I am a relative newbie and I was looking for a nice home theater/stereo. I went and listened to the speakers with all intention of buying Klipsch but the salesman had me listen to the MA B4's and I loved them. Left alone in the room I switched to the S6 and it blew me away. Perfetly balanced IMO compared to the brightness of the Klipsch and mudiness of the b4 (i didn't know of the port plugs at the time) I think I have settled on the S6, SLCR, and S1's for a 5.1 setup matched with the Denon avr-3805. Does anyone have this match? How do you like it? Any other receiver's that you might recommend? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
All I can say is that I am jealous! That is the system I wanted, well switch the fxi for the s1's. Unfortunately I don't have the cash, nor do I have a dealer within 3 hours. Instead, I am having to look in other directions.
Can't comment on matching it with the 3805, though I know the 3805 is a good receiver.
Last year I sold my entire Paradigm system (Monitor 7's, cc370, mini...but kep the servo 15) and started over. I had a NADT753 driving them. At the time, I thought they were great (still think they are very good), but went to a custom home theater shop and heard the monitor audio S6's and was blown away! I hauled my Paradigm's in and did a side by side comparison and the MA's trounced the Monitor 7's in every way. THey are great speakers for the money. I have not heard them with 3805, but if musicalality (sp?) is a priority for you, I would look at the NAD line..they match very well with MA. Good luck!
By the way, for what it is worth, I would have walked out with a complete MA setup, but chose Von Schweikert 7.1 system with NAD pre/pro and T773 amp instead as I got a killer deal on them... Shaun
Shaun- I am going to use the system about 50/50. I've seen alot of excellent reviews stating the NAD is excellent for music but not alot of comments on the hometheater side. On the other hand, the Denon is rated very high on both sides and is about $500-700 less. The Denon does however probably have alot of extra features that i will never use. I am going to listen to the NAD T-773 this week sometime. In your opinion, do you think it will be worth the xtra money? Have you heard the NAD in a theater setup? Is the 110WPC vs. 130WPC going to be something that I will notice?
I am also in need of a sub. I would like to spend about $500 maximum and like very tight punchy bass. ANything you recommend. And one last thing, what types of reasonable priced cables would you recommend.
Sorry for bombarding you for advice, but I do appreciate any recommendations that you can make.
XSound- I am going to add the FXi for a 7.1 setup once I obtain a little more room. I just think that the S1 by themselves are a great speaker and wanted them for DVD audio. I did spend alot of time researching these speakers not to mention extremely high listening levels at the local good guys. I ordered them yesterday and can hardly sleep waiting for their arrival in two weeks. I really wanted to try the Axiom but I couldn't bring myself to drop 2k on something I have never heard.
By the way, what kind of price point are you looking at for the MA. I paid 2k for the 5.1 setup after Good Guys gave me 15% off the package.
It depends on your preferences, but I use mine for about 70/30 home theater vs music. Almost every DVD out there is made in DTS or DD, and as far as I am concerned, those are the main modes. The extra modes like theater, hall, etc are not pertinent for me. NAD does have 5 different modes you can choose from though. I think the the NAD's are excellent for home theater. The T773 is quite large (I mistated above...I have teh T973 7 channel amp and the pre/pro). My T753 did a great job at 80 x 5. Something else to consider, when you compare receivers, MOST of the companies do NOT rate hte output with ALL channels driven at the same time. NAD ratings are honest watts per channel with all channels being driven. Some receivers out there are so called 100 watt / channel receivers and when all channels are driven at the same time, it drops to 35-60 watts!! As far as 110 vs 130 watts - if they are true and accurate numbers, I doubt you would hear the difference, but am not sure if the Denon is putting that out with all channels driven simotaneously. Cables - cannot help you there as I had monster, but have since changed to some proprietary cables from my local home theater pros - not sure what they are. Regarding the sub - I would look at Paradigmm SVS, HSU as you can get a few models in that price range. Good luck to you! Shaun
Tony, 2K sounds about right, however I am going to have to buy everything piece by piece, so I won't get that discount. My first purchase is to be a center channel, and the MA center is costly. It's strange that the MA 6 are more competively priced than the Center or the SFX/FXi. I can get into the Axiom line for less to start with, and I am itching to get started.
I have heard that Pioneer Elites are a good match with MA. I have raved in several other posts about how much I am enjoying my Elite vsx-54. IT has incredible sound and all the bells and whistles. I found the remote much more user friendly than the 3805 remote. Pioneer includes the instructions for bi-amping the front channels, so you know they had that in mind when designing the amp. I really wanted the Elite vsx-56txi because of the usb and firewire connections, but once again cruel financial reality stepped in.
Enjoy the set-up. Whether you go with Denon, NAD, or Pioneer Elite, I know you will. x
Now I am thinking about the Rotel RSX-1067. It's funny how my budget seems to keep increasing. Speakers were $1867 for all after discount to be precise. Not a bad deal. Will the MA's reproduce the Rotel's sound well?