Building up my first HT system

[ErikB]

I recently bought a new TV, a Sharp LC 32D43U and now I'm looking to start building up a HT system around it as I can afford it. I'm never going to have a huge budget, so I'd rather build it up piece by piece to a decent standard than waste a few hundred now on some HTiB system.

First, for a receiver, I keep coming back to the Onkyo 606. My budget keeps sliding up the more I research, but I'd say ~$450 is a hard cap for me for a receiver, with something closer to $300 much preferred. Right now (or shortly, anyway), I've only got one HDMI source, but I want it to keep being useful well into the future, so I really like all the inputs and A/V pass-through. My only concern is that it sounds like it can't output as 720p, so the upscaling wouldn't really buy me anything. Any good alternatives I'm missing?

I'm more lost when it comes to picking speakers - my only experience with decent speakers are my fun old Klipsch promedia 4.1s. I was going to buy some Polk R50s cheap from Frys but waited too long on that.
This excellent thread (http://forums.audioreview.com/showthread.php?t=27425) has me tempted to pick up a pair of Athena LS100s bookshelves and a center to start, then buy a pair of floorstanders later and move the bookshelves to the back, and a sub last of all (my wife's always disliked the strong sub on my klipsches :). That'd be $500 total for the speakers without a sub - I could probably go a few hundred more assuming I can still space it out like that, but I'd also rather not have to spend everything I possibly could.

Any thoughts on other good deals for a decent first setup? Thanks!

[GMichael]

I recently bought a new TV, a Sharp LC 32D43U and now I'm looking to start building up a HT system around it as I can afford it. I'm never going to have a huge budget, so I'd rather build it up piece by piece to a decent standard than waste a few hundred now on some HTiB system.

First, for a receiver, I keep coming back to the Onkyo 606. My budget keeps sliding up the more I research, but I'd say ~$450 is a hard cap for me for a receiver, with something closer to $300 much preferred. Right now (or shortly, anyway), I've only got one HDMI source, but I want it to keep being useful well into the future, so I really like all the inputs and A/V pass-through. My only concern is that it sounds like it can't output as 720p, so the upscaling wouldn't really buy me anything. Any good alternatives I'm missing?

I'm more lost when it comes to picking speakers - my only experience with decent speakers are my fun old Klipsch promedia 4.1s. I was going to buy some Polk R50s cheap from Frys but waited too long on that.
This excellent thread (http://forums.audioreview.com/showthread.php?t=27425) has me tempted to pick up a pair of Athena LS100s bookshelves and a center to start, then buy a pair of floorstanders later and move the bookshelves to the back, and a sub last of all (my wife's always disliked the strong sub on my klipsches :). That'd be $500 total for the speakers without a sub - I could probably go a few hundred more assuming I can still space it out like that, but I'd also rather not have to spend everything I possibly could.

Any thoughts on other good deals for a decent first setup? Thanks!


First off, welcome to AR. It's good to see new members join. Great first post.

You're idea of building a little at a time is a good one. This way you can buy a couple of nice pieces instead of a whole crap system.
The Onkyo's are a good brand. There are others such as Yamaha, Denon and Pioneer that are making good units as well. You would do well with any of them. Your budget will dictate what models you can afford. Sometimes you can get a great deal on last year's models if you dig hard enough. If you can hold off on buying a little bit, I'm sure that someone will post something about a special going on somewhere. Try to get something with pre-outs if you can. These will let you upgrade to more power later on without having to replace the receiver.

Athena's are good speakers. But don't jump in too fast. Try to hear as many as you can before buying. Speakers tend to be a very personal thing. Not everyone likes the same type of sound. Get out to a few stereo shops and bring a favorite CD or DVD for testing. Play the same songs or scenes on each set you want to hear. That way you'll have a point of reference.

Subs are a huge part of HT. If you want to feel those explosions, nothing will get it done like a sub. If you only care about music, then you can skip the sub depending on what speakers you get.

Take your time. Don't rush into a purchase that you will regret once you hear something you like better. Patients now will pay off big time later.

Oh, and don't forget to enjoy the journey. Have fun.


Mike

[BadAssJazz]

Try to hear as many as you can before buying. Speakers tend to be a very personal thing.

I'm almost certain these words were on one of those tablets that Moses brought down from the mountain top. No truer words have ever been uttered.

Let me just add that taking your time to put together your quality HT is the best way to stretch your budget. More often than not that one component that you slated to buy "down the road" will be discontinued and fall in your lap at a much cheaper price than current.

As for speaker deals...if you're not squeamish about used goods, take a gander at http://www.audiogon.com/ That's the route that I went to purchase my center and rear surrounds. I have no regrets.