Theater in a box

[Coach Dizzy]

Hi. I am looking to spend under $300.00 for a home theater for my living room.Mostly for the wife and kids so they can have decent sound. L.R. is 15ft.X22ft.Any help would be great! Space in the T.V. cabinet is limited. Any thoughts on the following choices.
Kenwood HTB-206 $300.00
Yamaha DVX-S60 $200.00 after $100.00 rebate
Toshiba sd43ht $250.00
Also dvd player must be included
Thanks,Chris

[psonic]

tough price range, your best bet is to spend a little more and get like one of the onkyo theater in a box, the system comes with a 150w sub and sounds surprisingly good in music and movies. I found one below, reconditioned with full 1yr warranty & free shipping and a free Onkyo DVD player. 6 speaker system w/ 6ch receiver. If you register for the Club price, you will get a free dvd player also. This is about the only way you can get into entry level hi-fi at that price; there is nothing under $300 with a player that sounds good IMO.

http://www.shoponkyo.com/catalog.cfm?id=3

scroll down to the HT-S650, click club Onkyo Special & register

now you will see the item and the nice dvd player included for $399, considering what you get here- reciever, dvd player, 150w sub, speakers, trust me, this is a steal...

[This Guy]

you could actually get a good system for only $500.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=1062562441340&skuId=5886008&type=product&productCategoryId=cat03010

I'm pretty sure this doesn't have much competion. If you get one of those 200-300$ systems I think you will be severly disappointed. If you shop around on the Internet I'm sure you could get this for around $400. Just don't expect much from any of these systems, you could get a pretty decent system for around a grand, but I realize you're not much of an audio enthusiast. Good luck.

-Joey

[psonic]

Just don't expect much from any of these systems, you could get a pretty decent system for around a grand, but I realize you're not much of an audio enthusiast. Good luck.-Joey

Not true, the onkyo system is by all means decent, in case you didn't botther looking at it. In fact, it's a nice starting platform into entry level hi-fi, unlike an all-in-one Samsung. What decent can you get for a grand? Not very much with player, receiver, speaks & sub. Maybe a Denon HTD or some JBL junk. I used to have the Onkyo system in my HT room and it is quite nice for its price to start with, in fact the speakers with it are better than the Tinny sounding JBLs seen at best buy.

BTW chris, they sell the system at CircuitCity, if you have one nearby go for a listen. This Pioneer below is pretty decent also, but doesn't sound quite as good as the Onkyo, though the speakers are smaller so that may help you some.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=2128762&cat=77622&type=19&dept=3944&path=0%3A3944%3A3987%3A77622

[This Guy]

I did overlook the Onkyo system, it would probably be good match against the samsugn Klipsch. I never heard either, but my opinions are based on the fact that Onkyo generally doesn't make good speakers. I've got a partsexpress catalog and none of their speaker drivers were over around $2. Klipsch has experience making speakers for years, and here you get a good brand of speakers with a decent receiver/dvd player to match it. Since speakers make the biggest difference in sound, I would buy a brand that has been around for awhile and always making decent speakers. And don't tell me you can't get somethign decent for a grand. If you search ebay, ubid, audigon you can find many great deals on all equipment, but if you're talking about shopping at Best Buy then no you can't get **** for a grand.

-Joey

[Smokey]

Here is the rating for HTiB from Nov 03 issue of CR:

MODELS WITH DVD PLAYER

1 Sony HT-1800DP $450 Very good. Includes stand-alone single-disc DVD player. Has optical and coaxial digital-audio inputs and 2-yr. warranty. Lacks 5.1 inputs for external digital-audio decoders. Front and rear-surround speakers 6x3.75x5 in. (HWD), 1.8 lb. each; center speaker 3.75x9.25x5 in., 2.2 lb.; subwoofer 12.75x10.75x16 in., 21.6 lb.

2 Pioneer HTD-330DV $300 Very good. Includes integrated five-disc DVD player. Has bass-boost switch and onscreen display (0SD). Coaxial digital-audio input only. Lacks 5.1 inputs for external digital-audio decoders. Front speakers 9.25x5.75x8.25 in. (HWD), 4.2 lb. each; rear-surround speakers 6.25x4.5x3.25 in., 1.7 lb. each; center speaker 4.25x12.25x3.5 in., 2.2 lb.; subwoofer 14.25x7.5x13 in., 11 lb.

3 Sony HT-C800DP $400 Very good. Includes integrated five-disc DVD player. Has onscreen display (OSD) and bass-boost switch. 2-yr. warranty. Lacks 5.1 inputs for external digital-audio decoders. No S-video connection. No sleep timer or treble adjustment. Front and rear-surround speakers 6x3.75x5 in. (HWD), 1.8 lb. each; center speaker 3.75x9.25x5 in., 2.2 lb.; subwoofer 12.75x10.75x14.25 in., 14.7 lb.

4 Panasonic SC-HT900 $500 Very good. Can play DVD-Audio discs. Includes integrated five-disc DVD player. Has onscreen display (OSD). Optical digital-audio input only. Lacks 5.1 inputs for external digital-audio decoders. No treble adjustment. Front and rear-surround speakers 42x10x10 in. (HWD) standing (21.75x3.25x4 in. wall-mounted), 9 lb. each; center speaker 5.5x10x5.75 in. standing (3.75x9.75x4 in. wall-mounted), 3.4 lb.; subwoofer 17.75x6.25x17.75 in., 26.3 lb.

