need advice

[erndog]

I am looking to purchase a new surround soun system. I have a budget or around $5,000. I own mitsubihis 73 inch 1080p dlp big sreen and want something that will be good for movies but also sound really good for music as well. Any advice out there.

[PeruvianSkies]

We need a bit more information. With your $5,000 budget what do you need to purchase? Everything or just speakers? Do you own any equipment now to build off of?

[lewburgh]

Well I have good news for you. You've come to the right place. The audiophiles here know what their talking about. There's only one problem. Your probably going to get 50 different opinions about what to buy. It's really up to you. Go audition some speakers and see what you like. For 5000 you can definetely put together a sweet system with your 1080p Mitsubishi that will sound good for movies and music. My system cost around 3000 and I am happy with it, especially for movies. Looking into Magnepan speakers for music and a 4ohm reciever. I'll let the the others take it from here.

Harman Kardon AVR525
Marantz CD 5001
Samsung DVD HD-850
Toshiba 51H84 HDTV
XBOX 360

Acoustech HT-75 fronts
Acoustech HT-65 center
Athena AS-R1 rears
Velodyne DPS-12

Canare 4S11 and Belden 5000 series speaker cables
Audioquest Copperhead interconnects
ATS Acoustic Sound Panels

[r.j.sanc26]

As lewburgh stated it's a very opinionated subject, and the best over all judge is YOUR ears and of course your budget.

Some advice I can share would be to spend 50-60% of your total budget on high quality speakers and subs, this is most definitely the one area where you should not go cheap. Chances are that once the HT bug bites, you'll (like countless before you) be upgrading and adding new components, cables, accessories...etc to your set-up for years to come, however your high quality speakers/subs will remain constant - spend a little more now and save a lot later.

My systems cost (as it stands today) came in at around 8K, that has been spread out over a span of about five years....I've upgraded receivers twice since then, (from a 5.1 to a 6.1 to the 7.2 I have now), my DVD player twice and my digital set-top twice.....speakers/subs - ZERO. This is IMHO, just a good rule of thumb and by no means set in stone, just something for you to ponder. I'm sure the wonderful folks around here can give tons of excelent opinions and helpful insight if you would post a bit more info as to certain brands that your considering and other things like that.

Happy shopping

[GMichael]

$5k will get you a very nice system. As others have pointed out, different people have different ideas of what would be best. But there are a vew basic answers that will help them to give you idea.
What size room is this going into?
What will you be using it for the most? (Home theater or music? Both? What %'s? 50/50, 20/80, 80/20?)
What kind of music do you like?
What kind of movies do you like?
What kind of speakers & systems have you heard before?
What did you think of those systems?
Are there any hifi stores in your area to go listen?
What area are you in? (someone here may be from there)

I'm sure others will have more questions for you. But the bottom line is going to be, what makes you happy?

[Mr Peabody]

For $5k, if you need everything, you will have to go with a receiver. You said music is importan, so check out Arcam, Rotel or NAD which I feel would be better than the mass merchant brands. In mass merchant brands I give my nod to Onkyo, HK, Marantz/Denon. Marantz and Denon make good DVD players and Sony,if you can find a model that isn't'defective.

Speaker companies like B&W or Paradigm offer entry lines of good quality. I also like Acoustic Energy for a quality budget speaker.

Don't forget to leave roomin the budget for quality interconnects and possibly power conditioning.

[erndog]

thanks for some of the advice guys . Greatly apreciated. To answer some of your questions I will need a entire system. I have been out to tweeter best buy and a local audio store. I have narrowed it down to for brands as far as speakers go maybe you can tell me which ones you might go with. Polk rti12, Def tech bp7002, kef xq5 and psb stratius gold 1. All replys welcome.

[PeruvianSkies]

thanks for some of the advice guys . Greatly apreciated. To answer some of your questions I will need a entire system. I have been out to tweeter best buy and a local audio store. I have narrowed it down to for brands as far as speakers go maybe you can tell me which ones you might go with. Polk rti12, Def tech bp7002, kef xq5 and psb stratius gold 1. All replys welcome.

If that's your choices than the PSB Stratus Gold's are your best bet...they will destroy the rest of those choices, the KEF's would be my second choice, then the Def Tech, then Polk. The Stratus Gold's have been a longtime Audiophile favorite with tons of accilades over the years as one of the best speakers in it's class. However, they are no longer being made and are now replaced by the G-Design line. Maybe you are looking at getting them used though.