2 speakers now- how much more to go ht.... (1 Viewer)

[Tim T.]

ok right now im fairly happy with the sound im getting but old receiver not working correctly need a new one. Im also doing some remodoling right now and have all the walls pretty ripped up so it seems like a good time to run some speaker wire. Most of the new receivers now all seem to come with 5.1 dolby etc but I only have 2 speakers at this point so Im debating what it would cost to add to what I have to make an ok sounding Ht setup on kinda low budget..

one Speaker I have is a Sansui-spx3u-- bought for $100 at costco few years ago this is 28in high by 14 by 14 bout kinda large speaker.. Play role of Sub woofer?
and also have a mid size capehart Air suspension speaker (real old works fine)

I plan on spending $100-$150 for the receiver..(probally At Best Buy or circut city)

maybe $100-150 more for additional speakers after that.

I know they say matching is important so is there any way to buy a few more speakers and to use speakers I already have to make a ht or should I just buy a receiver and forget ht. for now and just stick with 2 speakers...

any help and specfic model reccomendations that might work appreciated..

 

[Tim K]

for your budget there isn't much to recommend as far as speakers go. As for keeping your existing speakers and building on that...I don't know if you can. You really can't build an HT starting with two different speakers. You really need to get matching speakers, if you could find a matching speaker for either of your existing speakers that might be a start. Plus, it sounds like they are your typical big box rock speakers. Not necessarily good for an HT setup. As for the other speaker, you really can't just use any speaker as a subwoofer. If you want a HT you are really going to need to invest a little more than $150 on speakers. You can get a decent receiver at Best Buy for $150 or so (try Kenwood, Pioneer or Onkyo). As for speakers, You may want to consider doing this one step at a time. Spend $200 and get a decent pair of speakers for your front left and right. When you have the money for more speakers, pick up a matching center speaker. More money: surround speakers. More money: powered subwoofer.

Movies can sound good with just a pair of front speakers...afterall, 20yrs ago thats all we had.

 

[Bob McElfresh]

My advice: Run 3 sets of speaker wires through the walls to the rear. Install plastic electrical outlet-box's and thread the wire through.

(you need 3 wires to handle that rear-center speaker)

Pull enough wire on each end to create a un-broken run from receiver to rear speakers. Later, you can buy wall-plates with binding posts.

Your best value is something like the Sound King speaker wire from www.partsexpress.com. Make sure to get 12 ga for the long runs.

Go buy some RG6 CATV coax and run it from behind your receiver, through the walls to another outlet box in a corner. Pick the corner that attaches the 2 longest, un-broken walls. Here is where you will eventually place a subwoofer.