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ToolTroll
tourettic


Registered: 08/02/04
Posts: 2,326
Loc: N. Cack
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Should I buy this home theater system?
#5981029 - 08/20/06 08:50 AM (17 years, 5 months ago) |
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I am in the market for a home theater system, but I am poor, so I can't really spend more than a couple hundred bucks. I need a DVD player and some decent speakers, and it should last at least a few years. This is the one I'm looking at: RCA 500-watt system Does this look like a good product? Of course I would love something louder and bigger, but the funds just aren't there and I need this soon (my DVD player just died). So I think it will sound good, and I will hook up my turntable and CD player to it, and my living room will rock!
-------------------- "This whole idea that different is bad, that a change in consciousness is in itself harmful, is really one of the fundamental problems inherent in the drug war.” - Rick Doblin my cactus collection You vote with your dollars. Everyday. Vote responsibly.
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badchad
Mad Scientist

Registered: 03/02/05
Posts: 13,373
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Re: Should I buy this home theater system? [Re: ToolTroll]
#5981041 - 08/20/06 09:06 AM (17 years, 5 months ago) |
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Looks adequate for the needs you describe.
I'd assume it's able to decode Dolby DIgital 5.1, but it doesn't say for certain on the specs at Newegg. DD 5.1 is pretty standard nowadays though so I wouldn't worry.
-------------------- ...the whole experience is (and is as) a profound piece of knowledge. It is an indellible experience; it is forever known. I have known myself in a way I doubt I would have ever occurred except as it did. Smith, P. Bull. Menninger Clinic (1959) 23:20-27; p. 27. ...most subjects find the experience valuable, some find it frightening, and many say that is it uniquely lovely. Osmond, H. Annals, NY Acad Science (1957) 66:418-434; p.436
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ToolTroll
tourettic


Registered: 08/02/04
Posts: 2,326
Loc: N. Cack
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Re: Should I buy this home theater system? [Re: badchad]
#5981056 - 08/20/06 09:22 AM (17 years, 5 months ago) |
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Yeah, adequate is a good word. Not exactly hi-fi or audio bling... 
My stereo has for years consisted of an old Kenwood solid-state receiver/tuner(KR-7400) with two Dynaco speakers, with tweed grills. We are talking pawnshop-old school. These actually sound real sweet together, very warm and balanced. Hooked up to the Kenwood was a Technics 5-CD changer that has been non-working for about a year, so I had therefore been using our $30 DVD player(Entiveo) as the CD player. Well, that surprisingly long-lived DVD player finally fizzled out, so now I am down to a portable CD player, and I have to watch DVD's on my compooter.
Too bad I can't just get a nice Bose system.
-------------------- "This whole idea that different is bad, that a change in consciousness is in itself harmful, is really one of the fundamental problems inherent in the drug war.” - Rick Doblin my cactus collection You vote with your dollars. Everyday. Vote responsibly.
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badchad
Mad Scientist

Registered: 03/02/05
Posts: 13,373
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Re: Should I buy this home theater system? [Re: ToolTroll]
#5981248 - 08/20/06 11:37 AM (17 years, 5 months ago) |
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IMO Bose isn't worth the money.
I have a complete Bose setup and were I to invest again and do it all over, I'd choose a different brand. Their systems are nice and compact, but you can get better sound for your buck.
-------------------- ...the whole experience is (and is as) a profound piece of knowledge. It is an indellible experience; it is forever known. I have known myself in a way I doubt I would have ever occurred except as it did. Smith, P. Bull. Menninger Clinic (1959) 23:20-27; p. 27. ...most subjects find the experience valuable, some find it frightening, and many say that is it uniquely lovely. Osmond, H. Annals, NY Acad Science (1957) 66:418-434; p.436
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EarthDroid
Old Crank(Veteran)

Registered: 01/25/06
Posts: 409
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Re: Should I buy this home theater system? [Re: badchad]
#5981266 - 08/20/06 11:43 AM (17 years, 5 months ago) |
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NAD makes good receivers, and cd players. I would look at paradigm for cheap, yet excellent sounding speakers. I personally would avoid bose.
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unbeliever
Yo Daddy!

Registered: 05/22/04
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Loc: Gallifrey
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Re: Should I buy this home theater system? [Re: badchad]
#5981528 - 08/20/06 02:02 PM (17 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
badchad said: IMO Bose isn't worth the money.
I have a complete Bose setup and were I to invest again and do it all over, I'd choose a different brand. Their systems are nice and compact, but you can get better sound for your buck.
Bose is over-priced audio snake oil.
-------------------- Happiness is a warm gun...
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kindadank
Stranger

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Re: Should I buy this home theater system? [Re: unbeliever]
#5981601 - 08/20/06 02:41 PM (17 years, 5 months ago) |
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Don't get that RCA one. Onkyo makes good HTIB systems for cheap. Really good value for the money if you just want to buy everything at once. I would recommend this one:
http://shoponkyo.com/detail.cfm?productid=HT-S580&modelid=99&group_id=1&detail=1&ext_war=1
It is refurbished and about the same price as the one you posted. There are many reviews of this system around the web. It is the HT-S580. Their refurbished units are just fine too, almost always practically brand new.
And yes, Bose is all hype...
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kindadank
Stranger

