I am planning for a home theater to enhance my movie experience, with occasional music. I live in a small town in India, where taxes are very high. We have to pay 2 to 3 times the price in the US.
My room size is ~ 15ft x 20ft.
Choice is limited to (due to limited availability):
1. Onkyo Tx SR 304E + HT230 (bundled) 2. Onkyo HTS 590 (am worried if the lack of powered sub will be a big difference) 3. Onkyo Tx SR 304E + JBL SCS 140 BK (separates) 4. Pioneer VSX 416S + JBL SCS 140 BK (bundled) 5. Onkyo Tx SR 304E + JBL SCS 260.5 (separates) 6. HK AVR 132 + JBL SCS 200.5 (bundled)
The last two #5 & #6 will really stretch my budget these will cost ~US $ 1100 (due to high taxes).
Is the Pioneer OK? in comparison with Onkyo & HK.
I am not an expert, but do enjoy good sound. I have JBL in my car and can feel the difference between them and Pioneer, Kenwood which sell the most in car audio in India.
Any advice, guidance will be most appreciated. I live in a small town, and will not buying this everyday. So will need max help on the subject. Thank all of you for the forums which do provide great info for uninitiated people like me.
I like Onkyo and JBL. Both have excellent reputations and I would not hesitate to buy either of their products. I used to be a big fan of HK in the old days, but I have a friend that went through 3 receivers in just as many months and the number of refurbished units available o the internet does not bode well for HK.
I would spend as little as possible on a receiver at this point in the audio revolution and spend the max you can on speakers. Quality speakers like JBL's will last you a very long time and are worth investing the extra money.
AV receivers are soon coming out that support HD audio for Dolby True HD and DTS version of HD audio. They will also have\require HDMI 1.3 for playback of these high resolution codecs for copy protection reasons. So, either wait on the receiver or buy a really entry level receiver and move it to another room when the bad boys come out.