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way back in high school my brother used to get Stereo Review, which was my little window/intro into the world of hifi (that and his Nikko amp and smaller Advent loudspeakers)...but i am WAY out of touch with the state of home audio gear these days (still using the old mid-70's Nikko, fer chrissakes).

anyway, now that my home room is nearing completion (wiring stage) i could really use some suggestions for a good 5.1 receiver, as it only makes sense to wire for surround (the additional expense being fairly minimal nowadays).Harvey, i notice you have an RCA (which wasn't at Amazon, only place i've peeked at so far)...i'm curious what you found when shopping, what you considered an absolute necessity, etcetc.

incidentally, i did some AC-3 mastering in a facility 4 years ago where i was able to see the room come together from scratch and achieve THX approval. let's just say that the methods used to obtain Dolby's golden seal were not necessarily based on sound audiophile reasoning (absolute sh*tloads of 1/3 octave SAE eq's...up+down+up+down... right before all power amps being a prime example, let alone the speakers they force on you). hence my belief that i can calibrate my own little world such that surround mixes could translate to other facilities fairly intact...which, of course, one has to, since Dolby still monopolizes the final encoding process...

all help much appreciated...thanx...

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harveygerst Fri, 05/04/2001 - 19:27

Actually, I traded my Aiwa 100x5 to a friend for her brand new RCA 80x5 because the RCA remote was too complex for her. It is awkward as hell, but the system sounds ok. She bought the RCA reciever on sale at Radio Shack.

I have a full JBL 5.1 sound system as you noticed, so I don't need tons of power. With the exception of the center channel speaker, it;s not any JBL surround components, so it's all pretty full range. The 100 Watt self powered JBL sub pumps out bottom end nicely, and it's a fun system to listen to.

Being the bottom feeder that I am, you don't even wanna guess at how cheaply I put together this whole 5.1 system, including a 40" TV. (Hint: the TV set was in the mid to high 2 figure region - so was everything else.)

Rader Ranch Fri, 05/11/2001 - 09:46

thank you, oh Neptune of the bottom feeders :D ...just the path i was hoping to take...

can i also bother you for a power amp recommendation or 2? got a (need i say cheap) DBX sub and a pair of old Stephen Hawking mod'd JBL's i need to get some decent power to...

thanx again...

Rader Ranch Mon, 05/14/2001 - 15:32

thanx...those Lexicons look good, but a bit pricey though...

...and i forgot about old Crown amps...those things seem to last forever, although the biggest i've seen are 150W...wonder if that'd be enough for JBL's...granted that 'mains' in a home environment such as this won't be used much, but what use they will get'll probably be high volume...

harveygerst Mon, 05/14/2001 - 17:59

Why not just get a good 100x5 A/V receiver and just worry about the sub getting power? I'd check out the local pawn shops, garage sales, and flea markets. I always find something interesting.

anonymous Fri, 06/01/2001 - 18:24

I am new at this posting message and stuff but my business is Home Theater Systems an in my humble opinion stay away from receivers that you buy at Radio Shack or the big box stores most of that stuff is not really capable of the kind of sound your audio masterpiece deserves. Find a High Performance Audio Video store near you and buy a good receiver we sell the Integra receivers from Onkyo and i think these receivers for the money can't be beat