What are the top brands of the home theater systems on the market?
Posted by admin in Home Entertainment Q&AMay 4th, 2009 | 4 responses
Ronq asked:
I am not talking about home theater - in -a box (pre-boxed) systems like sony or panasonic that are usually under $500.
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.
4 Responses to “What are the top brands of the home theater systems on the market?”
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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
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.
Try this web-site. A popular forum with exactly your question. Has plenty of opinions and web-site links.
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.
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.