There are a couple threads concerning the cheap setup issue covered in Audio
Assylum and AVSForum... I think a couple candidates to consider (for the
future that is) a

Omage AV21 -- $100/pair, shipping/tax included, supposedly sounds like
speakers in the $500 range.

Whatmough -- check on Audiogon, I believe their 5.1 setup costs a cheap
$400; it's a decent Aussie brand currently trying to enter the US market,
hence the super cheap prices.

Just my 2c...

"Blipvert" wrote in message
...
As a guy that fancies himself having graduated from the world of
consumer-end audio, I initially hesitated when the wife of a friend of
mine approached me with the following situation:

1) I want to get my husband a surround sound system for his birthday,
in two weeks
2) We already have a decent TV, DVD, and VCR setup
3) Here's $500. Will this be enough?
4) What's a stub-waffer?

However, given the myriad of deals floating about the net, and a keen
eye for price vs. quality, I decided to take on the challenge, as
opposed to sending her a high-quality framed picture of a good setup.

My approach was to invest the bulk of the amount into a decent A/V
receiver, and what ever was left over would be used for speakers that
wouldn't cost too much to upgrade later, as her husband grows out of
the RCA/clock radio boom-box expectation of audio replication.
Training wheels, so to speak... we all started there, more or less.

Choosing the receiver was actually the easier part. Onkyo has dumped a
large amount of their older mid-end receivers on the market, and
having been exposed to some of them (and also aware of their
reliability/reputation), it was where I focused my search. The search
was over in a couple days, and it settled on:

Onkyo TX-SR600 Home Theater Receiver (Factory Refurbished), $289
http://www.ecost.com/ecost/shop/detail.asp?dpno=101500

Why? First off was the price- MSRP (ha, ha, yes I know) of $999,
available everywhere for under $500... $289 was within the budget. Of
course the reputation and other factors were the ultimate decision
maker (I can easily spend less than $289 on other ****e floating about
the boom-box-theater scene). Quality of the amplification was key-
while no better or worse than lots in this market, Onkyo's reputation
of smooth, clean power output was a main swaying factor. Quite
honestly as well, it had what was needed, and potential for
upgradability speakerwise (i.e. rear center surround) provided
additional incentive.


Now on to speakers. This was perhaps where I should have started,
since it was ultimately the most difficult part to accomplish. My tact
was to see what was out there in used/demo stock, and assemble (i.e.
cobble) a decent 6 piece system (mains, center, POWERED sub, two rear
surrounds) using reputable names, without putting too much of a
bottleneck qualitywise on the head of the speakers. Bear in mind I now
had $211 to spend on this task.

It became clear in a hurry that I had bitten off more than I could
chew.

A typical candidate for the cobbling approach:

Atlantic Technology 254.1SR White, $104/pr.

http://www.soundcityoutlet.com/page....product_id=484

Great little surrounds... but I'm running out of money. I could never
match these with what I had left... even if I went back to the
"customer" and asked her to pony up $200 more... I would still be
short a sub. This same scenario played itself out again and again.
Unless I found an insane deal on something like an Atlantic Tech T70
system, or the equivalent Paradigm, etc. level- I was going to have to
swallow my pride and venture into the Vinyl/MDF carnival of horrors.

After psyching myself into going down the rabbit hole, the black box
bonanza became a might unsettling. They all looked like something I'd
buy out of the back of a white van, and buying sound unseen meant that
I was probably getting something that would mangle Jim Morrison into
sounding like White Van Morrison. But, here I was, $200 to spend, 6
speakers to puchase. Names like "BIC America", "KLH", "Altec Lansing",
"Cambridge Soundworks"... all caused my trash-radar to beep wildly.
But, I was slumming. The wedding ring was off, and I had my shirt half
unbuttoned, and it was time to get dirty. Here's where I ultimately
dove:

Cerwin-Vega HTS-2 6-Speaker Surround Sound Package, $199.99

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/...Surround+Sound

I can hear your gasps and cringes from here... and with good reason.
CV's approach to sound reproduction is similar to Arnold
Schwarzenegger's behavior on a first date: Sure they're subtle enough
when they're quiet, but soon it because obvious that they're both
obvious, moderately offensive, and heavy-handed. But, hey, at least
they've got muscle, right? That's precisely why I chose this speaker
"system" over the other MDF-clones... I'd rather start off someone
with accurate-enough reproduction at low volumes and
scary-peaky-offense at high power, as opposed to just-plain-suck at
all decibel levels. That, and, hey! It's under $200! After my
interconnects and other various miscellany, I'll be a tad over my $500
budget, but not by much.

What have I learned during this? Buying stuff sound-unseen off the net
is a real exercise in humility, not to mention a crap shoot, when a
budget is set so low. I'm going to be very interested in this, when I
install it and put it through its paces.

I look forward to the comments, flames, and opinions of the regulars
here... and feel free to point out where I've gone horribly wrong, as
I'm sure many of you have similar excursions into the back-alleys of
low-priced home audio/theater. Cheers!

-Blipvert