# Need help building a HT system under 2000$



## stanjohn123 (May 24, 2014)

Hello everyone.A brief summary about myself. I work in Kuwait and will be leaving to my native country ( India ) in about a month, so am in need of purchasing a good Home Theater System. I'm no audiophile and a total novice in this scene ( so please try to avoid technical words as much as possible, sorry :sad:. )

Until a few weeks back I was just looking at purchasing HtiB's such as the Samsung HT-F9750 system ( costing 1800$ ) , Sony's BDV- N9200 and Philips HTS 3306 / F7. But after reading many threads on this forum I understood the disadvantages of purchasing an HTiB. So I have made a decision to purchase a decent AVR and speakers separately.

Back in my native I'm planning to setup the HT system in my hall which is a bit long ( 12 feet wide X 22 feet long ). I will be setting it up in a space of ( 12 feet width X 15 feet length ). Since I am pressed for time , I will be making all my purchases from the local dealership in Kuwait and not online. So one problem is I won't have as many options to choose from unlike you guys. The only brands I can choose from are as below.

1) Onkyo
2) Yamaha
3) Pioneer
4) Polk Audio
5) Marantz
6) Sony

I'm planning to buy a Samsung 55 F8000 LED tv and need a Home Theater system to compliment it. Will be using it to watch movies , play my PS3 and listen to occasional music when my friends come home. The budget of 2000$ is for the AVR and speakers with an active Subwoofer only. 

To put it bluntly I need a system that can literally blow my ears off but not have any trade off's in sound quality nor break my bank ( if a system like that exists :scratch. I need the system to be future proof so that I can upgrade speakers later on if needed.

If nothing else works I'm eyeing the Onkyo HT-S9400 THX which costs 1000 $ here ( Yes I know it has an inferior AVR and speaker ).

Another option in my mind is getting an Onkyo TX-NR828 receiver costing 1000$ and connect it to Polk Audio RTI's ( A5 , A1 , CS1 , A4 and DSW PRO 660Wi 800 watt sub ) costing 1,100 $.

Would appreciate all your inputs on this. Thanks.


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## nova (Apr 30, 2006)

stanjohn123 said:


> 1) Onkyo
> 2) Yamaha
> 3) Pioneer
> 4) Polk Audio
> ...


Do you know the specific models that are available from this dealer? Generally speaking receivers in the same price range of the brands you listed should be pretty comparable in terms of performance though the Marantz will likely be a bit more expensive than the others. Sony does not have a great reputation when it comes to AVR's though their latest models have seen a bit of improvement. For reliability I'd probably suggest a Yamaha and for features I'd suggest an Onkyo. Don't think you can go wrong with any of them, look for the features you want and the price you're willing to pay.

As for speakers from those brands, that's a little tougher, at least for me. For your budget I'd probably go Pioneer SP-PK52FS or Yamaha NS-333. Do you know which speakers are available for purchase?



stanjohn123 said:


> To put it bluntly I need a system that can literally blow my ears off but not have any trade off's in sound quality nor break my bank ( if a system like that exists :scratch. I need the system to be future proof so that I can upgrade speakers later on if needed.


Um, yeah, sorry not going to happen. I do think you can put together a system you can be happy with but realistically there will be some trade-offs here and there.


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## stanjohn123 (May 24, 2014)

nova said:


> Do you know the specific models that are available from this dealer? Generally speaking receivers in the same price range of the brands you listed should be pretty comparable in terms of performance though the Marantz will likely be a bit more expensive than the others. Sony does not have a great reputation when it comes to AVR's though their latest models have seen a bit of improvement. For reliability I'd probably suggest a Yamaha and for features I'd suggest an Onkyo. Don't think you can go wrong with any of them, look for the features you want and the price you're willing to pay.


In my limited search here these are the models I've seen as below.

Onkyo TX-NR 626 Price : 566$
Onkyo TX - NR 828 Price : 992$
Onkyo HT - S9400 THX Price : 1000$

Yamaha RX-1010 Price : 705$
Yamaha RX-2010 Price : 974$
Yamaha RX-3010 Price : 1169$

Yamaha RX-V475 Price : 531$
Yamaha RX-V7775 Price : 598$



nova said:


> As for speakers from those brands, that's a little tougher, at least for me. For your budget I'd probably go Pioneer SP-PK52FS or Yamaha NS-333. Do you know which speakers are available for purchase?


As for speakers , these are what I've found till now

Polk Audio TSX 110 5.1 with 200 Watt sub woofer - Price : 744$
Polk Audio RTI ( A5 , A4 , A1 , CS1 , DSW PRO 660 Wi 800 watt sub) Price : 1098 $

In addition to this Yamaha have an offer going on as below

RX- V775 receiver + Bose Acoustimass series 15 III speakers : Price - 1767$


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## stanjohn123 (May 24, 2014)

I have narrowed down my search to Marantz SR6008 and Yamaha RX - V775. Now depending on the price of the Marantz I might take a decision. 

Would appreciates someone's input on this decision. From the Specs sheet I can see that the SR6008 has more output power than the RX- V775. Does this matter a lot ?


