Advice for an overwhelmed newbie?
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New member Username: BryanhFresno, CA Post Number: 1 Registered: Dec-04 | I'm on a relatively tight budget for putting together a home theater audio system in a 9x13' spare bedroom. I'm not after "scare-the-neighbors" volume, but rather the most accurate, pleasing sound I can get for the money. The system will be used equally for DVDs and CDs (and DVD-A if it catches on). I've had a pair of [url=http://www.sennheiserusa.com/newsite/productdetail.asp?transid=004729]Sennheiser EH2200[/url] headphones for a couple years now and LOVE them! They sound incredible to me, by far the best sonic experience I've had. A bit weak on the bass for my tastes but that's usually easily fixed. I love curling up with these in bed at night, listening to my favorite music alone in pitch black. Music never sounded so awesome. What I want is sound quality that good in a surround sound setup for <$700 or so. Wouldn't have thought it'd be too hard to find given the Sennheisers only cost $80. Space is not a major concern, except possibly the sub. An 8" would probably do? What can you recommend for a speaker package, keeping in mind that $700 budget will have to include a receiver (I'm looking at HK 235, Onkyo 602, Denon 1804 type stuff). If you care to read on, I'll briefly describe my disappointing search so far. I started out eyeing the Onkyo HT-S770 all-in-one setup, and read a lot of glowing user reviews. I was about to pull the trigger but decided to have a listen first. Found a set at Circuit City and was honestly disappointed. They weren't terrible, but my $180 Klipsch 2.1 computer speakers were far better (and I'd describe them as average). And what really surprised me was the cheaper Onkyo HT-S570 had a more "musical" and precise sub. The tiny satellites on the 570 were not to my liking at all though. I listened to anything I could at Circuit City, and the only set that impressed me were some expensive Infinity speakers. Far out of my budget. Everything else just didn't sound good. Could be partially because the HTIB setups were receiving satellite radio - maybe the reception wasn't that great. The Infinitys were playing an actual DVD. Best Buy was of no help, almost none of their display models were hooked up so I left not able to hear the Yamaha YHT-450 system. I even travelled nearly 2 hours to a pricey home theater store to demo some Paradigm speakers (not that I could afford them  ) and see if they had anything more budget oriented. I was thoroughly underwhelmed by the competence of the staff (and I'm no audiophile expert!) and left with a bad impression of the Paradigm speakers they showed me (Cinema 70 I think) played through a busted old Yamaha receiver. I wanted to hear some Titans but they had none. And I was constantly steered away from the Monitors. Mostly towards a Denon system that I really didnt like either. It felt like the sub was reaching way up to try to cover for the weak little satellites, and the result was not a convincing sound. I am glad I went to demo the Onkyo HTIB set before purchasing, but I wonder... how bad were the acoustics at Circuit City? It was busy/noisy but I did my best to listen closely to each system. My room is likely a better audio environment though not perfect. Now I have been reading a few threads here and have seen a few people recommend Fluance speakers as being a great deal for the money. I would really like to demo these but it doesn't look like Fluance has any distributors. So I am reluctant to order them unheard (remember my Onkyo disappointment once I heard them?). I'm also a bit less eager after reading this page: http://hometheaterhifi.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-1295.html The price is definitely attractive. I'd need a sub but I don't think those are terribly expensive for a decent one? I like a nice tight, responsive, musical sub over an earthquake. I have heard some subs where it's difficult to differentiate the beat of a bass drum from the pluck of a bass guitar! Yuck! Any good sub-$200 subs around? I hear Velodyne subs are nice. A phase switch would be nice too. If you've read all this, congratulations, you are a patient and thorough individual! I'd love to hear the real skinny from audiophile types as to the cost/performance ratio winners out there in my price range. As a side note, I'm curious if anyone is familiar with ~10 year old Sony floorstanding speakers. I have a pair of [url=http://www.pbase.com/bryanh/image/36916552]SS-U542AVs[/url] that I thought sounded pretty decent the last time I used them (3 years ago?). They're acoustic suspension which I understand is generally better than bass reflex, but they also have a thin foam surround on the woofer. Just curious on this one - when I bought the system as a 14 year old kid I thought they were insane. |
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New member Username: BryanhFresno, CA Post Number: 2 Registered: Dec-04 | Well bugger me, my URLs weren't properly formatted and I don't see a way to edit my post to fix it. Sorry about the messy formatting there - I think you will get the idea. |
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Bronze Member Username: ShantaoPost Number: 69 Registered: Apr-04 | For the kind of money you are talking about, and the room size, here is a suggestion.... I would probably pair a pioneer 814 receiver, with athena's micro 6 sub sattelite set. The athena micro 6 can be had for 399.00 (100 off at best buy) and the pioneer 814 is also on sale at BB for 299.00 I have heard this exact combo at a friends house and it was enjoyable, and sounded much much better than any sub/sat combos in this price point. All you need then is a dvd player and you are in business. If they are not hooked up at best buy, be assertive, and ask that they do so for you. They always have for me, particularly if you ask for the manager. have fun. |
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New member Username: BryanhFresno, CA Post Number: 3 Registered: Dec-04 | I did ask, more than once, to get some kind of source hooked up to the Yamahas at BestBuy. I think they were so busy the guy didn't want to bother finding a dvd player and some cable. He kept trying to steer me towards some other system I really wasn't interested in. I heard about the Micra 6 set before, alas BestBuy offers them online-only. I think for a compact set like that I'd really have to demo them first, as I've been disappointed with the sound from every tinysat setup I've heard (including ones north of $700). At the moment I'm leaning towards one of two options... 1] Take the plunge on the Fluance SX-HTB set. Fluance answered my email about an 'audition period' promptly and professionally and they do have a 30 day return period. So if I hate them I'd only be out shipping costs. As cheap as this setup is I could probably afford to upgrade to the AV-SC center channel, and move the included center to the rear. I could also buy a decent sub, I think. If I go this route I'll probably start asking for recommendations on low-cost, high quality musical subs. 2] Find a store that will actually let me hear a Paradigm System One [this could be a challenge] and begin buying the pieces over the next 6 months or so. I already have my Sony fronts and a cheapish center, so I could probably get away with just a pair of Atoms and a sub - the Atoms would serve surround duty until I could put out for a pair of dipole surrounds, then the Atoms would move up front and replace the Sony speakers. Somewhere in there I'd purchase the Paradigm center channel and move my Sony center to the rear for a 6.1 setup. With this hodgepodge setup I would think a HK receiver would be ideal, with its separate crossovers for the three front speakers. BUT, I am not really sure I want to spend that much money on all this. I have other things I want to save up for too. Like a Nikon D70... I noticed something disturbing during my time auditioning speaker sets this week. Every store had the bass/treble adjustments cranked to the max. Gah! Some of the receivers were set up terribly too - I spent 5 minutes on a few of them trying to get them to sound good. Noticed a big improvement but not enough. |
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Gold Member Username: Project6Post Number: 2025 Registered: Dec-03 | Get the Fluance and buy the D70 There is a $100 rebate. Regarding the Micra 6, buy them on-line, if you don't like them, return it to the local Best Buy, you have 30 days. |
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