|
New member Username: KimxGentBelgium Post Number: 1 Registered: Sep-05 | Finally I move to a new house and can buy speakers... and I don't know much about it! I know myself, I can't wait much longer and I'm afraid to make the wrong choices... Who can help me with some suggestions, recommendations, or advice? I'll try to give you an overview of my situation... I have following amplifier: Yamaha AV Natural Sound DSP-AX620 Technical Specifications: Manufacturers rated output: 5 x 90W RMS (0.06% THD, 8 ohms, 1kHz) Max. output at onset of clipping: 93.5W RMS @ 2.7% THD Purpose of speakers: main interest is Audio, 2nd Home Cinema Music DVD's (concerts), 3rd: Home Cinema Movies Staring at window displays, the stuff I long for: I like 2 good Hi-Fi Audio speakers for the front and a good matching center speaker. I've been told rear speakers are absolutely needed or I could damage my amplifier but I find them somehow less important (but I might underestimate their added value to music and be completely wrong about that!). Please do correct me... My ideal front speakers produce enough base sound to not need an extra subwoofer. Assuming 3-way speakers are so much better than 2-way, I'd like 3 way speakers and I would love to explore the ones hanging on the ceiling: I've seen some nice things on ceiling in bars (Bose? "a-like" Or?)... Or otherwise 2-way speakers bookshelf if they have also good quality (Is there really a big difference between 2 and 3-way??). My Profile: I love to listen to music. But I'm not obsessed so I don't look for the professional perfection! I want OK stuff now and don't mind reviewing my purchase in 5 years or so when I'm rich ;-) Preferred Music style: Darkwave, Gothic, Folk, Classic, triphop, and various pop and rock mostly quiet (Noisy) Guitar related, Pixies, Pink Floyd, Radiohead.... (No focus on house, techno ...) I love the base to come out clearly. My Room: living and dining room are one space but living room part (where hi-fi system will be and speakers must come) is somehow separated by a "beam". Size of living room part = 4,5 by 5 meters (Total room: 4,5 x 10meters) Budget: the budget I had in mind = around 700 EURO. If I it turns out I can't find anything decent at all for that price, I might wait and save some more. As I said before: it doesn't have to be the best... I'll be more than happy with fair speakers good quality/price. Any suggestions or specifications I must look for? I know I'm asking a lot... But if by any chance you could drop me some lines anyway, I'd be enormously grateful. Love, Kim |
|
Silver Member Username: Frank_abelaBerkshire UK Post Number: 904 Registered: Sep-04 | If you're very lucky you might be able to find the Acoustic Energy Aegis Evo 5.1 package for just a bit more than 700 euros. The fronts would be the Aegis Evo 3s which are 3 way floorstanders with enough bass to do justice to most types of music while sounding fun and engaging. The centre is ok, not brilliant but good, and the rears (Aegis Evo 1s) work well in the context of the system. I've not heard the sub, but it's a well priced package. Have a look at their site: http://www.acoustic-energy.co.uk/products/aegisevo/aegisevoloudspeakers.html Regards, Frank. |
|
Gold Member Username: Edster922Abubala, Ababala The Occupation Post Number: 2225 Registered: Mar-05 | Kim, > I've been told rear speakers are absolutely needed or I could damage my amplifier Oh my God, whoever told you that must be really behind on their speaker sales quota...I would trust this person about as far as you can throw him/her. Pure steaming horsesh1t. > but I find them somehow less important (but I might underestimate their added value to music and be completely wrong about that!). Your finding is absolutely correct. If you are primarily a music listener, the only use of surround sound is for multi-channel SACD or DVD-A listening. Since these formats would require you to buy a more expensive universal player in addition to the extra speakers, in addition to costing 2-3 times as much as normal CDs with maybe 1/10th as wide a selection available---I'd recommend sticking to good old fashioned 2-channel for music. A quality center channel speaker will let you hear dialogue (about 60% of movie soundtracks anyways) more clearly but if your budget is tight I'd go for the best L/R speakers you can afford. The only other time you'd really need surrounds is if your taste in movies is mainly big-budget action flicks which have tons of sound effects. If like me you prefer dramas, comedies, art/independent/foreign films then they are very unnecessary given your budget constraints. 2-way speakers are actually preferable to 3-ways, IMO...the extra crossover in a 3-way just means one more additional level of artificiality in the sound. Now you can find speakers that have 3 drivers but are still 2-way, that's what I'd get if you want the extra bass and SPL. What I'd get for speakers is just a pair of towers, the best that your 700 Euros can buy. You can always add the center channel later on, but for now the front mains would be much more important. If you want good bass then eliminate anything that resembles a Bose speaker: there is simply no physical way that a tiny little enclosure is going to give you decent bass or even decent mid-bass for that matter. You are going to need bookshelf speakers at the very least, most likely floorstanding towers if you don't want to get a subwoofer. I have no idea what is available in Belgium and whether you can receive Internet-direct speakers shipped from the US without paying huge taxes, so I can't give you any specific recommendations right now. |
|
New member Username: BaseballfanPost Number: 4 Registered: Aug-05 | If you are primarily a music listener, the only use of surround sound is for multi-channel SACD or DVD-A listening. Since these formats would require you to buy a more expensive universal player in addition to the extra speakers, in addition to costing 2-3 times as much as normal CDs with maybe 1/10th as wide a selection available---I'd recommend sticking to good old fashioned 2-channel for music. While I agree with most of what you wrote, I just wanted to point out that there are in fact a number of DVD-A discs that also include a DTS track so that they can be played back on any DVD player that supports DTS. And a good multi-channel music mix is just amazing compared to stereo. Having said that, you are correct that given budget restraints the best approach is to focus on the front sound stage, either a very good pair of mains or good mains plus a center. |
