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Gblaze Unregistered guest | ok, Ive been doing some research and have pretty much decided on a speaker set and have a few receivers in mind. starting with the speakers I have: Harman Kardon HKTS 14 6-Piece Loudspeaker System for $370. Athena Micra-6 6-Piece Home Theater Speaker System for $350. Polk Audio RM6800 5.1 Channel Home Theater Speaker System for $530. receiver Onkyo TX-SR702 for $560 Onkyo TX-SR703 for $800 (cant really see a difference between these two, save for the 702 being an older model, what caught my eye on these are they are THX select2) ONKYO TX-SR603XS for $370 as you can see im trying to keep my budget around 1000, less if possible. But im also open to going a bit higher if the purchase is really worth the money. I would like some honest opinions on all of the products listed above, and am also totally open to new suggestions. Im am totally new at this and my above picks are basically from friendly recomendations and some online research. Thanks in advance for any help. PS: these will be set up in a very small room |
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New member Username: KilgoretroutPost Number: 1 Registered: Mar-06 | I think you have your relative amounts backwards - with a $1000 budget you should spend about $650 to $700 on the speakers. Speaker technology doesn't change a lot, and a decent set of speakers should last you 10 years. You could even stretch the speaker portion of the budget further by looking at factory refurbished receivers. So...from what you have listed I would probably get the cheapest of the 3 receivers and the Polk speakers (I've never heard these but Polk is a well known speaker company). Generally speaking I'm not a big fan of the satellite & sub systems because the small speakers just don't go low enough. If you cross your receiver over at the "standard" 80hz, there will be a hole between the bottom end of the speakers and where the sub kicks in. If you cross over higher (say 100 or 120 hz) to avoid the hole, then some of the bass routed to the sub is high enough to be localizable as coming from the sub. So as a personal preference I would try to move at least to a bookshelf system if possible. Of course if space is an issue, or the look of the sat systems outweighs some of the sonic shortcomings for you, then either the Athena or the Polk will probably be OK. As you edge closer to $1000 there are some pretty good speaker alternatives. The JBL Northridge series has some good speakers that you could make a pretty nice 5.1 set out of (I'd probably avoid JBL for the sub and maybe look at a Dayton from Parts Express or the BIC Acoustech sub which was designed by Dr Hsu and is a good budget performer). I have the 5.1 set from BIC Acoustech which can be had for just under $900 shipped these days, and probably a bit less than that if you opted for the soon-to-be-released bookshelves for the fronts instead of the towers (these speakers use horns for the mid/upper, some people swear by horns and others despise, so YMMV). Not sure of a Klipsch Synergy setup could be arranged for < $1000 or not, but the latest Synergy's have gotten some nice reviews. The $1000 SVS 5.1 package is very popular. Good luck! |
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New member Username: KilgoretroutPost Number: 2 Registered: Mar-06 | Oh, if your room is fairly regularly shaped and has walls around the seating area, the Yamaha Sound Projectors are something else to consider. I heard one at a home theater shop a couple of weeks ago and was amazed at what a good job it did enveloping the listener, and the room it was in wasn't even very compatible with that type of system. No, it didn't sound as good as the $10,000 Klipsch THX Ultra system in the next room, but for $799 (or whatever they can be found for now) it's something to consider - if the room is right for it. Throw in a decent, budget sub and you're set. And they look pretty cool too. http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/article.asp?section_id=3&article_id=807 |
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Bronze Member Username: WestcottLeague City, Texas Post Number: 84 Registered: Oct-05 | I agree with Kilgore. Spend the greater amount of your budget on speakers. A 4 to 1 price ratio should be a good starting point. |
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Silver Member Username: DelsolePost Number: 129 Registered: Feb-05 | i also agree wit kilgore trout spend more money on speakers |