Best Complete HomeTheater USED for $5000.00

Thank you, please ignore my childish outbursts and go back to your music

Hey Chad, this isn't me...this is my kid. I let him on the computer and he gets into a brawl with Rsbeck over something silly like audio?

Dave,.errr, I mean daves kid

Interesting points made from both sides of the isle. The two channel is as good or better opinions voiced would seem valid in my experience but very quickly begins to leak water.

At this ($5,000) price point I can understand the point of view that better two channel components may sound better than lesser five channel components.

Once you raise the investment to a higher level (I won't pick the level) but a good bit more than $5,000 that logic flies out the window in my experience.

The gains in two channel sound quality become very small in real terms at levels far below what many members of this site and others have invested.

I guess the thread did go off topic by a mile but many of these type threads seem to bring these same issues to the front regarding two channel/multichannel.

I would hate for anyone to get an impression from these type threads that all they need do is invest their money in a higher quality ($$$) two channel system to stay one step ahead of the game...not gonna happen in the wildest of dreams.

Rsbeck, you are way of the mark regarding the number of movies with rear surround info....about 90% off would be my guess. Some very old movies are in two channel only, I'll guess that these are the ones you watched or you expect the rear channels to stand out in the mix at all times?...this would be a poorly setup system and is the main reason people get turned off on surround music...although surround music also suffers from a high degree of poorly mixed tracks which setup will not cure.

Poster, if you would like to e-mail me I can give you a few general ideas once we get a better idea of your needs/room/and setup limitations if any.

Dave

"Finally, talk about hi-jacking a thread. Inviting the poster to stop listening to
everyone else and go to e-mail so he can listen only to one person's opinion
is pretty outlandish."

Saffy has not said a word so my offer of any "general" ideas will save me a lot of work (typing) on points I know nothing about "his needs/room/and any setup limitations"

Many people e-mail me as I'm sure they do you. These e-mails sometimes cover weeks of swapping info. back and forth because one can only offer general ideas...the more, the better IMO. My opinion and experiences are posted above so no need to e-mail me for those.

I don't recall saying that no gains are had after $5,000, I do recall saying that I was not going to pick a point (price) but that it was a good bit above $5,000.

"Some bad assumptions being made there."

No assumptions being made, you said:

"I, too, am a confirmed two channel guy"

Your info regarding rear channels is way off the mark? I find nothing wrong with you being a confirmed two channel guy...or anyone else.

My points were to say that a top quality two channel system will not sound better than a top quality surround system...dream on

Dave

LOL, the smorgasboard of opinions were and are fine with me...I just thought I would correct YOUR silly post with a few facts.

"if you go to a 5 or 7 channel system for movies, most of the sound, a lot of the time, will be coming from your center channel. This means that, for a significant amount of time, you actually go from two channels to one. And the voices don't image in the center, they locate right from the center channel speaker -- no imaging. I find that disconcerting. I don't like having the sound rooted to a speaker, I like my speakers to disappear. With a good two channel system, you still get ambient sounds all around the room. What you will miss is when lazers shoot around the gallaxy, you won't get that "bullets whizzing around your head" effect. You'll miss out on a few minutes worth of action from a select group of movies and movies being what they are -- only a few of those will be worth watching."

Silly

"I found that very few films even use
rear surrounds and the ones that do -- Star Wars, Twister, etc -- aren't the
type I typically watch. And even those only use the full surround for part of
the film. Twister, for example, has a five minute surround sequence at the
beginning of the film and then never really uses surround again. But, this
brings up another point. You find yourself watching parts of crummy movies
over and over because they utilize surround and you want to use your
surround system. So, you end up watching the pod race sequence from Star
Wars or the beginning of Twister every time your friends or relatives come
over until you're sick of it"

even more silly.

"I set up an ultimate two channel music and
multi-channel HT in one system."

I took your advice and clicked on your system, ultimate?

Dave

"Dude -- for a guy who claims that $5,000 is some kind of high water mark
for a two channel system"

Hmmm, I'm sure I spent more than $5,000 on my system? Are you one of those hifi snobs?

Your kind of funny when your pissed...heh-heh-heh. Were you the captain of the debating team or something?

Dave

I picked up a complete 5 speaker set of speakers at e-bay the other day (Aurasound Aura). These are no longer made by Aura Sound and were closed out at UBID for very cheap prices.

They use a monopole Linaeum tweeter and 6.5 inch mid/woofer...I bought the complete set for $200.

I gave these a trial run last night on Lord of the Rings which has a very demanding soundtrack...WOW! They don't do deep bass as you would expect from their driver size...plenty of bass for small/med size rooms though IMO.

A couple of the smallest HSU subs at $600 for the pair (direct from HSU) would place this system cost at under $1,000... and holding it's own with much more costly systems.

Why? because the monopole Linaeum tweeter in these little gems is first rate and has no competitor at any where near this price range

Keep a sharp eye at Ebay and you will be well rewarded!

Dave

Using a projector will be a big plus, I had my 55" Rptv between my speakers when I first went multichannel but switched to a projector a good while ago. This was a huge improvement in soundfield and gave me much better center channel options.

My system works fine with and without center channel in my large room, I have listened both ways many times...using my center sounds better every time I make the switch back.

I also play a lot of multichannel music on my system, I prefer the use of my center channel.

Many reasons not to use a center speaker and just as many reasons why you should. In the end...go with what works for you and your room/system.

I use a pre/pro for decoding movies and multichannel music playback along with a two channel tubed preamp for stereo only playback in a unity gain configuration.

You could keep the Jadis (if it's doing a good job) and only add a 3-channel amp along with a pre/pro...the Jadis would be used for all 2-channel listening as in my system. Speak with Jadis regarding that option.

I suggest two subs (I use three)...don't buy hometheater subs for a combined music/movie type of system...you will not be happy as they will sound out of place when used with music...

Dave