unrealistic goals?

[Elazuel]

Right now I have an Onkyo 605 reciever, RTI8's, CSI3, and RTI4's. I'm able to sell all of that equipment for $1100 to someone I know who wants sorround sound, which is decent for me as I spent a little over that for those pieces new. I've also been saving up some cash I'm a poor college student so will only be able to have 2500-3000 before fall semester. This is a hard set cap no possibility of going over unless said system can teach me calculus in lieu of having the books.

I've been looking at either the LSI15's or the LSI9's + stands for my main speakers with the LSIC as the center. I have an Epik Knight subwoofer which I'm not selling. I would be happy with a 3.1 system until xmas where I'm sure I can snag my sides from loved ones.

Is it possible to get that type of settup in that price range? I would need a pre/pro, an amplifier, and the three speakers. Initially I was looking at the Yamaha 663 with an emotiva xpa5 but haven't seen many people on these boards talk about them as you guys all seem to be pro rotel or outlaw not sure if those be in my budget. Just from my perspective I'd be forced to go with one of the cheaper recievers + amp to fit the budget.

But I'm all ears for any suggestions or if you guys think this is just a pipe dream and that the budget would really be limiting the system too much to warrant the set up. If you have any suggestions on pre/pro's or recievers my only requirement is they be capable of decoding the high def audio formats incase I ever get a player in the future that only bitstreams and a requirement of at least 2 hdmi (1.3 compatable preffered for when I want to upgrade the tv)

I'm sure you guys get posts like this all the time but thanks for humoring me I tried to read up on the lsi's as much as possible thus I assure you I won't spend the entire thread arguing that an Onkyo 805 will be perfect for them. :D

[tcrossma]

If you buy used you might be able to get it all for that price. You might have to skimp a bit on the pre/pro, but try not to skimp on the amp. What I did was get my LSI's new and went used for the amp and pre. Good luck!

[F1nut]

As stated, buy used.

[Early B.]

Don't forget to add another $500 for cables. And if you're gonna upgrade, you'll probably need a new DVD player, as well.

[Elazuel]

$500 for cables? I was always under the assumption that you gain practically nothing from expensive cables. Then again I haven't looked at the price for cables to connect a reciever to an amplifier as I've never used an amp in the past.

[garnier]

Can I not just use regular RCA cables for connecting an external amplifier to a receiver? I am going to receive my Outlaw amp soon, and I already purchased four pairs of Monster 400 series RCA cables for the 7 channels to connect an amp to my Dennon receiver. Anything wrong with my choice? :confused: Thank you! :)

[Early B.]

Can I not just use regular RCA cables for connecting an external amplifier to a receiver? I am going to receive my Outlaw amp soon, and I already purchased four pairs of Monster 400 series RCA cables for the 7 channels to connect an amp to my Dennon receiver. Anything wrong with my choice? :confused: Thank you! :)

(Gasp!!!) Monster Cables!?! Oh, noooooo!!!! You should be flogged about the head ferociously for such an act. We are on a giant crusade at the moment to remove "Bigfoot" (aka, Monster Cable) from all of our systems and go with Blue Jeans Cable or some other comparably priced (and much better) brand.

You have been warned, my son. Now go forth, and smite the enemy!!

[treitz3]

Early, you're a damn trip.

[garnier]

I see! That's funny. Seriously, are there more than one kind of RCA cables, other than different brands, like Monster Cable, Signal, etc.? Also, what's wrong about Monster Cables; is it their expensive price or the quality or both? Thank you! :)

[Sami]

$500 for cables? I was always under the assumption that you gain practically nothing from expensive cables.

I'm sure you have most of the cables already. Add 3 pair of these to hook your prepro to your amp and you're set: http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10218&cs_id=1021803&p_id=2869&seq=1&format=2

Buy used. If you can't find a 3 or 5 channel amp in your budget, or one that you're looking for, get the best 2 channel amp you can afford for mains.

$500 for amp, $300-500 for preamp/receiver, and another 500-1000 for speakers and you're set. Not unrealistic goal at all.

[Early B.]

I see! That's funny. Seriously, are there more than one kind of RCA cables, other than different brands, like Monster Cable, Signal, etc.? Also, what's wrong about Monster Cables; is it their expensive price or the quality or both? Thank you! :)

Read this: http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66556

[skykeys]

Good speakers are far and away the single most important factor in having good audio. While I agree that a great system should have a great amp and great components all around, you'll be fine with a Yamaha RX-V663.

I run my in-wall surround system that consists of LC265i, LCi-RTS-C, LC80i (and DSW500 sub) only with an older Yamaha RX-V620. It sound really good and I'm quite happy. Believe me, I'm pretty particular about my sound. But I have to choose carefully because I don't have an unlimited budget. Yamaha receivers are good quality units, and have really good DSP - which should not be dismissed.

It's a matter of how much incremental value a really good amp and preamp brings to the table relative to cost. If I had the money (and the space in my cabinet), sure, I'd have separate components. But your biggest bang for the buck comes from good speakers, and then match the rest of the system as you can afford it, to the speakers.

The only reason I'll upgrade my current receiver is to eventually get support for the new lossless audio specs in Blu-Ray DVDs, like TrueHD and the others. The new Yamahas (V663 and V863) support those specs. I won't have to worry about that until I get a Blu-Ray player, which won't happen for a while.

Rotel and Outlaw seem to be great amps. So is Emotiva from what I've read. So a combination of a V663 and Emotiva should take you far. I suggest that to start, you could just use the V663 and be fine.

In fact - perform an experiment. Use just the V663 first for a while, and then set up the Emotiva. and let me me know if you hear a significant difference in sound. I'll be surprised if you think there is a big difference (other than perhaps at very loud volume levels). If you do think there is a big difference, I'd like to know that too.

. . .. this begs a question though: why use a receiver (like the RX-V663) as a preamp - instead of just buying a good preamp, if you're going to have a separate amp anyway?

Regards.

[demaples]

I bought a new Onkyo 805 for $700, new polk lsi25s for $1500, lsi 15s for $800, lsic for $400, psw650 $400, Genesis towers $300 all from ebay, Rotel rmb 1077 for $1600 from augiogon, speaker wire form blue jeans. Just look for decent deals.

[Elazuel]

. . .. this begs a question though: why use a receiver (like the RX-V663) as a preamp - instead of just buying a good preamp, if you're going to have a separate amp anyway?

Regards.

If anyone knows a good pre-amp that will give me the functions of a reciever like that that would be cheaper plz let me know I really couldn't find much. Usually the pre-amps were either more expensive or didn't have the features that the reciever had like next gen audio codec decoding or hdmi etc.

[garnier]

Does having a THX Ultra II certified amplifier help in acheiving a better HT sound? My current Dennon receiver isn't THX Ultra II certified, but I am considering chaning it to something that is certified. Does THX Ultra II certification mean anything in amp that produces 300 wpc @4-ohm but does not have the certification? I know that even some much cheaper receivers have that certification. I guess it is not correlated with wpc in that case.

[Sami]

Does having a THX Ultra II certified amplifier help in acheiving a better HT sound?

Not really, it's nothing more than a certification.