Used speakers for home theater - need help

[Jim Clark]

Well there's a pair of J50's on ebay right now with a buy it now price of 19.99 +shipping so I'm guessing that the 50 with a center included is pretty good price wise.

Since you are on a tight budget you have to spend wisely to get the best sound. Assuming you haven't already decided that these are all going to be throw away pieces you may think about tinkering with your approach. You don't mention how much your going to spend on a receiver but I'd offer another perspective. It's a matter of opinion but I think that speakers will have the most dramatic impact on sound quality. In addition to the impact, good speakers can last a lifetime. Rather than blowing most on the receiver that will be outdated in a year, 2 max, I'd reverse things and get better speakers (added to incrementally) and cheap out with electronics.

If you were to look at the newer digital receivers like panasonic you could limit that cost to 250.00. These actually get remarkable reviews and a legion of converts is emmerging. Check out the forums at AVS if you have doubts. These like to stay in the digital realm so all you'd need is a transport. A lower cost DVDP would suffice for CD playback and also handle your movies. Hopefully that frees up some cash for speakers. On Audiogon right now is a pair of Paradigm Studio 20's with stands for 375.00 delivered. I doubt anyone here would think that the 3 JBL's would outperform these 2 monitors. A new set of Atoms and a cc isn't going to be much more than 375, if any more. The sky is the limit, and it may be doable with your budget. In the end I think you could get superior movie and music reproduction for the same amount of cash.

Regards,
jc