Home Theater in a box?

[pkilway01]

Let me start by saying, I love home theater setups. I bought my first Pioneer in 1991, which was one of the first home receivers to offer Dolby Pro-Logic.

But now I'm faced with the task of upgrading our TV in the family room (32" LCD, with HDMI inputs, hoping enough in the budget for 1080). In looking at my aged receiver, 5 disc DVD player and speakers I'm thinking an audio upgrade is appropriate.

Now while I'll be buying a 32" LCD for this room, it's not going to be the TRUE home theater room. In 3-4 years time (when my daughter is done playing with her Barbies, we'll be turning the basement into a TRUE home theater with 1080 projector, Pioneer Elite Receiver, Blu-Ray disc player, HTPC, etc.). So in the mean time I was just looking at a home theater in a box to tide us all over.

Will I be just heartbrokenly disappointed in the quality of products in the Home Theater in a Box genre? Or will they be sufficient?

Links to the TV and Home Theater in a box being considered:

Samsung HT-Z410 home theater system

Samsung 32" 760p LCD LN32B360

Samsung 32" 1080p LCD LN32A550

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Am I missing something, or are both those TVs 1366 x 768?
For a 32" TV, I don't think you necessarily need 1080p either depending on how close you're going to sit to it and what the content is going to be. I'm not really a TV guy either, so I'll just not comment about that further.

Have you taken a look at the sticky thread? Considering that in a few years you'll be getting a better system, have you thought about buying components of the system now that would give you an upgrade path? For example, if you bought just a 2.1 system for now, those speakers could potentially be used in a system later as you add more speakers to it.

If you're looking for a complete system right now though, a HTIB might make sense.
Does your existing equipment still work? If nothing else, perhaps you could use your existing speakers as the less important surround / rear speakers and then concentrate your budget on a new set of 3 speakers up front + sub?
Does your receiver lack features that you feel you want now?

 

[pkilway01]

AFter posting I realized I linked two 760p LCD's. That's corrected now.

Everything that I'm buying now, will remain in this room in the future. So, buying something to use in the future movie theater basement would need to be replaced.

Current sound system lacks 1080p upconvert and HDMI outputs, also the current speaker system base speaker blew a few months ago. The rest of the speakers work, but was considering selling it all during our neighborhood community garage sale next month.

 

[unfalliblekrutch]

Originally posted by: pkilway01
AFter posting I realized I linked two 760p LCD's. That's corrected now.

Everything that I'm buying now, will remain in this room in the future. So, buying something to use in the future movie theater basement would need to be replaced.

Current sound system lacks 1080p upconvert and HDMI outputs, also the current speaker system base speaker blew a few months ago. The rest of the speakers work, but was considering selling it all during our neighborhood community garage sale next month.

What do you mean by base speaker? The Subwoofer? You can buy a subwoofer seperately to replace it. Assuming your other speakers/receiver is functional, it may be a better investment just to buy a sub.

Depending on your budget (which I assume isn't very high since you're looking at HTIBs), 1080p upconvert and hdmi shouldn't be on the top of your wish list. Quality of speakers and upgradability should be considered more strongly.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Ok, I'm a bit concerned that as a home theater lover, that a HTIB might leave you wanting more. Usually the speakers are the weakest point in these systems.

I suggested possibly re-using the existing speakers as surrounds / rears since most of the time these speakers aren't doing a whole lot. Unless you're listening to multichannel music, it's mostly limited to ambiance effects with some occasional use for more important sounds depending on what you're watching.

What sources are going to be used with this system? It may turn out that the features you've mentioned aren't that big of a deal. This could potentially mean that if you kept your existing receiver you could end up putting more money into a better set of speakers and subwoofer for a system that sounded better in the end.

If you get a TV that's only 768p, which is probably adequate if you're not using a computer as source or plan on watching a lot of 1080i/1080p source material. Also consider how far away you're sitting. You'd have to be quite close to a 32" TV to fully resolve 1080p. Naturally some of the better TVs in more important features (color accuracy, contrast, etc.) also tend to be 1080p so you're not necessarily buying just for the added resolution. A few hundred saved from the TV and spent on the audio might end up giving you a better experience depending on your own preferences.

For HDMI capability, unless you're going to be hooking up a HD-DVD player / Blu-ray player for the new HD audio formats, then HDMI becomes significantly less important on a receiver. The benefit is then limited to making it easier to switch between sources with 1 remote and possibly less cable clutter. Again, this might be important to you or it might not.

What receiver are you using now?

Sorry if it seems like I'm trying to get you to keep all your old stuff, but you might end up with the best sound quality if you just concentrate your spending on fewer components and "do it right" the first time for this system.