|
Gold Member Username: Edster922Abubala, Ababala The Occupation Post Number: 2241 Registered: Mar-05 | That's true, I forgot about the DTS thing. |
|
Silver Member Username: Frank_abelaBerkshire UK Post Number: 905 Registered: Sep-04 | Thing is, DVD-A and SACD have an incredibly low presence on the marketplace. I know I'm always harping on about it, but the fact is SACD and DVD-A combined sold less units than vinyl did last year, and this is some years after their introduction so it's not like they're really fledglings any more. After all, DVD-V outsold CD by this stage in its life. So are you sure you want to base your buying criteria on these side-issues? Seems crazy to me. Regards, Frank. |
|
Bronze Member Username: Rysa4Post Number: 48 Registered: Jul-05 | A few things; 1. As stated, not using rear speakers won't damage anything. Cute. 2. The 3 way vs 2 way. In the 70s, you had to have a true 3 way speaker to get the best sound. But that is an old outdated concept. There are great 2 way and three way speakers out there. IN addition, there has been a movement lately to use multiple drivers that aren't really three way so you wind up with a "2.5" system etc. Each company has their own schtick. Personally, I'm a "keep it simple stupid" type person so when I see speakers with 5 woofers for instance I basically laugh ( to myself when in audio gatherings). There are scant few exceptions. 5 channel music listening is important. If you enjoy concert DVDs, which are the only DVDs I actually collect-- DTS and Dolby 5.1 listening are very important. It is correct that DVD-A and SACD are limited distribution formats at this point with diminishing relevance. The big deal here is to--and this is CLEARLY AN OPINION- avoid dipole and bipole rear/surrond speakers. This is based on your placing concert DVDS as a higher priority for you than Movies/Cinema. I do NOT like my concert DVDs in dipole and bipole. So regular monopole speakers are a good choice for rear/sorrounds for concert DVD listening. I also can't recommend speakers in Belgium as I don't even know what the audio stores carry over there. Let us know on that! |
|
Silver Member Username: Frank_abelaBerkshire UK Post Number: 911 Registered: Sep-04 | Marc That's very interesting since dipoles and tripoles work very effectively with film soundtracks. With the few concert DVDs I have tried, M&K seem to do very well and their surround speakers are tripoles (forward and sides). Certyainly their performance seems better than most unipole designs since the surrounds do a much better job of 'vanishing' courtesy of their tripole configuration. That said, I will bear in mind your point of view and try to see if it's borne out with other configurations. Regards, Frank. |
|
Gold Member Username: Paul_ohstbucksPost Number: 2594 Registered: Jan-05 | Good luck with your search. Love, Paul Heh...sorry, I couldnt resist. |
|
Gold Member Username: Paul_ohstbucksPost Number: 2595 Registered: Jan-05 | BTW, do you plan to use your system as a HT and also watch movies?? If so, you definitely want to consider a sub because their soundtracks are much more demanding than your run of the mill ACDC disc. For example, when I rock out to ACDC, I prefer 2 channel direct because my fronts can handle those soundtracks without breaking a sweat..... but.... To hear movies like they were meant to be heard, you will need a good sub. |
|
Silver Member Username: CheapskatePost Number: 412 Registered: Mar-04 | i tried to post this reply yesterday or the day before, but epinions locked up. ill just copy and paste it as i saved it. if you want full range without a sub, then yes... you might want full range tower/floor stander models, but the sub/satellite approach will give you alot better sound quality and hog less floor space up. 1. as mentioned, the more complicated you make a crossover, the more that can go wrong between frequency dips at the crosover points that you can hear, phase distortions and creating a tougher load on your amp. simpler is better 2. smaller satellite speakers image MUCH better than big speakers where the edges of the cabinets act sort of like soundwave prisms (diffraction). the smaller the front baffle, the less diffraction there is and the better your sound and imaging 3. smaller cabinets resonate less than bigger ones. the bigger a speaker is, the greater the chance is of it sounding "boxy". there are many $2,000+ little bookshelf speakers eg. proacs that get rave reviews for a reason. ;) 4. using a seperate subwoofer allows you more freedom to control your in room bass respons through sub positioning, crossover adjustments and volume controls. if you get full range speakers that aren't matched to your room, you can get serious booming that can't be fixed. subs give you alot more bass tweaking potential. as to mark's recommendation for avoiding dipoles, he has a preference for localizing the surrounds, but especially in movies, you shouldn't be able to pinpoint your surround speaker location. that's why they're called SURROUND speakers and not FLANKING speakers. ideally, your surrounds should sound like they're doing just that, surrounding you. dipoles are much better at being hard to localize. i can't wait to get magnepan dipoles and surrounds myself. i don't care for anything that isn't up front being either hard left or hard right one bit. i want my surrounds to surround me. i might even add a second pair in back facing the side walls for even more diffused back info. there's a REASON why manufacturers make dipoles for surrounds. some poeople just don't like the full surround effect. if you're in an audience, everyone isn't sitting to your left or right in a single row are they? no, they're in front of you and behind you. dipoles, because they're harder to localize, fill the front to back space better. point source (regular) speakers as surrounds only do left/right with ZERO front to back fill. |