Recommend a Home Theatre System

[bds0688 10+ year member]

^ absolutely. surround is most prominent in gaming, and indispensible when you need to know which way that UAV-Jamming bastard is coming from.
OP, I could sell you four of the channels from my Onkyo HTIB for little money.

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

The surround mixing in Forza Motorpsort is nothing short of amazing. Cabin view makes the exhaust note come out of the rears, mechanical sound of the engine up front, like the blower whine on the Ford GT or SVT Cobra-R:yumyum://content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/yumyum.gif.0556df42231b304b9c995aefd13928a8.gif

Or, you can hear the cars coming up behind you, trying to get on the inside of the turn before you.

 

[brandontw 10+ year member]

Finally we've got some down to earth peeps posting usefull advice.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

Thank you!//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/cool.gif.3bcaf8f141236c00f8044d07150e34f7.gif

 

[mlstrass 5,000+ posts]

Just go demo some stuff in your price range. I think the initial responses were in regards to your limited budget vs high expectations. You can get 5.1 for $200, but you won't get lows, detailed highs, much volume, etc... but it will be much better then your TV speakers as mentioned.

Also search online for some of the places that sell close out/clearance stuff. I'm sure many of them will be better then nothing at all.

Maybe look on AVS forum and search HTIB, lots of info over there.

 

[snova031]

Anyone have anything to say about the Athena stuff I posted?

I've read that for the money, they are really good speakers...

 

[snova031]

audioholics liked the mirca set pretty well. For $149, can't go wrong.
Problem is, this doesn't come with a receiver or sub.

Good point, but like I said, you can surf ebay and probably find an older middle of the line Onkyo/Yamaha 5.1 receiver for cheap.

You could just hold off on the sub until you can afford one too..

I don't know much about HT, just throwing this out there though..

 

[Tehgregzor 10+ year member]

I've heard about that one.. isn't it like well under 200$ too? like 149 or something?
I was tempted just because of the remote.

Well, it certainly wasn't 149. If memory serves me correctly, it was 224. I bought it the same time i bought my 51" HDTV. The remote is sweet. I like being able to surf the xbox live market place with the remote. And, since my xbox is also my primary DVD and HD DVD receiver, the remote keeps you from wasting controller charge just to press pause lol. It has alot of nice eq settings, and the microphone will automatically calibrate the speaker levels based on distance from the mic. Like a type of time delay, almost. It just does levels, not time delay. So if your rear speakers are close to your couch and your fronts are farther away, put the mic on the couch where you sit, let it calibrate, and the system adjusts the front and rear, left and right, and sub channel to compensate for the difference in distance.

 

[brandontw 10+ year member]

Anyone have anything to say about the Athena stuff I posted?
I've read that for the money, they are really good speakers...

I've heard really good things about those WS-100 towers, if I remember right I was REALLY close to buying some (like my mouse was hovering over the "buy it now" button) then all the sudden I did a switcheroo and put the money into a DIY line array project.

I don't know where you can demo them, that was part of the issue, i hate buying speakers without hearing them first.

 

[theCybe 5,000+ posts]

Outpost.com has the Polk R150 for $49 a pair - two pairs of those leaves you a hundred bucks for a receiver.

ShopOnkyo.com has refurb Onks pretty regularly.

That's what I'd do. When you get the extra loot, add a sub and center. You can use 'virtual surround' until then (where the center channel comes from the L+R.