 

[pkilway01]

Again, this system most likely will never be upgraded. All future upgrades will go into the aforementioned basement. I'm not looking to blow $800+ for a new sound system for this room, 1) it makes better sense to invest that into the future basement audio/video components, and 2) the wife factor.

And sorry, yes, I meant the subwoofer.

 

[unfalliblekrutch]

Originally posted by: pkilway01
Again, this system most likely will never be upgraded. All future upgrades will go into the aforementioned basement. I'm not looking to blow $800+ for a new sound system for this room, 1) it makes better sense to invest that into the future basement audio/video components, and 2) the wife factor.

And sorry, yes, I meant the subwoofer.

Sorry, I guess I misunderstood and assumed this room was the basement. If you don't plan on ever upgrading this setup, I'd go with sticking with your current receiver and simply buying new speakers/subwoofer. If you get a new receiver, while it may have HDMI and what not, those standards will change and invariably you will be left with a deprecated receiver. You might as well keep your already old receiver and just go for the best sound you can achieve on whatever budget you have set.

 

[pkilway01]

What receiver are you using now?

Sorry if it seems like I'm trying to get you to keep all your old stuff, but you might end up with the best sound quality if you just concentrate your spending on fewer components and "do it right" the first time for this system.

Np, appreciate the help. I'll post what receiver model and all when I get home tonight.

While I am trying to save money on this audio set up, I have a feeling I'd spent less money with a HT1B system than patching this one back together (hell I wouldn't mind dropping $500 just on speakers, but it would be wasted on this room as they wouldn't ever really get a chance to stretch their legs - so to speak).

One reason I'm leaning to the HDMI inputs is it would make it SO much easier then leaving a list of instructions on how to switch the tv imputs from cable to dvd for the babysitter.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Have you thought about getting a nice remote? That's certainly something that could migrate to your new system if you so desired. I have a harmony 880 and with one button (that I labeled "watch a DVD"), everything comes on just like it should. In the rare case that something doesn't turn on correctly or switch to the correct input, it even takes a few steps to try to troubleshoot the issue.

You don't necessarily have to spend your whole budget on this either. Honestly, something like a $50/pair set of bookshelf speakers should be of equivalent or superior sound quality to most HTIB speakers. You could potentially spend maybe $50-$100 on a pair of speakers, a $100 matching center, and a $100-$200 subwoofer and have a nicely upgraded system.

 

[s44]

Depends how much that thing costs. Upscaling won't do much for you with a 32" 720p set. HDMI won't do anything either -- the receiver unit on it doesn't even have inputs!

Buy this, wait for the $100 tSC subwoofer to come back into stock. Done for $300.

edit: took out receiver, thought your current one just had Pro Logic, not DD/DTS. Oops

 

[pkilway01]

Currently using Pioneer VSX-D711, with a Pioneer DV C503 (couldn't find it on Pioneer's website, but it's very similar to the DV C505) and a 5.1 set of KLH 9000B speakers.

Subwoofer is blown and the 5 disc tray opens and then immediately closes (only way to change a dvd/cd is to use the disc exchange function where it will still play one disc while you change the rest out), other than that it's fine.

 

[tjautobot11]

if you're only looking at 32" tvs you would probably be ok using the component video switching in your receiver with the dig coax and fib optic connections. it would solve your control complications and would save money as it is only for temporary anyways. throw a few bucks into the sub as suggested if you were happy with the sound your speakers gave you in the past. a new sub could breathe new life into your system without having to drop a ton of money into a disposable system. there just aren't very many good htib's out there and why throw away hundreds of dollars on one when most don't have video in (which doesn't solve your babysitter issue) or if they have it it doesn't work right or has quirks to getting it to work.

 

[pkilway01]

Just an update.

I did purchase the Samsung HT-Z520 Home Theater in a Box system from Newegg.com. Going into the purchase I knew two things; 1) the sub-woofer was not powered (didn't plug in), and 2) the HDMI IN on the receiver transferred only a video signal and not both video and audio.

I paired this system up with a new Samsung 32" 1080p LCD TV and love it! The subwoofer doesn't rattle the windows unless the sound is turned up to VERY LOUD - but like I said I knew that going into this. The wireless rear speaker worked without a hitch, and it doesn't "sound" like a cheap system. The sound is full, without an overpowering thump-thump of the bass/subwoofer. I also LOVE the Samsung Anynet + feature (you can run any Samsung home theater system through the TV using on-screen menu's). The DVD upconvert is nice too, movies are very clear and crisp.

Many audio purists would disagree with me, but this system is exactly what I was looking for in our family room. This system wont put a $1,000 system to shame, but it wont be embarassed either.