starting over...again (1 Viewer)

[Sam A]

hey guys and gals,

ive been reading up here and AVS and soooooo many places cause Im trying to get my system up and started again.
im buying a house here soon and wanted to get a good system in. my current setup, sadly is going in my garage. not that that is that bad. ive got and old Yammaha silver faced natural sound receiver and 2 big cerwin vegas. the good, is that I can crank the tunes in the garage and 'she' wont give a shit, the bad, is that I, that is me, has to put up the money for the new stereo.

"it has to look nice"
"cant we just get the Bose system, I thought the Bose speakers sounded good at blah blah restaraunt"

of course, heaven forbid we put good sounding speakers like my CV's in the living room cause "they are sooooo ugly"


ive heard these comments over and over. sooo Im finally ready to buy. Shit. there is soooo much out there now. I dont need 2 speakers, I need 7? and another forum told me that my CV's DONT go low enough? I need MORE bass? like shell ever go for that. I know big boxes equal lots of bass, so Im basically bassless in my home from now on. only safe haven I have is the old setup in the garage.

long thread soory,
my point:
help me build a system
she wants new shiny and whatever
I want big loud boom!
but to compromise[worst fn compromise Ive ever seen], I said id find something simple to use, where the equipment isnt the centerpiece and the speakers blend in.

so id like as little equipment as possible. like if the Rotel RSDX-02 was cheap, id be set. an all in one from a reputable co that dont cost much.

list your thoughts please

 

[John Garcia]

Technically, you need 8 including a sub, not 7, but the reality is, you can do a very decent system with just 6 - 5 speakers and a sub.

If you want boom, allocate the funds for the SVS sub right now You will DEFINTELY not be lacking in the bass department.

For the rest of the gear, you could get away with just a receiver and good DVD player.

What's the budget??

 

[Sam A]

budget...

like I said, I want the Rotel rsdx-2 but cheap
I think they retail for $1500 which is fine, but then I still need to get speakers. and as you say, I need an SVS?
so 7 x $300 + $900 SVS + $1500 receiver/dvd player = $4500!!!

haha

like $1500 total is what I want to spend. and then later I know Ill want to upgrade my tv.

speakers need to be at least as good as the CV's. maybe not ALL need the big 12" woofer but the main fronts should, well as far as I know. speaker technology has changed soooo much since I last bought any equip. I see all these small speakers and wonder how they can sopund good at all. im even wondering if the 'prefered' sound of speakers has changed. so many ppl like 'bose' but to me, they sound like shit.

can someone help me out here? I want to get this system up by thanksgiving .

 

[Mort Corey]

Take a gander at some of Axiom Audio's packages (forum sponser) or Av123....nice speaker/sub packages available in your price range.

Mort

 

[Sam A]

mort, you are very mistaken, above I said TOTAL I want to spend $1500.

the "7 x $300 + $900 SVS + $1500 receiver/dvd player = $4500!!!" was a reality check . I do NOT have $4500+ to spend.

and besides, the lowest $ Axiom speaker package is still $1100+ and the biggest woofer is like 6 1/2 inches for the mains.

can someone tell me how to budget, maybe not what to get but what % of $ goes to what?

like Im used to 2 channel, and I like it alot, therefore I want the front mains to be 'floorstanders' as they say. My lovely girlfriend [seems i made her out to be a bitch in the first post] wants THX surround sound cause shes the big movie watcher. so what are my options? is this even possible at this price? damn i remember when $1500 would buy alot of shit!

someone please help me

PS as far as a subwoofer goes, I dont think Ill be able to get one cause as I said before, she doesnt want to really see the speakers. if I had a big 'water heater' or big black box, shed freak. shes an interior designer. but doesnt form FOLLOW function?

someone please help me

 

[Chris Brock]

hey! well really there is no merit to looking at the size of the woofers in the mains. with a typical setup you will be sending all the low frequency material to the sub anyways. for the the mains extension to 50hz - 60hz would be plenty. I would suggest going with some nice looking bookshelfs with a matching center and surrounds this will help with the WAF. then if you really dont want to give up the bass but have WAF constraints you should take a look at doing an IB subwoofer.

