Best 5.1 speakers under $3,000? (1 Viewer)

Hi everyone. I'm setting up a theater in my fiance's basement. I've got a yamaha htr5990 receiver and a toshiba 62MH195 rear projection tv. My question is what would be the best speaker group to use for a 5.1 system? The basement is oddly shaped, and the walls are 13.5 feet apart. I'm looking to keep the speaker cost under $3,000. Ideas? Thanks!

Just put together my second HT. I had a similar budget as yourself. I basically looked through the various online speaker companies. You will see everyone chime in on their favorite. Axiom, Aperion, Swan, Onix, and so on. Most people here will recommend SVS subs to finish this out, and good number of people will recommend Hsu Research subs. Generally you get a lot of speaker for your money because they cut out the middle man. Most of these companies have their forums you can post these questions. I'll put in my own vote for Onix Rockets. The reason being that I really like their Center channel, affectionately known as "bigfoot". I use my HT for mostly movies and TV so the center channel is really important. At any rate, check the site out for Onix They have a lot of specials going on.

Good luck
yc

For non-direct companies, check out B&W, Paradigm, and Klipsch. All are very good, but offer different sounds that are preferred by different people. All offer speakers well within your price range.

I love my B&Ws.

I have three LCR7s and two CCM80s mounted in the ceiling

Thanks for all the valuable input, guys. I checked out all of the systems mentioned and they look great. This helps a lot!

What did you decide to get? Just curious.

yc

Try the sales going on on the 750 packages at av123.com right now and pick yourself up an SVS sub and you will be forever happy! Seriously

I just finished hooking up my surround sound. I am going to complete the setup within the next few days. I bought Polk speakers and really like them. They are a little less expensive than the Klipsch and a little less bright/crisp. I have a Velodyne 800R sub. I don't really know what to set my Denon AVR 3805 at for my older CDs, as yet, but will experiment with all the settings.

Hi Yong - My TV doesn't arrive 'til next Wednesday, so I haven't picked anything up yet. I was sorely tempted by the Onix and Axiomaudio systems, and obviously the SVS for the subwoofers. I'm going to be building a 700sf theater in my next place starting sometime next year, though, so I'm thinking about going more down-market on the speakers right now, since this is really just a two-year interim system until I put together the "real" one, which is going to have a substantially larger budget.

If you're planning on upgrading one of my personal suggestions is to hold back just a little by getting something with more upgrade potential.

Instead of getting a full 5.1. system right off the bat get a quality set of bookshelf speakers for mains. When you have the cash to expand these will easily swap out into surrounds (or rear surrounds if you want a 7.1 system). Spend some of the money you save at the present on a really good subwoofer that you won't need to upgrade (like the others I'm going to suggest Hsu and SVS, although I'm a bit more partial to Hsu).

As far as getting a good bang for your buck on speakers I went with Axiom after doing the research on them. So far I've been very, very happy with them.