speaker recommendations (1 Viewer)

[Mike Thomass]

hi all
looking to set up the tv with surround sound
id like to get some recommendations on a nice bang for the buck set of speakers. i dont know if id notice the difference between $2000 speakers and $500 speakers so i probably dont need to go overboard.
price range $0-1000 (is that even realistic?)
thanks in advance

 

[William_Gravem]

Mike,

This is where I was starting about a month ago... since then I've upped my budget to about $2,500. If you start going out and listening, you'll notice the differences quicker than you think.

Is $1,000 your limit for just the speakers, or for the whole setup?

For the whole thing, here's just a quick thought:
-J&R had Onkyo receivers on clearance sale about a month ago. You can get a receiver that has 65, 75, or 85 watts per channel for like $200, $250, or $300.

-Then I'd go w/ paradigm atom's, at about $100 a speaker they sound far better than any $100 speaker has a right to.

-That should leave you with $250. Don't underestimate the cost of wires, 12 or 14 gage wire may run you like 50-75 bucks.

-Put the rest into a sub (other's here can advise better than I can on $200 subs.)

Now, another idea is to spend the budget on mains, receiver and a sub, and as time goes by add the center and rears. If you did that, you could get an Hsu sub for 300 or 400 (or SVS just came out with a $400 sub) and 2 Atoms. You could move the Atoms to the rear when you upgrade (you could replace them with say, mini-monitors, and get a center channel) ... but when you start thinking that way, you quickly find yourself saving for a $4,000 system.

Still, I think paradigm makes great stuff.

But I'm pretty novice around here myself.

---Bill

 

[Mike Thomass]

hey
i was thinking the $1000 was just for speakers
im not really on a budget, but didnt think there was a need to spend too much more on speakers, but maybe im wrong?
so i would by 2 of these atoms or 4?
im very green!

 

[William_Gravem]

When was trying to come up with $1000 for a 5.1 system, I meant Atom's for all 5. But if that's the budget for 5 speakers, you have a lot more flexability.

I really like paradigm. While I'm relatively new at this, my not-so-deep experience seems to indicate they're among the best speakers-per-dollar you can buy.

For about 1k you could get a pair of Monitor 5's (msrp $579 for the pair) for the mains, a cc 370 (cc->center channel), and a pair of Atoms for the rears.

I don't think you'd be disappointed.

 

[Mike Thomass]

im guessing i could get better deals online than from a b&m joint like tweeter for instance?
on that note, should tweeter be avoided or utilized? i was thinking of going to listen to some setups to see if i can tell a difference
thanks again

 

[William_Gravem]

I don't know if all Tweeter's are different or not, but in my experience, if you go there, they will sell you mirage.

Not that mirage are bad speakers perse, but I think you'd do a lot better to find a paradigm dealer.

If you go to their website www.paradigm.ca there is a dealer locator.

I was lucky enough to find a dealer in my area that had the mirage speakers tweeter was selling and paradigms (along with KEF and Klipsch) and there was no contest.

 

[Micah Wells]

I have also been where you are recently. After reading your thread, I have a couple of points. I was looking at the Paradigm setup as well, Titans for mains, the cc 170 for center and either Titans or Atoms for rears. One note, paradigm is not sold online, so your local audio shop is your only option. But some will haggle, especially if you are going to buy the whole setup at once. My shop pushed the PDR 10 with this setup, but I wasn't much impressed. I then started looking at some of the online speaker companies like Axiom, Rocket, and HTD. I had a chance to listen to the Home Theater Direct line (they are located just north of Dallas), and I found that they compared very well to the Paradigm setup I was looking at, and much cheaper. I ended up ordering the Level three bookshelves for the mains and center and their inwalls for the surrounds. The price for the 5 speaker package was just under $500, and they sound great. Also, the guys at HTD were great and extremely helpful during our audition. The only problem is that if you don't live near Dallas, you will have to order them to hear them, though many of the online companies offer an in-home trial period, and HTD even pays the return shipping!! Hope this helps, but it may only make the decision tougher.

 

[brentl]

"so i would by 2 of these atoms or 4?
im very green!"

I'd probably look at 3 pairs of Atoms, at least you can use them in other rooms when you upgrade.

B