How much do you need to spend? (1 Viewer)

[MarkWC]

Obviously, the more money you have, the easier it is to find the "perfect" system as most speakers/amps/pre-amps/wires/tvs/etc will not be outside your price range. However, average joe's, aka me, have more hurdles and hassles, aka family, to find a satisfying system.

I have recently purchased a new Elite 520, on sale, a Denon 1600, haggled, Onkyo 700, no payments one year, and am moving onto speakers. Though I feel I jumped the gun with the receiver purchase and should have first purchased a new pre-amp for my older Yamaha 992, I am stuck with it and want to press on. Don't get me wrong, I feel it is a great receiver with my current gear, Boston Acoustic 90 and VR10 center.

I am looking for new speakers. I have to get bookshelves for space constraints but the category is so confusing. I live in Bermuda, so I am conducting research now, to go test out specific speakers later. I have heard the Paradigm Studio 20s and love their sound, but for a variety of reasons I am still pushing forward with other considerations.

I am considering everything from Ascend Acoustics, on line pricing is under $900 for their monitor fronts, smaller rears, and new center to Dynaudio and M&K for price range. I would like to keep it under $2000 without sub, but spending half and yielding a decent system would be really cool.

My main concern is that if I get some nicer speakers such as M&K or Dynaudio which are 4 ohm speakers and really need a seperate amp to liven up the sound, like the Studio 20s, it creates the burden of having to spend even more money.

So my question is, since the system will primarily be for movies, can I get away with buying the Ascends and either an SVS or HSU, or should I continue to look at other, more expensive brands. My room is 15' wide by 20' long so it is not that small of a room.

Thanks for you help.

 

[Emile]

I have heard that ascend acoustics are primarily music speakers, not home theater, though I have not personally auditioned them. I guess you should make sure of that since you want a system that is for movies. I was tempted to buy Acend when I was shopping (CBM-170s all around) but there are a lot of other good bookshelf speakers at low prices. Aperion audio is supposed to be a great speaker company (I have read at least ten reviews praising them) and you can get a 5.1 system for 1100 (or more depending on the size of the sub). They are also known to have great subs, as they've been compared before to HSU and SVS. Aperion audio charges nothing for shipping, and there is no tax, as well as a free trial period (they even pay for return shipping). They also add the onkyo 700 for 500, so if you bought the onkyo recently you might be saving enough to return the one just purchased. Hope that helps. www.Aperionaudio.com

 

[MarkWC]

I hear these speakers are musically inclined as well which, for me, makes the package all the more attractive. I believe more speakers excel at movies over music with colorations and warm/bright output. However, even these speakers tend to handle movies well if mated with a solid center and sub.

With the new center or even a regular monitor to match the other front speakers and a SVS or new woodgrain HSU VTF3 I believe it should be a solid contender.:star:

I just don't want to count on my inexperience and possibly being naive, I just want a solid system.

Duty and shipping to an island can cause hesitation when finalizing a purchase.