My buddy in Maryland wants to upgrade his sound system for around $1500.00. I was wondering what receiver, and speakers you might recommend as he wants to use the cd/dvd drive and his harddrive in his Mac computer.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Aaron

Is he thinking two-channel or surround? If it's just two-channel, you could do a pretty impressive setup. For surround, the options get a bit more limited but still feasible.

To gonk's point, if he wants surround, this new product from Hsu research looks intriguing and would still leave $1,200 on the table for electronics: http://www.hsuresearch.com/products/vt-12.html

The VT-12 is one of the products that come to mind when "surround" and "limited budget" cross paths. There was some discussion a while back of a budget system consisting of a VT-12, the Hsu STF-1 sub (similar to the LFM-2, albeit with a few Hz less extension), and an inexpensive receiver like the Panasonic XR55 - total cost would come in around $750 or so before you picked up some cables and other supplies. That's pretty minimalist, of course - you could certainly improve on any of these components - but it's a start.

Regardless...
stereo or full fledge 7.1 surround...
I'd recommend getting the 1070 with a decent pair of speakers and building from there as more budget became available....
but ... can your friend be patient ?

^^

That's in reference to my post. Gonk helped me help a friend who was also looking for an entry level system that was hopefully to be a step above the typical $300-600 HTIB system you buy at Best Buy.

I actually did the installup the VT-12 to that Panny receiver for my friend. From the users perspective (my friend), he was really happy with the outcome of the VT-12 setup. He got the medium room sized-sub. My impression of the sound was that the satellite speakers sounded a little small and I noted some loss of mid-range sound as a result. But for the budget-minded HT beginner, the Ventriloquist system is a nice step forward.

a few other notewortthy things about the HSU -

**the wiring of the front 3 speakers is more complicated and requires more wire overall, so if your friend does get it, he needs to really read the directions and not assume that it's a normal wiring config. The receiver powers the center channel and the center channel distributes the signal to the FL and FR speakrs.

**the speakers are ultra-lightweight - lighter than bose cubs I think. I didn't really like that.

**they mount perfectly using the omni mounts found on Crutchfield

**sounds much better for HT than for music, IMO.

**the sub is pretty strong in the package deal you get for the medium-sized room. I don't know if I would step down from the medium sized sub.

Wiring the VT-12 system into a small back panel such as that Panasonic was a bear w/ upgraded speaker wire that we used. But other than that, the Panny was a nice, simply receiver to use for a beginner. In total, we bought him the Panny receiver, the VT-12 w/ subwoofer for medium room, and the Oppo 971, for right around $1000 shipped. For that price, I believe we got him a competitive system. If I had it to do again, I'd try a different receiver to see if the receiver or the speakers was the "issue" with the missing sound range. It could have also been my friend's room too so I'll never really know enough about it to give a helpful review. But I have hooked it up and I have listened to one. For what it's worth.

Not too long ago a similar topic question was posted and led to RedSIinPA's experience helping a friend. My two-cent opinion remains about the same with some of my conjecture regarding small format systems confirmed by RedSIinPA's report. Perhaps the model numbers have changed, but my thoughts are here and also a bit further down the page.

Gentlemen,

Thank you very much for your careful consideration, thoughts and comments. I'm not sure if he wants a stereo or surround system. I will email him this link and let him mull this over. I really appreciate all of your time.

Aaron

To keep his contemplation complex, his $1500 budget would get him an RR2150 and a pair of the black Outlaw Bookshelf speakers. He could have what should be a kickin' two-channel system at the same time he provided the rest of us with some feedback on the new speakers.

RedSIinPA:

Thanks for the mini-review of the Ventriloquist. I've been considering it for a bedroom system and also as a possible HT speaker package for a coworker. Sounds like it would indeed be good for a secondary system or for those who do not listen as critically as we Outlaws.