What are the top brands of the home theater systems on the market?

Question

I am not talking about home theater - in -a box (pre-boxed) systems like sony or panasonic that are usually under $500.

I am talking about the ones you usually put all the components together yourself. I have zero knowledge as to who makes the best home theaters systems.

It would great if you list down several brands and top websites that sell them.

Answer 1

Try this web-site. A popular forum with exactly your question. Has plenty of opinions and web-site links.

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/arc...

Personally :

Speakers : Bowers & Wilkins Nautilus/Diamond series

Amps : Krell, Classe or Mark Levinson (any Class A amp).

Processor : Lexicon

Video Processor : DVDO iScan VP50 pro

Projector : sky's the limit on how much you can spend

Gig above will separate a 100 grand from you.

Answer 2

hey i may be a girl but when it comes to home theater systems, im all over it.

everything u need u can get at amazon.com! speakers, amps, cd players, recievers, processors, video processors, projectors, everthing!

or u can go to gilroy or sanantana row.find winchester road,on the way there u should see some store that starts with an "M" and go there.i got my home theater system there.i've had it for 2 years.

Answer 3

amps and CD players:   Plinius  

Speakers:  DynAudio, Bowers-Wilkins

Receivers: Onkyo, Yamaha, Denon

Plinius, DynAudio, and B&W can't be bought over the internet.  You need to find an authorized dealer, such as myself (Custom Theater Solutions, LLC)

It'll run you around $20k

If you need more info or prices, email me at [e-mail]

Answer 4

You should probably check out Amazon (link below) for most of these, as they offer free shipping on most AV receivers and can generally take $100 or more off the price of a receiver. I actually spoke with an AV pro at Circuit City the other day, and here were his feelings on receivers:

Top of the line: Denon (and some Sony's). They just make the highest quality receivers that are capable of doing pretty much anything you want. However, he did forewarn me (and I believe it) that setting up a Denon system is not for the faint of heart of the inexperienced. He said he's seen people struggle with it for days before calling in an expert.

Pretty good: Yamaha and Onkyo (and Harmon Kardon). Both make similar style receivers that are fairly (moderately) intuitive to set up. I know Onkyo provides a microphone that is supposed to optimize the sound quality and the point where you put the mike. I don't think Yamaha's have that on their mid-range receivers.

After that: Sherwood and other makers. Just not the kind of product you want to buy if you're looking for quality. These are more of the "just-scraping-by" style recievers. I'd spend the little extra to make sure you got a quality product that will last you more than a year or two.

For someone who's just looking to get into the market (which it sounds like you are), you may want to look at the Onkyo TX-SR605 style reciever. It has up-converstion, meaning that you can run one single HDMI cable to your HDTV, and all other video signals will be formatted to work. It has 2 HDMI inputs, 3 component video inputs, and 4 digital audio inputs, which should be plenty to last a while. The set up is fairly obvious on the entire receiver and provides plenty of power to the speakers. Most importantly, you can find it (right now) for $400-$500 USD at several retail outlets, including Amazon. A great receiver if you're just getting into them.

Also, speakers are a different subject. You don't want the brands I listed above, you want to look into Boston Acoustics, Polk Audio, Bose and JBL, to name a few. The sound quality and speaker make up will be much better and last longer. You want a cone (the part that makes the sound) that is not paper, but ceramic, plastic and/or part titanium.

Hope this helps! Check out the link below Amazon (CNET) for more comprehensive reviews of everything you're looking for.