I'm looking to find good F/C/R speakers for my new home theater system, and am looking for recommendations. Here are the requirements: - 99% home theater use - Wall mount to match a 50" plasma - Will be driving them with the new Denon AVR 4806 (130w x 7) - Budget is preferably under $2k. If i go above that, i will most likely go with the B&W FPM5
If you like thunder and want your theater to sound better than the real thing, I'd recommend a behemoth SVS sub, and then for fronts....well, buy whatever, because they matter less.
If you want 'shock and awe' from your HT, you need a killer sub. I've recently learned from experience what a killer sub can do for a system.
Hey Edster, nice to hear from you again. The current room is fairly small (11 x 12), but the idea will be to move it to a larger room (we're in the process of looking for a new house). I plan on buying a sub - maybe a B&W also or other recommendations(?) Surrounds will probably be the B&W FPM2. Another criterion I failed to mention is aesthetics - I'd like them as flush to the wall as possible, without going into the wall.
Flush to the wall...hmm, you might consider the Magnepan wall-mount planars coupled with a $400-800 SVS sub, your Denon should be able to handle the Maggies pretty well I think.
If it's 99% HT use I really don't see the point of spending much money on the surrounds, since they do only about 10% of the work usually. $100/pair cheap bookshelves like the Polk R15 or Fluance SV-6 should be fine. I'd only put more money into surrounds if I were listening to a lot of multichannel music on SACD/DVD-A. You'll get a much bigger return if you invest heavily in the sub and front 3 speakers instead.
Have you ever considered Internet-direct speakers? That's easily the best bang for your buck. Check out the Ascends; if you go to their users' forum at ascendacoustics.com you can hook up with somebody in your area who has them and they should be very happy to let you come listen. I think I remember at least one particular poster on that forum who's from Boston too.
The only downside to the Ascends is that they are rear ported so you'd need at least 10 inches clearance to the wall. Also the CBM-170 is not the prettiest speaker, but the CMT-340 isn't bad-looking; it's the sound quality that's gorgeous!