what is the best resource for reviews, setup guides, etc.? I am buying a condo and need to outfit myself with a decent system
My 2 cents on 'normal'/notrich AV-
1. Shop Monoprice or Amazon for cables. Do not spend a dime on 'premium' cable/wire. 100% waste of money.
2. Subwoofer is important. Good subs can be expensive. There is a large difference between a dull thud in a wooden box, and a real subwoofer. My subs on both setups need a major upgrade, can easily drop a grand per sub or more though, yeesh.
HSU Researchis a universally acclaimed ID subwoofer company. I've never heard a bad thing said about Dr. Hsu's subwoofers, and they're economical. Good place to start looking imo.
3. I personally would not buy an AVR that did not have an Audyssey implementation on it, the higher grade the better (MultEQ XT32 > MultEQ XT > MultEQ). It is magic room correction/EQ voodoo and it is awesome. Yamaha and Pioneer have their own versions of room correction, but they seem primitive in comparison last I looked. And I'm pretty sure neither EQs the sub, which is the best thing about Audyssey. The last time I checked out the Yamaha version, it only calibrated to 1 position, while MultEQ XT uses 8 different positions in the room.
Marantz, Denon, Onkyo all implement Audyssey. Marantz is the nicest and considered to have the best amps, but I've been happy with my cheap refurb Denons. I have two Denon AVRs, one with MultEQ and one with MultEQ XT, and neither have ever given me issues.
Accessories4less: High End Audio at Low End Prices!is where I bought both of my Denons. One wasn't shipped with a functioning remote and after a short troubleshooting spell a new one was sent without issue. They have a longer warranty, negotiated through Denon, than other authorized refurb outlets. Saved a bunch of money using them, you might want to check them out if refurbs don't scare you. They also carry Marantz/Onkyo/Focal/KEF etc b stock/refurbs.
4. TV. Always monitor slickdeals and get one on sale, you'll save a lot of money over just buying the first thing you see on Amazon/at Best Buy. You are in the process of missing the extinction of the Plasma. I just picked up a 60 inch LG smart plasma for $600 shipped for the bedroom, the LG60PB6650. You can still find remaining stock on sale if you look. And the Panasonic 65vt60 I picked up last year, and raved about on this board, has actually gone up in value from retail. Anyway, barring a minimum of features, screen size is the most important factor. I even prefer cheaper, thicker LCDs because the backlighting is almost totally uniform on them. unlike thin edge lit tvs. I have still, to this day, never seen an edge lit display that didn't have blotchy light patches, bright edges or other uniformity probs. Just bought my sister a cheap 46 inch backlit Samsung for her birthday and it has a great picture and perfect backlight uniformity. Love it.
Have fun!
