Everyday Gamer

I actually wrote this on some forums that I participate in and then it hit me that I should post it here as well.

I went through a lot of the trouble in making my “dream setup” a few years back. The only experience I can really pass on is that you can’t always tell what’s quality by word of mouth and specs alone. You literally have to go out and see the TV and listen to the sound equipment for yourself to determine if it’s right for you. The truth is those who take the time can find a very good setup without spending “too much” money. I probably spent around $10,000 for everything but there are areas where you can save money.

1. Accessories - buy them online if possible and if you have a little experience or know someone then build your own cables. For example if I would have bought the speaker wire for my front channel speakers preassembled from Monster I would have spent around $350 - $400 bucks. Being that I bought a 100′ spool of Monster Wire wholesale (of higher quality actually) and the connectors, I spent a bout a quarter of that for my speakers, my uncles, and my parents.

2. Go to the “high-end” shops near the end of product lines to get the best savings. The new product lines tend to begin rolling in late August to early November. Salespersons are also more willing to bargain with you if you are serious about buying that day and/ or want to buy an extended warranty. Generally they have the higer end versions ofthe TV’s that Best Buy and Circuit City carries which ver often may have extra inputs and other bonus features.

3. Buy the extended warranty. Let’s be honest - every manufacturer can put out a lemon. One of my former co-workers has the same exact TV as me. He has never had a problem with his. Mine has broken 4 times - 3 of them occurred within the first 6 months. It’s not typical but it can happen. The total repair costs would have been nearly $3000 if I didn’t have warranty.

4. You can’t judge everything by specs. Communism looks good on paper - enough said.

5. Known brand names don’t always offer the best product. If one more person tries to convince me that Bose makes the absolute best speakers on Earth there is a very good chance I will punch them in their throat. If you want to get some good speakers at a reasonable price look north of the United States border. Paradigm, Axiom, and Energy are Canadian companies that produce among the best of the value priced speakers. They have higher up reference lines but you get a lot of value from the lower end lines as well. They sound like some of the “lower offerings” from other high end speaker manufacturers at a fraction of the price. SVS makes the best sub for the money and Hsu isn’t far behind them. Paradigm makes very good subs as well.

If you can afford $80,000 speaker sets from B&W, Linn, KEF, or Bang & Oluffsen then great… most of us have real problems.

The same can be for receivers and/ or separates. If you have the coin spend the money on separates. If not don’t spend more than $1000 on a receiver - it’s a waste above that knowing you can get separates for a little more.

As for HDTV just get what you like at this point. You don’t have to spend exorbitant amounts for a good HDTV anymore. You can do very well with $1500 in your pocket or $3000 if you want a fairly large screen.