maybe now but i remember back in the day they pretty much sucked.  i wouldnt buy them now either.  for the price it may be good but thats about it.

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I agree. Bose is not something anyone should consider when buying speakers that cost that much money. You can build something yourself that sounds much much better for way cheaper. Bose has subpar sound for their price range, and pretty much any forum or person that cares about sound quality will advise you to avoid their products.

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