In reply to:

If everyone knew how easy it really is to build one nowadays Dell would be in trouble.


No kidding. Trust me on this -- if I can do it, anyone can do it.

I believe there is a certain price point (maybe it's your mom just looking for Internet access and nothing else) where it does make sense to just buy the $299 off-the-shelf model. But for anything else, a Frankenstein is the way to go. It's cheaper, and you learn how to build/repair/replace stuff later on down the road.

M22ti mains, EP175 sub, VP150 center, QS4 surrounds