Reddit mentions of Monoprice 5.1 Channel Home Theater Satellite Speakers And Subwoofer - Black

$100 - Monoprice surround speaker system

$120 - Used HDMI receiver.

Of course you're not getting the very best stuff, or even the middle of the road stuff, but this should be enough to get you started.

Not going to happen at that price. The problem you have is that subwoofer isn't going to work with anything other than the Panasonic receiver it came with. If non-critical TV/Movie watching and occasional music is what it'll be used for you can get by without a subwoofer in the short term. The other issue is receiver, you can't get one within your budget and get speakers as well without making major sacrifices in quality.

OTOH, if they were happy with that Panasonic then we have options.

Monoprice 5.1 set $150: http://www.amazon.ca/Monoprice-108247-5-1-Channel-Theater-Speaker/dp/B007YLQUWK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1450198701&sr=8-2&keywords=monoprice+speakers

Receiver is where the problem lies as even the least expensive surround receiver is at your total budget. Only way to get within your budget is used for $128 shipped: http://www.amazon.ca/gp/offer-listing/B001QVBRF4/ref=dp_olp_used_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=used

Since it's Amazon it's protected if it turns out to be bad. New there is nothing available to fit your budget.

Alternatively you could choose to continue to use those speakers but best guess says the first time the volume it is turned up it'll blow those things to pieces.

If you're not going to be doing music then why the towers? You know you're going to get a sub so why not just some small sats/books and the sub for your movie/gaming/tv setup? You'll save some money and come out almost as good. If you were going to use this for a listening room I would say right on with the towers but since you're not look in a different direction.

Here are some options that I came up with...FYI Canada's prices are very different than the US. $350 up there doesn't seem to go as far as down here.

• Option 1 - AVR Denon E200 $200 and one of these speaker options to go with it:
  Monoprice 5.1 set $100 - this gets you a 5.1 right away. You'll want to upgrade eventually but you can do that down the road. Fluance SX6 $130 - gets you going with a nice 2.0 that should blow away your TV. Add in the rest of the set when you get more money.
  
  
• Option 2 Same AVR as above with a Polk sub $100 and these Dayton SAT speakers $55. Puts you right at budget but gets you a decent little 2.1 setup. That you can expand later. If you miss the sale there is this out of stock Dayton Sub that would work too.
  
  
• Option 3 Boston Acoustics XS Cinema $320 - gets you some small sats and a sub in one neat little package. You don't need the receiver as it's all included. Bad news is you're stuck with the 2.1 instead of surround sound. However, if you're in a small living room this should be enough to make games and TV much better than your TV speakers.

Stop him, with fire and an axe if you have to.

Get him a dirt cheap refurbished receiver. Yamaha

Spend the rest on some Dayton B652 Air's

then scour craigslist for any old speakers to throw in the back and maybe center and if you are lucky a sub.

Unless you grab the monoprice 5.1 bundle

Lastly he could get the Fluance bundle and then you look for a cheap old 5.1 receiver on Craigslist.

Receiver:
http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/yamrxv381/yamaha-rx-v381-5.1-ch-x-70-watts-bluetooth-a/v-receiver/1.html

Entry level 5.1:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B007YLQUWK/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1484011071&sr=8-4&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=5.1+speakers&dpPl=1&dpID=41FlJ-oJv2L&ref=plSrch

Speaker wire:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00N18VEJ4/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1484011173&sr=8-4&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=16+gauge+speaker+wire&dpPl=1&dpID=51HyS4454DL&ref=plSrch

Total cost: ~$373

Edit: just noticed you said the system in question was normally 350. That wasn't your budget. Doh! Anywho, this is a decent system and will run circles around what you were looking at. If you need to go cheaper you can look at soundbars of a 2.0/stereo setup.

I can't speak about the quality of the Z-906 as I have never heard them directly. Also, for $400, I don't think it is a complete terrible deal. They will do the job I described, even including accepting Dolby Digital live via digital coaxial/optical signal.

That said, they are the successors to the Z-5500 system that I have yeeears of experience with, and I don't think they've really significantly improved things over the Z-5500; from my perspective, they look almost identical with regard to speaker drivers and enclosures. They've just given it a face lift.

For reference, I have taken apart my Z-5500 satellites after I finished using them just to have a look inside and I found the exact speakers they used for that model, and it appears as well as the Z-906. I give you the Tang Band W3-593SF 3" full-range driver -- Logitech really broke the bank on some quality drivers, eh? This particular speaker has NO business attempting to reproduce any sound below 150hz (in real world conditions) and really nothing above 6-7kHz... which is fine as a dedicated mid-range, but not a full-range as Logitech have employed it. The speaker will do 80hz (faintly) and above 6-7k (muddily), but it was never crisp and loud and immersive like I thought it could be. This was partially the amp and processor's fault, but there is a very good reason speakers come in 2 and 3 and even 4-way driver designs. All of my speakers are now 2-way, and the difference is night and day. Tweeters exist for a very good reason, and if you want sub 125-150hz bass reproduction, use at LEAST a 4-6.5" midbass driver. But then they wouldn't have tiny aesthetically pleasing satellite speakers. It's always a compromise in the world of audio, and there is no replacement for displacement.

