Cheap home theater setup?

[cwgannon]

I'm not sure how to best set this up.

[*]Should I purchase the components separately, i.e., buy a receiver and buy a set of 5.1 speakers?

[*]What kind of "wattage" do I need for about a 12'x12' room?

[*]Can this be reasonably done for less than ~$125?

[*]Any other suggestions that I may be forgetting?

If anybody wouldn't mind taking on any of these little nagging questions, I'd be most appreciative.

Thank you.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: cwgannon
I'm not sure how to best set this up.

[*]Should I purchase the components separately, i.e., buy a receiver and buy a set of 5.1 speakers?

[*]What kind of "wattage" do I need for about a 12'x12' room?

[*]Can this be reasonably done for less than ~$125?

[*]Any other suggestions that I may be forgetting?

If anybody wouldn't mind taking on any of these little nagging questions, I'd be most appreciative.

Thank you.

A total budget of $125 makes it pretty much impossible to buy a receiver and speakers on their own to put together your own system.

Even a HTIB set is generally going to be a POS on that budget.

I would recommend saving up a little more and waiting until ShopOnkyo has their refurb "590" HTIB set on sale for ~$159 and getting that.
http://www.shoponkyo.com/products.cfm?group_id=1

 

[jtvang125]

For anything decent, $125 is near impossible. You can probably pickup a HTIB for that much but without a receiver though. Of course you can always go with used if you're really tight on money.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: jtvang125
For anything decent, $125 is near impossible. You can probably pickup a HTIB for that much but without a receiver though. Of course you can always go with used if you're really tight on money.

Not much of a HTIB if it doesn't have a receiver

 

[montypythizzle]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: jtvang125
For anything decent, $125 is near impossible. You can probably pickup a HTIB for that much but without a receiver though. Of course you can always go with used if you're really tight on money.

Not much of a HTIB if it doesn't have a receiver

No it's called a HT-RIB

 

[cwgannon]

Thanks for the replies.

I'm a poor college student already building a new computer and buying an LCD TV, so my budget is significantly limited. Assuming $125 is impossible, I'll have to aim for $175-$200, but not much more at all.

That said, what's wrong with the Sherwood RD-6500, at http://www.provantage.com/sher...-rd-6500~7SWAI002.htm?

As for speakers, could somebody please give me a quick explanation on the different ways a receiver might handle 5.1 speakers, i.e., the type of cord/cable involved, differences between the types, what have you?

Thanks again.

 

[montypythizzle]

Well there is many ways, the most common for true 5.1 is to output it from a DVD player using either an optical or coax digital cable. Optical uses a single-stranded fiber-optic cable to transfer the digital DD (Dolby Digital) or DTS (lower compression than DD but of course is a bigger file on a movie than DD) 5.1 sound. Then there is digital coax, usually a orange or black connector it does same thing as the optical, it is also one cable, but some say it may have ground-loop problems (I am guessing at LONG distances), BUT it is not as "brittle" as an optical cable and can be maneuvered in all kinds of ways.

Then you can hook it up via two Red and White coax RCA cables and most of the time the receiver will upmix that to a pseudo-5.1 surround "sound". It works somewhat, but is NO WHERE near as good quality and soundstage as REAL DD or DTS 5.1 sound.