shaneb
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New one here - looking for advice
jackfish
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right now at Needle Doctor and Music Direct for $250.

http://www.avguide.com/review/tas-196-epos-els8-loudspeaker

Quote:

I need a receiver that will push those speakers. Offer 5.1 output and will still give me a good music listening experience. Clarity in reproduction is key. At a budget.

Ain't gonna happen.

Here is a receiver that is an older version yet still has a lot of life. http://www.dakmart.com/Audio-Home-Audio-Receivers/c4_9_15/p6516/SELD-DENON-AVR-3808CI-3808-7.1-RECEIVER-HDMA-1.3A-1080P/product_info.html

http://www.hometheater.com/receivers/708denon3808/?q=receivers/708denon3808

http://www.avguide.com/review/denon-avr-3808ci-av-receiver

http://www.techradar.com/news/home-cinema/home-theatre-audio/denon-avr-3808-small-price-big-sound-180409

commsysman
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The Alpha B1 is an amazing speaker for the money. In that price range there isn't anything nicer-sounding. I would certainly suggest that you get those speakers. GOOD revews on the Alpha B1 is the understatement of the year...lol; try mind-boggling off-the-scale reviews; from everyone!

In my opinion, the sound quality of the Onkyo HT receivers is superior to all of the others on the market. They seem to accomplish this by using a higher no-signal bias setting than the others, and better engineering generally. In any case, they sound very good. My second choice would be a Marantz receiver; they are very good also.

Any other HT receiver that you can get for under $600 is going to sound like crap, from my experience. There is a lot of crap in the lower price range so be very selective.

I suggest you go to the Onkyo Receiver page on their website and look for the receiver with the features you need at the best price. The Onkyo TX-SR309 has an MSRP of $299 and might meet your needs. Check the list of features and see if it floats your boat...lol.

Actually, the TX-NR509 has the Audessy room correction, and lists for $399, so that would be my recommendation; that is a very good feature to have in the long run. Whoaaa...I just looked on Amazon and searched for the 509 and they have it now for $230...that is some price; might want to pounce on that ASAP! That can't last long (Onkyo usually is not discounted more than 10%).

I can never tell anything at all by listening in a dealer's showroom. You should either get the dealer to loan the gear to you for 2 days or more and try it at home, or get it from Audio Advisor and try it out for 2 weeks free (they give you 30 days free return privelege; you do pay return shipping if you return it). For me, there is no substitute for trying it out in my system in my room; the acoustics in a showroom are totally different.

Do your audition at home; that is the only way to be sure of satisfaction!

You could order the Marantz NR-1402 receiver to try at home from Audio Advisor. That one also has Audessy, for $400. It has 50 watts/ch, as opposed to the 80W of the Onkyo, but with those efficient speakers (91db/watt) either is plenty; that is a non-issue (unless/until you buy some speakers with an efficiency of 87 db/watt or worse).

 

**************************************************************** 

After much reading and not wanting to spend lots-o money at first. I am looking at the PSB Alpha B1 bookshelf set or the Paradigm Atom v.5 bookshelf set.

As I have found a local craigslist deal for the Alpha B1 AND C1 for under 300. I will probably go pick those up since they seem to have good reviews and are one step closer to a 5.0/5.1 setup. But firstly, a good stereo setup for music is priority over getting 5.1 right away.

So, since I am new and have just done a lot of reading. I would like your thoughts on that speaker choice. From what I understand those are about the best bang-for-buck speakers around under $300.00.

Furthermore, I need some advice on receivers. This is where my knowledge and reading really shows it's weakness.

I need a receiver that will push those speakers. Offer 5.1 output and will still give me a good music listening experience. Clarity in reproduction is key. At a budget.

Beyond that. The things that will be plugged into it are - Xbox(hdmi) BluRay(hdmi) and maybe an Iphone and Digital out from a computer. Then I would like it to take HDMI out to my television - 1080p Samsung 42"..

Here is my ultimate goal in all of this - LOW BUDGET. I would love to spend no more than 250-300ish on the receiver if possible. My goal (if I can get those speakers) is to keep it well under a grand for the whole 5.1 eventually. At leats most the way. I also am all about buying used equipment!

The major thing I do NOT want - is to get something that will completely disappoint me. I do not want the receiver to be the weak link in the reproduction of all that great music and secondly movies. If you tell me I have to spend $500 on the receiver or I will be upgrading in a month or two. Then I will just wait the month or two and get the $500 one first.

I also understand that in a perfect world I could audition all of this before buying. I don't know of anyplace I could truly audition a receiver though. Considering I would nearly have to have them both plugged into the same type of speakers in the same enviroment. I don't know if that place exists near me. Maybe it does? (Dallas, TX).

shaneb
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Thanks for your replies and reccommendations.

I am in contact and plan to try and pick up the Alpha's this weekend. I like to buy used and the fact it comes with a Center, looks to be a good deal.

I know I am not going to get pure reproduction on a budget. Mostly looking for where to start. Whether or not there was a "threshhold" price or line/per a certain manufacturer to start looking at.

I will likely save for something like the NR509 or that Denon. Both look pretty stout.

Thanks again for the time to reply. I will let you guys know what I end up with!

commsysman
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I just searched for the 509 on Amazon and they have it for $230; that is a very unusual amount of discount for an Onkyo. Don't think that will last very long!

shaneb
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Sweet. Picked up speakers tonight...Was able to demo them in the guys living room to some Pandora-streamed music (not awesome quality) and he threw in a Blu Ray for me.

I will be borrowing a "pos" Sony receiver for a few weeks until I can get a decent one.

Can't wait to get it all together

I am very excited. Glad I finally made the leap into some Home Audio stuff.

 

 

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