What speaker/reciever setup for $500

N

Nixxon

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 28, 2006
Messages
149
I need a speaker setup for my living room/HTPC area and I know next to nothing about computer audio.

Room isn't too big so I don't need much overkill and 2.1 is probably fine because I'm renting my house and don't want to run cableing through it for surround sound unless I can get wireless satallite speakers for cheap.

Budget is roughly $500 and will be going through a HTPC as well as a PS3 for blue/ray and gaming.

Thanks!
 
One non-audio point you might want to consider is video upscaling & A-D conversion. Some receivers have it, some don't. Are you using or do you plan to use any devices that can't output over HDMI?
 
If he's using the PS3 for BluRay, he needs HDMI. Not sure what to say since most HDMI receivers are a few hundred dollars.
 
Well PS3, yeah, by preference. But Wii does not, some cable boxes do not, etc...it can be nice to have a decent quality method to get from component to HDMI, or to improve the display of non-HD sources. But if you don't ever plan to use anything non-HDMI, it's unimportant.
 
What do you mean? This would just be upscaling the audio portion not the visual portion correct? I'm using my PS3 to play blue-rays/game and act as my media HTPC via HDMI to my Samsung B52550.

I also have a XBOX360 but use that for gaming exclusively. I'm really new to this so I don't have a very good grasp about what you're talking about.
 
Upscaling refers to taking a lower-resolution signal and remapping it into a higher-resolution signal, e.g. taking a 420p input and sending 1080p to the display. Most displays do this themselves, but sometimes at a low quality.

A-D conversion (analog to digital conversion) refers to taking an analog signal (e.g. component video) and converting it into a digital one. This allows it to be output over HDMI. Some receivers have mixed analog and digital inputs, but cannot output the analog video signals over the digital outputs.

Some 360s have HDMI, some don't. Whether this is a concern obviously depends on which type yours is.

There's also the potential for 720p signals which are "HD" for marketing purposes but still get scaled (to a much lower ratio!) when they hit the display. Many games are only 720p (or lower) regardless of whether they are sent over HDMI.


The two main effects here are: can I take component in and output it over HDMI? what quality video will I get if something has a lower-resolution video signal?
 
So why does all this matter for the receiver? Because I would be going PS3->Reciever Via HDMI-> TV via HDMI?

Because if I went that route that didn't have a receiver that could handle it, it would degrade my signal?
 
If you're using purely HDMI, it matters a lot less than it could. I would look for something fairly cheap that has HDMI input. It would be nice to keep it in the $100-200 range which would give ~$100 for a sub and ~$200 for speakers.

AV123 B-Stock is always a nice place to start, if only to figure out what you want to do better than.
 
well $500 is not much to work with but you can get some decent stuff. For what your looking to do, something like Yamaha's RX-V365 http://www.yamaha.com/yec/products/productdetail.html?CNTID=5028493&CTID=5000300 would be a great match. Amazon has a good price on the yamaha with free shipping http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001S2RDA4. As for speakers, what kind were you looking for? Do you have room for towers or would smaller satellite/bookshelf speakers be a better fit? Does your htpc feature an ATI card? They offer audio and video over HDMI, which would make connection to an HDMI equipped receiver very simple. If not a digital audio connection, such as optical or digi-coax, can easily be assigned to a HDMI input.
 
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Probably just smaller satellite/bookshelf speakers. I have a small living room and I don't need that much power.

My HTPC has a nvidia in it, and I plan on actually just using my PS3 for most of my interfacing with the home network so audio and video over HDMI is the route I would like to go.
 
gotcha, I do the same thing. Now as for speakers at this budget it gets a little dicey. I'm not too aware of what sounds great and what should just be left alone at the $250 and under range. Offerings from any of the major manufactures ( Polk, Infinity, Klipsch, JBL...etc) that are in your price range will probably be fine. But I still recommend going and poking around the audio section on http://www.avsforum.com/. It offers a wealth of info to get you going on a proper selection.
 
I'm new to the forum but would throw out another recommendation for speakers:

Behringer 2030P studio monitors. Can be found new shipped for 129 on places like Amazon. I just received a pair to test out and I am impressed for the price. They are a solid performer but you will want to add a sub. I believe I've heard good things about the Dayton subwoofers in this price range. That should leave you with options for a solid receiver. Also don't forget to budget for speaker wire, cables, and speaker stands if you need.
 
I don't really care a TON about really great audio quality to be honest. My main want is to

A) Play music that sounds decent and has some depth in the bass and treble when it gets louder (TV speakers just don't provide)

and

B) When I play movies voices sound almost muted or subdued to the background noise, I fiddled with the sound settings a bit but its still difficult.

So with all that considered.... 2 speakers, a sub (Mid level budget items) with a decent to good receiver that will last a while is all I want. I can always upgrade the speakers later when/if I get a bigger place.

Thanks for the help from everyone so far!
 
the speaker company makes good budget speakers. You can get a pair of decent bookshelves and a sub for $170 shipped.
 
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