Registered: 07/14/03
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Re: Should I buy this home theater system? [Re: kindadank]
#5981603 - 08/20/06 02:43 PM (17 years, 5 months ago) |
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Oh yeah, if you sign up for clubonkyo, you get $10 off the order too.
Here is a link to a review of the system:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009ME4V0/002-6443134-8934422?n=172282
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ToolTroll
tourettic


Registered: 08/02/04
Posts: 2,326
Loc: N. Cack
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Re: Should I buy this home theater system? [Re: kindadank]
#5981817 - 08/20/06 04:21 PM (17 years, 5 months ago) |
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thanks for the feedback, everyone. kindadank thanks for the links, but that one doesn't have a DVD player with it, which means I would also have to buy a DVD player. Man, so many options, just not enough money...
On a good note, I took apart my Technics 5-disc CD player and dusted it out carefully, and it seems to be working. I tried that with the cheap DVD player, and it's still messed up. So I definitely need a DVD player.
-------------------- "This whole idea that different is bad, that a change in consciousness is in itself harmful, is really one of the fundamental problems inherent in the drug war.” - Rick Doblin my cactus collection You vote with your dollars. Everyday. Vote responsibly.
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kindadank
Stranger

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Re: Should I buy this home theater system? [Re: ToolTroll]
#5981984 - 08/20/06 05:29 PM (17 years, 5 months ago) |
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Yeah, I noticed that after I posted. I would advise against buying a home theater system with a dvd player built into it. My friend had a sony and it crapped out after a while and just stopped reading disks. Usually the dvd player built into these things really lack quality.
You can get pretty decent dvd players now adays for real cheap. I would say 40-55 max for a good one. Here's a very highly recommended one Philips DVP642:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000204...8934422?ie=UTF8
Plays everything, dvd, vcd, divx, pal/ntsc, mp3, and all that jazz.
Anyways, it's a good one and cheap. Hope this helps.
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SneezingPenis
ACHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!111!

Registered: 01/15/05
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Re: Should I buy this home theater system? [Re: badchad]
#5982048 - 08/20/06 06:02 PM (17 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
badchad said: IMO Bose isn't worth the money.
I have a complete Bose setup and were I to invest again and do it all over, I'd choose a different brand. Their systems are nice and compact, but you can get better sound for your buck.
Actually you cant. Bose are the best speakers out there.
This isn't opinion either. How about turning your tiny bose system on, and take a dB meter and walk around the entire space, even around corners of the rooms into other rooms and watch how the decibel level stays almost the exact same. With other systems, there is a sweet "area", and anything outside of that area loses a lot of highs, and high mids... also , Bose does sound the best, has the least coloration of sound and I have yet to hear of anyone returning one for repairs.
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ToolTroll
tourettic


Registered: 08/02/04
Posts: 2,326
Loc: N. Cack
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Re: Should I buy this home theater system? [Re: kindadank]
#5982062 - 08/20/06 06:08 PM (17 years, 5 months ago) |
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Yeah, actually you've been very helpful. Not sure yet what I'm gonna buy, gotta do some more research. I see what you're saying about the DVD/Amplifier units, that's a good point.
-------------------- "This whole idea that different is bad, that a change in consciousness is in itself harmful, is really one of the fundamental problems inherent in the drug war.” - Rick Doblin my cactus collection You vote with your dollars. Everyday. Vote responsibly.
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ZippoZ
Knomadic


Registered: 06/17/03
Posts: 13,227
Loc: Pongyang, North Korea
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Re: Should I buy this home theater system? [Re: ToolTroll]
#5982242 - 08/20/06 07:43 PM (17 years, 5 months ago) |
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build your system component by component, its the way to go, sterios are sooo much fun when you have them all set up and working right.
and yeah, i have a pair of bose 201's amazing speekers, have had them since 98' and they still kick ass.
-------------------- PEACE
zippoz "in times of widespread chaos and confusion, it has been the duty of more advanced human beings - artists, scientists, clowns, and philosophers - to create order. In such times as ours however, when there is too much order, too much m management, too much programming and control, it becomes the duty of superior men and women and women to fling their favorite monkey wrenches into the machinery. To relieve the repression of the human spirit, they must sow doubt and disruption" "People do it every day, they talk to themselves ... they see themselves as they'd like to be, they don't have the courage you have, to just run with it."
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HUBSonDUBS


Registered: 09/01/05
Posts: 890
Last seen: 20 days, 2 hours
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Re: Should I buy this home theater system? [Re: ZippoZ]
#5983956 - 08/21/06 02:14 PM (17 years, 5 months ago) |
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Look at http://www.onkyousa.com/ They are rated very highly I also purched from them a refurbished unit and bought a $100 DVD player after and am very impressed with the system.
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