First time Speaker Purchase; Looking for Recommendations on Speakers

I should have started this thread yesterday -- bought myself a pair of Sony (old school style) floor speakers online.

Screw setting up the surround system -- two wires and done please.

 

Floor speakers are more expensive than bookshelf. are you sure you want that? I think you may have to budget more $$ if you want high end stuff.

http://www.onecall.com/ProductSearch.aspx?viewall=1&N=944&Ns=p_CartPrice|0

Klipsch is usually a good price/performance ratio

if you can afford the Definitive Technology speakers, get those

At CES, DTS did their demos using them showing that you can get great sound from "affordable speakers"

 

Keep a lookout for a white van...

 

My friend has had a pair of those speakers in his freaking living room for twenty years. I rag on him every time I go to his place 1) falling for that ridiculous scam 2) still having those ugly ass speakers in his home.

They have been doing this exact scam unchanged for 40 years now -- I think the 80's was the peak though.

 

HAHAHA I know someone who got scammed by them too!!!

 

I actually have TWO sets of those speakers, though neither of them were purchased out of the van. I got one set from a homeless man (dumpster-diver in West Campus) for $20. I traded a guy a bag...of...something...years ago for the other set (appx. $25 in value). Both of these originated in the early-mid 90s. Ironically, both sets still work perfectly fine.

 

Monitor Audio RS6 towers - ~$800
MA RS-LCR (center) - ~$300

These are great speakers for the price. If you want towers, those are some of the best for anywhere near that price. The "Silver" level is also the best for home theater. Seriously, the RS6 are fantastic little speakers and really well built.

I personally hate Klipsch but for home theater you would probably be alright.

You could also look into Focal. Their Chorus line (towers are something like 736v) is good for music - not sure about home theater.

The other option is Paradigm. They have all ranges for pricing so you could find something in your budget. Just go audition at various stores and see what jumps out at you. If you are in Houston, I can tell you where to go for each option.

 

I bought a pair of those for my garage. I have an eight-track/radio stereo that the previous owner left (along with a mess of Urban Cowboy-era country eight-tracks), but with no speakers. I got the speakers for $20, and they do the job I wanted them for.

 

PSB - good value in high end speakers
Paradigm (not spelled any other way) - great, but expensive
Bowers & Wilkins - great, but expensive
Fluance SV10 (lesser known, but lower cost and sound very good when bi-wired.)

 

I have a 20x20 room that opens into the kitchen in the back and the viewing distance from a 42" tv is about 8-10 feet, I think. I have a 7.1 surround system with the L-R surrounds in the walls and the rear surrounds in the ceiling. The fronts are bookshelf speakers on stands. The center channel is full-sized and on the tv stand. The sub is an SVS PC Plus (20-39) that I bought back in 2005 that seriously drops bombs when it comes to bass. My watching on the system is 80% movies, 10% tv, 0% music. If you're going for a home theater type of sound, don't skimp on the sub - it's what clinched it for me.

For me, the fronts as bookshelves are fine because I set the crossover to send almost all the bass to the sub and the range on the bookshelves are more than enough to handle the mids and highs. I also didn't go the tower route simply because I didn't want the tv setup to dominate the room (which is tough when you're trying to hide a 39" tall tower subwoofer... lol). I went the "direct" route and purchased speakers from HTD.com. I went to their warehouse here in the Dallas area, listened to the speakers, and they sounded fine to me (I'm no audiophile, either and didn't want to spend hundreds more for what I perceived to be 5-10% better sound). The sound from the bookshelf fronts and the sub is more than enough to fill the room and pressurize it with bass. I actually was worried the sub wouldn't be enough, but it turns out it was way more than enough. lol. If you don't have a good sub yet, then you'll probably be better served with the towers, but if you get one of the monster subs from Hsu or SVS, the front of your room will look like Stonehenge. For movie watching, don't.... skimp... on... the sub!

As for the front speakers, yes, it's usually suggested they be timbre-matched or at least from the same manufacturer/family. BTW, I've heard good things about Axioms and Aperions, but if you could listen to them first, it may be better.

I also had a Pioneer 1014 powering it all until I recently bought a Denon 2809ci. Both had room acoustic calibration that me served well. Are you planning on sticking with your existing AVR? Many of the mid-range models from Yamaha, Denon, Pioneer, Onkyo, etc. have some room calibration functionality that could help offset your room's configuration if you need to do it. It may not be as good as actually building "the perfect room", but it's better than otherwise, I suppose.

 

Infinity Primus are great speakers for the price.

 

what do you think of DynAudio?

 

I am also looking at upgrading my system from a 6.1 setup of Difinitive's to a 7.1 setup. They are bad ass speakers but I am building a new house and I want all new **** in the living room. Those will now be my bedroom speakers.
For a sub - go with the definitive SUPER CUBES - nothing compares- cost is about 1200- 2000 for one

I am looking at going with:
Front - B&W xt4's - 1200 a piece
Center - B&W xtc's - 850 a piece
Surround side and Back - B&W xt2's - 600 a piece
Sub - Supercube 1 - 1200

I currently have a Denon 3808 ci pushing them. I am going to buy a 4808 ci for this setup because of the ability to have multi zone video out with HDMI

 

Paradigm FTW! I've had my Paradigm setup for 9 years now, and they have served me quite well. Fantastic sound.

Unfortunately, in my new house, the floor speakers won't fit in the "HT alcove" area, so I have to sell all my speakers and start over. And this time, they have to be smaller and "wife approved." Sigh. So, I'm probably going to get Definitive Tech's ProCinema 800 speakers. They put out pretty damn good sound for such minuscule speakers. Yeah, that renders my preamp and amp rig pretty much overkill, but oh well.

My advice: Just stay away from Bose.

 

show off!

 

I would look eslewhere for the sub. a 1 10" sub will not have any low extension.


With that setup you listed, you really do not have have a subwoofer. You have a woofer doing much of the front channels job and no low extension.

 

I have read a bunch about them but have never actually heard any. In general, though, I go for the British and French sounds - mostly neutral with a slightly forward midrange and great imaging.

The Houston market in general sucks for my preferences, but I am happy with my Monitor Audio GS line. I have auditioned the Platinum towers (with an amazing ribbon tweeter - just a slightly smaller "sweet spot") as well and they are ridiculously good.

I also think MA is better than B&W at the comparable price points (I think MA compares upward to B&W so you get more for less) .

 

why do people pay over 1000 dollars for dual 5" "mains"


With that type of setup you HAVE to have some kind of bass managment.

 

the only people i know with expensive speakers have the following

vienna acoustics
atlantic technology (thx)
b&w

I have cheap Acoustic Research, but they get the job done in my condo with my Pioneer receiver.

the b&w person is a music person and throws lots of parties and he blasts his bookshelfs (2 large, with denon receiver) and it sounds awesome.