home audio suggestions

cris84cris84
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Hello,

I am looking to set up a simple but fairly powerful home audio system. I would like to hook up the TV, listen to CD's, the radio, and my Ipod w/ dock. Finally, I also want some outdoor speakers to listen to all of this outside too.

What kind of components do I need? Do I need a seperate home theater system for the TV and shelf system (ie creature speakers) for the Ipod?

I'm really new to all of this so simple and medium priced is ideal.

I could go down to circuit city with these question but I figure you guys are smarter. Thanks in advace!

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    splinemodelsplinemodel Posts: 7,311member
    I think what you need is a receiver/amp. Yamaha makes nice ones, but they might be on the pricey side. Then get some speakers. I'm not sure what kind of music you're into, but if you're like me you'll want some JBL S38's or something. . . I'm not into those little wimpy satellite speaker or Bose systems. I need that mid range energy only a beefy set of speakers can produce.



    Go ahead and get some rotating stands so you can swivel the S38's around and out the window when you want some outside speakers. Otherwise, just get some outdoor speakers and plug em into the same reciever.



    JBL makes some nice, decently priced speakers. Outdoor models too. All in all, the setup will cost you less than a grand if you want to get pretty fancy. $600 should do you pretty well though.
  • Reply 2 of 7
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,423member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by cris84

    Hello,

    I am looking to set up a simple but fairly powerful home audio system. I would like to hook up the TV, listen to CD's, the radio, and my Ipod w/ dock. Finally, I also want some outdoor speakers to listen to all of this outside too.

    What kind of components do I need? Do I need a seperate home theater system for the TV and shelf system (ie creature speakers) for the Ipod?

    I'm really new to all of this so simple and medium priced is ideal.

    I could go down to circuit city with these question but I figure you guys are smarter. Thanks in advace!





    Give us a list of everything you'll need and a realistic price range.
  • Reply 3 of 7
    cris84cris84 Posts: 34member
    thanks for the info splinemodel.

    So if I get a reciever and speakers I can do everything i listed: The Tv (DVD watching), the radio, the CD's, and the Ipod? Are there any wireless speakers out there for outdoor use? I assume the reciever will have to stay close to the TV and the living room is too far from the backyard for wires to be ideal. Our house is not too big so we don't need too much sound inside but the backyard needs to be pretty loud.



    hmurchison, I can't really give you a list of what i need since i'm not sure what my setup requires. But a realistic price range is about $500. Any suggestions would be great, thanks.
  • Reply 4 of 7
    splinemodelsplinemodel Posts: 7,311member
    500 is going to be tough. . . but there are a number of options.



    1) receiver/amp and unpowered speakers.

    Very standard. Plug all of your stuff into the receiver, and plug the speakers into the amp on the receiver. You can get mucho speaker wire cheap pretty much anywhere.



    But things can get pricey here. eBay might be a good place to get used equipment. . . you'll want a receiver/amp, (usually includes an AM/FM radio), a CD deck, a DVD deck, etc. You'll probably need a miniplug to phono-plug adapter for the iPod, but those are ubiquitous. Of course, then you need the speakers.



    2) bachelor-fabulous network of powered speakers.

    Get speakers with amps built into them, and a bunch of RJ-45 twisted pair. One RJ-45 line has 8 wires and thus can drive 4 shielded channels or 7 unshielded channels (well, 6 unsheilded and one shielded). But the bachelor-fabulous network does not have dolby or surround sound, so it's just left and right (stereo) unless you want to get fancier than me. You'll need a bunch of components from Radio Shack (preferably digikey) and a soldering iron, but in the end you'll have a really cheap network of speakers all over the house that can accept any (or all) inputs in the house.







    Anyway. . . $500 is going to be tight. What kind of sound are you looking for? Big sound? Small sound? Lots of speakers in multiple rooms? If it's just in one or two rooms, get the receiver and the unpowered speakers. It will be easier to deal with, and you won't look like you're a 22 year old guy living in a rented house with 3 other guys who happen to also work with him. (crazy subaru carpool action)



    I don't care much for subwoofers, so that makes it easy enough for me. You may have different preferences. If you already have some powered speakers around the house (you mentioned something about creatures) you may be able to find a receiver without an amp. Otherwise, just turn the volume on the receiver way down. I have to say, though, that multimedia speakers are generally pretty shitty, and you shouldn't even consider them if you want any sort of party-holding capabilities. If you hold lots of parties, you'll need at least $1000 to play with unless you buy all used.
  • Reply 5 of 7
    cris84cris84 Posts: 34member
    what about those all in a box home theater packages? Can i get one of those for the DVD's and CD's, and hook up the ipod dock and get some long wires for speakers outside?



    We listen to all kinds of music in the house, loudest will be hip hop and rock. HA HA, I may not be a 22 year old guy but I am a 21 year old girl,the roomates and I don't really have the money to get too impressive, just something that will sound decent at the new years party.

    So thats living room, dining room,and backyard, all pretty much in a straight line from front to back of the house.

    Don't know if the background info makes a lot of difference but thats what we're working with. Later I will go and check some of the brands and configurations you suggested Splinemodel
  • Reply 6 of 7
    splinemodelsplinemodel Posts: 7,311member
    Basically, what you what is a system of speakers that have many inputs. That's what the receiver does for you. It's really a pretty flexible process. . . just make sure you buy something that can hook up to a number of input sources (hence the receiver) and has an amp if needed.



    Many of the cheap shelf systems you can get pretty much anywhere have a number of inputs available. These usually cost less than $300 and have 2 speakers that can be detached from the unit. But yeah, the "Sound system in a box" may work fine as long as you give it a shakedown and find that it has all the inputs you need. You can probably even buy two of them and run a signal line (not a speaker line) between them, hence connecting them.
  • Reply 7 of 7
    squashsquash Posts: 332member
    For decent prices and variety of stuuf look at Crutchfield and get some ideas.



    www.crutchfield.com



    here is a decent set-up that would give you good sound at your price range...plus do just about everything you want.



    http://www.crutchfield.com/cgi-bin/S...=0&cc=01&avf=N



    as for the ipod...they make and ipod to rca cord i believe, that would let you pump the music through your reciever pretty easy. I'm not positive if this is the cable, but i believe so......



    http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...5Fid=42%2D2551



    Grand total just over $500



    It doesn't include a cd/dvd player, but honestly any POS could be connected to this system that plays cd...even a walkman type and do what you want. It's decent start and cd/dvd players are cheap and a decent one could be added at any time....hope this helps some
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