Need Help building new system

[jmy350z]

I just purchased the new Sony 60" SXRD television.Now I am looking for ideas for a home theater system.I need everything,receiver,dvd player,speakers. This system will be used for watching dvd's,music,and also videogaming.I need ideas.All this is new to me. I want to do this right the first time.My place is small.Living room is 18.5x13. I have the cash to spend. What should I look at?

[Lou-the-dog]

Hey! Welcome!

You've come to the right place at the right time! Ascend has just introduced upgraded versions of their already famous CMT340's and CBM170's. It appears that it may be mid-January before they are readily available. And, of course, the current Classic versions are just fabulous if you don't want to wait. There is talk that the Classics will be discounted at some point too.

As far as specific recomendations. The 340 front end with the 170 or 200 surround package is very popular and would do great in your size room. The 200's are smaller than the 170's and might be easier to mount as surrounds...really depends on you and/or your wifes visual goals too. You might want to give us some more info such as room layout, mounting options, listening habits etc and I'm sure the guys will narrow it down for you.

Randy

[BGHD]

Roughly how much do you wanna spend on the electronics side (that is, receiver, dvd player)? I can think of a few recommendations in different price ranges, but need a place to start.

[jmy350z]

Can you give me some ideas in the different price ranges.I have about 5 grand to play with.

[BGHD]

Oh my. If you were to go the Pio Elite route, a 74txvi receiver plus 79avi universal player would leave you with plenty of cash a top-line Ascend speakers plus all the needed extras (wires, mounts, etc). 74+79's a nice combo for it's iLink connectivity.

[Jonnyozero3]

If I had $5,000 to spend right now on everything except the display? Well, since you asked :)

Speaker Options:
Ascend 7.1 setup: CMT-340SE L/C/R, CBM-170SE Surrounds (4) ( total just under $1500, I think) - you can consider having them custom painted for a hefty fee if you want a neat finish like Gloss Black or something. I love my Ascend setup and think they are proabbly the best you can get for the money. That said, you could also check out ACI (www.audioc.com), Onix Rockets (www.av123.com, or Axiom (www.axiomaudio.com). Obviously, by posting here you are interested in Ascends, but I would read this thread for some more comparison information:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=591331&page=1&pp=30

Sub Options:
Hsu VTF-3HO Turbo - $999 (but a preorder now saves you $100, available in Dec I think)
A Pair of Hsu VTF-2HO Turbos - $700 x 2 = $1400 est. (not available until next year)
Axiom EP-500 - $1150
SVS PB-12 Ultra - $1199
Rocket UFW-12 w/RDES - $1099
ACI Titan - $1050
Velodyne has some good stuff as well
The Do-It-Yourself route is always available too.

Sub Accessory:
Behringer Feedback Destroyer Pro DSP1124P - $105. If you are in to tweaking, it will be a great asset to tame room nodes by eq-ing your low end frequency response.

DVD Player options:
Pioneer Elite 79avi - ~$950. I just preordered one of these.
Since my TV shows macroblocking, players like the well regarded Panasonic S97/S77 (<$300), Oppo DV971H($200), and Denon 3910(~$1000+) are out of the picture. If your TV is not known to get macroblocking with such Faroudja-based players, I would check all of them out. That said, the 79avi is the only one of these which will output 480i over HDMI of the bunch - that'll let you use a scaler down the road like a DVDO VP30 (dvdo.com, ~$1800) for FANTASTIC picture quality (so I've heard).

Here's a place to check out:
http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-bin/shootout.cgi?function=search&articles=all&type=DVD+Player&manufacturer=0&maxprice=0&deInt=0&mpeg=0
PLEASE keep in mind that a higher score does not necessarily mean a better player. Many things in regards to PQ, build quality, ease of use, etc, are not rated.

Receiver Options
I've been out of the receiver loop for a bit, but here are some ideas
Panasonic XR55 - one of the new digital amps ($250). Supposed to be very nice for the price, and more. Excellent sound quality with zero noise (so I've heard).
Pioneer Elite 74txi - (<$1500 I think) As BGHD said, it would make a great mate with the 79avi using iLink.
I would also check out some of the Denon units in the $600-$1500 range (Denon 3806 at the top)
I love my Harman/Kardon AVR-435 so I'll plug it here as well. The 635 adds some power and a few features - for ~$700 it's a good deal.
Some of the other recievers by Marantz and other names are good too. But, I don't know much.
Separates are another way to go (pre/pro, separate amps), but that may get too expensive too fast).

Other Stuff
Avia Guide to Home Theater (DVD - $35): use to calibrate your great TV and sound system
Digital Video Essentials (DVD - $15): same as the above, slightly different (don't ask me how)
Radio Shack SPL meter ($40): used for tuning your sound system. A must buy to do things right. You'll also need it to play with the BFD if you want to get into that.
Cables from www.bluejeanscable.com - great, solid build quality at the right price. I highly recommend them.
Speaker cables - any good 10ga or 12ga cord from Home Depot or Lowes. I like Sounking 12ga from Partsexpress.com with bananna plugs. Works nicely.
Consider some room treatments. Save this research for one you have some stuff and are ready to tweak (although earlier is always better).

Lastly, read all you can in this forum and in all the other ones you can dig up. Do searches (a lot of them, until your brain hurts), and ask questions. AVS is good, as is Home Theater Spot, Home Theater Forum, and the forums at Axiom Audio and AV123. There are many more. Reviews at Audioholics and HomeTheatherHiFi will be helpful.

Don't base your decisions on one review or what one person says. Read all you can and try to get a bead on what will work for you.

Hope this helps.

[BGHD]

350z,
Wow. jonnyozero has taken care of the shopping for you. With that amount of info, time to hit the B&Ms and see/hear what you like.

[Jonnyozero3]

"Somebody didn't go home for Thanksgiving and is bored..."

What? Huh? :p

[jmy350z]

I listen to mostly rock,but I do listen to all types of music.

[kascs]

Some feedback on this excellent and comprehensive shopping list. I know much about the DVD side of things and am growing more educated about subs now that I have been shoping around for a few months (ordered Ascends for eval and am leaning toward ACI Force sub).

Hsu VTF-3HO is available for pre-order (and may ship earlier than the June release) by calling the company. $899 without turbo, $999 with. craigsub prefers it without turbo so far, but has not yet set a date for the blind a/b test.

DVD Player options:
A TV only gets macroblocking when the TV is decoding the image. Which it isn't. The cable box may get lots of macroblocking from poor error concealment, especially network stations that are broadcast and sent via satellite, etc (all introducing error). The DVD players you list (Panasonic S97/S77 (<$300), Oppo DV971H($200), and Denon 3910) do not in general cause any macroblocking. THe Bravo D1 ($99) and D2 ($199) are also good choices for quality video decode, deinterlace, and upscale. Plus they have DVI out so they can leave scaling or deinterlacing to the TV (still, no macroblocking but the TV may have poor scaling or deinterlacing).
The HDMI on current DVD players is 1.1, which is simply a DVI cable and PCM audio in one. The 1.3 specs wil allow multichannel digital audio (non-PCM) and authenticated HD video. Early HD DVD and Blu-ray content will not authenticate, but when 1.3 is out, players will start to downscale unless you have pure HDMI connection. So there is no reason to pay for HDMI over DVI and spdif today.

Speaker cables - Ascend recommends 16 gauge or higher for speakers, though 12 is fine for your sub. Less skin effect. The most convincing articles I read based on science say that if you really feel the need to upgrade from 16 gauge zip cable with gold banana plugs, you can go with 24-gauge individually cased strands (braided ribbon), but most of us would never know the difference.

- Chris