HELP: Surround Sound ****** Here

With infiniti speakers. Polk speakers are damn fine to.

I don't have much bad to say about Onkyo, but I haven't heard any recently. When I was first in the market for a receiver, I listened to a wide variety and decided that Yamaha was the best option in my price range. I upgraded to a better Yamaha a couple of years later (bought used) and then to a Denon 3802 (my current receiver).

The Denon is my favourite so far - not quite as exciting for movies but better for music. It doesn't give the same level of performance as high-end seperates, but it provides a lot of entertainment value for the buck.

As far as speakers go, I'm not a big fan of HT-in-a-box packages. I have the Athena Micra system for a small HT set-up and it sounds good in a relatively small room. It wouldn't be my first choice for an everyday music/movie system if I had any budgetary options, though.

If you're going to drop some money on a competent receiver, then I'd suggest going with something like the Athena towers ASF1 or 2 for the front and 2 pairs of ASB2s for surrounds, and front and rear centres. If you get the ASF2s, you likely won't need a sub, though you may want one for movies.

As mentioned by someone else, Polk and Infinity make good real-size speakers for a reasonable price. PSB, Paradigm and Axiom are other excellent choices. You haven't stated how much you're willing to spend, so it's tough to give recommendations. I read somewhere recently that Mirage speakers were being blown out in the states to make room for a new line. If this is the case and you have the opportunity, make sure you audition some.

Although songs like "let's get ********" are popular these days, it's societally unfortunate that we're embracing this kind of language.

Cheers

From my personal experience...I bought a Onkyo 6:1 Home-Theater-In-A-Box (HTIAB) (reciever only.no additional DVD - they do have system that have a receiver and DVD player) system from Circut City for ~$550. I bought it after researching here. If you notice, Onkyo's HTIAB are rated very high. I have been extremely pleased with the performance of my system, it has fullfilled all my needs. And it has excellent sound. From others input, Onyko is a great brand to buy, though, Denon and Yamahas, maybe right up there too. I would say that for a HTIAB, you are not going to get much better than an Onkyo, but remember, you are buying a system, reciever, bass and speakers, and that is what is ranked high for Onkyo. If you buy individual pieces, Sony recivers, Denon speakers, I think the rankings change. I did not want to fuss with having to search for everything that was best, but wanted the convience of buying one thing, for a reasonable price and getting everything I needed. You also have to consider speaker size. The Onkyos are large, both front and rear, but that is why they are able to produce such good sound (for their price). If you want small, I think you can find very good speakers, but they often cost alot more. One last thing as I ramble on, get a sub-woofer that is powered (there should be 2 cords - one going to the receiver, and one is a powercord going to a plug in the wall). Hope this helps somewhat. let me know if you have anymore questions.
BJD in Mebane NC