So, I am buying a new receiver and speakers -- likely Paradigm Atoms or Titans for the speakers. I am going to only buy two speakers for now and add additional ones for the true surround experience as money allows (we are talking probably a couple of years from now). I was originally thinking about getting two speakers plus a subwoofer to enhance the sound for movies, but the guy at the speaker shop suggested that instead of getting a sub-woofer, I should put the money into better speakers -- thus going from the Atoms to the Titans. What do you think?
Mike, I would go the sub route. As long as your placement options for the sub are flexable and you are willing to place it optimally. What receiver do you like?
A satellite/subwoofer system allows felexibility of placement for both pieces. This is generally always an advantage over trying to find the right spot for the bass while compromising on the mid and high end response or vice versa.
But which sub were you considering? Does it offer better quality low frequency response than the "better" speaker? Most subwoofers can do this due to the limited frequency response they must reproduce and the avalaible power provided by a dedicated plate amplifier which deals only with the subwoofer's requirements. A sub that can reach to 30Hz is an advantage over a speaker that only manages 40Hz, but not if the sub is doing a poor job at 30Hz. In other words, 30Hz response on paper is worthless if 35Hz is garbage.
Taken from another point of view, filtering out the low frequency demands made on the satellite speakers is almost always a good idea also. By incorporating a subwoofer into the system, you can filter out the very demanding low frequency response from the smaller satellites and therefore clean up their performance. Assuming the system allows sufficient felxibility in filter set up, there are few reasons not to go with the satellite sub combination. It is flexible and upgradeable with greater ease than a single larger speaker set would allow.
Why did the salesperson suggest "better" speakers rather than the satellite sub combination? Is this a case of a salesperson selling what they would own or what you should buy? Was any justification given for buying the "better" speakers and no subwoofer? Are the Titans going to do something the Atoms cannot other than slightly deeper bass response?
Mike, being a former owner of the Atoms AND the Titans, I would go the sub route. The Titans do not add that much more bass at all. Actually, I prefer the sound of the Atoms. Add a sub, even the entry level Paradigm for 350 dollars will add a decent amount of bass. What receiver are you getting?
I'm with Nick on this one - the Atoms do indeed sound better to me than the Titans. The v5 Atoms are a darned good little speaker for the price. Take your extra cash and invest is a sub, as others have suggested.
Thanks for your responses. I had not even really started looking at subs -- I don't even know the vocabulary as to what I should be looking for. Any suggestions greatly appreciated.
(One of you asked about receiver -- I have another topic posted about that. Basically, I am deciding between $500-range products in Onkyo, Yamaha, or Pioneer Elite and having trouble figuring out the differences. Denon comes highly recommended but the HDMI switching model costs $800, out of my range).
To respond to another question -- the salesman said that he thought the investment in the Titans made sense because with larger speaker cones (I may be getting the wording wrong here, he was talking about the speakers proper, not the bass), they were going to have more range and re-produce all sounds better.
I did listen to them both and thought the Titan sounded better, but it may have been primarily because of the better bass (was listening to a song with a punchy bass line).
Perhaps, the fact that the salesman said the speaker will sound better because it had a larger woofer tells me he shouldn't be selling audio equipment what so ever.lol. If you liked the Titan's, give the new Paradigm Mini MOnitor V5 a listen. Either way, with a subwoofer in your set up, and the speakers set to small, I doubt there will be hardly any difference between the Atoms, Titans and the Mini Monitors. Slightly, but hardly.
Either way, size of tweeters, woofers don't mean anything. BUT it sounds like your dealer obviously has Paradigm. What other brands does he carry. Either way, Paradigm make good subs. How much are you looking to spend on a subwoofer?