Believe it or not, the satellites weren't my biggest gripe-- no... my biggest gripe by far is the subwoofer, the processor (brain box), and the amplifier.

The subwoofer would get loud in certain situations, but it never sounded good. It is not articulate. It cannot do quiet bass/low volume levels well. It does not do high bass for shit at all. The system as a whole only sounded "good" and "even," when listening at moderate-to-loud volumes. At low volumes, the sub was too loud and boomy and apart from the equivalent of a "bass (volume) knob" on the stock radio of a 1994 Ford Taurus (shit), you could not fine tune the subwoofer at all. This may be a fault of a crappy sub driver/enclosure design, and/or very easily a crappy amplifier design, and/or just lack of processing power to customize things, or probably all of the above...

The best I ever heard the Z-5500 was when I had it set up as a surround sound in my bedroom hooked up to a TV (no computer) with the subwoofer in a closet. Being that I wasn't so close to it, I normally had the volume up a fair bit, putting the speaker setup in it's "sweet spot" for the most part. Worked OK there, but after I moved, I am just using the TV speaker and not missing the Z-5500 at all.

You get the sound signature Logitech wanted you to have and very little customization ability. That's fine for some people. I bet there's lots of people out there with a Z-906 that just don't know any better, or care... But I know that $$ you'd spend on a Z-906 can get you MUCH better gear.

So to answer your question, yes, compared to MOST HTIBs with a proper AV-R, the Z-906 is garbage. That said, there are LOTS of garbage HTIBs out there, but at least you will have a proper AV-R that can either manually or automatically (with microphone) tune the system and you'll have dramatically better results.

Now as for the JBL speaker set you referred to, I do think that JBL is a good brand, but this particular unit is probably near the bottom-end of their lineup. It will almost certainly sound better than the Z-906 (because being coupled with a proper AV-R), but if you look at this YT Video review of them, at 2m8s, you'll see that these satellites are a single driver speaker design as well. It will share some of the same inherent shortcomings as the Z-906 satellites.

The Boston Acoustics XS 5.1 I have the same criticisms about, EXCEPT their satellites are at least 2-way coaxial design. They're almost certainly better because of this alone, but the wonky shape of the satellite speakers make me think it would be a PITA to mount and or look right on the R3v.

The Mission M3 I know very little about, but I've heard some good buzz about the brand. I would again say no to these because of the satellites. Single, flat-pistoned driver they're attempting to use as a full-range. No bueno. This review from "What Hi-Fi" supports my opinion in the form of their headlining item in the "against" column.

With regard to the front LR + Center, you don't have to be too terribly concerned for ultra tiny size. As you can see from my setup, I have comfortably and securely affixed moderately sized bookshelf speakers and it looks good. The rears are really the only one where you need to be concerned with small size. And for those you don't really need a 2-way speaker design; that's just optimal.

Here are a few I would recommend (though I don't have first hand experience with them):

https://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-NS-SP1800BL-5-1-Channel-Theater-Speaker/dp/B001AVRD62 (decent brand, small size, good price)

https://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-108247-5-1-Channel-Theater-Speaker/dp/B007YLQUWK (well rated, small size, excellent price)

https://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-NS-P40BL-Speaker-Package-Black/dp/B00CN45XHG (better than the other Yamaha, good price)

https://www.amazon.com/Klipsch-HDT-600-Home-Theater-System/dp/B008CMVY7Q (better than any of the previous suggestions)

I'm personally partial to Pioneer, Denon and Onkyo AV-Rs. Plenty of other ones out there will fit the bill, but I've personally used all of these brand AV-Rs and have consistently been happy with them.

Mind that if it don't work out for your R3v, you can re-purpose it as a nice home theater somewhere else, or sell it. Being that it is far more versatile than the Z-906, it would be easier to sell too.

Followup question: if I want to get these speakers: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007YLQUWK/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1EF7D684J3CHX&coliid=IHZ9O0YCM163N, what cable do I need to buy for the subwoofer?

EDIT: found the answer, nevermind. Split subwoofer cable.

https://www.amazon.com/Channel-Bluetooth-Digital-Amplifier-Display/dp/B0794TZGVK/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1537463278&sr=1-2&keywords=HDMI+receiver&refinements=p_89%3AMARTIN+RANGER

https://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-108247-5-1-Channel-Theater-Speaker/dp/B007YLQUWK/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1537463535&sr=1-4&keywords=monoprice+speakers

You don’t need DTS when all you have is the TV’s two little speakers. Even DD 5.1 isn’t needed.

You have an AVR. Buy something like this https://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-Channel-Satellite-Speakers-Subwoofer/dp/B007YLQUWK/ref=sr_1_20 and can actually get 5.1 sound out of your AVR.