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Dave Ryan | I am looking at the Athena point 5 mk II with a Harman 325. What do you think. the room is relatively small. I need the speakers to be light and wall mountable. I want high quality sound mostly for music, but also movies. Is this going to be a good system or would I get better sound with say the energy take 5.2, or the definative procinema 60, or perhaps some other company's products. My goal is to keep the system around $1000. I also have a good NHT Subone I use with my other HT system, but I am thinking about using it with the new system to save money because my other HT system has power towers. I will be using my computer with mp3s and a dvd player for cds. However in the future I will have more sources. |
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Hawk | Dave: I like the H/K 325, but I would mate it with a special from One Call (www.onecall.com) of NHT SuperZeros @ $87 each (~$435), which would work well with your NHT sub. Or you could get four SuperZeros with a SuperCenter ($157)(~$505) also from One Call. The SuperZeros were on Stereophile Magazine's Recommended Components List for several years. These would be much better than the Energy Take system which, IMO, sounds very two dimensional. I also think the Athenas are too bright sounding, bad idea for a small room. Good luck |
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Dave | Thanks for the imput. Are the NHTs that good? I know they have a new spearker out the SB1s which replaced the Superzeros. I have in my other home theater at home an system with three supercenters and regular nht sourrounds, and while they sound good, i am not crazy about them. However I would look at the sb1s, although they are twice as much. I had heard the athena's are very good, would I be better off maybe getting more expensive front speakers and cheaper sourrounds because they dont have as much work. I also have seen some really cheap NHTs on onecall open box. Is this a good way to buy speakers, do they work well? |
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Derek | Dave, I've owned a pair of SuperOnes, three sets of Take 5(.1)s and a set of Point 5s (and Celestion and Infinity and etc.). The SuperOnes are that good. They are very low in distortion and have a relativly flat response. The SuperOnes were a little bright - not PSB Alpha bright but bright none the less. This brigtness was offset by their low distortion. You could still listen to them at length though you couldn't tell from this http://www.hometheatermag.com/showarchives.cgi?170 article. The Take 5s are a good value expecially if you are looking for small, wall-mountable speakers. They aren't as clean as the others and you might want to replace the sub (I used an HSU VTF-2). I considered NHT SuperZeros and though they were small, they were too bright. Since you already have a sub you may be able to get the Energys without the sub. I think it's called Take 2. The Athena Point 5s sound a little more laid back than the NHTs (to me, so I disagree with Hawk). The sub is MUCH better than the Energy even though Energy and Athena are the same company. I placed the Athenas next to the Energys and the Athenas are 3 inches deeper, two inches taller and two inches wider than the Energys. The satelites of the Take 5.2 are somewhere in-between. Also, though I haven't heard them Paradigm amkes a small speaker set. See http://www.paradigm.com/Website/SiteParadigmProduct/ParadigmModels/Cinema/Cinema_Series.html. I too use a computer to encode Dolby Digital and to upconvert some of my sources to progressive scan. I have also dumped all of my CDs to 325KHz VBR WMAs and I (Ahem...) dump DVDs to Divx files. Good luck on your quest and I hope this helps. |
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dave | Once again thank you. Now NHT speakers how would I go about wall mounting them, would this cause a decrease in quality. Also are the superones better or around the same as the NHT SB-1s? |
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Derek | I mounted mine on stands when I had them and I don't think the SuperOnes are made anymore. I would imagine the new stuff sounds better. See http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage.cfm?webpage_id=3&SO=2&&DID=7&CATID=49&ObjectGroup_ID=372 for wall mounts. |
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Hawk | Dave: Well, it sounds as if Derek and I have very different opinions on which speakers are bright and which ones are "laid back". Well, no matter. However, I will tell you upfront that I do not like the Energy Take 5 system, at all. I find it sounds very flat and two dimensional. For music, there is absolutely no soundstage, just sound. The thing I like about the NHT SuperZeros is that they do have an ability to project a nice soundstage, but they do need a sub to fill in the bass. Now, I do like the SB1s, especially for the money, even more than the SuperZeros. I have been quoted a price of about $235 for the pair and $235 for the Center speaker (the new one, not the SuperCenter). That is $470 for the three up front and using SuperZeros for the rears (@$87.50 each), you are still within your budget of $1K, including your H/K receiver. However, in reading your post, you aren't thrilled with your current NHT system. If I read this right, it consists of SuperCenters for all three of the front speakers. If this is true, I know the problem. Center speakers usually cut off their low end frequency response because it is only intended to provide dialogue. Thus, your mains are rolling off at about 90-100 Mhz. Furthermore, the crossovers of center speakers are tailored for dialogue. You might try taking home a pair of SB1s home on trial and using one of the SuperCenters as your center speaker and see how it sounds (actually, if this works for you, try the SB2s, since you would be saving the cost of the center speaker). By the way, as Derek observed, the SuperOnes are also very good speakers (also on closeout at One Call), but I prefer the sound of the Super Audio line (SB1s, SB2s, etc.). I do believe in getting better front speakers and economizing on the surrounds. the fronts and the center do most of the work, so it makes sense to me to go with better speakers there and spend less on the rears which really only put out special effects sound. I would also suggest that One Call open box speakers are a great way to save some money. I got my sub from One Call on an open box special. I bought a Phase Technology Power 8 for $179 (almost half price) from One Call (open box) and it came without a blemish and sounds great. I also agree with Derek that you should check out the Paradigm Cinema series speakers. They are very good and you might like them better than anything else suggested. I also like the JMlabs Sib/Cub HT system, but that runs about $1100 (MSRP) which sounds like it may be beyond your budget. However, do go hear it. Your local JMlabs dealer may be willing to deal the price down to where it might fit your budget and the sound is unbelieveably good for the money. I heard it head to head with the Energy Encore system (the Take 5s bigger brother and priced the same as the JMlabs) and the Sib/Cub system annihilated the Energys. There was nothing that the Energys did that the Sib/Cub didn't do better! Best wishes. |
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Dave Ryan | Hawk- Where did you get those quotes on the SB-1, everywhere I have seen is around $300 for an authorized dealer? I also have only gotten quotes low as $550 for the Harman, is there a better place to buy from, or just bargain with the people at onecall? |
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Hawk | Dave: E-mail me at socrmad@aol.com. I will give you a dealer to call. |