need speaker help (1 Viewer)

[mrfeh]

Hi folks!

I'm going to buy a HTIB system, and I've got it narrowed down to the Denon DHT589BA and the Onkyo HT-S5100. Both can be had for essentially the same price.

From what I can tell, both AVRs are well-regarded and have similar specs. So, it comes down to the speakers. The thing is, this system will be used for listening to music, as well as for TV/movies.

My current impressions: the Denon has Boston Acoustics speakers. I like the fact they are made by a speaker company, and not an electronics company. The Onkyo uses larger cones for the front speakers (5" vs 3.5" for the BAs), so I'm thinking they might be better at reproducing mids when listening to music.

Suggestions? Comments? Thanks!

 

[MaxL]

i like your logic on the boston speakers and the driver size. it worries me that you can't find any specs on the freq response of those boston speakers. the onkyo at least spec reasonably. so based on that alone i'd go for the onkyo if i had to buy one of the two without listening to them first. (if i could listen to them side by side that would be best.)

all of that said, i'd rather build a system from the ground up for a better sound in the long run. the fact that you are looking at 5.1 and HDMI passthrough only says you could be a good candidate for some NOS sale avr's that are out there and would probably provide superior sound for the music listening. it would still be a lot more that $400 by the time you add speakers, a sub and cable/ wires. maybe $600-700 to get an new NAD T744 receiver with athena ls50's and matching center and a dayton sub plus wires.

good luck.