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## zieglj01 (Jun 20, 2011)

stanjohn123 said:


> I have narrowed down my search to Marantz SR6008 and Yamaha RX - V775. Now depending on the price of the Marantz I might take a decision.
> 
> Would appreciates someone's input on this decision. From the Specs sheet I can see that the SR6008 has more output power than the RX- V775. Does this matter a lot ?


The Marantz would be a nice/good one - and they are efficient in
the surround mode, as far as holding good power.

As far as Polk, that is your call - as they are not my preference.

Also, I do not prefer Bose - however, I would take the Polk RTi
series speakers over Bose.

Your call - enjoy the adventure


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## stanjohn123 (May 24, 2014)

zieglj01 said:


> The Marantz would be a nice/good one - and they are efficient in
> the surround mode, as far as holding good power.
> 
> As far as Polk, that is your call - as they are not my preference.
> ...


I don't have much choice , I can only choose speakers from the above mentioned brands.

If you have a good speaker from the above brands do let me know. I can try to find and get the price for those.


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## zieglj01 (Jun 20, 2011)

stanjohn123 said:


> I don't have much choice , I can only choose speakers from the above mentioned brands.
> 
> If you have a good speaker from the above brands do let me know. I can try to find and get the price for those.


Then from your adjusted list - the Polk RTi speakers and DSW Pro subs


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## stanjohn123 (May 24, 2014)

So I got the pricing of the Marantz SR6008 which costs 957$ and SR7008 costing 1525$. Since most of you here prefer the Marantz SR6008 over the Yamaha V775 , I will exclude the V775, also the SR7008 is too expensive for me at this price so I'm excluding that as well.

I also found another set of speakers JBL studio series 5.1 with 2 tower speakers , JBL sub 140P all together costing 1,188$ . Is this better than the already chosen Polk Audio RTi's with the DSW PRO 660Wi sub ?


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## stanjohn123 (May 24, 2014)

After reading reviews and going through the Specs , I'm finding it hard to justify in spending more to get the Marantz SR6008 over the Yamaha V775.

Few options like Zone 2 are not a dealbreaker for me as I won't be using it. Plus the power output is not much different, the V775 is 95 Watts RMS while the Marantz SR6008 is just 110 watts RMS.

Sound quality on both are exceptionally good as per reviews and the V775 is cheaper too. I'm confused and don't know which to choose among these now. Please help :huh:


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## lcaillo (May 2, 2006)

Easy choice for me. Get the Yamaha. Sold and serviced both for years and I just can't see much to be impressed about with the Marantz.


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## nova (Apr 30, 2006)

I would also go with the Yamaha. Have not heard the JBL's so....????


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## stanjohn123 (May 24, 2014)

lcaillo said:


> Easy choice for me. Get the Yamaha. Sold and serviced both for years and I just can't see much to be impressed about with the Marantz.


Just to be fair with Yamaha , I spoke to the Yamaha dealer in Kuwait and they said that they can get me their Aventage series receiver that is equivalent or better than the Marantz SR6008. 

Their Aventage series RX-A830 for 989$ and RX-A1030 for 1,241$. How do these 2 models stack up against the SR6008 ?

In some forums I hear people saying that comparing Yamaha to Marantz is like comparing a Camry to a Mercedes. Is this true ? Is Marantz that much better in Quality ?


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## zieglj01 (Jun 20, 2011)

stanjohn123 said:


> Their Aventage series RX-A830 for 989$ and RX-A1030 for 1,241$. How do these 2 models stack up against the SR6008 ?
> 
> In some forums I hear people saying that comparing Yamaha to Marantz is like comparing a Camry to a Mercedes. Is this true ? Is Marantz that much better in Quality ?


Marantz is one of the better receivers around - and they tend
to be more efficient in surround mode.

Notice the weak measurements of the Yamaha in surround mode
http://www.soundandvision.com/content/yamaha-rx-v775wa-av-receiver-test-bench

The Marantz 6006 measurements
http://www.soundandvision.com/content/marantz-sr6006-av-receiver-ht-labs-measures

With Yamaha, I would not prefer anything under the 10XX models

With JBL, the Studio series would be a nice option

Your call


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## stanjohn123 (May 24, 2014)

zieglj01 said:


> Marantz is one of the better receivers around - and they tend
> to be more efficient in surround mode.
> 
> Notice the weak measurements of the Yamaha in surround mode
> ...


I think I will be going in for the Marantz. Fortunately the prices here for the Marantz SR6008 is cheaper than the Yamaha's, whereas online it's just the opposite. So I guess for the receiver the Marantz SR6008 is almost finalized.

For speakers I need to decide between the Polk Audio RTi's , JBL studio series and KEF speakers.


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## zieglj01 (Jun 20, 2011)

stanjohn123 said:


> I think I will be going in for the Marantz. Fortunately the prices here for the Marantz SR6008 is cheaper than the Yamaha's, whereas online it's just the opposite. So I guess for the receiver the Marantz SR6008 is almost finalized.
> 
> For speakers I need to decide between the Polk Audio RTi's , JBL studio series and KEF speakers.


Enjoy the adventure


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## stanjohn123 (May 24, 2014)

zieglj01 said:


> Enjoy the adventure


Thanks a lot.


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