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USCWilly Unregistered guest | I need some help from you guys to help me pick out some equipment. I'm 25 and just bought a house. I'm not an audiophile, because this will be my first receiver/speakers purchase, however, I am wanting some real good stuff because I love movies and love music. (my roomates always had the audio equipment). I understand that asking you for your preferences of receivers / speakers is a tough choice, but I'm not asking for the BEST that money can buy. Just a starter setup that will really kick a$$ and be better than the average BB and CC stuff. My budget is around $2000.00. Mind you, I own not one speaker or speaker wire. I have a progressive scan DVD and a 36" CRT. That's about it. I'm a techie guy, so don't be afraid to lay it on me...I know you get what you pay for, but my budget is probably piddly for you audiophiles. Nevertheless, I still request your help. Please correct me if I'm wrong, I need to focus most of my attention on my receiver and front L and R towers. I don't need to spend top or even mid-dollar for my back channels, and I'm looking for a $250 sub. I'm also expecting around $200 for cables. Is this a good estimate? My living room is a 14 X 17.5' rectangle with the TV in the center of the short wall. Currently, I do not want more than a 5.1 setup. Just to let you know, the receiver I was thinking about before reading this forum was the Onkyo 801 because of the THX and the ethernet port. Now, after reading the forum, I have a different opinion of Onkyos and THX. :-) Any help you can provide would be much appreciated. Imagine you are locked in one room for 5 years and were given $2000 to create a 5.1 HT/music setup. What would you buy? Thanks to all. |
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uscwilly Unregistered guest | sorry for the double post. |
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Silver Member Username: HawkHighlands Ranch, CO USA Post Number: 437 Registered: Dec-03 | Willy (a Trojan I presume): If you want the best sound for $2K, I am going to suggest a system that will require a bit of work to assemble, but I assure you, it will beat anything else out there for that price. And, I can tell you where to get it all. First, start with an NAD 743 receiver. MSRP is $699, but you can get $560 from either Kief's (www.kiefs.com) or Saturday Audio Exchange (www.saturdayaudio.com)--the websites will give you the phone number to call (if you call Kief's, get Ed at extension 109). Lovely sounding receiver, and you save money because it is only 5.1 (not wasting any money on channels you neither want nor need). It is rated at 50 wpc, but NAD is very conservative in their power ratings and most bench tests show NAD is capable of about 15% more power than rated. I have heard this receiver simply blow away 100 wpc receivers from other brands because NAD's power is much more usable. Second, go to the website for Magnepan (www.magnepan.com) and click on the link for "The Offer We Hope You Can't Refuse." There, you will find a description of the Magnepan MMGs, a flat panel speaker that they sell for $550/pair, shipping included. They are absolutely the finest sounding speaker for under $1K, and better than almost any speaker I know of less than $2K/pair. Again, you have to call to order them, where they will ask you if your receiver will drive a 4 ohm load. With the NAD receiver, you can say "yes" otherwise they will not sell them to you. These will be your main speakers. They are simply put, the most open and realistic sounding speaker I have ever heard. A few years back, one of the high end audio rags, either Stereophile or The Absolute Sound, I can't remember which, did a survey of their readers to see what equipment their subscriber base used. No brand of any component garnered more than 10% except in speakers where a whopping 70% of all readers had Magnepan speakers--they are simply the dream speaker of many audiophiles. For Magnepan to offer a low priced speaker, well, it is an incredible offer. After you get them and love them (and I know you will, just give them a month to open up fully), then you can order their matching surrounds, the MMG-Ws and matching center speaker, the MMG-C. The "Ws" are $299/pair (shipped) and the "C" is also $299. As the Magnepan speakers come with a 60 day money back guarantee, no questions asked, you aren't risking anything by trying them at home. If you think you need to hear them first, go to your local Magnepan dealer and audition a pair of MG12s, which are almost identical. Now you are up to about $1610. Get your subwoofer from Hsu Research. Dr. Hsu is THE MAN in subwoofers, having designed subs for many other companies and is a leading researcher in this area. He sells directly from his website (www.hsuresearch.com) and sells an excellent sub called the STF-1 for $299. You just can't beat it. The Magnepans are a very fast speaker and there are few subs around that can keep up, but the Hsu's are among the few. That leaves ~$90 to spend on cables. No problem. Forget those overpriced cables from the exotic stores (Audioquest, Kimber Kable, etc.) and the brands that spend a lot of advertising dollars (Monster Cable). Simply go to Parts Express (www.partsexpress.com) for both speaker wire and interconnects. For interconnects, they have their own house brand called "Dayton Audio" that is every bit as good as Monster Cable for 1/4 the price. For example, a one meter (3') pair of audio connects under the Dayton Audio brand costs about $12. I spent $40 for the same length of audio cables from Monster Cable. I have both Monster Cable I400 interconnects and Dayton Audio interconnects in my system and I guarantee that you could not tell the difference--I certainly can't. I spent over $60 for a set of component video cables from Monster Cable, but you can get the Dayton Audio brand for $19.40. It is top drawer quality, too. They have more types of speaker wire than you can count, but I recommend the Sound King brand of wire--they have a very nice 14 gauge in 50' lengths for only $21.95. If you need to run your wire through the walls (for the surrounds), you will need "architectural wire" which has a second jacket around the jacketed wires. I bought 100' of their 14 ga. architectural wire for only $13.80 and it is very good wire--my whole system uses it (all of my wires run through the walls except for the center speaker). So, there you have a receiver, five speakers including tower mains, subwoofer, and cables/speaker wire all for $2K. And it will not only please you, it will astound you--I guarantee it. Good luck! Hawk (Class of "77) |
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Silver Member Username: HawkHighlands Ranch, CO USA Post Number: 440 Registered: Dec-03 | Willy: I had another thought. For a receiver, consider getting a refurb'ed NAD T752 (last year's model), which can be obtained from DMC Electronics for $549 (www.dmc-electronics.com). The early 752s had some firmware problems--the software supplied by the DSP maker had a few glitches--but these have been fixed by NAD in these refurb'ed units and it has significantly more power and features over the 743 for the same price. It is an excellent receiver that would really get those Magnepans to sing. Check out the T752 review in the January issue of Sound & Vision, which can be found on the eCoustics Editorial board. This receiver is 80 wpc, but tested out at 92 wpc by S&V. It is a great price on a wonderful receiver. |
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Silver Member Username: JohnnyMissouri Post Number: 200 Registered: Dec-03 | Hawk, Great recommendations! I think you said you were a lawyer? I know I wouldn't want to be the guy across the aisle in a courtroom. I think if you tried hard enough, you could convince a monkey that he was a cat. :-) But seriously though, I really enjoy reading your recommendations. They are always right on the money, and I applaud you for that. I am dying to hear some Magnepans in action. There is a dealer in KC...and they sell NAD too! I am heading to Lawrence in three weeks to go watch my brother run track at KU (and darn it if I am not going to stop at Kiefs again too)...I think I am going to have to stop by and have a listen. |
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USCWilly Unregistered guest | Hawk, Thank you SO much for your recommendations. I've been researching your suggestions online all day. I look forward to becoming a fellow audiophile. :-) Now, I know this is probably not the correct place to bring up the topic. I'm having only one concern with the Magnepan's and that's placement in my living room considering their size/shape. Since my living room is so oddly designed, is there some sort of website or service that I can have someone "decorate" my audio components around my living room? I want the best custom placement of my speakers, but considering my TV is above the fireplace, and my fireplace is in between 2 windows, I might have some problems. Anyone know of such a service or website that I can get suggestions / advice by taking pictures of my living room or detail the measurements of my space? |