Home theater speaker recommendations (1 Viewer)

[Scott*B]

I know this has been beat to death and is a very subjective question but I'll ask for help none the less. Budget is around $1000 but not very flexible. I'm upgrading from an Onkyo 767C HTIB. I'll be keeping my r510 receiver that came with it to power the speakers. I'm either buying the Dayton 10" sub from PE or saving up for a SVS depending on what I spend on speakers. My room is 16x25x8. My listening is 100% HT. We're just not music people. I can buy Athena's at BB very cheap via employee discount. I don't work there but family does. I'm really after something that has a very clear center channel. I'd prefer floorstanding fronts for the appearance factor but bookshelf fronts aren't out of the equation. I need a 6.1 setup. My surrounds need to have the ability to be wall hung. Stands for the rears are out of the question. The rear center has to be hung as well above the door that is the entrance to the room. I'm torn between buying the Athena's at BB, Fluance due to price or spending the extra cash for Axiom's at this point. The Athena's I've had the chance to listen to are very clear. That's what I'm looking for. I've heard great things about the Fluances for the price. Buying them would allow me to go ahead and spring for the SVS now. The Axiom's slightly tip my budget and I can't listen to them nor the Fluance's for that matter. Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[SethH]

I'm not 100% sure what the discount rate is at BB, but I would also recommend the Klipsch speakers. If the discount is what I have been told you could get the SF-3's for mains and then their best (that BB carries) center and surrounds for under $1000. But definitely listen first as the Klipsch sound isn't for everyone.

 

[David Hoffman]

The Athena Audition series AS-R1 surround speaker is a bipole of trapezoidal design, so it'd work well against the wall.

The Athena Micra S.5 speaker (lower line), on the other hand, has a rear vent for bass. That'd be bad if it was against a wall.

Their SCT series doesn't seem to have an appropriate surround speaker, either. So I'd say go with the Auditions, for Athena.

It looks like Fluance has one speaker that's bipolar surround, as well.

I wish one of those companies made a switchable dipole/bipole, though.

 

[Scott*B]

The S.5 has a wall mount included that gets it off the wall somewhat. Bad thing is BB doesn't carry this speaker except in a HT package. Can't buy them at the B&M BB store in pairs. I'm thinking seriously about the Yamaha's there as well after listening to them today. They are beautiful speakers and sound great. A pair of NS-777's, NS-333's and the Yamaha center channel looks appealing.