Decisons on what system to buy

[ndp]

I've been looking at purchasing a home theater system for quite some time now and just recently started exploring my options other than going to Best Buy and getting what they tried to sell me. After reading this site and others I have almost narrowed it down to these two systems.

A. Onkyo HT-SP908, around $800.00

B. Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Onkyo SKS-HT750B speaker set, also around $800.00

To me these systems seem to almost be identical. My goal is to keep the system under $900.00. I live in a small one bedroom apartment with a living room size of about 15 x 12, with the standard open kitchen (separated by a bar) and tiny den area off to one side. I just purchased a Vizio GV42LF - 42" LCD HDTV and am trying to match components to get the best out of my new friend within a reasonable budget. My main interests are games and Blu-Ray via. PS3 and a few HD channels through my HD cable box. Both are connected to the TV via. HDMI cables. I am looking a solution to provide good surround sound with the ability to run both components through the receiver with one out to the TV. In the future I plan on adding a HD-DVD player and would run one of the components through a composite input with an optical cable for true surround sound (I believe this is how this could work). My question to the forum is which system would benefit my situation more, or if there are any other suggestions within my $900.00 budget, excluding cables speaker wire ect...thanks in advance for your help.

Nate

[eugovector]

Onkyo makes great receivers, but their speakers are nothing special. Keep an eye on www.shoponkyo,com and you should be able to get a refurb 605 for about $399. For budget speakers, look into the JBL studio L line on ebay from the Harmon Kardon store there.

[ndp]

One more question, with the receiver being a 7.1 channel receiver can I run a 5.1 speaker set until I can afford to upgrade to some nice bookshelf speakers for the fronts? And use the fronts from the 5.1 set to fill in the rear's. And if so which ones do I omit in the rear when running the system in 5.1? I have also looked at the Harman Kardon HKTS-18 5.1 Channel Speaker System, with the plan to upgrade the fronts in the future.

Nate

[tonyvdb]

In a 5.1 setup you should have the rear speakers placed on the rear wall in the upper corners. There will be a setting in the receivers menu to let it know that there is only 5 speakers not 7. In a 7.1 setup you should have the larger set of rear surrounds on the side walls and the smaller ones on the back wall. This is because generally the side speakers will have more information sent to them than the rears.
I should also add that once you add the 7.1 speakers you should move the speakers on the rear wall together so that they are only about 4 feet apart (THX recommendations)

[eugovector]

tonyvdb wrote:

In a 5.1 setup you should have the rear speakers placed on the rear wall in the upper corners.

Actually, Dolby still recommends, even in a 5.1 setting, to keep your surrounds to the sides, no more than 110 degrees off center. Depending on where you couch is setup, the rear corners will likely be too far back, and putting them in corners can make them sound boomy or honky. Granted, that's where I have mine (in the corners), but it's a logistical/aesthetic choice, (I have a door and a wall opening in my 90-110 range).

[buggers]

It is also a good idea to not use the Rear channel on the 7.1 receiver for a 5. setup ,but instead use the Rear Side speaker jacks since the rear channel has little info coming out.