Well I just bought this Onkyo Home Theater for my parents for christmas. They recently bought a Visio LCD and now are getting the sound to go along with it.
http://www.onkyousa.com/model.cfm?m=HT-SR800&class=Systems&p=i

I bought it at Circuit City, normally $499 on sale for $459 then I got 10% off for AAA. So it was like $413 plus tax. Seems like a good deal, what do ya'll think? I can still return it, is there a better deal for around $400?

It come with speaker wire and a sub cord, but they said there were junk. We they right or just trying to sell some more stuff? The speaker wire is real thin, they said to go with the 16g Monster.. Is that was I want?

Thanks

12/9/2007 2:58:57 PM

do not go with monster speaker wire, or anything that's expensive. You can pick up some normal 2 wire power cord from the hardware store and it'll be more than you need, and much cheaper, than any branded cables.

12/9/2007 3:05:18 PM

Yeah, I would buy a spool from http://www.monoprice.com if I were you.

12/9/2007 3:12:31 PM

^ what gauge would be best? Its rated at 100w i think

12/9/2007 3:25:22 PM

eh you could actually use the crap cables that came with it unless you need more length or your parents like to listen to stuff really loud,

12/9/2007 3:37:27 PM

Awesome system... parents will be pleased. I can't remember whether I used 14g or 16g for mine. Either will be fine, but it also depends on the distance of the runs.

The cabling that comes with it is crap. The speaker runs are 22g I think, which is just too small. The sub cord is also really small. Just get a regular video cable to use since it will probably be cheaper than one that claims to be for a sub. Lowes/Home Depot have decent priced cables if you can't wait for monoprice to ship to you.

[Edited on December 9, 2007 at 3:40 PM. Reason : ^ he's right, but I'd cut it to length.]

12/9/2007 3:39:09 PM

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10239&cs_id=1023904&p_id=2795&seq=1&format=2 is more than enough.

12/9/2007 3:50:54 PM

I heard you could you just a regular old digial coaxial cable for the sub is this true?

Also does anyone one on here work at Best Buy and want to hook me up with some goods?


[Edited on December 9, 2007 at 4:59 PM. Reason : k]

12/9/2007 4:59:09 PM

if you get your cables from best buy, you're a dumbass.

12/9/2007 5:04:53 PM

^ if someone that works there can get them for me just above cost, how does that make me a "dumbass".

12/9/2007 5:23:18 PM

Chances are good you can still get cables cheaper somewhere other than BB, even if just above cost.
You can pretty much use any cable with RCA ends for the sub. It's hard to not get something of better quality than the one that comes with it.

12/9/2007 6:03:14 PM

At normal volume levels speaker wires don't make a bit of difference b/c theres not enough current going through them to see an appreciable drop... upgrading speaker wire is dumb unless your running high power through long lengths (50'+), or stupid high power like to a car sub.

Upgrading cables is another thing though. Cables opperate at a much lower voltage and the drop across crappy 22gauge wire that they give you for free... This is also frequency dependant so overall better cables will sound better... Monster cables are a ripoff... but the simple acoustic research ones or pretty much any cable thats decently thick will give you all you need. The cable to the sub honestly unless your going to run 25' to doesn't matter all that much, however the Audio interconnect cables make a big difference to the over all system... but I mean use optical or digital coax whenever possible... and optical cables are digital cables, it doesn't make a damn bit of difference if you get the $2 one or the $200 one other than rigidity and durability... if it's just going to be hooked up once and left there is 100% no need for an expensive optical cable.(I can go into much more detail why this is true but unless anybody cares I'm not going to)

12/9/2007 6:24:27 PM

^true but look at his set up
After watching my friends Visio LCD 42" i can tell you that even if you bought the cheap component cables the TV is still the largest video quality drop

Still my suggestion go HDMI (if you can and shortest and cheapest you can find) and optical(cheapest you can find) cables and be done with it, if your tv/cable/sat cant handle HDMI then its prob not going to matter what you buy as long as you go component cable

Also monster cables aren't a rip off but you still need to prob run about 1000+ watts through them to make a difference

12/9/2007 8:01:20 PM

1000+ watts? lmfao

12/9/2007 8:17:53 PM

Based on the wire calculator:
http://www.bcae1.com/images/swfs/speakerwireselectorassistant.swf

I should be using 16 or 18, which seems resonable.

12/9/2007 8:30:25 PM

Your parents will NEVER, NEVER run all 100W's through those wires.

Even at those rediculous parties I threw, I never maxed out my reciever which puts out 100w/channel and you KNOW how loud that shit was (the sub was running 300w but it does have thick ass wires for speaker wires)... (I guess i should mention that good recievers are built with additional gain for lower inputs... so it actually probably was maxed from time to time, I always made sure the speakers were just below audible distortion... and slightly above pain threshold :evil

that calculator is right... but in general those speakers are going to be seeing 10ish watts their entire life... but all I mean is it just isn't as important as getting good interconnects... The audio can still sound good even if the picture is marginal... but it's all relative anyways, His parents are probably thrilled with that TV so let them be happy with it. Very awesome gift to be giving to go with it.

[Edited on December 9, 2007 at 9:10 PM. Reason : ok they probably were seeing 100w but your parents setup won't ever be maxed]

12/9/2007 9:07:50 PM

^ yea your parties were pretty damn loud. I doubt I'll upgrade, but we shall see. I look at Lowes, its only like 30cents/ft for 18gauge.

12/9/2007 9:12:01 PM

Quote :

"Chances are good you can still get cables cheaper somewhere other than BB, even if just above cost."

12/10/2007 12:32:56 AM

Quote :

"Chances are good you can still get cables cheaper somewhere other than BB, even if just above cost. "

You obviously don't realize the markup on some of the cables best buy sells. It's almost criminal on some products.

12/10/2007 1:54:45 AM

I do though, and in most cases the wholesale costs of monster branded cables are often twice what a comparable cable on monoprice goes for. If it's just a few of the shorter cables it might not be that huge of a deal, but if you're talking about the cables to hook up a whole home theatre system and replace the speaker wires, it's still upwards of 50 bucks total difference.

12/10/2007 7:55:23 AM

You'll see no benefit in wiring a cheap system with good wiring. Guy in the second post was dead on.

12/10/2007 9:10:46 PM

^ didnt know that was a "cheap" system

12/11/2007 1:00:48 AM

Its only cheap in the sense that it is not "enthusiast" level components. Your parents will be more than blown away by the quality. With a high-end HT/AV system you can easily drop the $500 you paid on a single bookshelf speaker. Basically he is just saying that you don't need to waste time concerning yourself with serious wiring because you simply aren't going to notice a difference with what you have and how you will use it. Onkyo HT setups are outstanding so don't worry, it was a good purchase.

12/11/2007 1:26:36 AM

Wyloch is partial to gold plated capacitors, after all.

you can't ball like he balls

12/11/2007 7:41:31 AM

^ True dat.

12/11/2007 1:12:16 PM