Help required with small 5.1 set up (1 Viewer)

[Rick_AAAAA]

Hello!

I am new here but I am very happy that I am finally able to tap into this wealth of HT knowledge!

I am in the process of renovating my family room/kitchen and I need to buy new/small 5.1 speaker package* which I can mount on the walls. I am replacing a dated 5.1 PSB A/V (bookshelf and pedestal set up).

*The reason I am not buying large floor standing speakers is that we are expecting our first child and I do not want little hands to wreck any of my newer equipment. Plus I plan on building an actual HT in my unfinished basement in a year or two.

Basic Room Layout

The family room area (indicated in yellow) is about 12' wide by 14' long by 9' high, with a archway on the left wall (bottom of pic) and window on the right (top of pic)



Index
- Yellow area = hardwood floor
- Blue area = ceramic floor
- red cubes = area where wires are pulled to (5 feet high center, front right & left) (6 feet high rear right & left)
- thick black lines = windows
- light brown triangle (top) = fireplace
- light/dark brown kitchen cupboards and counters

Existing Equipment

I have an Yamaha RX-V1200 receiver, a Pioneer DV-363 DVD player and a Sony 34" Hi-Scan® FD Trinitron® WEGA® TV

Sat Speaker Packages

I am looking at various small speaker packages (due to limited space). Here is list I have so far (in no particular order):

1- Bose Acoustimass® 15 Series II
2- Canton Movie 10-MX-II
3- Mirage OMNISAT 6
4- M&K Xenon LCR-25 (very costly, and may be out of my budget)
5- Energy Take 5.2
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I need some help with choosing a clean "bright" sounding speaker system (which will be used for movies and music listening) Perhaps some owners can post their results here (that would be great). I am also open to any and all suggestions provided that the cost is not outrageous (less than $2000.00 USD) and the size is smaller than a standard book shelf speaker.

Thanks very much

Rick

 

[Lew Crippen]

I have two suggestions, one of which is well below your price range and one that just hits the upper limit.

All of these speakers are rear ported, so they need a bit of separation from the wall, which can be provided by using shelving.

The first suggestion is to get the

ELT package from AV123. This comes in at $900 and is (right now) the best sounding speakers I have heard in this price range. You could use this system for a bedroom or elsewhere when you build your HT system.

My second suggestion is package # 7, which comes in at $1,300. You will also need a sub and there are a lot that are pretty good and will fit with this system in the $400–$600 range. You ought to consider the
ÙFW-10 which is a very fine subwoofer and matches the looks of the other Rockets. This comes in a $600, so you are just under your budget.

I have not heard the center channel nor the surround speakers in this configuration, but I am reasonably familiar with this product line—the sound is great and the looks unmatched.

However this system might not be voiced quite as bright as you would prefer, so you might want to check them out (audioenvy.com has a list of in-home demos). Or you can have these speakers sent to your home and try them out. You will be out the shipping if you return them. I’d suggest just having the front two sent, so that the shipping will be minimal if you return them.

 

[Rick_AAAAA]

Thanks for your quick response Lew Crippen. I will take a look at the suggestions that you made above. My main problem is that living in Canada I have limited markets to shop in.

I did revise my list based on what i have read here via the search engine and what is available for me to listen to in my area:

1- Bose Acoustimass® 15 Series II (I did not like them much - I used the Best Buy 30 day eval to test em out)
2- Canton Movie 10-MX-II
3- Mirage OMNISAT 6 *(please see notes below)
4- M&K K5s
5- KEF KHT 3005 (2005.2 with a PSW 3000 sub)

*I am not sure if it was the way the OMNISAT 6 speakers where set up in the store, but I found it very hard to track where exact sounds where suppose to be coming from with these speakers. This package did make the sound stage feel much larger than most speaker their size, but it was almost to the point where you felt lost in it. The center vocal channel did not feel like it was front and center like in most forward firing package that I have listened to. It was very disappointing after all the hyped reviews that I have read on them.

Maybe some of you can shed some light on this for me...

Thank you

 

[Kevin*Harley]

This thread might me helpful. After you read it if you have specific questions let me know.

Kevin

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hreadid=150058

 

[Kevin*Harley]

This thread might me helpful. After you read it if you have specific questions let me know.

Kevin

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hreadid=150058

 

[Rick_AAAAA]

I can see why you went with the Canton Xs speakers over the ssmaller ones that they use in their sat system. They must have a richer mid level sound to them, however it looks like they cannot hit the higher frequencies that the sat speakers can. Did you find this when you listened to the Canton Movie systems?

Have you had any trouble with the "auto-on" feature of the Def-Tech sub? Some people are saying that it switches on and off randomly.


Thanks for sharing this info with me!

 

[JonathanOh]

I auditioned both K5s, K7s and Take 5 (along with NHT SBs, Kef 2005.1, Energy Encore). All are pretty good except that the I did not like the Take 5s. It was in a very bad audtioning setup but the center, IMO, just did not do justice to human voices. I did not try music on them. YMMV, lots of people like them.

The K7s are more expensive but there is a noticble difference. When you audition them, the K5s do not go down below 100hz so see if you can have the reciever's crossover set at this level. This may have been why I noticed the difference. There was something missing from the K5s that was there in the K7s and it might have been this gap. Most recievers if not all are set at 80hz. Some allow you to change this or you can run the fronts though your sub with adjustable cross over, which I believe the K series subs have.

That said, I feel that the K series are fantastic given their size. Vocals for HT are very clear.

To save money, you could opt for a non M&K sub but the K sub is nice. It is also quite small as far as subs go. I think you could put two of the K subs inside my M&K MX125.

 

[Kevin*Harley]

Have you had any trouble with the "auto-on" feature of the Def-Tech sub? Some people are saying that it switches on and off randomly.

So far no issue with the "auto-on".

I had "very" limited space for a sub for my parents house(WAF/mom) and for the size the prosub 100TL does a great job. You have a fairly large room with open walls. IMO a small 10" sub isn't going to give you the thump necessary for movies. If you have the ability I would go with nothing smaller than a 12".

 

[Rick_AAAAA]

Thanks again guys!

I returned the Bose speakers after about six days... the Accoustimas unit started "popping" even when the receiver was off. Plus I felt that I was giving up too much mid level projection with them. This was not really a problem for movies but it was for music listening.

I am going to take a look at the Canton and M&K packages today.

 

[Mark Dickerson]

Rick:

A couple of suggestions:

First, for your budget I would strongly recommend an NHT system (SB-2s for the fronts, SC-1 Center, and SB-1s for the rear, and an SW-10 for your sub). They are meant to be wall mounted and would work well with your Yamaha receiver. MSRP would be about $1475 which is within your budget, but you can find this package for about $1175.

Second, if you really want a bright sound, check out the Sib/Cub system from JMLabs. It has a rather bright, exciting sound and I really like it, but I worry that your receiver is also rather bright sounding, so I don't know if it would be a good combo. However, since you want a bright speaker, it may be the right one for you. MSRP is something like $1100 and it comes with an 8" sub (the "Cub"). Few people know about this system, but it is really good value.