Just bought on Ebay

[Boo-Yee]

1x CMT-340 Center

2x CBM-170 Mains

2x HMT-200 Surrounds

1x HMT-200 Rear

1x HSU STF-2 Subwoofer, down firing.

4x SP-30 speaker stands

100'+ 12gauge heavy speaker wire.

7 pairs (14) banana connectors.

1x Onkyo TX-SR502 6.1 Channel Entry Level Receiver, Surround Sound Amplifier

New to this forum and to Ascend products. After scouring the internet for the last month I had a few brands that I was considering with one being Ascends. I found this set on ebay for buy it now price of $600. They are 4 yrs old and he says barely used. They guy yhnis passing thru where I live and will drop them off for me, saving me 150 in shipping. Here's a pic. The hmt-200 rear is still in box and was never used. Here is a link with pics.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=180344270014

Gonna sell the onkyo and buy a denon avr-789. If anyone is interested in the onkyo let me know. Also what do you guys think of the denon for this set-up. I want something a little newer that has hdmi inputs and video upconverting. Very excited about ascends!! :D

[curtis]

Wow...that is a great deal on the whole setup with the "classic" Ascends. Congrats!

Welcome to the forum.

[BradJudy]

You snagged a fantastic deal there. I had a very similar setup at one point and it does quite well. Welcome to the forum and enjoy the good sound.

[Boo-Yee]

About the Denon. What are y'all thoughts on it, anyone familiar with the receiver or with the brand. What kind of receivers are y'all partial to? Before narrowing my choice down to the denon, which I have'nt purchased yet, I was gonna buy a Onkyo but read bad reviews, then maybe yamaha...any info might help

[jk121764]

From what I've seen Denon is an excellent choice for home theater amp. Prices tend to run from modest to fairly expensive.

[TooManyHobbies]

Sounds like a great deal on a complete audio system. Enjoy!

I've not owned any of the brands mentioned here, so can't comment based on personal experience. As far as I'm aware, Onkyo, Yamaha, and Denon all make good equipment. I've actually considered purchasing models from all three at one time or another. So, while I can't address your specific inquiry, I will offer some general words of wisdom in selecting a receiver.

Avoid comparing Brand X's higher priced model to Brand Y's lower priced model. Quality tends to follow price, you get more of one for more of the other. Compare models of similar price to what you're planning to buy. Frankly, I haven't found a lot of difference in performance between similarly priced models of most well-known brands, although I'm sure someone will point out some.

Avoid falling into the trap of selecting the unit with the longer list of features as being the better buy. Features generally cost something, and more features can mean a long group of mediocre ones in one unit with a shorter list of better quality ones in another for a similar price. I know it's not always easy to know what features will be important to you, but it's usually not worthwhile to purchase features you're not going to use during the time you expect to have the unit. Also, don't overlook older models at a discounted price. If that older model has the features you need, you might be able to buy a previous year's better model for about the same price as a current year's lesser model.

Judge carefully the deal that seems too good to be true --- it probably is! I have found a few that really were good deals, but that seems to be the exception rather than the rule.

Last, but certainly not least, Have Fun and Enjoy!

Bill

[Quinn]

Sweet deal. I'd have jumped on that if I'd seen it as Manvel is 10-15 minutes from my house.

[drewface]

yeh, that's an awesome deal. congrats, and enjoy.

[Boo-Yee]

Ok just got home from working out of town and been getting into setting everything up. 1 question and 1 problem. How do I properly hook up 340 center main. It has 4 connections in back 2 tweeter and 2 woofer but my receiver only has the 2 out connections. Also I think my subwoofer has gone out. When I got home my denon hadn't arrived yet so I begun hookig everything up to the onkyo that came with everything from ebay. It worked for a little while the no sound came from it. I hadn't changed anything so I kinda was a little worrried but thought it was something in receiver. Yesterday denon came in and hooked it up to everything and the sub still doesn't work. The green led lights up but no sound. I have it hooked up from back of receiver through "sub pre out" to "sub in" on sub with a blue ascend acoustics rca type plug that came with it. In denons setup I have the sub to "yes" crossover to 80hz. On sub I have crossover to off or out. The power to on, phase to 0, volume to 12 o' clock. The fuse is fine the led is on and green when switch is set to on and red when set to auto or off. Does it sound like i'm doing everything right. The thing thats been worrying me is that it worked at first then stopped without me changing anything. I'm thinking of sending it to HSU for servicing?

[curtis]

On the center channel, there should be metal jumpers connecting the positives to each other, and the negatives. If those are in place, then all you have to do is connect to one of each.

It seems as though you have the sub connected correctly. What is the sub level on the receiver?

[Boo-Yee]

Sub level is +15db

[curtis]

wow...that is pretty high.

What about on the old receiver?

[Boo-Yee]

I'm not real sure what it was set at. You think I could of had it set to high and damaged it? I wasn't listening to it very loud.