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Now I need a sound system. I have a pretty small room. I don't enjoy shopping for speakers and am not an audiophile, so very simple is good. Budget is $500 max, preferably less. For ease of setup, I would prefer wireless rear speakers, but for the right system I could put up with speaker wires.
Any recommendations? Thanks in advance.
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Wireless speakers suck.
You should piece together a good "budget" system as you can afford it (which you can do for ~$1000)
Here is the thread you need from the AVS forums.
It is the "HTIB alternatives" thread from their HTIB forum...because HTIB suck most always.
(HTIB = Home theater in a box)
You should probably start at the end of the thread (since it stared back in Feb) and work your way backwards, to see what people are buying these days.
I recently bought some of AV123's x-series speakers. One pair of the
x-ls Bookshelf Loudspeakers, one
x-cs Center Loudspeaker , and an
x-sub.
Total was about $480 w/ another ~$120 for shipping (they weigh a bunch of course).
I'm going to get another pair of the x-ls speakers around Christmas.
You should check out their
B-Stock inventory for discounts. I got my x-ls speakers there when they had some. Just a little scratch on each that is unnoticeable unless you inspecting them for scratches.
Of course, you'll still need a good receiver. Make sure you get one with good HDMI switching capability. All
new receivers have it, but this new generation of receivers is the first one to really have it as standard. And HDMI is the way to go for any brand new TV.
I got a decent Sony from Amazon for about $330. (Can't recall the model number at the moment.)
Hope this helps.