Entertainment Center: TVs, Stereos, VCRs and DVDs - 2 speakers now- how much more to go ht....

ok right now im fairly happy with the sound im getting but old receiver not working correctly need a new one. Im also doing some remodoling right now and have all the walls pretty ripped up so it seems like a good time to run some speaker wire. Most of the new receivers now all seem to come with 5.1 dolby etc but I only have 2 speakers at this point so Im debating what it would cost to add to what I have to make an ok sounding Ht setup on kinda low budget..

one Speaker I have is a Sansui-spx3u-- bought for $100 at costco few years ago this is 28in high by 14 by 14 bout kinda large speaker.. Play role of Sub woofer?
and also have a mid size capehart Air suspension speaker (real old works fine)

I plan on spending $100-$150 for the receiver..(probally At Best Buy or circut city)

maybe $100-150 more for additional speakers after that.

I know they say matching is important so is there any way to buy a few more speakers and to use speakers I already have to make a ht or should I just buy a receiver and forget ht. for now and just stick with 2 speakers...

any help and specfic model reccomendations that might work appreciated..

Well you are on a serious budget. First off i would go ahead and run the speaker wire for the rears since you have the walls torn apart. Even if you decide not to get surround speakers it would be nice to know that you have the wire there for the future. Wire alone will cost you between 50-100 dollars. I am not familar with your speakers. Most speakers out today are really efficient. The center channel is the most crucial part of a HT setup. It sounds like you would be happy with a HTIB (home theater in a box). That would include the receiver subwoofer and satellite speakers. You can pick up a new sony HTIB for around 400, but i would check ebay. I started out with a HTIB now i have the bug. You also can not forget cables like fiber optic and digital coax or maybe evnen component cables depending on you TV. Acoustic research makes great entry level cables. On ebay they always have these cables very very cheap! Good luck on your HT setup!

Tim if i was you i would pick something like this up! Then later down the road you can upgrade. This a entry level system but will blow you away compared to you have been listening to.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3058320166&category=39817

Here is some speaker wire for 20 bux.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3060175753&category=14966e is some speaker wire. 20 dollars.

a 100ft roll of 16gauge wire for $20 + $16 shipping? uh...

Go down to Home Depot or Lowes and get some 12ga monster cable lookalike wire for $0.39 a foot. It's manufactured by Carol which is a huge wire company. It's a far better deal, and you don't have to get suckered for $16 for shipping on a $20 roll. If you don't want that, there's some thinner stuff for cheaper that's just as good.

Another point--You won't be able to pass electrical inspections if you run either of the above wire through the walls. There's specific wire that's rated for that purpose. It doesn't look as pretty, it's a heck of a lot cheaper, and it'll sound no different.

good advice guys I appreciate it.. sounds like htib would be the best choice for me a matching system but im not quite sure want to spend that much right now Ill probaly run the wire now for setup later..

Oh i think the speaker wire was primo mentioned was actually $5.00 to buy it now and $15 for shipping... hehe it sounds like numbers should be reversed but it comes out to $20..

Ive heard other peeps mention that 12 gauge HD wire --sounds like it would be excellent except I am going the inspection route inspector has been out to approve the electrical already and is coming back for the final step so I may have to check into approved in wall stuff grr more money probally-- but thanks for the tip there...

Ps I saw one kinda cheap receiver KLR Brand $110 for ht Receiver name this stuff any good or kinda garbage for a reciever..

Originally posted by alung
Go down to Home Depot or Lowes and get some 12ga monster cable lookalike wire for $0.39 a foot. It's manufactured by Carol which is a huge wire company. It's a far better deal, and you don't have to get suckered for $16 for shipping on a $20 roll. If you don't want that, there's some thinner stuff for cheaper that's just as good.

Another point--You won't be able to pass electrical inspections if you run either of the above wire through the walls. There's specific wire that's rated for that purpose. It doesn't look as pretty, it's a heck of a lot cheaper, and it'll sound no different.

I've been looking for good speaker wire to run for my home theater system. This will be installed in new construction in both the walls (interior and exterior) and the ceiling cavities. If I read this correct then the HD/Loews 12 ga for $0.39/foot will not be acceptable cos it's not rated for that use?
Also, if it's not acceptable for those reasons where can you use this cable?

Originally posted by AdrianM

Also, if it's not acceptable for those reasons where can you use this cable?

on the floor typically. really anywhere but in the walls.

Tim,

The cheapest way to get a HT is to buy used. Look at www.craigslist.org for used stuff. Be sure to get a receiver with _Dolby Digital_. It will say on the front. Some older models only have Dolby Prologic, and it's not nearly as good. You can also check amazon.com's used items. I've had good luck there.

KLR would be bottom of the barrel, but would probably work. I'd look into Sherwood. They have a decent model that typically goes on sale for $99.

A regular speaker won't work as a sub because 99.9% of receivers have a RCA sub output. www.partsexpress.com has a sub by Dayton that is ok and sells for around $100. Again, used is cheaper.

Matching speakers is very important, and is most important for the front 3 speakers. If you can get 3 identical speakers for the front, that would be ideal. I'm not sure if this is possible on your budget. The next best option is to run without a center channel, and then the center channel sounds will be output by the two main speakers.

As primo suggested, the best way to go is HTIB. The Onkyo HTIB systems that end in 0 are excellent and good value for the money. This is dirt cheap for what you get: http://www.ecost.com/ecost/shop/detail.asp?DPNo=268382&adcampaign=email,ECOSTPG

If you don't go that route, I would scan the local classifieds for used bargains, or try to increase your budget.

Hi Tim,
If your budget is really $300 bux for the whole thing, you might want to consider those all-in-1 semi-portable sets or a mini-component set. Costco has some stuff for a decent price.

I would steer clear of the regular sized receiver components in the $100-150 price range...the product's design is brutally price driven at this level and overall design and build quality is compromised compared to 'better' equipment. You might regret it.

If you are insistent on getting full-sized components, spend money on the best speakers to can afford. They give you more bang for the buck than the electronics. A set of crappy $20 PC speakers will make a $10K system sound like a $20 system.

Don't fall for the high pressure sales pitch of allocating 10-15% of your total budget on cabling and wires. That's downright nonsense and a waste of money. ...especially more so if you bought some $20 speakers with spent $10K on the rest of the system :-)

another Q about speaker wire. I went to HD last night and they had 14/2, 16/2 and 18/2 rated speaker wire (CL3) made by Carol, which is unshielded. Is unshielded wire ok to use for home theater speakers? If so, which of the above sizes is the best to use.

get 14/2. It's the thickest and probably not much more expensive than the others, and if you're going through the hassle of pulling wire through the house, you might as well put in the thickest.

unshielded is perfectly fine for low impedance speaker level signals, although so-called 'audiophile perfectionists' would get a heart-attack if they had such a thing in their setup ;-) These are the same folks who claim they can hear a difference when using impedance controlled, gold-plated 120V power plugs.

I second everything alung said.

On the wire, don't use 18, 16 is ok and 14 is better. If 14 is alot more than 16 and is stressing your budget, use 16.