Hometheatre newbie

spidermanusa

Hi

Absolute novice when it comes to hometheatre. Thinking of buying pair of R15s ad R30s to start off mine and using the Sonic T-amp. As you can see my budget is very limited. Can I get off using the T-amp instead of any receivers and do I need a sub woofer? Thanks for your help. This is my first post here.

- spidermanusa

michael_w

It depends on what you want... If you want a 2 channel system for playing music and movies in stereo then all you'll need is a pair of speakers, the t-amp and maybe a sub. If you want surround sound (5.1 or more) you'll either have to get some kind of decoder to seperate the channels to feed it to three t-amps or just buy a receiver (probably a better route if you want 5.1).

Since you are on a very limited budget, if you wanted to go the surround receiver route you could probably pick up a used receiver at a decent price.

The Sonic Impact T-amp is a great product, especially for the price, but you will have to keep in mind you won't be able to crank things much. As long as you don't mind listening at mid level volumes it'll be great. Some modifications to it can be quite beneficial. Simple things like adding new binding posts and turning that 1/8" headphone jack into two female rca plugs can be quite handy and help with the sound quality.

Good luck and welcome to the forum.

spidermanusa

Thanks Michael. I think I'll go for the 2 channel with the R15s and the t-amp for now.

spidermanusa

One more question. How do I turn the headphone jack into the RCA plugs. Do I buy a Stereo Mini to Female RCA plug? or should I change the soldering and stuff inside the box? Thanks.

michael_w

That one is also up to you. If you're feeling ambitious you can buy some female RCA plugs and install them with the amp in a new box or you can just stick with the headphone jack and buy a cable to go from 1/8" headphone to two rca's. A cable can be had for <$10 at radio shack.

I personally left the jack as the headphone because I planned on using it with my computer which has an 1/8" headphone output. Now that it's not in my computer system I might build a new box for it and install some rca plugs.

shack

Save your money and forget the T-amp. If you really want home theater find a decent used AVR. and go from there. You can find them all over the place for less than $100 (I did a quick search of ebay and came up with about 60 that have sold for < $100 in the last week). If you have to because of funds...start slow. Buy an AVR and your fronts, then save for a center, surrounds and a sub. You could put together a great HT for $300-$400 if you look for used and good deals. Just don't waste your money on a T-amp if you want a HT rig.

steveinaz

I agree with Shack. Save the T-amp for an office/patio/garage rig and hunt down good used deals. Best way to get the good stuff on the cheap.

spidermanusa

Ok. I'm going for the receiver. What should I look for in a receiver considering I won't have a sub or a center channel for a while. Thanks for your responses.

EDIT: Can you also suggest some models that I should look at. Thanks.

- spidermanusa

shack

Denon 16xx, 17xx, 18xx series (ie AVR-1803), or the Harman Kardon 300 series. A 5.1 AVR from 2000 -2004 with 65wpc (and up) should be available in your price range. Don't hesitate to consider a factory refurbished unit from and authorized dealer. There is lots of good used gear as folks get upgrade fever on a regular basis and NEED all the lastest and greatest bells and whistles. Avoid Sony AVRs (unless it is an ES model).

shack

Here are a couple of examples on ebay...(may or may not sell low - if not these there are others)

http://cgi.ebay.com/Denon-AVR-1803-6-1-Channels-Receiver-480Watts_W0QQitemZ5836664486QQcategoryZ39793QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/Harman-Kardon-AVR-230-Receiver-DTS-Dolby-Digital-6-1-NR_W0QQitemZ5838771805QQcategoryZ39794QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Lots more to look at...but you need to do some research. Places like http://www.ecoustics.com and http://www.audioreview.com are good places to start...not necessarily as the last word on what to buy, but as reasearch tools to find what other individuals and mag./ezine reviewers think.

spidermanusa

Thank you. Thats a start. I'll let you know what I got.

spidermanusa

hi all

I bought a Denon AVR 484 receiver for 128$ on Ebay. Is this a good buy? Will this receiver be adequate for my needs? What kind of speaker wires should I get. I'm going to set the speakers not more than 6' from the receiver. Thanks for your responses. You have been a great help.

ohskigod

16 ga wire will be fine for your needs. Radio shack or whatnot. dont go nuts
if its got dd and DTS, for that price you cant go wrong.
R series polk you mentioned earlier should work great with that reciever. its a good start, but if you like it, it aint gonna be where you stop

shack

Nice purchase. This is a nice entry level AVR with most of the Bells and whistles you would want. 75 wpc@8ohm, 5.1, DD, DTS, Analog inputs for DVD-A and SACD if you like. Here is Denon's product info sheet:

http://usa.denon.com/avr484_productsheet.pdf

and the info at Denon's website:

http://usa.denon.com/1367.asp?archivedModelSearch=true&archivedCategory=AV&archivedModel=AVR-484&imageField.x=18&imageField.y=12

Some might feel that the lack of preouts for adding better amplification later is a drawback....but for $128 (about 56% of MSRP), if you decide you need more/better power in the future, sell this one and upgrade.

If you are near a Tweeter they may have their Polk Audio T20EB Bookshelf Speakers on sale for $69 each (basically the Euro version of the Monitor 30). Not a bad deal. Here they are at the Tweeter website.

http://www.tweeter.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2124916&cp=1124285.1124339.1193652&sublevel=2&parentPage=family

It doesn't show that price, but they were marked that way in the store I was in today.

Frys often has good deals on Polks. Find a nice pair of speakers and you are on your way