Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Helping a friend

For the main floor family room TV, I bought a Pioneer Elite receiver that was getting cleared from BestBuy for $400 (regularly $1300) as the new models were coming in.

For the speakers, my wife wanted something that was small and can't be seen. So i compromised and bought some Energy Take5.1 bookshelf speakers for $350 on sale.

Is it emersive? No. Is it enjoyable to watch? Sure. No it's not the top notch movie theatre experience, but better than just a TV speakers.

From what your friend is looking for, you can do much better than that offered (link) for less. But if he is wanting much better, then he might be better off buying it in stages.

The speakers are where you want to spend the most money up front. Get a good set of front speakers and a sub. The receiver will be efffectively obsolete in 2-3 years no matter how much you spend on it if you are looking to keep up with tech and where HT is going.

If however your friend is happy to stick with watching DVD's then you can save a bundle buying from the used market and pick up a killer pre-amp that does DTS/Dolby Digital but non of the newer DTS-MA or DD-TrueHD. A but of fun cabling and you can get a system that sounds far better than a cheap receiver for the same coin.