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Dark_Knight
06-08-2004, 09:34 PM
Ok, I'm looking for some opinions on my system and suggestions for direction. My Fiance and I have decided to start building a nice HT system. We watch a lot of movies (DVD) at home and usually enjoy the experience more than the actual theater unless it's for something big like the LOTR trilogy, or Starwars, etc. Anyhow, in Oct we got a new Panasonic 47" 16:9 HDTV w/ integrated ATSC tuner, and have had 3 or 4 (so many I can't remeber) defective models, another one damaged by the delivery guys (hit it hard on the door, how unprofessional!), another one arrived damaged from the warehouse (crushed screen). The last one we finally settle with doesn't maintain the convergence properly, but since they don't have any more of this particular tv to give to me, and I don't like any others (either they don't fit, or are too much money) I've settled with this. I took delivery of the last TV in April, and they had to have it shipped from another state, so I've been dealing with it for quite a while. I can tolerate the problem until I'm ready to deal with Ciruitcity again. (BTW, they did a great job CS wise, it was Panasonic's and the 3rd party delivery people that were the problem).

Anyhow, more to the point. So I've got this great 47" HDTV, and as one of the many things they did for me for the lousy TV's, I got a $50 gift card. So we decided to get a nice A/V receiver to go with the TV. I picked up a Panasonic SA-HE100K. It came with a free (and cheap) set of Dual bookshelf speakers. Which was a good thing since we were out of money. I've notice lately that I'm tired of cranking the hell out of the amp to get any clear dialog, so I've been looking at better speakers. Now, I haven't really been speaker shopping in many years. The last set I bought and still own are 2 Technics SB-CR77 to match my Technics SA-GX190 A/V reciever. That is my bedroom set, and I must say that I have never been more impressed or happy with anything else. The SB-CR77's have a 12" poly-coated woofer, 4" poly mid's, and a 2" paper tweeter (one of which got ripped, but that was an accident :( ) Anyway, you can imagine my surprise when I go shopping and I can't find anything with a woofer larger than 5.5" outside of a sub. I personally have always prefered having the larger woofers integrated into the cabinet rather than the sub, mainly b/c of the Technics I've had since I was like 13. More than that, the CR77's were $80 each, and nowadays you can't find anything close at all, and any nice floor standing speakers start at $200 each with no woofers! You can't get 12" bass from a 6" speaker! The subs are just plain rip-offs. I challenge anyone to take thier single sub and match the room shaking chest compressing bass that comes off my CR77's! Just about the only ting I have ever seen with more power are my brother's 4 Cerwin-Vega's with 18"? (Atleast 18" I think they might be larger) 400w speakers with his bridged Onkyo power amps. That can jump start a dying mans chest with the right music.

I'm getting away from the point again so moving along... I've been looking for a nice HT speaker set for between $300-$500. The full sets out there today are appalling in terms of appearance, performance, and for price on any decent set. So, I'm gonna have to peicemeal it. I picked up an Infinity C25 for the center, and two pioneer S-H253B-K's for the fronts. I'm gonna have to use the Dual's as rears until I have some more saved up. I figure I'll eventually get the matching Primus 150's for the 5 other surrounds that I need, and use the Pioneers on the A channel for Radio, and regular TV. What do ya think?

Bryan
06-09-2004, 05:07 AM
Where to begin? The Panasonic receiver is not known for quality. Entry level ones from Yamaha, Denon, Marantz, and Onkyo best it. To give you another example, I used to have a JVC RX-8000V receiver that had more features and cost almost twice as much as my Yamaha RX-V496. The Yamaha sounds much better.

For your application, look at the Fluance SX-HTB system. It goes for $260 delivered. Next you will need a sub. A quality subwoofer goes for $450 on up. Here we are talking the likes of the HSU VTF-2 or Adire Audio Rava. Look for a used subwoofer. Either one I mentioned should perfore wonderfully for you. If you want a complete system, the HSU Ventriloquist/VTF-2 combo goes for around $660 delivered though that may be outside of your price range. If you will be upgrading the sub at some point in time, the Rocket Tyke system goes for $399 plus shipping.

jeffrodesiac
06-11-2004, 10:22 AM
Ok, I'm looking for some opinions on my system and suggestions for direction. My Fiance and I have decided to start building a nice HT system. We watch a lot of movies (DVD) at home and usually enjoy the experience more than the actual theater unless it's for something big like the LOTR trilogy, or Starwars, etc. Anyhow, in Oct we got a new Panasonic 47" 16:9 HDTV w/ integrated ATSC tuner, and have had 3 or 4 (so many I can't remeber) defective models, another one damaged by the delivery guys (hit it hard on the door, how unprofessional!), another one arrived damaged from the warehouse (crushed screen). The last one we finally settle with doesn't maintain the convergence properly, but since they don't have any more of this particular tv to give to me, and I don't like any others (either they don't fit, or are too much money) I've settled with this. I took delivery of the last TV in April, and they had to have it shipped from another state, so I've been dealing with it for quite a while. I can tolerate the problem until I'm ready to deal with Ciruitcity again. (BTW, they did a great job CS wise, it was Panasonic's and the 3rd party delivery people that were the problem).

Anyhow, more to the point. So I've got this great 47" HDTV, and as one of the many things they did for me for the lousy TV's, I got a $50 gift card. So we decided to get a nice A/V receiver to go with the TV. I picked up a Panasonic SA-HE100K. It came with a free (and cheap) set of Dual bookshelf speakers. Which was a good thing since we were out of money. I've notice lately that I'm tired of cranking the hell out of the amp to get any clear dialog, so I've been looking at better speakers. Now, I haven't really been speaker shopping in many years. The last set I bought and still own are 2 Technics SB-CR77 to match my Technics SA-GX190 A/V reciever. That is my bedroom set, and I must say that I have never been more impressed or happy with anything else. The SB-CR77's have a 12" poly-coated woofer, 4" poly mid's, and a 2" paper tweeter (one of which got ripped, but that was an accident :( ) Anyway, you can imagine my surprise when I go shopping and I can't find anything with a woofer larger than 5.5" outside of a sub. I personally have always prefered having the larger woofers integrated into the cabinet rather than the sub, mainly b/c of the Technics I've had since I was like 13. More than that, the CR77's were $80 each, and nowadays you can't find anything close at all, and any nice floor standing speakers start at $200 each with no woofers! You can't get 12" bass from a 6" speaker! The subs are just plain rip-offs. I challenge anyone to take thier single sub and match the room shaking chest compressing bass that comes off my CR77's! Just about the only ting I have ever seen with more power are my brother's 4 Cerwin-Vega's with 18"? (Atleast 18" I think they might be larger) 400w speakers with his bridged Onkyo power amps. That can jump start a dying mans chest with the right music.

I'm getting away from the point again so moving along... I've been looking for a nice HT speaker set for between $300-$500. The full sets out there today are appalling in terms of appearance, performance, and for price on any decent set. So, I'm gonna have to peicemeal it. I picked up an Infinity C25 for the center, and two pioneer S-H253B-K's for the fronts. I'm gonna have to use the Dual's as rears until I have some more saved up. I figure I'll eventually get the matching Primus 150's for the 5 other surrounds that I need, and use the Pioneers on the A channel for Radio, and regular TV. What do ya think?

Yeah i would check out Fluance ive had mine the AV-HTB and im floored by how good they sound for so cheap, i even spent 25 extra bucks to get spikes on the fronts and made them biampable, i have a 12' NHT sub which compliments them nicely