Maximum PC

good speakers should last till, well, last till youre tired of them. 10 years easy, more like 15 - 20 years. just dont clip the amp too much. a clip every few minutes for an instant is OK, but when its at clip for 10 seconds at a time, your speakers will die, no matter how good they are. a underpowered amp run routinely at clip can kill a speaker way faster than a overpowered amp that is technically over-driving the speaker.

200 watt amp, 120 watt speakers, no clipping, clean source = good, the speakers will take it as long as youre not totally crazy.

120 watt amp 200 watt speakers, lots of clipping = burnt voice coil. toast.

I havent blown a driver in like 20 years. I wind up giving the speakers away.

This is partly the reason that I have traditionally refrained from mix and match components.
I feel safer sticking to complete packages/sets.

you mean speakers and amp from the same company? only problem with that is no electronics company makes good speakers and vice versa.

EDIT: Im wrong; see below

Two Canadian e-tailers list the Onkyo HTX-22HDX to be available sometime in October.
Not sure if they ship to the US.

Not just from the same company, but in fact from the same set, so there is no reason to worry about wattage and impedence.
I know what you say is generally true, but from what I heard in the past, Onkyo and Yamaha are different because they manufacture professional grade audio products. Yamaha started out as a instruments company, which is explained by their logo. Onkyo has audiophile products popular in Japan.

that looks pretty sweet. never seen anything quite like it, I like the fact that it has 5 amps for later expansion.

about electronics and speakers companies I do have to take that back, youre right, yamaha makes both and they make some good stuff. I had forgotten about them. now it seems onkyo is getting into the all in one game too.

Somebody finally returned my call.
Some sales rep from Onkyo USA asked me to check back toward the end of September.
The first shipment should be available then (??)
I hope this is not wishful thinking.
If this turns out to be wrong, I'll get a Yamaha.

did a bit more reading on this thing, looks kinda specialized..

no remote (other components control it), low power (extrapolating 10 watts per satellite with 5 channels driven, 15 or so per satellite with 2 channels.. thats @ 0.1 THD. woofer is 15 watts @ 0.1 THD) - nothing wrong with that though as its very clean power w/ burr brown opamps, just dont expect to rock the paintings off the wall. no headphone jack. does dolby tru HD and DTS HD though, and 3 1.4a HDMI inputs with a return.

seems made for a near field experience or small room. perfect as a hideaway system, if you can figure out how to control it.

It comes with a remote. At least it's predecessor came with one, otherwise I wouldn't be able to use it either.
I used the older model before, it was loud enough to fill my room with all the noise I wanted.
Now my room in the states is twice as large, but I don't think it would be a problem for it.
http://www.intl.onkyo.com/products/syst ... index.html
You can check out the user manual and detailed tech specs here.

nice! I am very glad to be wrong on that point. I based the "no remote" on a thread at AVS forums and a google hit that pointed to eu.onkyo.com but it was the euro only model maybe? or an early one? no matter, the remote is there.

anyway I like that unit a lot. seems perfect for small, cheap (cheap for good sound that is) quality 2.1 sound. expandable to full 5.1. HD audio. enough inputs. clean sound with enough power for decent volume in most situations.

kinda ironic, you originally posted on wanting a good 2.1 system yet youre the one who found a really good one

Well, when I started the thread, the assumption was that the Onkyo set would not be available in the US anytime soon.
I can wait until the end of September.
Thanksgiving, maybe stretching it.
Christmas? I really doubt I could hold out that long.
I really think Onkyo hit the right chord this time, it's a shame it takes so long to get to the markets.

I just ordered a Tritton AX Pro instead of the 720, so I can make use of my soundcard's optical out.
Thanks for the suggestion from the first page.

The 720 uses optical too. i looked at the Pro too, but i didnt like how it needed two power cords. The 720 is a lot more refined.

Klipsch 2.1's, still on the back shelves of big-boxes for $99, and waiting to be heard. Rebuilt and better from reputable sellers/fixers...and they're golden. I see 5 boxes at my Best Buy...I can buy it, pot it up, and...no offers or I'm spam; damn.

Their virgin problem was noise in the pod unit after about 2 years. Two fixes to two problems in just the pod unit...but great speakers for the money.

I am temporarily using a pair of Creative T20-II until I am certain whether Onkyo is serious about the September release.

I just ordered the Onkyo set I've been waiting for.
Should arrive in about a week.
Now I am faced with another dilemma, if I use the HDMI output to the receiver, then I would be able to decode Dolby and DTS HD content directly. But I would lose the processing effects from my USB X-Fi soundcard. If I use the optical output from my USB Sound Blaster HD, then I wouldn't be able to do HD decoding, because the bandwidth of the optical link is probably not enough.

Perhaps I should try to dual link the system with both outputs, and set PowerDVD to use HDMI sound while everything else go through the optical link?

I got my Onkyo HTX-22HDX for about two weeks now, and I just replaced the satellites with Polk RM8s and added a RM8 Center.
Thanks for the recommendation.