X-Mas Recommendations

[jmoney]

I've been charged with making a recommendation for a HTiB for my father-in-law. He's looking for player/receiver/speaker package for a max of $250. He has mentioned a Panasonic 750 watt set that is on sale at BJ's this week for $250. The model number he gave me is scht 692, I can find nothing on this model. I'm going to make the assumption based on price point that the player/recevier is integrated. I'd rather at the very least that the components be seperate.

After doing some searching I came up with this set, but I can't seem to find any reliable reviews. Anyone know anything about it, the Panasonic on sale at BJ's or just a good $250 HTiB? I would appreciate any recommendations.

Keep in mind that this will be his first surround system and he is not a Bells-and-Whistles kind of guy and will not be terribly concerned with upgrades until something breaks. He (and the fam) are currently watching dvds on a PS2. I had considered suggesting that they keep watching movies on that and spend the $250 on just a reciever/speaker package but apparently their PS2 has a skipping problem.

So any suggestions for a package that is not a total piece of shit? I'd appreciate the help.

[tomdkat]

Great thread as I'm thinking of getting my mom a HTiB for X-Mas as well.

Peace...

[Iguana Man]

You know, I find it amazing what you can get for $250 these days. I mean that too.

I wish I had seen this thread last week when my buddy came over looking for advice on a HTIB. I suggested this one.

His limit was $300....and of course, I had to bump it by $9.77 !!

So....what did you decide on?

[jmoney]

I have yet to make my recommmendation. I looked at the panasonic that BJ's has on sale. It would get the job done for them I'm sure, but the fact that it has no digital inputs and the 750W rating comes at 10% THD has me terribly unimpressed. I can't find anything reliable on the JVC that I linked to in the previous post, so I am hesitant to make that the choice. Has anyone heard anything about this pioneer ? The dvd player is integrated, but it atleast has a digital input. Aldi's has it on sale for $250, so they could snag it from a BM -- they would probably be more comfortable with that .

Iguana, that yamaha you linked to looks like a pretty sweet deal, but I'm pretty sure $309.77 is way more than they want to spend -- plus it seems to be out of stock.

Any other suggestions would be much appreciated.

[Iguana Man]

Originally Posted by jmoney

Iguana, that yamaha you linked to looks like a pretty sweet deal, but I'm pretty sure $309.77 is way more than they want to spend -- plus it seems to be out of stock.

Any other suggestions would be much appreciated.

I believe you can order it...may be too late now though. And dude, that Pioneer you linked looked nice but it was even more than what the Yamy is....

(did you decide yet?)

[jmoney]

I wound up giving a few different suggestions. One for each category. I mentioned this Onkyo for a seperate HTiB -- the JVC I linked to in my first post as a promising seperated components sold together set -- and I half-heartedly recommended this Samsung as an integrated option but tried to impress upon them to go the seperate component route.

I have a feeling I'll probably just wind up going shopping with them some afternoon after Christmas. Hopefully, there will be some sweet deals then.