Audiovox Cheap Home Theater, Thoughts?
 

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html...sin=B0000A2U5M

This is the small home theater that Target had in their holiday sales for $84. (I havea raincheck at that price.) There are two reviews on Target's site (one by a 14 year old who I do not know but already deem annoying). Any thoughts here though? I recall a while back Target ran a cheap home theater that got decent reviews here. Is this the same one?

I plan on using the subwoofer and the player/receiver with the speakers that I already have, so I'm not too concerned about the small speakers. My player is finally starting to die, and my receiver died a few months ago, so I'm thinking this may be a cheap fix while I'm in an apartment.

Yes.

I am going to defy everyone's expectations and not be a snob here. A year ago my parents purcahsed a Sony HTIB, against my advice, for $200 or so. Yeah, it's junk in my eyes, but it actually sounds a hell of a lot better than their tv speakers and makes DVDs much more fun. So, don't expect much from these systems, but they can be fun.

That being said, Audiovox is pretty jank, so I wouldn't expect much.

Given your situation and the price it seems to serve your current needs.

HTIBs I would use in a bedroom and without high expectations due to their plastic speaker construction and wake-up alarm radio electronics :violin:

Are you going to pay the $160 lsited on the site or $59 you mentioned?

I just cannot imagine spending $160 on this setup. I've never heard these speakers, but Audiovox is typically pure crap. I guess I could see spending $60, because it will likely sound better than your TV speakers or any boombox.

If you indeed are thinking of spending $150+, I'd consider spending a little more ($200) and getting a HTiB like the Sony HT system (best buy link. Another option for $150-200 is some of the PC speaker setups that can do 5.1 and decode DD/DTS. They can sound decent for the price if you have a small room.

I think that is the Sony HTiB my parents have. Not bad at all for the money. It would be good for a bedroom.

Definitely don't spend $160 bucks on the audiovox system. My advice is always to save as much as you can and get a good receiver and two good speakers, and then upgrade as funds allow, but I have been told that I am an elitist bastard for saying such things. Since I can't deny the charge, I will simply say this - buy the best that your budget allows and enjoy it!

I'd go for a sony or something as well. Audiovox stuff generally sucks balls.

I have a sony receiver, and a sony 5 speaker plus sub package (receiver wasn't included with speakers, so not pure hometheater in the box) that I bought about 6 years ago and have been very pleased.

I'm not an audiophile and just wanted the surround sound experience, and they work great for me, especially being in apartments the whole time where I can't crank stuff super loud anyway.

Granted that setup was about $600 at the time (about $300 each for receiver and speakers.

I'm not expecting much out of it . . . just more than where I am at now (which is three steps back from where I was).

I have a raincheck on it for $84. I figure for that price I'm getting a five disc changer (which isn't a big deal to me), built in receiver, and a subwoofer. As I said, the speakers themselves I do not plan on using as I still have mine. I'm not looking for any high calibur output here . . . just enjoyment in an apartment.

Any experiences with Audiovoxes having problems? (If I'm not mistaken, years ago I was told that Audiovox uses Magnavox pieces. Any thought on that?) Of course, people bash Apex as well and that is the player that I am replacing after almost 6 years!

I suppose I can always hang on to my receipt if anything should go wrong.

You should be careful about using different speakers with a HTiB system. They don't always have normal speaker/amp ratings. Could very well be perfectly matched, but check the ohms and wattage carefully before you plug them in.

I bought a cheap ($54) Wal-Mart 5.1 surround system. The speakers were small and plastic and sounded just as you would expect for the price and build quality.

However, I switched out the speakers and used the (larger, better quality) ones from my old surround sound set-up and the sound is great. It probably wouldn't stand up to the 500 dollar set-ups of the world, but for $54 dollars, its damn good.

Assuming that they can even be easily connected. Some of these systems have hard wired speakers.

UPDATE: Target has not had this thing in stock yet. So last week Shopko runs a Magnavox setup for $99. I go ahead and pick that one up. Then we head over to Target for more shopping and low and behold . . . it finally came in. So I pick it up as well. I take the Audiovox home and set it up . . .

. . . IT IS CRAP!!!! Constant "static" or white noise from the speakers. So I swap out my speakers for the ones that came with it (original plan anyway). That did no good. So I disassemble it and take it back.

Set up the Magnavox system . . . lovin' it! Like I said, it's not high end, but for now and for the price I am a happy boy! (Plus the Magnavox has a SLEEP TIMER! I had given up on searching for a player with a sleep timer!)