Is this a decent home theatre setup?

[Tones]

Welcome to the surround sound world. It's unfortunate that the NGC doesn't have surround sound outside of DPLII, because although it's pretty good, it's nowhere near DD/DTS. I just have 3 more speakers to upgrade before I think I'll be content with my system: the center and surround channels.

I've heard the PS2 DTS, and although it's more like 4.1 (I don't think Vice used a center, or maybe it had mono surrounds... I forget), it's a little better than DPLII. Your highest priority for sound and video should be DVD, methinks. DD/DTS for movies is better sounding than for games (since it's always the same, it can be more refined).

An area that you must accomodate for is cables and wire. You don't have to get the most expensive stuff, but get atleast Rat Shack/AR. There's definitely a difference between those and those crappy pack-ins. For the XBOX, The Monster cables won't be too bad of a price vs. getting everything separate

I've spent:
XBOX: ADV. A/V kit (my room) ($20), optical cable ($20), and an S-video cable ($15).
DVD player: S-video ($15), digi. coax ($15), and stereo analog ($10).
DBS: S-video ($15) and stereo analog ($10).
Plus: Optical cable and mini-adapter (~$20 total), NGC s-video cable ($10), an S-video cable to the TV from the reciever ($20), and a cheap-o S-video cable for the PS2 ($4).

Speaker wire: ~$8 for about 20 ft of 12 guage wire from the Home Depot; this stuff is real heavy. For the surround speakers, I use 16 gauge wire from RatShack that's about $15/50 ft spool. The 12 gauge might be a little overdone, as it would be hard to get into the spring post connections of the back of your reciever. Mine has binding posts, so I use banana plugs (real easy to connect/disconnect).

This is just shy of $200, although everything was purchased over the course of about 6 months, so it wasn't so bad to get. I also bought a High Def kit for the XBOX... man, XBOX games look nice in 480p! I just didn't count it because the HDTV is in the other room.

[Lobo]

Damn, this thread reminds me that I need a to get a decent receiver/sound system. Main reason that I've been holding out is my TV. Its a nice 27 inch flat screen Samsung "ED" set (digital, I guess 1 step down from HD) but it has one terrible problem. I got it as a gift, so I didn't get to do any research, but it has component inputs, problem is, they are useless. Whenever you have something hooked up through them, the picture gets warped, colors become inverted, and scan lines are everywhere. The sucky thing is, Samsung knew about it, because in the manual there is a small section that says you may receive picture problems when using certain DVD players with the component inputs. I went out and bought the Xbox high end A/V pack, and once I hooked it up, it looked like I was watching scrambled porn on channel 96. Pissed me off. So, why buy a nice system when I can't even use component? Bah, damned TV.

[Shinobi128]

Thanks for the ideas/help. I'll start shopping around soon.

[Shinobi128]

Originally posted by Tones
DVD player: digi. coax ($15)

Basically, this thing right here?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...category=14965

I'll take a look at Best Buy/Circuit City/Radio Shack.

[GohanX]

Eh, a standard RCA cable is all you need, but hell, it's hard to find a decent cable fore 5.99, much less one that appears to be excellent.

[Rumpy]

Thread resurrection!

I just kind of skimmed through this thread, but I just came across some nice finding and want to treat myself after graduating college. I've been wanting SS for a long ass time, and I can now get it with out much worry. I'm still on a budget (of cource) but I have my eye on this one right now.

http://www.bestbuy.com/detail.asp?b=...=1552&scat=242

I plan on buying this (or rather a SS setup) this monday (26th) so I'd like to hear your input on this one.

It's a Kenwood HTB-206 and is right at how much I want to spend for it. It looks like it's got everything I want, but I'm not sure about the connections. It's going to have my Panasonic DVD player, Game Cube and PS2 connected to it. VCR too probably. I got a nice TV for it (Sony 41") and I am dying to get this TV hooked up the way it should be.

There is also the HTB-205 and it's the same price and looks to have just about the same features, but I really don't like the way it looks.
http://www.bestbuy.com/detail.asp?b=...=1552&scat=242

Any advice you can give me is greatly appreciated!

[Rumpy]

I just looked at the links on the first page...I'm talking about the same set-up so it looks like I'm on the right track.

[Tones]

It's cool to see new people interested in surround sound, etc.

I've probably mentioned this numerous times before, but I cannot reccoment hometheaterdirect.com enough as a company. They build great speakers, ship based on purchase price instead of weight, and have excellent customer service. If you do not like the product, you can return it for a full refund within 30 days. I blew a driver (raw speaker part) a few months after I bought the speaker, and after a few e-mails, I had a replacement shipped to me with a return shipping slip for the damaged driver. Not a dime was spent in the process; I just had to drop the box off at Staples. I didn't have to deal with any auto-responses or waiting on the phones, as I have had to do with other products. They're definitely a value for what you pay for.

I have the Level III bookshelf speakers, by the way. I'm using them for my mains, and have signals below 100 hz sent to the subwoofer that I constructed.

[Shinobi128]

Originally posted by Rumpy
There is also the HTB-205 and it's the same price and looks to have just about the same features, but I really don't like the way it looks.
http://www.bestbuy.com/detail.asp?b=...=1552&scat=242

Any advice you can give me is greatly appreciated!

if you get the HTB-205, don't get it from best buy, unless you want to you spend much more.

etronics.com has it for $194.99 w/ $40 shipping. so you'll save like $60.


I give this product two thumbs up for someone who's on a budget. i tested it out with the matrix dvd and halo and i can say that it sounds niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.

[Rumpy]

I got the 205 and it's not set up right yet. I need 2 more plugs so i can have the cube and ps2 powered up and I need to get longer wire for the rear channels. 2 questions. I have my DVD player hooked up with a digital audio cable and that works, but for some weird ass reason I can't get video out of the damn thing. I can't figure out why it won't work for the life of me. Does the video have to go through the reciever? I can't get a picture at all no matter what I do (it was working fine yesterday) but I do get audio. I put T2 in and it sounds fucking nuts but I can't see shit. I tried out the cube and I know zelda supports DP2, but the reciever isn't detecting it. Do i need special cables to get it to run in surround?