New looking for reciever & speaker help (1 Viewer)

[Shawn N]

I have yet to buy my home theater system and thought I was ready until finding this forum. I have a couple questions.

1) why are people here so down on bose? I went to best buy and they sound better than all the other speakers to me. Not sure if it had much to do with the recievers each system was hooked up to? sams club sells the bose acoustimass 10 series II speaker system for $683.

2) I'm thinking of a 5.1 system. I've been looking at yamaha revievers in the 200-400 range, but I've been reading here to stay away from the lower end yamaha's. Can someone explain.

3) What are the big things to look for in a good reciever.

If it matters my room size is 18'x 20'. I plan to watch allot of movie's in surround sound and music. I realise I may have to purchase floor speakers later for better music sound.

Any advice or suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

I was hoping to spend around $1000-$1200 for speakers and reciever. Anything you would recommend?

Thanks

 

[GrahamT]

Welcome to the forum.

1. People are down on bose because they are a poor value among other things. They do sound good to an unexperienced ear (no offense) because they always have the best setups in the store, they have a big price tag (must be good right?), and they reproduce the most easily heard frequencies the loudest (not a good thing).

2. I dont think that entry level Yamahas can be singled out. Almost all cheap receivers have their faults.

3. Things to look for in a receiver.
-DD and DTS decoding, ex and es a plus.
-weight, a good indication of quality.
-component video, banana plugs.
-Ignore wattage ratings, they are basically meaningless IMO.

You dont need floorstanding speakers unless you are going two channel. Most people just set the speakers to small anyways.

 

[Shawn N]

Graham,

No offense taken at all. That's why I'm here. I was leaning toward JBL until listening in the store. Like you said maybe the way they are set up. It's hard for me though because I have to trust my ear. Any other places I could go to listen to systems set up already?
By no mean did I look at the price and say must be good though. I just listened to them. None of them are really cheap either . I went to best buy were the have many system set up... Bose, Yamaha, Klipsch, Sony, JBL, and a few others.
Could you explain "low end reciever"? What ball park would I need to get into to leave the "low end area"?

Any recommendations for the $1000-$1200 range?

 

[GrahamT]

As for speakers, most companies design them to reproduce all frequencies from around 80 Hz to 20KHz evenly. Bose cubes dont do this. They are a waste of money. JBL, paradigm, klipsch, energy, psb, mission, nht, kef, polk audio etc all make good speakers. You cant go wrong with these. I would even consider radio shack speakers before bose.

As for a receiver, it is more subjective than picking speakers. IMO $400 and up will buy you a good receiver. You get what you pay for here up $2000. Yamaha, onkyo, denon, marantz,harman, pioneer etc all make excellent receivers.

 

[Lew Crippen]

Any recommendations for the $1000-$1200 range?

My recommendation in this price range for the last three months, has been the Rocket ELT system, which AV123 will package with a Denon 1804 receiver for $1,250.

This is an outstanding value at the price. The speakers (four satellites, a center and a sub) go for $900 on their own, if you would prefer another receiver.

I do not own these speakers, but have listened to them carefully, and I can say very candidly that they have much better sound that the Bose Acoustmass system. I think that you will also be able to tell the difference. Listen to some movies that present difficult challenges in distinguishing speech. Most Bose systems have a difficult time with the center channel speech reproduction in a movie that has softly spoken sections, normal speech and dialogue spoken during an action sequence. A good center will handle them all.

I do own some products by this company, so I may be biased, but I really believe that this system is in a different class than the Bose.

Of course there are other systems which will also no doubt please you. Listen and decide for yourself.

 

[brentl]

If you're in BB again soon, try hooking up the Athena system with their bigger sub. It will KILL the Bose.

Comes with brackets to hand the speakers too.

Brent

 

[Shawn N]

brentl,

I'll check out the athena. Any idea on the price?

 

[Shawn N]

Lew,

I can't find the Denon 1804 on there web page. Any links so I can check this reciever out.

 

[GrahamT]

Athena, Denon, now you're on the right track.

 

[Shawn N]

Graham,

So maybe a Denon 1604 or 1804 with athena speaker? I will go listen to the athena speakers at BB tonight.
Any idea on what athena speakers would run me?

 

[GrahamT]

Athenas are well regarded. Check around for prices, I am not really familiar with them but hear a lot of good things. Denon makes excellent receivers but you will have to find a dealer unless you buy from the net.

 

[ChrisLazarko]

Yamaha doesn't give true power ratings on there lower-end recievers which makes them a bad canidate because you can get much better for the price..

HK would be such a reciever, check out the AVR-130 or even the AVR-230.

As for speakers, Bose are a pile of junk... they are plastic containers with a woofer that costs about $5, and it is all true. They sound good because of what everyone has told you above... Bose uses marketing most of all to get attention so you will "think" they are the best as well, which will influence your decision because you will keep going back to them.

Take a look at some Klipsch speakers, maybe it will change your mind if you like higher frequencies a little more. Good luck.

 

[brentl]

4 bills for the Athena .5 system, and another 4 bills for the sub, but you can get whatever sub you'd like.

Shoot you could even wait, if money was tight, to buy the sub

B

 

[Shawn N]

Would the athena .5 system match well with the Denon 1804? Also what would a good sub for this be. Should I just go with the athena sub?

I went to BB tonight but they didn't have the athena surround set up. I did listen to music through the .5 speakers and it sounded good. Will try another BB tomorrow.

 

[Lew Crippen]

I can't find the Denon 1804 on there web page. Any links so I can check this reciever out.

Check this out. This is a description of the package. It does not name the Denon 1804, but that is in fact the receiver. Call Sean Parque or Steve Ozmai at AV123 and they will give you full details. I have met these guys and they are really knowledgeable and helpful—to the point that I have seen them recommend competitor’s products.

 

[brentl]

Should sound great!!

As for the subs I'd say if you were handy build your own. Otherwise the Athena should do the job, but let's see what others say!

B

 

[Shawn N]

What would you consider the denon 1804 reciever... bright, warm, or neutral?

 

[ChrisLazarko]

I would consider the Denon a little on the warm side, Yamaha on the bright side, and HK on the warmer side as well... Denon is leaning towards a warm/neutral I think though.