Back in my high school days, I threw some of my hard earned money into a couple of polk tower speakers. I didn't do much research, just wanted some big speakers with a decent name. Used an "old" sony receiver that my family couldn't stand to use anymore; it emitted an annoying buzz as if there was a grounding issue. Problem was, we sent to the repair shop many a-time, and the buzz continued. It got to the point where I couldn't bear to listen to it anymore. As inputs, I would use my computer (for music, games) or a walkman.

The buzz irritated me and some other technical/logistical problems led to me disconnecting everything and allowing it to collect dust (until now?). Here at school, I live in a suite with a common room (which holds a tv, game consoles). The plan is to get some speakers in there to listen to listen to music while gaming, enhance movies, etc.

So basically, I need to get a receiver and bookshelf speakers. When home, the bookshelf speakers can be my surround, so in terms of the receiver, I'd be looking for a 5.1 (or 6.1).

I don't want to go over $350 for the receiver & speakers combined. Here are the receivers I have been looking at (note: I'm not intent on buying from vanns, it just had receivers in my price range that looked decent...)

5.1 receivers:
http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/item/features/538823415
http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/item/features/538199032

6.1 receivers:
http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/item/features/538667108
http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/item/features/538552016

Any obvious winner from those listed? Or horrible losers?

As far as the speakers go, I am absolutely lost. I've posted on a couple of forums with little success. Someone did recommend these: http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Polk-Booksh...roductDetail.do

Final question ---> I'm a half-assed bassist that has never had a band and rarely practices. So my amp is sitting around rarely used. Could this be used as a subwoofer? What steps would be needed?

As you can see, I am pretty much a newb. I did search the forum looking for a similar scenario, which I couldn't come up with. I apologize if this ends up being redunant with another topic.


edit: Included my IM contact information in profile. If you want a quick answer to a question, I'm usually around.

How about building the Speakers yourself? There some easy to do speaker plans out there which keep the costs low.

There are many threads discussing what you asked. These are the ones I've found but do a search and find some more if you need: thread 1, thread 2, thread 3, thread 4.
If you want good fidelity get a pair of decent speakers and amp, it will beat any 5.1 system at the price range -- since you otherwise buy 6 mediocre speakers. Similarly an Amp is always better than a receiver at the same price range, because it only does amping -- you are not paying for additional unnecessary circuitry found in the receivers. For speakers I recommend Infinity Primus. Have a look at the former threads and post your questions here.

That's an extremely tight budget for good sound, much more so because you want 5.1. You can barely get a good stereo setup for that. Also, receivers (tuner + amp) usually have a worse quality than pure amps for the same money, and 5.1 receivers/amps also have a worse quality than stereo receivers/amps for the same money.

For $350 you can get some decent stereo bookshelf speakers from Canton or so. A used quality stereo amp will cost you another $100 to $200 on ebay.

Don't build speakers yourself, they won't sound good. There is much maths and computer modeling calculation behind building a good speaker.

atici: thanks for the links. After looking through the threads, my conclusion as well is that the Infinity Primus seem to fit me assuming I do a receiver/amp around $200.

As far as stereo vs surround goes, the fact remains that I will have 4 speakers in between semesters and post graduation.

I'll post more later.