I'm looking for some advice regarding a 5.1 speaker system for a home theater. The room is 11' W X 21' L X 7' H, three of the walls are cinder block covered with dry wall and the fourth (one of the 20' walls) is a standard 2X4 frame also covered with dry wall. I currently have a Kenwood VR-510 Receiver that I would like to match the speakers up with. The following are the 5.1 set-ups I'm considering, but would appreciate any advice or other recommendations: • Aperion Intimus 5.1 system with 533-PT tower fronts, 522D-VAC Center, 522D-LR bookshelf rears, & S-10, 10" sub. • Paradigm Monitor 5.1 system with Monitor 7 tower fronts, CC370 center, ADP 370 as the rears, & the PW-2100 sub. I wanted to go with the tower fronts because I am a huge fan of music, but I wasn't sure if this would be too much considering the room size. I'm not even sure if the system would warrant having a sub considering the room size and the quality of both sets of towers. With that said, I'm open to suggestions even completely different systems if it will help bring everything together.
Both of these are very good systems. Your Theater room is excellent. Your Receiver is adequate to the task. You should have excellent results with either.
In short the preference for sound given the good situation is really a matter of your personal preference to the sound of either system... recommendations are really moot since both manufacturers are prestigious almost to a thread on their coat of arms.
The only thought i can really give an improvement on; would be room size in regards to the subs available in either of these.
1617 cubic feet of airspace is a lot.
If the room is on a poured concrete foundation i would still incorporate one sub larger than that which either system comes with.
A minimum 10 inch sub with a class d amp rated at no less than 1200 watts
If the room is on an elevated floor i would incorporate 2, one front, one rear.
The sub bass demands for LFE signals are the most under estimated and weakest part of most systems. Keep in mind that when processing DTS the receiver is going to send LFE channel to the sub, NOT the towers.
Hense people 20 feet away are going to be relying on a 400 watt powered 10 inch...
When T-Rex quietly approaches from the rear and places his foot in the mud, you dont want people looking too hard at the ripples in the glass on the screen, you want them looking at the ripples in their drink holder.
Michael, Thanks for the advice. I did read up on both manufacturers which narrowed my choice down to those two. I couldn't find a negative review anywhere, so I figured I couldn't go wrong with either of them. Your response just reinforces that, and that's what I was hoping for.
I'm also glad to hear that the receiver will be adequate enough to handle the power of the speakers. I was a little concerned since its a few years old.
Regarding the room, it's on a slab and I wasn't planning on using the entire length of the room as the seating area for viewing/listening. There's going to be a bar set up in the back of the room. So the actual theater area will be roughly 11'W X 15'L X 7'H.
That makes sense regarding the LFE signals and the sub. I know that Aperion recommends using the sub regardless and now I know why. Thanks for the clarification as this is definitely new to me.
Hmmm, how much benefit would get from a 10inch sub when the Power Towers already have 8inch ones. The towers can go down to 30hz and the S-10 only goes a little more to 25hz.
And since you mention you want towers for music, the PT's are just the 532D LRs in a tower case with a sub at the bottom, and if you plan to get a seperate sub anyway, maybe you should go for the 633-T speakers. The 633-Towers are $100 less, but have dual 6.5inch woofers instead of 1 5.5 woofer on the PT. I hear this tower is much better for music because of this. With the $200 saved you could upgrade that S-10 to a 12inch, though, the s-10 might be better overall for music.
When you ordered did you ask for the newer 532-VAC, or was it 532, and 532D-LRs?
I ordered two 533PT, two 532D-LR and a 533-VAC. The PTs haven't come yet, but I'm hoping my 20 something by 12 feet room will be fine with the 8inch woofers on the towers.