Noobie wants advice... (1 Viewer)

[Matt Freeman]

Howdy yall. I havent ghosted much so if this question has been answered in another thread please let me know.

So Im living in my dorm room and this summer I have aquired a JVC 8020VBK reciever along with a JBL PB12 sub. I have 5 speakers... but they are all from car systems and over half of them are really lame (factory speakers... shudder).

So what Im looking to do over the next few months is purchase some decent home theater speakers. With the minimal size of my room, I would like them to be smallish and easy to transport. I would also like to get them for about $500 due to my limited funding.

At first I looked at the Bose stuff since its so small, but then I read a bunch of reviews that kinda slammed them hard... so now Im looking into the JBL Northridge series. They have a package that comes with 4 of their N24ii satelites and an N Centerii which is tempting due to its price point (~$300). Ive read good stuff about the satelites but not so much about the center chanel. Im hesitant though because I think that I want some bigger drivers in the front chanels since I listen to a lot of music. Of course, I like to use the all chanel stereo setting so is it necissairy to have better fronts than rears?

Any advice that anyone has would be much appreciated so thanks for the help.

 

[chung_sotheby]

I would say you should look for three packages that are around $500 for 5 speakers
Brand Mains($/pair) Center($) Surround($/pair)
Polk RT55i(250) CS245i(125) RT25i(125)
Infinity IL30(250) IL25c(175) IL10(175)
JBL S38II(275) SCenter(150) S26II(125)

They are all very good systems, some of the best for the money, and they are easily accesible, for they tend to be sold at almost every brick and mortar electrnics and audio store around. Go have alisten, and find out for yourself

 

[ColinM]

It's not a bad idea to have stronger (bigger) fronts than the rest in case you want to go 2-channel, but you need a really good speaker with great full frequency response to do it 'right'. Most often you'll want a balanced sub / mains setup for the best results with bookshelf speakers. The general consensus here is to always run the speakers as 'small' and let the sub do all of the bass. Proper channel balancing is critical.

Good Luck!

PS - check harmanaudio.com for the occasional deal. Keep the tweeters the same throughout the system for best results.

 

[Phil Iturralde]

Quote:

So, for $249.88 w/FREE Shipping, the JBL NSP1 (while supplies last), ... represents an exceptional value vs. performance.
Phil

 

[Sebastien David]

what about Energy's Take 5, Take 5.2 or Encore?

 

[Steve WC]

S&V review of Encore Energy HT.
http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/Sou..._cm_00,00.html

 

[Matt Freeman]

Thanks for the advice yall... keep it coming. Now I have some new tangents to occupy myself with at work. The encore sounds great... but probably a bit too pricey. Thanks again.

 

[Sebastien David]

then the Take 5.2 may be of interest...
oh, and not to blast Sound and Vision (too much), but...
http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/Sou..._cm_00,00.html
this mag will give positive reviews to ANYTHING...

 

[mike_decock]

My question to you would be: Would you rather listen to 2 good speakers or 5 mediocre ones? $500 is enough to get a very nice pair of speakers but you'd be downgrading the overall sound quite a lot by trying to get 5 speakers for that price.


-Mike...

 

[Pablo Abularach]

Mike,

I'm not an expert on this subject like Phil, but this I will tell you, I think the NSP1 isn't a mediocre system, many people think the cant get good sound in a price so good. The only thing that I'm sure is they lack of low frecuencies, but with a sub you are set.

For me, I would go for a NSP1 and a SUB (Pb12 or Sony) than a good sets of fronts(at least for $500). You can get the NSP1 with a PB12 in etronics for 449.95+ $75 shipping, I think is a very good deal.

Another thing, listen to Phil, he has gather a lot of information and reviews about JBL. And he will coute the info showing websites, where you can decide for yourself.

But the last thing that I will recomend you is to research about all the systems that everybody are suggesting, and audition as much as posible, two speaker settings and five speakers with subs. And decide for your self.

Well I hope this helps,
Pablo Abularch

 

[mike_decock]

I'm not an expert on this subject like Phil, but this I will tell you, I think the NSP1 isn't a mediocre system, many people think the cant get good sound in a price so good. The only thing that I'm sure is they lack of low frecuencies, but with a sub you are set.

I wasn't implying that the NSP1s were mediocre. I was just trying to make a generalization that at that price point, I think you can get two really great speakers, but your overall sound quality would be less if you went with 5.

As far as lack of low frequencies, my opinion is that the speakers need to be pretty good down to 55 Hz or so in order to integrate with a sub. 60 Hz and above is just too directional, IMO and it just won't blend as well.

-Mike...

 

[Pablo Abularach]

Mike,

I totally agree with you.

Pablo Abularach

 

[Jeremy_Watson]

This is my first post on the site so I'd like to thank everyone first off for all the great info here. I just ordered my first AV receiver (Pioneer Elite VSX-41) and am looking to get an HT speaker set-up comparable to Matt. I was also looking at the Northridge Series paired with the PB-10 or PB-12. However, I see AR and Polk have complete set-ups in this price range as well. Do any of you have experince with these brands, or more specifically these packages (AR HC-6 or Polk RM6200)? Thanks in advance.

Jeremy