Home Audio on the Net?

[Trol]

Over the weekend my home theater receiver went out on me so I guess its time to finally buy a new one (I had an old Technics one that came out before Dolby Digital). Anyone have any suggestions on some good websites to check out for Home Audio equipment?

[Glaynor]

I did some research a while ago. I don't remember the sites but I googled under terms such as "home theater", "home theater reviews" "audio equipment". You will find a bunch of different stuff.

Whatever you end up buying, make sure that the speakers are all from the same manufacturer. If they are different, the quality will not be as good. The receiver is the most important part of the system because that is what decodes everything. Sony has some really good receivers. Figure out what your needs are. There are 5.1 systems, 7.1 and so on and so on.

You can get a nice 5.1 receiver for about 400 dollars, and a better one for about $900. Speakers will range anywhere from $100 to $3000. If you look at the Circuit City website they have a nice set. I can't get onto the website now, but it is the most expensive set they have.

Do not buy anything from best buy. All the stuff is garbage. All said and done, you can get a total package that is very, very good about $2 grand.

What is your budget?

[Squick]

I highly recommend you take a peak at:
http://www.madisound.com/cgi-bin/discuss.cgi

I am not sure what effort level you want to put in, but that is one haven of the die hard DIY home audio freaks.

With their assistance I made a fantastic set of Peerless speakers, two towers and three satalites. I also made the crossovers for those myself too, not nearly as hard as I expected.

All Best Buy stuff is not garbage, the high end Pioneer A/V recievers are very nice, I own the 811S and the 711 aswell. The only difference is the 811S has 7 speakers instead of 5. (for side firing dipolar ambient speakers)

I can not recommend enough building your own speakers. You will be amazed how much speaker makers are marking their speakers up. I spent less then $300 total for the raw drivers, maybe $75 for crossover components, and $150 in building materials and this set of speakers rivals even the very best I have ever heard.

Squick