Just seeing if anyone can recommend a good home theater system under around $200 and under $250. Bought a LED tv from one of the post in ozbargain. Now need a home theater system to compliment it.
Suggest a good home theater system between under $250
[Deactivated] on 17/01/2010 - 21:11
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fair enough. Thanks for the comment. Can you recommend anything for $400 price range?
Maybe try eBay, I got an as new wireless Sony home theatre system worth approx $1000 for $200 fairly recently. It seems to be something people tend to upgrade (or downsize). I doubt you'll find anything new for under $250.
What type of inputs will you use? If you only want surround-sound for playing DVDs, you can pick up an extremely cheap DVD player with 5.1 channel analog outputs which can then be connected to a simple 6 channel speaker system with built-in amplifier. The DVD player will decode AC3 and DTS surround-sound into separate outputs that can be connected via six RCA cables to the cheap amp/speakers. A few years ago I picked up a $25 DVD player that decodes DTS and AC3 and also plays DivX files.
I also picked up (from Strathfield Car Wreckers/Radio) a very decent DIAMOND amplified speaker system which includes a wooden subwoofer and five wooden satellite speakers for $75. Make sure you buy speakers made of WOOD, as plastic speakers tend to sound tinny and crap no matter how much you spend on them. They vibrate, buzz, hum and discolour easily, there's nothing good about them. My $100 DVD+amplified speaker combo actually sounds much better than my brother's $950 Sony receiver + Jamo plastic speakers setup. Bro is rather upset, mainly because the idiot who sold him the HUGE amp and the HUGE speakers didn't take into account that he lives in a small unit, so the eqipment can't be turned up more than about 10% volume, and most amps distort at that low power output level. Don't get talked into buying huge 400+ watt amplifiers, anything more than 15-20 watts/channel is overkill unless you live in a concert hall. His amplifier also takes up an enormous amount of space and won't fit under the TV set, so it's ugly as all hell, whereas my setup blends into the furniture.
A quick Google search reveals Bluray players with 5.1 and even 7.1 chanel analog outputs, most of them also have USB ports that will play DivX files. Be careful as some won't play MKV/H264 files which are becoming the standard for HD digital media, but some do now so it makes the player much more versatile and future-proof. A half-decent Bluray player will probably cost the same as the A/V receiver alone!
The only reason you actually need a dedicated A/V receiver is if you want to connect something via an optical or coax SPDIF connection. If you want to watch digital TV in surround sound (not sure why you'd want to, considering there's never anything on anyway) you'll need to connect a receiver up to the TV, similar if you have a PS3, media centre PC etc.
I have no idea why A/V receivers cost so much. The cheapest retail I've seen even on special is about $200 for a Sherwood, and that won't even decode 7.1 channel Bluray DTS-HD. They must be making a HUUUUGE markup on these things. But as described above, most people don't really need them.
Most amplified speakers sets I've seen have two inputs, one allows for 5.1 channel surround and the other allows for 2-channel stereo, so you can still hook your TV up through the audio-out jacks and listen with the subwoofer+speakers, but you only get virtual surround instead of true 5.1. Virtual surround is more than acceptable for TV shows, and often I deliberately revert to using virtual surround for movies which have very poorly mastered surround soundtracks. You can select the inputs via a switch or button on the remote control.
Impossible to do unless you're buying used from eBay or Classifieds.
Almost forgot, you can also get surround-sound AC3 and DTS decoding computer speakers!
I don't have time to search Aussie websites but these will give you an idea what to look for:
http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Computer-Speakers-5-Speaker-S…More upmarket is the Logitech Z5500:
http://staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=logitech+z5500&…
Harris Tech had them on special back in October for $199 so maybe you can search around for another similar deal. FluidTek have had these on special before also.Just make sure they have DTS and AC3 decoding BUILT IN via optical and/or coax, because some of these speakers only provide true surround sound if hooked up to a PC via USB. They'll sound just as good as any set of budget speakers but cost a LOT less than a dedicated A/V receiver. Also takes up much less space than a big receiver amplifier. Not as pretty as a nice set of loungeroom speakers, but this is OzBargain not OzSpendUpBig.
it will be very difficult to buy an amp and speakers for under $250.
I cant think of any, u need to go at least $400 for some speakers and amp