Entry Level Speaker Info and/or FAQs (1 Viewer)

[Lynn C]

I am looking for a set of speakers for my home theater. I am very new to this field and am looking for some basic information on what to look for in a entry level set of speakers. Thanks for any info you can provide on where to look for speaker info or any suggestions of a good well-priced set of speakers.

 

[Robert_Gaither]

Several things to consider Lynn, try to break it down to these categories:

1) Room Size: Larger rooms require speakers with greater output to give fullness to sound. Try giving us a height x width x length of the room so we can help you much better.

2) Listening tastes: do you listen to your movies at reference levels (what this is that at the primary listening position when the speakers are calibrated that each of the speakers will have an output out to 105 db clean and the sub at a 115 db) or do you prefer a slightly quiter experience.

3) Price Range: give us a budget, other wise we may suggest speakers you can't afford and it wastes both your time and ours to make such suggestions for research. Also state what other gear that either you already own or will need (do you have an AVR, DVD player, TV,Sub, etc thus we will all try to keep you in your budget).

4) Gear: What I mean by this is what will these be matched up to as some AVRs only have fixed X-over points and this might also limit your selection on appropriate gear.

5) Esthetics: Are you restricted to smaller speakers (usually a SOF) or those of certain type of wood grain or color (to match your interior).

6) House or Apartment: If you own your house I'd recommend a Diy IB sub otherwise I'm going to try to recommend what I consider the best sub in your budget.

The main things I'd look for is a flat response, solid build, rear of the speaker are non-ported if they will be wall mounted, with the front three being a matched set from the same mfg for timbre quality (the front left, center, and right, or LCR for short), will reach down in freq to match the bass management of the AVR you either have or will choose (usually down to 80hz), and the ability to play slightly louder than what you normally listen too so the speakers won't sound compressed and have some headroom to boot. I'd also advise just take an view that most of us has a good brand of speakers as a friendly suggestion and go listen to few and pick out a set after listening and auditioning at least three times (most bright speakers seem to jump out at you the first time listening but will usually be fatiguing with long exposure, sometimes the first impression shouldn't make a happy impulse buy).

 

[Robert_Gaither]

sorry, double post.

 

[Lynn C]

Robert
Thanks so much for the complete response. I will answer your questions as best as I can. I am such a newbie that I do not understand some of your points but here I go.

1.Room is small – about 12 x 15

2.Not sure about the technical details of listening preference – but I would generally say that the speakers will be used for watching analog cable TV and dvd’s. They will be at a comfortable level – I guess I would go for the quieter experience.

3.Hope you’ll keep reading after I tell you that I would like to keep the price of the speaker package, including sub woofer below $300. I know this is very low in the eyes of this forum, but this is really my entry level system.

4.Gear is nothing special. I have a vcr and low end dvd player. Plan to purchase a larger TV and either a Pioneer 6.1 VSX-D811S or JVC 5.1 RX-8020VBK Receiver

5.I am not too fussy on the aesthetics. I tend to lean towards simple and would probably choose black, but it really doesn’t matter.

6.I do own my own house, but I can’t imagine doing any of this myself, which is why I was looking for a set of speakers.

I don’t know what a flat response is. Speakers probably will not be wall mounted. I don’t know any brand of speakers except for Bose, which I am not likely to get.

Anything you can do with this information would be greatly appreciated. Also if you know of a web sit for speaker beginners, I will happily do my research there. Thanks again for your time and good information.
Lynn