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Advice needed - Stereo home theater system (1 Viewer)

maheshnlj

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Hi Guys, I have decided to go for a stereo set up using a stereo receiver and floor standing speakers. Mainly because surround sound has not impressed me as much as good quality sound from one speaker. Now I have two receiver options in mind : Onkyo TX-8255 Stereo Receiver Sony STRDH130 stereo receiver. Both have great reviews but the Onkyo seems to be slightly more preferred than the Sony equivalent. But the Onkyo has just 50W/ch whereas the Sony has 100W/Ch. My Speaker choices are : Sony SSf 7000 Pioneer SP-FS52-LR Again both have great reviews but the pioneer is a bit more preferred. Now the Sony is 100w/speaker and the Pioneer is 150W/Speaker. What combination would you recommend from the above choices. I have the Onkyo receiver + Pioneer speakers in mind, but not sure if the huge difference in power rating will mess up the receiver or impact speaker performance. My usage would be 75% Music while walking around the house 25% late night movies. Any advice is highly apreciated. Thanks, Ramesh
 

Mr645

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Gotta be careful about specs. First, the Sony is rated at 100 wpc, but at 1khz at 1% distortion. While the Onkyo is rated at 50wpc, but using a full range, 20-20khz at .08% distortion. My guess is that the Onkyo is a lot more powerful, much better sounding piece. In fact, I would bet that the Sony would have trouble delivering an honest 20 wpc in a real world environment, listening to real music. No brainer, Onkyo in this case. As for speakers, the Pioneer seems to get pretty good reviews for a $200 set of speakers. But go listen to similar prices speakers from Paradigm, Infinity BIC and others. The Sony also gets strong reviews and can reach deeper into the bass then the Pioneer, but reviews complain that the bass is not well controlled.
 

schan1269

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Like was mentioned before...wattage ratings are useless. You care about two things in speakers(3 really...how they sound)... 1. ohm load. 2. Efficiency Neither of those speakers is particularly efficient(mid-high 80). The BIC DV84 is 92(last I checked...could be 91). What that means is the Pioneer speaker takes TWICE the power to achieve the same volume. Also, 92 db at 1watt is pretty darn loud. 102db at 10. That means the Onkyo could push them to 106db. More than enough to make you go deaf. The Pioneer(87 I believe) would get to 101db. Still plenty loud.
 

maheshnlj

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Appreciate the suggestion guys. One more important part of my requirement I want to add is that, I dont listen to loud music and I keep the sound below average while watching movies. My question is if volume is not a concern , does the efficiency that you guys refer to still impact the quality of sound from the speakers (even at average volume) ? I looked at the BIC speakers that both of you recommended, it seems large. Actually I dont mind them being large speakers, but I just want to make sure that the advantage of large, high efficiency speakers is not just loud sound, but better sound quality. Other wise I think the BIC speakers seem to be great, and where can I try them out ? The only place I though we can try speakers was at Best Buy and they had 5 or 6 options only in my range among which I liked the Pioneer I stated before. Looking forward for your thoughts. Thanks, Ramesh
 

schan1269

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BIC is only sold online via Amazon and BB.com. You can't even return items bought on BB.com to a BB store. In store "demoing" is lousy to begin with. You won't know what a particular speaker really sounds like...till you get it home. And that is what we used to do in the "pre-internet" age. Buy speakers and take them home...return them if we didn't like them. Most ID companies have a 30-day in home trial period. Some have 60 days.
 

Mr645

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does the efficiency that you guys refer to still impact the quality of sound from the speakers (even at average volume) ? No, not at all. There are $20,000 speakers that are rated at 96 db/w/m and others at 86, Just a difference in design, but not really related to sound quality
 

schan1269

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The only major advantage to greater efficiency(if the difference is 1 or 2...won't make much difference) is your AVR will work less hard. So, if you are stuck between two sets of speakers and you are buying a "budget" AVR...choose the speaker with the higher efficiency. IE...if you are choosing two sets of 5.1 speakers at $400(like the Yamaha set that sells for $120 or the Klipsch set at $250)...choose the higher efficiency. But no...efficiency is not indicative of sound quality. It is merely easier on the AVR...especially if the avr is a lower power Sony/Pioneer/Yamaha/Onkyo.
 

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