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Speakers to place in entertainment center (1 Viewer)

Noel*S

Auditioning
Joined
Jun 4, 2003
Messages
5
Hi All, first time poster tot his forum. I've been reading for a few months and I'm ready to get involved. I have a situation that I need help resolving. The get to the point I have no place to put my speakers that would be considered proper placement. We just bought an entertainment center that take up the entire wall. The only place to put my speakers is in the entertainment center with the cloth grills installed instead of the glass. This placement is about 5 feet high.
I could place them in an area close to the bottom of the ent. center. So the questions I have are:

1. What would be a good book-shelve speaker
thats not so picky with the placement? About
a $1000 to spend and plan on going 5.1 as
money allows. 50-50 listening.

2. Would it be O.K to angle the tweeter down
towards the listening area?

3. Top or bottom placement?

There isn't another place to put the ent. center and the living room size justifies a floorstanding speaker, but it just will not work.

I'm just starting to upgrade from 12 year old equipment. I plan on getting the Denon 3803 to run my system and have to get stuff a few pieces at a time.

Thanks for your help and time.
 

Chris Quinn

Screenwriter
Joined
Jan 12, 2003
Messages
1,127
Look for sealed/acoustic suspension speakers(like NHT) or front ported(like a PSB) for placement inside a cabinet. I don't know if a tweeter on the bottom design would be helpful for your height issue. I would definitely angle them down as best as possible.

Do you have room for a sub? A sub in a cabinet is not a good idea.

Personally, I'd spend less on the receiver and put more budget into the speakers. What is it about the 3803 that makes it your choice?
 

Noel*S

Auditioning
Joined
Jun 4, 2003
Messages
5
I'm going to get a sub. I like the 3803 because I like the sound and it will kind of future proof me for a few years. The old Pioneer reciever I have is 12 years old as are the Polk Audio speakers I have. The wife finally said it's time to upgrade.:)

The speaker budget is seperate from the reciever budget.
 

Noel*S

Auditioning
Joined
Jun 4, 2003
Messages
5
I'm going to get a sub. I like the 3803 because I like the sound and it will kind of future proof me for a few years. The old Pioneer reciever I have is 12 years old as are the Polk Audio speakers I have. The wife finally said it's time to upgrade.:)
 

Dennis Gardner

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Dec 12, 2002
Messages
206
Noel,

I wouldn't consider any of the newer Polk Audio offerings
since most of them include a rear "Power-port" that will be loading into your cabinet.

I concur that with Chris that sealed type speakers will be less affected by your cabinet.

What Polks do you currently own?


Dennis
 

Victor Chan

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Dec 10, 2002
Messages
79
Noel,

For placement inside an entertainment center, as Chris suggested, I would go acoustic suspension (i.e., a non-ported speaker). While all speakers, acoustic suspension included, probably sound better when unenclosed, having a sealed design minimizes the effects of being placed in an enclosure.

Look at these NHT Superzeros that are on clearance from onecall.com right now.

http://ww1.onecall.com/PID_1104.htm

Great little speakers whose size make them easy to place. Sound very good for music and HT and are reknown for their musicality and their accuracy. Don't play very low, but if you are supplementing with a subwoofer not much of an issue. Plus, spending $436.90 on 5 speakers gives you ample money to seek out a good subwoofer, which typically are not very cheap. 2 that would help flesh out your 5.1 system for under $1000 would be the Adire Rava and the Hsu VTF2.

http://www.adireaudio.com/home_audio...eries/rava.htm

http://www.hsustore.com/vtf2.html

When setting up your speakers, you typically want the tweeters of the speakers at ear level. If they are situated higher or lower, I would angle them down so that they project toward ear level. I think top placement would probably be better as bottom placement tends to allow more things to get in the way, acoustically -- coffee tables, additional seats, etc. However, some people have said that their center speakers have sounded better when projectin from the bottom than from the top. So you might experiment once you acquire your speakers.
 

Noel*S

Auditioning
Joined
Jun 4, 2003
Messages
5
The space in the ent. center is pretty big 16.5"H x 13.5"W x 20" D. I'm not worried about finding the smallest bookshelf speaker, just a pretty good set that will give me the best sound I can get in my situation. Unfortunatly I live in Albuquerque and there just isn't that many Hi end dealers here. We have B&W, Paradigm, Kliplish, Infinity, PBS and a few others that are out of my price range.
If I had to make a choice between sealed and front ported, which delivers the best sound in your opinions? I'm willing to buy speakers even if I haven't been able to hear them, but would prefer to audition them first of course.
 

Victor Chan

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Dec 10, 2002
Messages
79
If the speaker is well designed, it doesn't matter whether it is front ported or sealed... it will sound good. I recommended the NHT SuperZeros because they are very good speakers, independent of size.

Of the speaker lines that you mentioned being available locally, I would go listen to the B&W 303s and the Paradigm Titans. Both are fairly good speakers in the $300/pr. range.
 

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