Hey I am a college senior but have some money to spend
and my crappy home theater in a box is broken and i returned it to circuit city. anyway, should i wait a few months for new products to come out or wait so that i can get current products for cheaper or should i buy now? if i buy now what should i get and if i should wait do you know what's coming out soon?
the htib that broke was an aiwa ht-dv90 (u won't find it online) and its discontinued now b/c its a pos. it cost me $250 but i am willing to spend significantly more so that i get a great system. however, i don't want to spend too much b/c new great stuff is always coming out and my needs might change (i have very little space now so i had a compact htib but i might get an apt. or something down the road and have more space in a year or two). my TV isn't HDTV or anything, its a 20" flatscreen Aiwa w/ a combo VCR in it so i don't need a combo dvd/vcr theater system or anything.
here are my questions...
1) my aiwa came with a subwoofer but the receiver also had a sub pre-out. this allowed me to hookup the crappy stock sub AND a powered subwoofer that i purchased which was cool b/c hey more bass! do any other systems allow usage of both? if i buy a cheaper system w/ crappy stock sub i can just use my powered aiwa sub but if i get a good system, i would like to be able to use both since both would be good. below are pics of the back of my broken aiwa (which shows both connections) and a denon 1000 which also seems to have both (but is probably too $$ for me). click on the thumbnails to see the enlarged version for the sub output
http://www.unc.edu/~dmcgibbo/crap/aiwa.jpg
http://www.unc.edu/~dmcgibbo/crap/denon.jpg
2) should i go for a home theater in a box since i have limited space and don't need a huge component system or buy a speaker system and dvd/receiver components? i liked the dvd/receiver combos that come w/ most htib's b/c i put it on top of my TV on the dresser (i live in a dorm) and i don't really have room for a dvd, huge separate receiver, etc. but then again, i could probably stack them fine on top of my TV still (its pretty flat) or take out the top drawer of my dresser and add a shelf and fit it all easily and it would be pretty cool. The reason I'm asking is b/c there are some good speaker sets (polk, klipsch, sony, etc.) that aren't that bad of a deal and then i could find a good deal on receiver/dvd but i just don't know what's good
3) a lot of the htib and component systems are pricey, so i figured i had 250 invested already (i got a refund) and if I get a really good system w/ a good stock sub that wouldn't let me use my aiwa powered sub i could maybe sell the aiwa sub for some more money. (anyone interested in a great Aiwa WS-150 wood powered 10" sub?) I'd rather buy from a place like circuit city b/c they have a good warranty (i got a refund for my crappy aiwa which i couldn't have gotten if i purchased it online) but those stores have very limited selection. here are some of the ones i was looking at/considering although some of them are too pricey for me probably...
samsung/klipsch audio ht-sk6 - $799 it has klipsch speakers and tons of power which is great b/c i loved my cheaper klipsch computer system that i have. however, it is pricey and it might be cheaper/better to buy a klipsch speaker set and different receiver instead of that samsung but i don't know
onkyo ls-v950 or
onkyo ls-v500c $855 and $699 - the lsv950 is sold at circuit city which is great cuz i can buy a warranty and trade it in in a few years and the 500c is a little cheaper, more powerful and had good reviews
onkyo hts-650 $499 is highly rated but bulky and may be an outdated model. I'd also have to buy an onkyo DVD player to go w/ it - they have a ht-653 which comes with the DVD but circuitcity doesn't sell any onkyo dvd players. It might be a cheaper option than the other onkyo's but it might be a pita. Also, circuit city sells the
Onkyo sks-ht500 speaker set which is what is used in the HTS650 and 653 models just w/o the receiver/dvd and got good reviews and is pretty affordable
There are also a lot of good Sony's (I love sony but just don't like their lower model htib's and they cycle/discontinue products really fast) but they have a
Sony ht-6500d which is $699 or you can get it from crutchfield as a scratch and dent for $595 and Pioneer has an htp-725dv which is a little too much for me, panasonic has some good models but u can't unattach the speaker wires which is crappy and they have a new
panasonic DT-s300 but I don't know much about it and isn't sold locally yet. Basically, there are TONS of models out from panasonic, pioneer, sony, onkyo, and denon and i don't know which is best for me as a HTIB or if I can get a speaker set and receiver/dvd for not too much. A lot of these have too many features and stuff than I need so I don't want to pay 1,000 when all I need is a $500 system. My Aiwa had some great features (being able to use my stock subwoofer and my powered one), a good remote, and ease of use, but the sound and video weren't that great. I could try to buy my same old
Aiwa HT-DV90 direct from Aiwa even tho its discontinued but I've had 2 that broke so not being able to get it w/ a warranty would be bad cuz it'll break again. What are your thoughts or should I wait a while?
BTW, this
Denon DHT-1000DV is my favorite system b/c its really small but it looks like I can have a sub pre-out for my Aiwa sub AND use the denon sub and it looks really feature packed. Obviously, 1100 bucks is too much for what I need and I wouldn't even be able to use all that sound or video quality on my 20" tv - it would be nice tho!
4) is there anything good coming out that i should wait for, when is the new product cycle, where can i find out about soon to be released products like i can easily find out about cars or cell phones, and what's the best home audio forum, etc. since most that i found are only for audiophiles w/ tens of thousands of dollars to spend?
5) you can look at CNET's HTIB's
HERE, their choice Speaker systems (they show the Klipsch Quintet which is offered on that Samsung above)
HERE, Crutchfield's selection
HERE, or point me to somewhere else for more info
Sorry this post is so long but I had all those links saved and if I spend like $600 bucks I don't want to regret it. Any help is greatly appreciated. THANKS!
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