Onkyo HT-S7700(refurbished) or Monoprice 5.1 10565 with some Denon Receiver?

[priyam1309]

I am new to setting up my first budget home theater and I have $400-$450 budget. But through some deal I am getting the Onkyo HT7700 HTIB for $500 with 1 Yr warranty fro Onkyo which is about a little high.
On the other hand I am also getting Monoprice 10565 Home Theater (New) for $180 and if I spend about $200 - $250 for some decent Receiver with at least 5 HDMI 2.0 Inputs with 4K Upscaling, preferably Denon.
Which one should I go with?

 

[ssddx]

bear in mind the monoprice 10565 is a clone of the energy take classic 5.1 and that energy offers a 5 year warranty and monoprice offers a 1 year. i know energy has good customer service, not sure about monoprice.

while i cannot speak about the 10565 (though i've heard it sounds about the same) i can say that for the money the energy 5.1 is a great set. the subwoofer included is not very large so do not expect earth shattering bass however it is sufficient for most people's needs. for the price it is one of the nicer sounding kits you can buy and is better than most HTiB's.

from what i can gather about the atmos, the technology does give a bit more edge to surround sound however is not really a big deal. the center channel is a bit small so male voices may sound a bit thin. since i've never heard it myself i cannot give a direct comparison between the two.

personally i'd go with energies since they are a known element but that is your call. i suppose it also depends on the price of receivers in your locale.

 

[Karadjgne]

I have an old Onkyo receiver, old as in close to 20 yrs now. It's 5.1 Dolby ProLogic, 100w RMS per channel. It's pushing a pair of KX12ii 12" 3-way towers. I've never taken the volume past 50. At that volume, you can actually see my windows flexing, not shaking, flexing. The sound is absolutely fantastic, crystal clear even at low volume. Onkyo is ranked, high, its not for the ordinary listener. The whole setup I have was $3500 new, and it still rocks today. Don't get me wrong, Denon makes one hell of a nice piece of equipment too, but their cheaper, more available stuff just isn't the same quality as their top shelf stuff. Onkyo only has 1 shelf and to my experience (yes I've owned Denon amps too) the stuff built by Onkyo is worth every penny.