Ron vs. Home Theatre System: Round 2 ... Please Help!!!

[Ron_Deb]

Hi all,

I used this forum to get help on choosing my first home theatre system; a Kenwood 1080VR receiver driving four Sony speakers, and cheapo sub from Radio Shack ... I know, sad but it was good for enough for a college student. That system kicked ass .. thanks!!

But, after three years with that system I am ready to move on . I am thinking of donating that system to my bro' and getting a new system. Here's some background info:

Budget : around $1k
Use: 75% movies, 25% music
Location: In the living room, not too much space to work with. Ideal for 5.1 system but not big enough for a 7.1 system.

I did some research and here are my choices so far:
Receiver: Harmon Kardon AVR 230 (~$300 from harmonaudio.com)
Speakers: Fluance SX-HTB (~$260)

That leaves about $440 for a sub and cables. Any ideas on what sub would be good? Also, does the receiver/speaker combination sound good? Let me know if you guys think there is a better combination for me out there.

Thanks,
Ron D.

[Bryan]

If, and this is a big if, you decide not to donate the Kenwood to your brother you can look at one of the passive subs from either SVS or VMPS. You may be able to get a used SVS 25-31PCi, Paradigm PW-2200, or perhaps a Rocket UFW-10. For new subs, your choices are basically either the Adire Audio Rava or HSU VTF-2. If you can go the DIY route your options increase dramatically.