5 Panasonic SC-MT1 $400 Very good. Includes integrated single-disc DVD player. Can play DVD-Audio discs. Lacks digital-audio input. Lacks 5.1 inputs for external digital-audio decoders. No treble adjustment. Front and rear-surround speakers 9x4.25x4.25 in. (HWD), 2 lb. each; center speaker 5.5x10x5.75 in., 3.4 lb.; subwoofer 17.75x6.25x17.75 in., 25.6 lb. 15 radio-station presets.

6 Philips LX8000SA $700 Very good. Includes integrated single-disc DVD player. Can play SACD discs. Coaxial digital-audio input only. Lacks 5.1 inputs for external digital-audio decoders. No bass/treble adjustment. Front speakers 41.5x.5x8.5 in. (HWD), 6.6 lb each; rear-surround speakers 11.25x3.5x4.5 in., 1.2 lb. each; center speaker 4x11.25x3 in., 1.9 lb.; subwoofer 18.25x7.75x10.5 in., 19.6 lb.


MODELS WITHOUT DVD PLAYER

7 Pioneer HTP-230 $300 Very good. Has optical and coaxial digital-audio inputs and loudness control. Has 5.1 inputs for external digital-audio decoders. Lacks component- and S-video input/output, requiring you to connect DVD player, digital-cable box, or satellite receiver directly to TV for better picture quality. No sleep timer. Front speakers 9.75x4.25x6.5 in. (HWD), 2.9 lb. each; rear-surround speakers 6x4.25x3 in., 1 lb. each; center speaker 4.25x6x3 in., 1.3 lb.; subwoofer 14.25x8.5x16 in., 17.8 lb.

8 Sony HT-DDW750 $300 Very good. Has optical and coaxial digital-audio inputs and 2-yr. warranty. Lacks component- and S-video input/output, requiring you to connect DVD player, digital-cable box, or satellite receiver directly to TV for best picture quality. Lacks 5.1 inputs for external digital-audio decoders. Front and rear-surround speakers 6x3.75x5 in. (HWD), 1.8 lb. each; center speaker 3.75x9.25x5 in., 2.1 lb.; subwoofer 12.75x10.75x16, 21.1 lb.

9 Onkyo HT-S760B $500 Very good. Has optical and coaxial digital-audio inputs, front-panel A/V inputs, and 2-yr. warranty. Has 5.1 inputs for external digital-audio decoders. Front speakers 16.5x7.5x9.5 in. (HWD), 11.8 lb. each; rear-surround speakers 10.5x7x5 in., 3.9 lb. each; center speaker 6.25x15.25x8 in., 7.8 lb.; subwoofer 20.25x11x15.75 in., 29.5 lb. Similar model HT-S767C ($800) has 6-disc DVD player.

10 Kenwood HTB-306 $350 Very good, but relatively few features for the price. Has optical and coaxial digital-audio inputs, bass-boost switch, and loudness control. Has 5.1 inputs for external digital-audio decoders. Lacks component-video input/output, requiring you to connect HD-capable devices directly to similarly capable TV for very best picture quality. No sleep timer. Front and rear-surround speakers 7x4x5 in. (HWD), 2.1 and 1.7 lb. each respectively; center speaker 4x8x5 in., 2.2 lb.; subwoofer 13x12x17.75 in., 16.9 lb.

11 RCA RT-2600 $280 Very good. Has optical and coaxial digital-audio inputs and front-panel A/V inputs. Has 5.1 inputs for external digital-audio decoders. Lacks component-video input/output, requiring you to connect HD-capable devices directly to similarly capable TV for very best picture quality. No receiver-display dimmer or sleep timer. Front and rear-surround speakers 7x4.75x4.5 in. (HWD), 2.9 and 2.2 lb. each respectively; center speaker 4.75x7x4.5 in., 2.9 lb.; subwoofer 14x8x13.5 in., 10.6 lb.

12 Kenwood HTB-206 $300 Good. Has optical and coaxial digital-audio inputs, bass-boost switch, and loudness control. Has 5.1 inputs for external digital-audio decoders. No sleep timer. Front speakers 7x4x5.75 in., 1.9 lb.; rear-surround speakers 7.25x4x5.75 in. (HWD), 1.5 lb. each; center speaker 4x8x5.75 in., 2 lb.; subwoofer 14.75x8x14.75 in., 13.7 lb.

[victord]

Whichever system you choose, just make sure that it has decent-sized speakers all-around. Listen to it, and make sure that you can hear good midrange bass and vocal from the three front speakers.

I used to have a Kenwood HTIB, that was highly recommended by Hometheater magazine, and I was really pleased with it. But that system didn't include a dvd player. The receiver model was VR-407, 600watts total w/ the powered sub. But I think it's been upgraded to VR-507 w/ DTS, DD, Pro-logic2, and 6.1 analog input.

I personally don't think it's worth to buy a complete system w/ an MSRP price of $200-300. You better off looking for "larger" or "better" system/separate that's been discounted DOWN to $200-300 range. You will feel better in the long run.