Need help...is this good?

[ambrosiaspen]

I just got an Xbox 360 and a new flat planel LCD(sharp 26") tv and am looking for a home theatre system. I went to walmart and saw and listened to a Pioneer system. It sounded great but wanted to get other opinions. What do you think? It sounded great for the Price.



http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=3880829

[thekid]

I just got an Xbox 360 and a new flat planel LCD(sharp 26") tv and am looking for a home theatre system. I went to walmart and saw and listened to a Pioneer system. It sounded great but wanted to get other opinions. What do you think? It sounded great for the Price.



http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=3880829

I am guessing from your post that the main use for this set-up would be gaming. If so, then this will probably meet your needs especially if you are talking about using it in a small room. If you are looking for the true HT experience then this set up and most other HTIBs are going to have their limitations. I am very budget concious and was able to put together a fairly decent 5.1 HT for under $1000 excluding the HDTV and the DVD player. So if your budget allows you may want to wait a bit and start doing some homework on sites like this and go out and listen to any components you are considering. If you have listened to this unit then you may want to listen to other units in a similar price range before making your final decision.

Good luck!

[noddin0ff]

It always comes down to how much bang you get for the buck. Pioneer receivers seems to do well by that criteria judging from others comments on this board. I don't think other options would do significantly better for that price. It will certainly sound better for HT than the TV by itself, and there's some room to expand later if you want to slowly upgrade speakers over time. Despite the 1000Watt claim its unlikely to play well very loud. Will it sound better than something that costs more? No. But that is why other options cost more. $198 is a good price for something that "sounded great"

There may be a newer version (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/B000A2QFNY/ref=dp_nav_1/002-8416490-2543254?%5Fencoding=UTF8&n=507846&s=electronics) out at essentially the same price.

One thing to consider when listening at the store is the noise in the environment. Not a lot you can do about it but to try and be aware. There's a lot of white noise in a place like Walmart, and for me that makes it difficult to tell if there is any 'hiss' or higher frequency distortions in the component I'm listening to that may not be noticeable in the store but would bug me in the relative quiet of my home. Best advice is to take a CD or DVD you are very familiar with to the store and listen to it for comparisons.

[L.J.]

As the others have said, it's depends on how serious you are about HT. As Nod already brought out, Walmart is not gonna be your ideal place to give this a real test run.You could always take it home and give it a nice 3 week audition. If you decide its not what you wanted just return it.

I have a buddy with a similar unit(not sure about the model) and his sub rattles something awful at high volumes. His unit also goes into protect mode at high volumes. He's already talking about upgrading and he's only owned this for less than a year. On a positive side, his setup is in a very large room so you may have different results.

[ambrosiaspen]

Thanks guys, I think I will wait. I wont be doing all gaming, but DVD watching as well. I want something that is going to last. My parents own a Bose system (28 something I think? :confused: ). That is juts a little to pricy for me. Maybe saving my money to get something nice is the way to go. I will keep researching and keep listening.