Suggestions For Home Theater On A Budget

jrlouie

Okay guys, I have a buddy who just finished a room he wants to utilize as a dedicated home theatre. He has a 65" widescreen, theatre chairs, and is now needing a sound system. My problem is that he knows nothing about speakers and I can't talk him into spending very much. I'll probably be setting it up for him but I'm thinking he wants to keep it simple anyway. From our discussions it sounds like he's interested in a sub-satellite system and I'm guessing he'll be keeping it under $1000 for the speakers. I also don't think he's interested in researching used equipment. I just read a review about the Energy act6 and Hsu Ventrilloquist. The review liked both of these budget systems. I also know Polk has their RM6900 and RM20 systems but I haven't read reviews yet.
Are there any 5.1 or 6.1 sub-satellite systems you'd really recommend for this price range?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions, it's much appreciated.

Shizelbs

I guess my first reaction is that if he truly has a dedicated room of his house for HT and a big expensive TV and even the fancy HT chairs, he really should be willing to pay more than $1000 for his sound. Not that you can't get good sound for that money, but, you don't want the chairs to upstage the sound of the movies you know? Is there anyway you can take him out to some hi-fi shops and show him what he'll be missing?

Mjr7531

Is it possible to talk your friend into Bookshelf speakers? If so, you can get a much better sound IMHO. I'll be using a few main I'm going to be assuming that your friend still need a receiver, I'm just listing the cheapest suitable receiver on crutchfield, listen to other people on this forum, they will have many opinions on receivers etc. that will be far more helpful.
Receiver Onkyo TX-SR502 Black - $269.99
You can add this DVD Player... Onkyo DV-SP301S - $50
Surround Speakers Polk Monitor 30 - $200
Fronts Polk Monitor 40 - $300
Center Polk Monitor CS1 - $179.99
Total- $998 (With a little tax from the CS1 because It's from CC)

You can get a free Subwoofer from crutchfield he buys this way, but like Shizelbs said, he ought to spend much more on it if he's already come this far. Good luck helping him with his project,
Matt

jrlouie

Thanks for the responses. Shizelbs, I totally agree. Maybe that's worth a shot. I'll see if I can take him shopping.
I'm thinking that I can get him to buy a receiver and DVD player outside of the $1000. So that would leave $1000 for 5 speakers and a sub.
I'm sure he'd consider bookshelf speakers. Actually, he's knows hardly nothing so whatever I say is the best bang for his buck he'll probably go with. So really the suggestions are open for any types of 5.1 configurations for speakers.
Let me know what you think. I'll keep the Polk Monitors in mind too.

Mjr7531

The Receiver and DVD Player are outside of that $1000? Very cool.
In that case I'd get him to go with the RTi series
maybe a pair of RTi4 ($260) for rears, RTi6 ($380) in front and a CSi5 ($400) for center all for 1038 dollars, The frontstage would sound outstanding, I use The CSi5, RTi6 for my frontstage and I like it very much. And of course, if you buy on crutchfield, you'll still get that fre PSW10.

Edit: Added separate prices...

Joey_V

1000$ for everything?

I remember when the RTis went on super sale a few months ago. This would've been perfect. i bet he couldve gotten 2 pairs of RTi12 and a center for that price.

Oh well, no sense crying over spilled milk.

For a $1000, I would either go with the suggestion above regarding some RTi6 and RTi4s or really try to convince him to UP his budget a bit. If he has a dedicated HT room, I dont understand why he should "skim" on the speakers. The speakers and the video MAKE the room. If he has a 60+" tv, why not splurge a little on the speakers?

If he can bring his budget up to about 1500-2000, he can start looking at some real nice combos.