Home audio advice required

[Taro]

Hello, I have a surround system that I bought 10 years ago and it is time to change everything now (TV, Receiver, Speakers, Sub...). I've been disconnected from this world and now I've read a lot since a month and visited stores also. I thinks that I am almost ready to buy now, I've choose some items but I still have questions.

TV: Because of the space (basement surrouded by windows), I've chose a Sony (rear projector) 46" 16:9. The thing is that we always listen TV with satellite, I don't have any collection of tapes and not intend to. People are telling me that I should go for 4:3 instead but in my head the futur is 16:9 and broadcasting will be 16:9 everywhere in a near futur????

Receiver: I've heard that Marantz is at the top right now but my choice will be between NAD T763 and Denon AVR3803. Does someone want to guide me in that with any experience.

Speakers: I've listen to a lot but in my budget, I have 2 in mind right now : Mirage and System Audio (Danemark) again do you have any experince with those....

Sub: this is my main question....My room is in the basement, foundation build on rock....The dedicated room is all the basement but mostly at the end (3 walls) 15X17, the entire basement is 27X20 approx.

Thanks for taking time....

[kexodusc]

I can't give you much help with TV's but maybe a bit of advice in the other areas.
Without knowing your budget for the items it's tough to get specific but here's some general ideas to consider.
First Marantz, Denon, and NAD are all reliable brands with sizeable fan bases here in the forums. I'd also recommend checking out Yamaha receivers, they're generally considered to be among the best if not the best for Home Theater purposes, and have some incredible features available on some models. I wouldn't buy anything without at least testing a Yamaha. Same goes for Harmon Kardon and Onkyo, two other solid brands. Personally, I've had great experience with Marantz and Yamaha receivers. When I buy a receiver shortly it will be the Yamaha RX-V1400, which in my humble opinion based on my subjective preferences is the standard in affordable receivers right now.

For speakers, I am a huge fan of Mirage speakers and think you'd do well with those, but speakers are in abundance, and peform very well these days. If you can, audition some other brands of speakers. Speakers are like beer, all are really good, but everyone has their particular favorite. You won't know what your favorite is until you try some.

[Taro]

Thank you very much for taking time. I just received another interesting info: There is a demo Sub offered to me, value (what they are telling me) is $2400CAN for $1000CAN. It is a Klipsch RSW-12, do you think that it fits the rest....

Thanks

[kexodusc]

I am only vaguely familiar with that particular subwoofer, but I found it more than adequate and it should do well with any speakers.
Listen to it first and see if it's what you want.
On the price front...well I don't ever remember it being that expensive, it was around 1200 CDN brand new when I lived in Canada, and can be found as around 900 US, I think 1200 isn't that great of a deal, but I could be out of touch...I highly doubt it EVER retailed for more than $1400 CDN.
You might want to shop around a bit...that's a lot of money, there's probably a few others that offer better value.

[This Guy]

It's a good sub not question, for the money, there's probably better. Look at the Paradigm servo-15, SVSubwoofers, Adire subwoofers, the Partsexpress.com 15" Titanic kit, the HSU-VTF-3, and the Infinity Intermezzo subwoofer looks really nice. All these subs can be had for under/around a grand and may offer a better bang for your dollar. Klipsch's RSW-15 is suppose to be an excellant subwoofer, very musical but even more than the RSW-12. I never heard of Danemark speakers, but I'd keep my eyes open at other speaker companies too. It is not likely the best speakers for your situation will come from either mirage or danemark. For receievers the craze has been the Yamaha RX-V1400, its basically the same as everything else in this price range but Yamahas last forever, and it has the room optimizer along with pro logic IIx. So thats what I say you go for.
good luck
-Joey

-Joey

[woodman]

Hello, I have a surround system that I bought 10 years ago and it is time to change everything now (TV, Receiver, Speakers, Sub...). I've been disconnected from this world and now I've read a lot since a month and visited stores also. I thinks that I am almost ready to buy now, I've choose some items but I still have questions.

TV: Because of the space (basement surrouded by windows), I've chose a Sony (rear projector) 46" 16:9. The thing is that we always listen TV with satellite, I don't have any collection of tapes and not intend to. People are telling me that I should go for 4:3 instead but in my head the futur is 16:9 and broadcasting will be 16:9 everywhere in a near futur????

Your choice of a 16:9 display rather than a 4:3 is the correct one - don't let anyone talk you out of it. But your choice of a Sony is NOT likely to be the best choice you could make. Chances are you'll be FAR better off with either a Toshiba, a Hitachi, a Mitsubishi, or even a Panasonic. While it's possible to buy ANY brand of TV and have a good, trouble-free ownership experience with it, your odds are greatly increased by opting for one of the other brands I recommended rather than a Sony. This based upon my many, many, many years of hands-on experience working on the beasts.



Receiver: I've heard that Marantz is at the top right now but my choice will be between NAD T763 and Denon AVR3803. Does someone want to guide me in that with any experience.

No, no, no, and NO! None of those three are your best choice for long term satisfaction. Same advice applies as with the choice of TV. You could buy one of those and have a good experience with it, but your odds are MUCH better with Yamaha. ThisGuy recommended the Yamaha RX-V1400 to you, and I concur wholeheartedly.



Speakers: I've listen to a lot but in my budget, I have 2 in mind right now : Mirage and System Audio (Danemark) again do you have any experince with those....

Mirage - yes. System Audio - no. The latter sounds a bit scary to me. Since you're in Canada, I recommend Paradigm, Energy, and PSB as well as Mirage for you to consider.



Sub: this is my main question....My room is in the basement, foundation build on rock....The dedicated room is all the basement but mostly at the end (3 walls) 15X17, the entire basement is 27X20 approx.

Thanks for taking time....

In another post, you mention a Klipsch RSW-12 which is being offered to you for $1K Canadian. That is way overpriced IMO. Shop further.

Hope this helps you

[mariannes504]

Hello, I have a surround system that I bought 10 years ago and it is time to change everything now (TV, Receiver, Speakers, Sub...). I've been disconnected from this world and now I've read a lot since a month and visited stores also. I thinks that I am almost ready to buy now, I've choose some items but I still have questions.

TV: Because of the space (basement surrouded by windows), I've chose a Sony (rear projector) 46" 16:9. The thing is that we always listen TV with satellite, I don't have any collection of tapes and not intend to. People are telling me that I should go for 4:3 instead but in my head the futur is 16:9 and broadcasting will be 16:9 everywhere in a near futur????

Receiver: I've heard that Marantz is at the top right now but my choice will be between NAD T763 and Denon AVR3803. Does someone want to guide me in that with any experience.

Speakers: I've listen to a lot but in my budget, I have 2 in mind right now : Mirage and System Audio (Danemark) again do you have any experince with those....

Sub: this is my main question....My room is in the basement, foundation build on rock....The dedicated room is all the basement but mostly at the end (3 walls) 15X17, the entire basement is 27X20 approx.

Thanks for taking time....

I have a Hitachi Ultravision 16:9 HDTV. Excellant tv. Would definitely buy Hitachi again.