I need some solid advice... (1 Viewer)

[ArthurJ]

The number of paths you can take when venturing into HT are endless. First you have your budget, in my case it's that of $1600, absolutly NO MORE, I find myself manipulating myself sometimes saying "well, I can get this speaker for $100 more and get that much more performance" Sooner then later my setup is racked up to $4000 and I am back to square one. Then there's the times where I try to convince myself that a awesome set of $1600 towers would be better then a mediocore 5.1 setup for $1600, and that I can hold off on the others. Infact I'm really starting to piss myself off. Now this $1600 is for the 5 speakers ONLY, I will be getting a sub, more then likely an SVS. I do a tonne of musical listening, when I go off to University next year I will be minoring in some music courses (I know thats a pretty broad generalization). Truth is I just love music. Same goes for HT, I am a huge movie buff, You would be hard pressed to find someone with as large of a DVD collection as me So with that said I have narrowed down my choices to the following setups. I will put the FINAL price I would pay after all is said and done. This is in CANADIAN dollars.

Setup #1

Paradigm Studio 20 V.3 (Front L/R)
Paradigm Stduio CC-470 V.3 (CC)
Paradigm Atoms (Rear L/R)
$1576

Setup #2

Axiom M22Ti (Front L/R)
Axiom VP150 (CC)
Axiom M2i (Rear L/R)
$1385

Setup #3

Axiom M60Ti (Front L/R)
Axiom VP150 (CC)
DIY 2-way (Rear L/R)
$1600

I won't be doing much 5 ch. music listening, maybe on occasion. But my music listening will be made up of 95% 2 ch. I need some serious insightful proffesional unbiased feedback here guys. Thanks a bunch to those who help!

 

[CurtisSC]

Arthur,

The best advice anyone can give you is to try and listen to these speakers yourself.

What might sound good to anyone of us may not sound good to you.

The three setups you listed are all nice, I have heard all the mains (Studio 20v2 though)you have listed. None are bad.

And I don't think there are a lot of us on here that are "professionals". Professional hobbyists...maybe.

 

[ArthurJ]

Thanks Curtis, I didn't mean pro. in a literal kind of way. I mean, theres a lot of people on this forum that I myself consider pro's. The Only problem I forsee is not being able to take the paradigms home for a demo. I have brought this up once with a local dealer and your not even allowed to bring them back if you open the box. I think Axioms 30 day return is phenominal. I mean, even if you do have to pay for shipping. That's like $30 from where I'm at and your getting your $30 worth just being able to listen to them for a month.

 

[CurtisSC]

I say look for another Paradigm dealer. Next best thing you can do to compare the two, get the Axioms and take them to the dealer to compare.

 

[Frank Carter]

If you can DIY the rear's, why not DIY the whole HT and get even more bang for your buck?

Something like this would do you well:
http://www.acoustic-visions.com/~aco.../home_theater/

 

[ArthurJ]

Frank, thanks for the advice. But, I would rather not venture into that realm of HT. Too much work and too many variables for me to screw up.

 

[Mike_Gr]

Try taking advantage of Axiom's 30 day trial. Axiom's customer service is highly regarded.

Lastly, unless your room is rather small, I recommend going with the M60's for mains.

 

[ArthurJ]

My room is 10' X 10'...


Those friggin M60Ti's are tempting. I emailed Axiom and the M60Ti and M22Ti cary almost identical sonic characteristics with the M60Ti's of course having that bigger speaker sound. grrrrrrr!

Just out of curiousity, what do the Studio 60's V.3 retail for canadian? If im not mistaken i think it's $1800 but I need clarification! Thanks!

 

[ArthurJ]

bump!

 

[Shane Martin]

Being in Canada you should try out the Totem Dreamcatcher setup. It has a sub sold with the package with IIRC is $1500 retail. If you don't need the subwoofer perhaps the dealer will cut you a deal on a setup minus the sub.

 

[Joe Tilley]

You would be hard pressed to find someone with as large of a DVD collection as me.

I wouldent be so quick to say that here, there are some members here with some pretty large collections.
Myself Im not really one of them Im only around 300 or so, but I have a friend that I work with that that is upwards of 2000 titles. Walking into her house is like walking into a video store. And the scarry part is about half of them are still new in the plastic