Best inexpensive home theatre system

[sharkhark]

Someone earlier said to avoid Bose. Don't know if that is because of budget, or their dislike. My set up is bose and not only do I love it, friends always compliment me on it. One of the reasons I like my 301/201 sound is a compromise.
Every audio expert will tell you speakers lean towards movie sound or music/cd's sound. Each is a different style.
You may listen to some music played on a system, love it, then throw in a movie and it just doesn't cut it. I find my bose to have a good compromise of both.

Run it through a harmon kardon rec'vr like I have and you're in business.

[guitarman]

Someone earlier said to avoid Bose. Don't know if that is because of budget, or their dislike. My set up is bose and not only do I love it, friends always compliment me on it. One of the reasons I like my 301/201 sound is a compromise.
Every audio expert will tell you speakers lean towards movie sound or music/cd's sound. Each is a different style.
You may listen to some music played on a system, love it, then throw in a movie and it just doesn't cut it. I find my bose to have a good compromise of both.

Run it through a harmon kardon rec'vr like I have and you're in business.

I remember Bose many years ago making fantastic PA speakers. I've used them on some gigs several years ago. They had a beautiful clean sound. I think most of the complaints about Bose is that they are over priced. Myself, I don't really know as I don't have much experience with them or have ever priced them. I've used Paradigm almost exclusively for my Home theater in the past 15 years. Now that I've moved my Home theater to the bedroom I have to buy new speakers as my Paradigms will never fit there. I'm thinking of either the Cinema series from Paradigm, going with Energy speakers or if I decide to drop lotsa loot may go with B&W, which also has a reputation for being overpriced.
I'm not a big fan of Home Theater equipment that is sold in Future shop or other big stores.

[guitarman]

I had it explained to me by a Audio Visual supplier to the Kromer Radio's of the world etc. He is a new customer of mine and we were speaking about HDMI etc. Next time I see him I will ask for further clairification, I could be completely wrong.

All cables that I know of have a maximum cable length. HDMI is similar to Cat 5 twisted pair ethernet cable in that it also has twisted copper pair wires. Cat 5 maxes out at about 100 - 150 meters before needing a repeater ( active hub or switch) to refresh and send the signal on for longer runs. Due to the gauge of the twisted pair in HDMI cable being smaller it supposedly has a much shorter limitation. I have heard about 60 feet but don't really know how true this is. I'm sure that their is some sort of HDMI repeater you could buy for longer runs.

[jvincent]

Wire gauge will be the biggest determiner in how long a cable can be. The cable construction, i.e. maintaining proper impedance and shielding, will also play a factor. As a general rule if you are going to have a long run go for the thickest (lowest gauge) available.

The pieces of equipment on either end will also be a factor since some transmitters will be better than others. Likewise for the receivers.

[fundonny]

Onkyo got the best ratings from Consumer Reports at $450 US. Probably what I'll get. It's Sirius ready, which is big for me.

[Solo II guy]

I would get this great deal for speakers for $299 ($500 off), you can always upgrade later
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/pro...gon=&langid=EN

Then I would buy a Harmon Kardon Receiver from the U.S., which at $279 is $120 cheaper than it is here
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1170289629617

A little over your $500 price limit, but the fantastic receiver will let you continue to use it when you upgrade the speakers later.

[Andy4Par]

I just picked up a set of Bose also. Running them through a Marantz receiver. Very nice sound especially at low levels. Not quite as good as my Paradyms though. But they are smaller.

[mikejb]

All cables that I know of have a maximum cable length. HDMI is similar to Cat 5 twisted pair ethernet cable in that it also has twisted copper pair wires. Cat 5 maxes out at about 100 - 150 meters before needing a repeater ( active hub or switch) to refresh and send the signal on for longer runs. Due to the gauge of the twisted pair in HDMI cable being smaller it supposedly has a much shorter limitation. I have heard about 60 feet but don't really know how true this is. I'm sure that their is some sort of HDMI repeater you could buy for longer runs.

It was explained to me that HDMI was designed simply to max out between 15 and 20 feet for use purposes. Now, this does not mean that you will have problems beyond that, but as I have read becuase of this you COULD have issues. There is quite a bit of information here: http://www.bluejeanscable.com/articl...icomponent.htm. The one thing that I have learned is that the source at either end could have the cable running fine at 50 feet, or at 21 feet it could stop working. I have also learned that if you are going to make a purchase of a new TV the PUREST HD signal comes from SDI cables, which are available for consumers to use if you purchase a professional TV and DVD players. Some food for thought for future TV Purchases.

[jvincent]

SDI is only used between studio gear. It won't ever be available on consumer gear your average person will be able to buy.

[mikejb]

That is not 100% correct. For example had I purchased my Panasonic Vierra Plasma through a professional installer I could have gotten it with SDI. It is available in the market place, just not as readily as HDMI.

[jvincent]

I did put the "average consumer" disclaimer in there.

I know you can get SDI input boards for the Panasonics and certainly some of the external scalers out there offer SDI interfaces but again it's a specialty interface.

It really doesn't matter for any of the consumer media anyway. DVD, HD-DVD, and Blu-Ray are all mastered as 4:2:0 YCbCr (at different resolutions of course), which has less raw information content than the 8-bit RGB that is carried over HDMI. I forget which version of HDMI supports deep colour but again once that comes out we're still going to be source limited.

When SDI is used in the studio it is usually carrying 4:4:4 content for studio mastering purposes. 4:4:4 carries a lot more information which is why SDI is required.

[Solo II guy]

I'm running a mediocre quality 35 ft HDMI cable with HD-DVD and so far no issues. I don't think you'll run into problems with long runs until you get to 1.3 HDMI rated material like 1080p/24 with True Dolby.

The nice thing about digital, is that either it works or it doesn't. You don't have to worry about the quality of the wiring as a transfer medium

[guitarman]

I'm running a mediocre quality 35 ft HDMI cable with HD-DVD and so far no issues. I don't think you'll run into problems with long runs until you get to 1.3 HDMI rated material like 1080p/24 with True Dolby.

The nice thing about digital, is that either it works or it doesn't. You don't have to worry about the quality of the wiring as a transfer medium

Not necesarily true. Longer runs with very small wire gauge in cheaper cables. could cause attenuation resulting in pixel drop or loss of picture.

[rgk5]

JBL is also Canadian, and I swear by monoprice. I order all my cables through them.

JBL is American and part of the Harmon International Group of companies.