Theater-in-a-Box for computer speakers
 

Being rather underwhelmed at the state of the art in computer speakers, I thought I'd venture into the low-end home theater market instead, as it seems to offer a huge potential jump in quality over even "high end" computer speakers.

Most of these seem to come equipped with video-shielded front speakers, so placement shouldn't be a huge issue.

As this is just a COMPUTER SPEAKER replacement, I don't need high-end components. A solid matched set with amp should be more than enough, I'm just looking for specific recommendations, given this application.

So far, here are the systems I’ve come up with:

$400 Kenwood HTB-505 from Crutchfield
$400 Onkyo HT-S660 from Vann's

The Onkyo appears to have received slightly more enthusiastic reviews, although apparently the remote is a real low point. (The Kenwood has much better layout and a neat joystick.) But the big factor is sound, and with 5.5" front woofers and a 150W 8” powered sub, versus the Kenwood’s 4” all around and a 100W 8” powered sub, the Onkyo system simply has more air displacement power.

Any opinions on either of these units? Any others I should be looking at?
And are there other variables I may not be considering?

Thanks for your help!

I think I would have more faith in Onkyo than Kenwood. Maybe return policy should also be part of your decision just in case you don't like it.

Onkyo for me also. And btw, I have a Yamaha HTIB connected to my PC. :)

I have the Onkyo HTS660B setup for almost a month and I love it! I didn't have the big bucks to buy a top-end 6.1 system so I opted for the Onkyo 5.1. Very pleased with the sound quality, and speaker & receiver build. Can handle a good amount of power and the 150W subwoofer THUMPS with bass. I did alot of research on the net, and on here and Onkyo looked to be the way to go.

For those of you using home theater systems with your PC, any problems positioning the speakers? I'm especially concerned about placement of the center channel: even though they say they're sheilded, will I have problems placing it near my CRT?

I have almost the exact same situation as NaturalMystic79. After much research I went with the S660 and it is very, very cool. I paid $299 on sale at Fry's. I've been very pleased with it. Forget the whining about the damn remote, who cares? I understand it is important, but we're talking about budget systems, and its just not an issue. To me, I just want the best sound for my $300-500, and maybe that means dealing with a "bad" remote. It has all the stuff you need to control the system, thats whats important.

On the shielding issue, if it says shielded it should be fine, but I did have a problem with the center speaking on top of my tube set. In certain spots it would discolor the screen a bit, but moving it around a bit I got rid of it without a problem. Its kinda hard to say what will happen so I'd just buy the set and make it work.

Good luck, you cant go wrong with the Onkyo!

based on the two options, i'd pick the onkyo.

whoa, when did that sale happen? i've only seen it for $349 at the lowest

No problems with me. I have a pair of speakers on the top of my monitor (DTT2500 and a Yamaha VS-10) and I have no problems with my monitor.