Help with Budget Audio (1 Viewer)

Hello everyone. This is my first post so I will start with an introduction. My name is Dave and I live in the Detroit, MI area. I am relatively new to the home theater world.

I am in the process of creating a dedicated home theater room and have the projector (Epson 8350) and screen (100" Da-lite with a super deal from a local shop) and I need help with the audio components now. I have a Yamaha VX471 receiver that I am able to use but I need help with a 5.1 speaker system.

A little about the room. It is 12'x12' with an 8' ceiling. (I know, not the best because of standing waves) The projector screen is mounted next to the door and takes up the entire remaining width of the wall so towers are out of the question. (I was hoping not because they went with the Yamaha receiver.)

So, the question is this (and has probably been re-hashed a million times) what 5.1 speaker system would the experts recommend while staying under ~$500?

From my research, I was looking at the either the Energy Take Classic or Monoprice, which reviews I've found called them basically identical. Also, if the set comes with a receiver I can probably stretch the price up to $700 so my wife can get her 3.1 system back.

Again, I apologize for probably re-hashing this topic but thank you for the advice.

Well, I believe I've already found it:

Focal Sib & Cub3 for $500
http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/focalsib51blk/focal-sib-cub3-home-theater-speaker-system-black/1.html

Or Focal speakers and Denon X1000 for $700
http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/focaldenonpack/denon-avr-x1000-5.1-airplay-receiver-focal-sib/cub-3-speaker-package-black/1.html#!specifications

Would the Denon receiver be better than the Yamaha VX-471 I already have?

Could have bought an Acoustically Transparent(AT) screen...Does the 471 not do enough for you?

Add that $500 that you won't need for speakers...Get the Da Lite 100" Audio Vision. (Personally, I would never buy a perf screen, but do you have $1500-$2000 for woven? Da Lite has 4 versions of perf screen)

mephisto94 said:

Well, I believe I've already found it:

Focal Sib & Cub3 for $500
http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/focalsib51blk/focal-sib-cub3-home-theater-speaker-system-black/1.html

Or Focal speakers and Denon X1000 for $700
http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/focaldenonpack/denon-avr-x1000-5.1-airplay-receiver-focal-sib/cub-3-speaker-package-black/1.html#!specifications

Would the Denon receiver be better than the Yamaha VX-471 I already have?

Click to expand...

While your room is on the smallish side, I would probably shop around a bit more for speakers. At least on paper, those don't really excite me. Typical for satellite speakers, they don't have a lot of range, which means you wind up needing your subwoofer to provide more of a mid-bass "bridge", thus reducing it's capabilities at the lower end of the frequency spectrum (which is why you want a sub in the first place). Besides, IMO, 8"does not a subwoofer make.

What were you planning for speaker placement? If there's no room on either side of the screen, that only leaves above or below - with a room as small as yours neither of those options is appealing.

Is there no way to flip the room so the screen is on the wall opposite the door so that you can put the seating along the wall with the door? That would give you SO many more options for getting better bang for your buck in the speaker department.

Generally speaking, you really would be better served finding a set of bookshelf-sized speakers that fit into your budget - preferrably with a Dayton 10" or 12" subwoofer (between $110 and $130 from parts-express.com).

schan1269 said:

Could have bought an Acoustically Transparent(AT) screen...Does the 471 not do enough for you?

Click to expand...

The 471 actually works very well for me. I was more so hoping to keep that for the living room setup (that we use for entertaining guests ) that has klipsch towers and center.

schan1269 said:

Add that $500 that you won't need for speakers...Get the Da Lite 100" Audio Vision. (Personally, I would never buy a perf screen, but do you have $1500-$2000 for woven? Da Lite has 4 versions of perf screen)

Click to expand...

Unfortunately (or fortunately), I already purchased the Da Lite 100" that I got 50% off because it was a store demo model at a high-end A&V store.

Jason Charlton said:

While your room is on the smallish side, I would probably shop around a bit more for speakers. At least on paper, those don't really excite me. Typical for satellite speakers, they don't have a lot of range, which means you wind up needing your subwoofer to provide more of a mid-bass "bridge", thus reducing it's capabilities at the lower end of the frequency spectrum (which is why you want a sub in the first place). Besides, IMO, 8"does not a subwoofer make.

What were you planning for speaker placement? If there's no room on either side of the screen, that only leaves above or below - with a room as small as yours neither of those options is appealing.

Is there no way to flip the room so the screen is on the wall opposite the door so that you can put the seating along the wall with the door? That would give you SO many more options for getting better bang for your buck in the speaker department.

Generally speaking, you really would be better served finding a set of bookshelf-sized speakers that fit into your budget - preferrably with a Dayton 10" or 12" subwoofer (between $110 and $130 from parts-express.com).

Click to expand...

The wall the seating Is on actually has a window that takes up more room than the door does. Regarding speaker placement, I'm relatively handy so I've built projector box and will be building an entertainment console to go under the screen that will house the speakers. However, you mentioned that under the screen is not a good speaker placement... sometimes you have to work with what the boss (aka wife) gives you...

And if you block out the window, why not put the screen over it?Unless you plan on two projectors...one as a daytime cannon, the other for nights...

schan1269 said:

And if you block out the window, why not put the screen over it?Unless you plan on two projectors...one as a daytime cannon, the other for nights...

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You do have a great point. Other than the fact that I had not considered this option beforehand. Now that the room is painted it really wouldn't make sense. 3 walls are painted SW red theater and the ceiling and projector screen wall are SW sealskin... I think if I would suggest to the boss that we need to repaint, I would be setting up the projector in another house...

Another system I have been considering is http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BOZGSQ0

I'm probably getting stuck with getting an all in one when I should be piecing the system together... Anyways, thoughts?

5 BIC DV62(one being the CLRS) with the F12 is $500-ish.That AVR (the 377, I think) is around $200.

That is last years. The 475. Any $300 AVR paired with those BIC will run circles around that pre-package.

schan1269 said:

5 BIC DV62(one being the CLRS) with the F12 is $500-ish.That AVR (the 377, I think) is around $200.

Click to expand...

How would those speakers pair up with a Denon AVR X-1000

http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/denavrx1000/denon-avr-x1000-5.1-channel-networking-receiver-w/airplay/1.html#!specifications

Those speakers "pair up" with every receiver ever made...and will ever be made.They are 8ohm.