recommendations for home theater speakers (1 Viewer)

[jamesv]

Hello all,
New to site. Looking for advice on home theater speakers for a 24'x24 ' room with cathederal ceiling and hardwood floors. I recently purchased an Onkyo sr- 607 and was wondering what would be my best move for around $500.00 . I was leaning towards the infinity tss 500 or Boston Accoustics xs 5.1 package, but after reading some of the post, I 'mconcerned they might not do the trick. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Jim V

 

[Robert_J]

As we always say, pick what sounds good to you. Don't know or don't have a place to audition speakers, then go with an internet direct company with a good reputation and good return policy. SVS, Elemental Designs, Axiom, etc are all mentioned.

Does this budget include the sub? Because that is a large room and if you are an action movie junky, then your budget wouldn't cover the sub I would recommend.

 

[jamesv]

Robert_J,
I was hoping the $500 would do it, but does not seem possible. I have an old Cambridge soundworks ensemble system which I could use till I get a a few more bucks. I bought the system in 1998 and it has been in the attic for the last 3 years. I remember having to wire the rear channels thru the sub. Could I intergrate that SUB? Thanks for taking the time to help a novice. Happy Holidays!

Jim V

 

[Robert_J]

I'm not saying that it won't work. You will sacrifice quality to get that many speakers for that price. Maybe you aren't a critical listener and don't really care.

I am not familiar with that Cambridge system. Do you have a part number? You may be able to use your current budget for a 3.1 system and use part of the Cambridge system as the surrounds. There are many ways to attack this but without clearly stated goals, every suggestion I give you is really a guess on my part.

 

[jamesv]

Robert,

Thanks again for your input. The goal I was hoping to achieve was a realistic Surround sound theater effect while watching movies. This will be strictly a TV ROOM, with music an afterthought. I want to hear planes take off in front of me and pass me by. I would like to be "wowed" .

My old system never acheived this. It never gave me much from the rear speakers which were Cambridge soundworks Surround 2 5.1 . They had a dipolar/bipolar switch on them that never seemed to make a diffeence. The speakers were meant to be mounted on the side of the viewer, with the sound bouncing back and forth from the right and left sides of the speaker. I prewired the room while it was being built and I have the rear speaker feeds directly behind me about 6 feet high. My old fronts,sub (both 6 omhs) and center were ok. If my budget is not realistic I could incorpate some pieces of the old system until I come up with the dough.
Take care,

Jim V
,

 

[Al.Anderson]

As soon as someone uses the word "wowed", the price goes up. I think the Surround IIs you have would be fine for the surround, so you need the front three speakers - and perhaps most importantly to get to the wow, a sub. I'd figure from $200-300 for the sub, and $200-400 for the fronts.

The other thing to consider is how you had your system wired the last time (when you weren't happy). It's possible that you were only getting stereo, or simulated surround (PLC II).

 

[gene c]

For $500 I'd normally recommend the Energy Take Classic 5 and a PartsExpress/BIC/? sub but a 24' X 24' room is too big to be "wowed" with speakers that small. You might might want to take a look at NewEgg.com and their prices on Polk Monitors like these. Polk-Monitor-50, $90 each, Polk-Monitor-30's $89 a pair and Polk-CS1 center $69. That's only $340 for the 5 speakers. Not sure what the shipping costs are but you might have something left over for some sort of subwoofer.

 

[jamesv]

Could be, 1998 was a longgg time ago. I remember wiring the rears thru the sub. Should I invest in towers and a center or some sort of directionals? Time to go shovel.
Thanks,
Jim

 

[jamesv]

GEne,

Polk stuff looks good. WHat do you recommedn for subwoofer? Do they sell a bracket to mount the rears (bookshelves) so I could point them?

-Jim

 

[gene c]

WHat do you recommedn for subwoofer?

Something from PartsExpress.com. Maybe this one. Or possibly that one. You really need a better one than either of those two but with your budget you may have to get by with one of those two.

Do they sell a bracket to mount the rears (bookshelves) so I could point them?

They might but I haven't really looked for anything like that. That's the problem with that type of setup. There really isn't a small surround speaker that's priced near the same as the bookshelves unless you went with some tiny satillites.

My two pretty large bookshelves which I use for surrounds are sitting on plant stands like this one but I removed the edge pieces so the top is flat. And I bought them on sale of course. Think I paid about $45 for the pair several years ago.

 

[jamesv]

Gene,

Thanks for the advice and the spellcheck. Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

-JimV

 

[gene c]

Thanks for the advice and the spellcheck.

For the advice, your very welcome. As for the Spellcheck, I didn't do it! But if I did, whatever it was I did I didn't do it on pupose!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

You do the same.

 

[jamesv]

Gene,

One last question. The CS-1 center speaker will not fit onto the entertainment system, do you recommend something mountable?

Thanks again,
-Jim

 

[gene c]

Polk doesn't seem to make a smaller center channel then the CS1. They have others that are ruffly the same size. I suppose you could try and find a center from one of their 5.1 satillite systems but it probably wouldn't sound right. Plus, a real small center matched with towers might be a miss-match.

Since the front three speakers really need to be from the same series/manufacturer you might have to find a center channel that fits and then round out the rest of the system from what else that sreies has available.

 

[jamesv]

Gene,

I have been looking at the Cambridge Soundworkds HT 305 SE, it 's on sles at $585 and the center will fit, but I really like the idea of the towers. Trying to find a way to make the cs-1 center work. Thanks alot for all your advice. Happy Holidays!

Jim V

 

[BryanZ]

Go used and go slow. There is the most value for your money. Check Audiogon.com for some good deals.