Building my first HT setup, and looking for advice (1 Viewer)

[dave80jc]

First post here, so it might get a little long, but thanks for taking the time to read.


Basically I'm looking to purchase my first home theater setup. I have never owned one, and so obviously anything that I have is going to be better than my TV speakers. However, even though I am calling this a HT, I tend to listen to way more music than movies (prob. 75/25) so please keep that in mind when helping me. I am going to have a final budget of a few thousand dollars when all is said and done, however I'm going to be starting with a receiver and a pair of front towers, then adding in the sub, center channel, and surrounds at some point in the future.


I believe for my receiver, I will be getting either the Denon AVR-2311ci or the AVR-3311ci, but I am fairly confused on the towers. I have visited both big box electronics (Ultimate Electronics, Best Buy, etc.) and smaller boutique shops to listen. The brands that I have checked out (multiple models of each) are Focal, Definitive Technologies, B&W, Mirage, Klipsch and Paradigm. To me, the best sounding speakers for vocals/price were the Paradigm Millenia 200 and that's what I really want to buy (esp. since 6ave has them on sale right now), but there is a problem. Even with a sub hooked up to the all of the systems, I can barely hear any bass at all when listening to music with any of the speakers except for the Def. Tech's, which have built in subs. In the case of the Def. Tech's, I heard the subs built into the towers more than the powered subs. Although the bass was nice, I thought the vocals were somewhat muddy compared to the Paradigms.


I live in a loft in a multi-unit building and I'm not looking to shake the walls like crazy or anything to that effect, but I am looking to actually hear the bass player or a kick drum...too much of the music is missing without it. I didn't really demo the stuff for movies, since as mentioned above this is an afterthought of my system. Please tell me that this my experience is merely a product of a poor listening environment/levels not properly set, etc., and that if I go ahead and get the Millenia 200's and add a good sub, that I will be happy with the overall product. I'd also be willing to take other recommendations on towers to check out.

 

[mikeabt]

Dave,


I don't think you want to look for traditional HT towers. Unless you get something in the 10" diameter or bigger driver size, you won't be able to support a sustained, deep and powerful bass. Also a three-way speaker may be more to your liking. You will be able to keep the vocals and highs on seperate speakers and will therefore keep the muddy sounds out of the main drivers.

As you go more toward the home theater route in the future (if you do), then you can add a sub and call the large three-ways "small" in order to direct the lows to the sub and keep the larger speakers from pumping out the bass.


I am a Paradigm fan and that is what I have in my front soundfield. They are great, but I leave the lows to the sub-woofer.

 

[dave80jc]

So in other words, I should be happy if I buy the Paradigm towers and then add a sub, right? It seems like from the reviews I have been reading, the Epik and HSU subs seem to be pretty popular for music, so I'm thinking maybe I should just buy the front towers that I liked best (the Paradigm which are currently on sale) then add a sub as soon as I get the money. I don't necessarily care about having the sub right away - my concern was more of having an end result that I am not happy with and thus buying the Paradigm towers and then regretting my decision when I couldn't ultimately build a system that is good for listening to music

 

Hey this is pretty much what I want to do.

 

[mikeabt]

Let me put it this way. That's what I would do. But keep in mind that I am biased toward the Paradigm's hoverer, your ears are the best way to tell if this is the thing to do.