Ok, I'm going to buy this new home theater system. An entry level one. Which one would you guys recomend?? I have this one in mind the: Sony HT-DDW840. I only want to spen $400max. Is this sony any good ar are there better ones out there as full systesms????????

Whats a "thater" system?

HTIB is not a home theater in most peoples definitions. I will not flame on you for deciding what your budget is though... if it were more important to you, you'd spend more money on it.

Expect an HTIB sort of experience and don't go listening to something real or it may kill your perceptions. I'd just look at aesthetics down at CC or BB... they all sound pretty much the same.

Agree... I don't think your gonna get any real recommendations on a quality theater system for $400. Check comparably priced Yamaha systems.

I concur with Rjm9. Expanding your budget a bit will be money well spent.

Confuscious say: "those who make great processors make lousy speakers"

I also agree with all of the above posts. I understand everyone has a budget, but $400 for a "theater system" is like looking for a brand new top of the line Porsche for $2k, not gonna happen. Your $400 will buy you an improvement on the TV's sound, and that is about it. I can't speak for those that have posted so far, but I would have to say expect to spend at least $2,500-$3,000 to even creep into something considered home theater, and that does not include the tv,dvd player, cabling, or any labor. But each to their own.

Good luck.

I understand a budget (boy do I understand!)
I would suggest you wait, save a little bit more, and buy something you won't regret owning 3 months from now. While it might be better than what you have now, you'll tire of it in a short amount of time and wish you still had the money you spent on it to buy something that sounds good and works!!!

Not trying to be harsh, just realistic.

Your $400 will buy you an improvement on the TV's sound, and that is about it.

I doubt it, Some of the TV's lately have been sounding much better.

I guess I should qualify this. Is a home 'thater' system the same as what we are all refering to? Maybe a systsms is different!

I better look into that.

That's LONG for Th8r.


Come on, it was "systesms." He got the "E" in there!

I stand corrected!

Thanks Ernie, sometimes I miss things when I'm giggling outloud.
I'll try and do better.

Ok, so it's not in the range that we'd be installing, but that doesn't mean you can only buy crap. You'll want to shop around and listen to a few of them - I'd recommend that you stop by one of our stores but I don't know what part of the country you are in. Visit your local Best Buy and Circuit City - they'll likely have a few choices for you to listen to. Avoid anything that comes with a carrying handle or can be run on batteries - that's not a HTiB, it's a boom box.
You may find something really nice if you dig deep. A year ago we had a really nice sounding Denon system that had retailed for $2K on clearance for $600. We sold out (a few hundred units, I think) in about a week. This was a true HTib but sounded damn good. Just don't buy the first thing you see. Ideally look for something like the Denon system - it was all Denon electronics and came with Mission speakers.
And good luck - in a few years you'll be ready for something much better and you'll get a few hundred opinions from all of us as to which product is best.

Jeff

Another suggestion would be to buy the best pair of full range speakers that you can afford, and an entry level Onkyo or Denon Receiver. Listen in two-channel or one of the DSP's that give simulated surround while you save for the rest of the pieces. You will have a lot better experience than the TV speakers, and you can always add to it. Just make sure and buy quality speakers. Some of the entry level Polk stuff, not the small satellites, and some of the Energy stuff is decent sounding for not a lot of money. I'm sure that others will chime in with reccomendations too.

Quality speakers are more important than the receiver, that is why most of the HTIB's suck. They throw worthless speakers in a box with their receiver and get an extra $200.00 over what they can sell the receiver for alone. Their added cost on the entire speaker system is probably less than $80.00.

If you really want to have a good experience, ease into it instaed of buying a whole system that will sound like junk.

Just my thoughts, I did it the wrong way the first time too...

John

I like that last suggestion a lot... try to up your budget to a good $500.00 and buy a decent set of bookshelves. You can add a sub next then center & rears.

Id do the same........piece together a good system rather than buying a box of sh*t. Because honestly, all those systems, especially under a grand, are garbage. But for about a grand, you could piece together a decent Totem, or Monitor Audio Bronze system.

And the zit face at Best buy is so full of sh*t his eyes are brown when he says that the 230 dollar Samsung system sounds good.