new to home audio and have questions (1 Viewer)

[Ej Atatah]

ok i was really into car audio and have decided to move into home audio
ok first off what do i need as far as equipment
i know i need 2 front speakers 2 rear speakers
one center channel and 1 sub
what kind of speakers do i need for each set
like with the rearfill is it like car audio where it should barely be heard
also what r some good speakers brands and recievers
looking to do everything for 1000 dollars
thanks

 

[BryanZ]

Welcome to HTF!
You have $1K to work with (really wish it was closer to $2K).
What do you currently have? You'll need a receiver, speakers, sub, dvd player, vcr, and tv (obvious there). I'll assume you have the tv and vcr.
For the speakers:
nOrh 4.0 (only can have a pair for now - $400 new, $325 + shipping used)
Paradigm Titans (fronts) & CC-170 center (no rears) ($375 or so)
Swan Diva 2.1 ($400 for a pair)
JBL NSP1 (can be found for $300 over the net)
Ascend Acoustics CBM-170 ($370 for a pair)
sub:
Sony SA-WM40 ($140 over the net - primarily a HT sub)
Receiver:
Onkyo TX-DS494
Denon AVR-1602 (1802 may be pushing it but might be possible)
Yamaha RX-V420 (no DPL 2)
DVD player:
Panasonic RV-31 (RV-56 is possible)
You may want to put the majority of the money towards the speakers, especially if someone you know has a receiver you can have or borrow. Generally, for an excellent budget system you can expect to spend $200 or so for the dvd player, $400 on up for the receiver, $750 on up for the speakers, and $400 on up for the sub. But that is just a general idea and not anything set in stone.

 

[Bob McElfresh]

Hi Ej. Bryan gave you some good advice on equipment. Let me tackle some theory.
No, you want the rear speakers to be just as loud as the fronts. The Sound Engineers assume you have your system setup this way.
If you look, you will find several posts about speaker-calibration. This is a fancy phrase for "level-adjustment".
Several receivers have a "test-tone" feature, and some special DVD's have this as well.
What you do is get a Radio Shack SPL meter (volume meter) and start the test tones.
The tone will come out of 1 speaker at a time, then it moves to the next speaker. (It sounds like a bunch of AM radio static, but's it's really a mix of different frequencies.)
You adjust the main volume control so that the sound from one of the front L/R speakers reads 75 db. Your receiver has a setup menu that allows you to bump/reduce the center volume (and each rear volume) a bit.
When the sound switches to the center, you bump/reduce it's volume until it also reads 75 db. Repeat for each of the rear speakers.
When you have done this, you have adjusted your system so that if in a movie, something swirls around your speakers, it presents the same volume from each.
Oh, the two DVD's that help you do this are Video Essentials and Avia.
Hope this helps.

 

[Ej Atatah]

thanks for the advice
so techniqucally mispelled that
dont u want the same speakers all the way around
i have a dvd player and plan to add a tv and vcr later
the 1000 is just for speakers and reciever
on the woofer i was ganna add a shiva or tempest sub woofer along with an amp
right now im just trying to learn
and on my setup im not trying to win any awards just want nice sound

 

[John Morton]

Hi..
Great posts so far. On the subject of configurtion, I know it was an assumption, but you'll need to use the rat-shack meter from your listening position. Also, my recomendation is to read everything about speaker locations and then experiment by moving your speakers +/- from the "norms". A 1/4" rotation can make a huge difference in my room.
Also, spend $4.95 and put an inner tube (16" bicycle tube half filled with air) under your CD-DVD player.
Down the road, use 12 guage speaker wire. Use gold contact cables to connect your components.
Just my 2 cents...
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