Complete Dorm Room Setup (1 Viewer)

[Ben Lindell]

Hi, Im new here and new to Home Audio in general. I've created a decent sounding stereo in my car and I would like a stereo in my dorm room equal to that. Im looking for a stereo setup rather than a surround sound setup because of the cost difference.

My DVD player is on my computer so if it would be possible, a receiver to connect to my computer would be nice.

Thanks,
Ben

 

[ChrisWiggles]

Price range would be helpful, but since you're in a dorm I'm assuming, that like me, as a college student you also are quite short on the cash. Hooking up a stereo to your computer is really easy if you have a sound card (duh). Some have large RCA jacks that can go directly to your receiver inputs, most have the small headphone jacks, and it's easy to find a little adapter cable that has a little headphone plug on one end and two rca cables (L/R) on the other. Looks like a Y adapter, but it isn't, easy to find at radio shack or a local hardware/electrical-type store. Any cheapie stereo reciever in good working condition will do, they can be found pretty cheap new. Used, yard/garage sales you can get old units for damn cheap. Speakers i would focus on the most. I would strongly recommend you look around and listen to as many speakers as you can. You'll probably be looking at spending 200 dollars or so on speakers for good ones. Take the time, though, because MOSt $200 speakers are pretty crappy. then there are the usualy suspects, boston, klipsh, JBL, that will do fine, but you can do better. I recommend you listen to Paradigm Atoms, they are about 189 per pair, small bookshelf with very decent bass for their small size. Guaranteed these speakers will surprise you. A little bigger are the paradigm titans, for about $220, will have a little more bass, go a little louder, but in a dorm you probably wont want to get to loud. If you want to take some risk in ordering speakers direct, there are some popular brans out there, like Axiom, but as they have no dealers in the states, you can't hear them first, which may or may not be a problem. I can't comment on axiom, or any other direct brand (other than SVS), as I've not heard them. So, for about $200 for speakers, and maybe 50 bucks or less at a yard sale for a reciever, and another few dollars for the speaker wire, radio shack interconnects and the little headphone-to-rca thing, you'll have a damn great sounding setup. To find a paradigm dealer, you can visit paradigm.com I'm sure there will be some other good recommendations from others of some good speakers to check out.

 

[Ben Lindell]

There isnt really anyone where I live who is into home audio. So its gonna be a little tough to find a receiver. I live in a 17,000 person hick town.
Ive actually been looking at the Onkyo 8211 Reciever (refurbished) that runs about 100 from J&R.
Have you (or anyone else) had any experience with the Dayton Loudspeaker kits they sell on partsexpress.com?
You've also hit the budget right on the spot. I would like to spend about 200-300 on the setup.

 

[Steve Adams]

I paid 200 cdn for my psb alpha a/v's they would work great for a dorm room, then look on ebay for a good stereo reciver. no problem to hook it up to the computer. I had my 1975 marantz recevier hooked up to my computer until I got my harman kardon computer speakers...

 

[Travis-J]

I bought a pair of the Paradigm Titans with a matching center, for $415 Cdn + tax, The paradigms are a great little speakers, I have two floor standing sound dynamics speakers with 2 8" woofers in each, and I'm not sure which I like better. Titans are a great speakers for not too expensive.

 

[Ben Lindell]

well, its coming along pretty good.
So far I think Im going to get a Harman Kardon 3370 for my receiver.

Im still kind of stuck with the whole speaker thing. Ive looked at PSB's, Paradigm's and I saw a speaker company called Acoustic Energy on eBay. Are these Acoustic Energy speakers any good?
Secondly, can anyone give me more recommendations for a good set of entry-level bookshelves.

Thank you

 

[ChrisWiggles]

I dunno bout more recommendations, you're not gonna beat the paradigms for entry-level performance by a long shot, IMO.

 

[Ted Lee]

all the brands you listed are pretty solid. i think you'd be happy with any of them. that being said...

if at all possible, go to as many stores as you can and listen to a variety of speakers. then, decide what sounds good to you - they're your ears and you're the one who has to like them.

 

[Ben Lindell]

Well I decided to spend a little more money then I originally planned because of some financial good fortune (my work study was not subtracted from my bill yet )
and I have actually gone and bought a Denon DRA685.
I traveled about an hour to hear the Paradigms and all that his store had in stock were the titans. I fell absolutely in love with these speakers. flat all the way around and very forgiving even with a poor recording.
The salesman was actually telling me that the atoms sound a bit "muddy" because Paradigm designed them to try and squeeze out too much bass from their 5.25" speaker. He didnt have any in stock so I really didnt get to hear what he was talking about. Now is this true or was he just feeding me a line? Also, are the Titans worth spending the extra money and losing the extra space?

Thank you all.
Ben

 

[ChrisWiggles]

Well, I own a pair of titans, and they are great! The atoms are also phenomenal, and I personally would grab the titans, and while I haven't compared the atoms and titans side-by-side they are both great, and I would not classify the atoms muddy at all. Very similar speakers, a little more bass capabilities and extension with the titans, and as long as that is within your budgets, and you like em compared with the competition, buy 'em. As a student, you would not be sacrificing much to grab the atoms instead(heck some people actually prefer the atoms over the titans), and you could save a few bucks, and buy a cd or two instead.