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I agree on the piece-by-piece approach. Surround sound quality is usually quite inferior, not to mention restricted in frequency range if you set the speakers to "small" and run LFE into your sub. Start with a good quality set for front left, center, and right. Buy a decent sub for now, then...

Oh, and I second Mapleshade.

-Female vocalists (Diana Krall, Tori Amos, Jewel, Sarah MacLachlan). You'll hear a stridency in overly bright speakers you won't with warmer ones -Anything mastered in the mid-to-late 80s. I have a Springsteen compilation and, while the earlier songs are great, they are horribly recorded (or...

What's your room size? I have a pair of the old ProMedia 2.0s and if I recall, they're pretty small -- 3.5" midbass unit, a 5/8 or 1/2" tweeter, and a smallish sub with a 6" woofer. OK for a dorm room, perhaps, but wouldn't really work in a larger living room. Also, the connections may be a...

Must say, it looks darn cool though! And it might sound OK; impossible to tell without hooking it up and listening to it.

It's probably OK for the money, but not much better than that. You're definitely NOT getting 25 Hz at -3 db, or probably -10 db for that matter. By comparison, my Orb Audio sub with an 8" driver does 28 Hz at -4 db and cost me $333 including shipping and CA tax.

Find the DTS thematic (the ones they play once you select "DTS" from the DVD menu; for example, there's one of piano hammers hitting the wires) from "Chicken Run" and set your volume to about 7. That's blast his eyebrows back.

One more tip -- I ran 14/4 (four wires) so that all I had to do @ the end was split red & black (which I designated left hot and left negative) and yellow and blue (right hot and right negative).

I used something similar for a 100-foot run from a NAD C370 amp to JBL N24-AW speakers and PartsExpress-sourced subwoofer. Works fine. Just make sure the copper seems of decent quality and use some sort of sealed connector (I used a type that has silicon putty built in; once you screw it on the...

Just wanted to put in a good word for Chuck Williams, who a few weeks ago touched up my Panny 47WX49 that Gregg first calibrated in 2002 (yes, it was well past time). The two words I would use to describe Chuck are "gracious" and "professional." Gracious because he took the time to listen to...

There is one consideration many overlook: Oxidation. Those beautiful-looking 12 ga. wires @ Home Depot might be bright and shiny when you get them home, but after a year or two, maybe three, they start to look green and feel sort of "greasy." Which is definitely NOT good for sound as oxidized...

I live about 25 miles from where they're located and have been looking for some very slender speakers to reduce footprint in my HT. So one of these days when I have a few extra minutes (hah!), I might go over and see how they sound. If so, I'll report back. I have a pair of KEF Q3s and to...

Not to be an A-hole or anything, but I do have one tip that has nothing to do with music or HT -- employers want people who can read and write grammatical, typo-free sentences. So I might start by working on that.

I have also heard excellent things about the kit and if space hadn't been such a consideration (my 12" cube BARELY fits where I've determined placement to be best) I probably would have gone in that direction. I see now that they make sure this is for a "small to medium sized room," probably...

I was considering the LFM-2 as well but ended up with the Orb Audio Super 8. With shipping to my zip code, the LFM-2 was going to run $356 total; if you ask nicely, the wonderful folks @ Orb Audio will probably sell you the Super 8 for the price it sells for in their package. I paid $333...

Just a quick note -- I don't own the entire Orb package, just the little Super 8 sub. Having owned five subs including an Adire Rava, Paradigm PDR-10 (both gone now), and a Pinnacle SubSonic, I can say with confidence that it is a fine unit. I've had to turn the volume down not once, not twice...

If your room is pretty small, the Seismic 12 strikes me as overkill. For smaller subs in your price range, I'd look into Sunfire, the Velodyne SPL-R series, and the Pinnacle Baby Boomer, in that order. I have a Pinnacle SubSonic, the Baby Boomer's little brother, in a room 17' x 20' x 20'...

Also depends on your A/V receiver and what your main speakers are. Are they full-range running bass or little guys that don't put out much under 80-100 Hz? Do your speakers sound better running full-range or might they do better without bass information? Coupla things to think about: 1)...

I think you mean "drivers" -- 'round here, the word "speaker" refers to the whole unit (cabinet, drivers, crossover, inputs, etc.). Dayton drivers are pretty well regarded. Check Madisound too. Good luck and happy hunting!

Jeff, you da man. 'Nuff said. Many thanks.

Thanks, Brent. Just to clarify for any future readers, I don't care too much about mobile audio; this is just for my home systems. The clarity I get right now is outstanding -- does anyone know what Sirius uses for a source ... CDs? DVD-Audio? -- and I don't want to lose that. Additional...

Hey guys (and gals, if there any reading), Right now I get Sirius satellite radio via my subscription to DishNet. And I have enjoyed it immensely, especially the classic jazz station and Les Davis. However, for a number of reasons, the most critical being DishNet's lack of HD programming...

I have two pairs of JBL Northridge speakers, AW-N24 and AW-N26 (both outdoor models). They're now running off a NAD C370 integrated -- and sound pretty darn good for inexpensive outdoor speakers, if I may say so -- but before installing them outside tried the N26s on stands with my 5-year-old...

One more note: I was having issues with the Super 8 turning on and off when the system was running @ low volume (both music and movies) so I took the advice of someone else who'd posted -- can't remember if it was here or AVS or Audio Asylum -- about having the same problem who was told by Orb...

I'll chime in -- due to a move two years ago and WAF, I've downgraded in size from a Paradigm PDR-10 and Adire Rava to Pinnacle SubSonic, Energy S8.2 (buzzed like crazy, turns out the original owner had returned one and obviously gave up and sold me this one without disclosure) and, just in the...

I just took delivery of the Orb Audio Super 8 sub. Terrific quality for the money and excellent for music -- tight, deep and detailed. Quite impressive for a 12" cube. I've owned a number of well-regarded subs including the Adire Rava, Paradigm PDR-10, Energy 8.2, and now Pinnacle SubSonic...

I would add a recommendation: Make sure the sub is sitting on something that will either dampen or absorb vibrations, such as Vibrapods. I have a Pinnacle SubSonic, which is a dipole design, sitting on Vibrapods and firing front and back inside a corner cabinet. I cut 3 large (2") holes in...

Not to rain on anyone's parade, but my mom needed a decent pair of smallish bookshelf speakers and I didn't have a lot of do-re-mi to spend at the time, so I bought KLH Model 9B or something like that. Absolutely TERRIBLE! Highs were shrill, bass was nonexistent, and what midrange their was...

Slightly humorous story: For Christmas 2004 I gave my wife an iPod. It literally sat unused for an entire year. So about a week before Christmas 2005, I spent I don't know how many hours downloading about 60 albums and 650 songs. Then I put a bow on it and regave it to her, saying to her in...

If the center uses two drivers (in a typical MTM layout) I would replace both drivers. That way you're at least assured of having them match acoustically and presenting your amp with the same impedance load. Just a suggestion, especially if the drivers are only running $10-15 apiece.....