For a receiver I would really look into both the Yamaha HTR5760 or the Pioneer 1014. Both of those can be found in the 300 - 500 range and would be excelent choices.

 

[John Garcia]

Onyx has a package that is $1K for a 5.1 setup called the ELT, but does not include a receiver and the mains are not floorstanders. For ~$1300 I believe, that included a receiver also, so all you'd need to add would be a decent DVD ~$250-500 or so would be around your budget, and the speakers are attractive enough for an interior designer I'd say. www.av123.com

Many of the SVS offerings are well below $900, the least expensive currently on sale for $400...

If SHE'S going to dictate what you are buying, might as well let her do it then.

It CAN be done for that budget though.

 

[Sam A]

thanks Chris,

first off, wtf is an IB subwoofer?

second, if the mains cant do the bass and I dont get a sub, basically i lose the bass. I cant run the bass to my CV's in the garage, its too far away, she says she cant here the stereo in the house when im cranking it in the garage.

third, there is merit to the size of woofer, larger woofers move more air.

fourth, instead of a receiver, is there a good all-in-one unit that does it all? my girlfriend is not technichaly minded. she can use a PC, well put it this way, she wants the Bose 321 system because of its user friendlyness. I dont want to buy a receiver with 1000 options when she wont use any of them. I want seperates! I wish I could afford them. but with seperates, I could hide pretty much everything [make her happy] and have one sleekunit on the shelf. ive seen pioneer htib's and such but the sound coming out of the speakers is sooooooo shitty. plus if I did get one of those, and put good speakers on them, would the amps have enough juice to sound good?AHHH see you guys got me rambling agian.


please help

 

[Sam A]

thanks john, do you know how good they [onyx rockets] sound for music?

 

[John Garcia]

I have not heard the ELT package, but the Rockets are well regarded for music, especially for the price.

Larger drivers do move more air, but you'd be surprised at what small speakers can do, and do more accurately. You aren't going to get slam from smaller drivers, but that's what the sub is for. I've seen some small bookshelf speakers that even surprised me (not cheap though).

IMO, it's really tough to find high quality in an all in one unit, and most are designed to handle smaller speakers; meaning they will most likley not be able to adequately handle decent floorstanders.

There are other options as well, and if floorstanders are a must, you might want to take a look at www.fluance.com or www.hometheaterdirect.com for some less expensive packages in this price range. Both are reputable, and well reviewed on this site.

 

[Chris Brock]

This is true but the place you want the large sized woofers is in the subwoofer. Most bass is carried in a seperate channel called an LFE channel and that channel is designed to be directed to a subwoofer. If your girlfriend wants smaller attractive speakers get them, sonically they will sound everybit as good as any large floorstander. Then utilize a nice subwoofer setup that you can hide out of sight to keep your bass needs satisfied. she will get the look she wants and you will still have the bass you need.

 

[Sam A]

Thanks for the links john.

Ill show her some of these speakers and see what she says.
my conundrum is that even though it is my house, I promissed her she could design/decorate the living room. little did I know she would treat me like a client. also I didnt realize my stereo would be nixed.

so the concensus here is smaller speakers, big sub? BTW Chris brock mentioned an IB sub. i know she wont want to see the sub anyhere. so thats why i wanted floorstanders. but if she gets her THX and I get my boom, AND I can afford it, I think well be fine. dang, maybe I should charge her rent to afford a better system that she wants

 

[Sam A]

hey thanks Chris!

guess I was typing at the same time you were.

wow, those IB subs are monstrous! i dont want my house to sound like a lowrider. when I say bass, I mean timpani's, stand up bass, kick drums, bass guitar, musical instrument bass, not blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah booooooooooooooooooooooom.

 

[Sam A]

well, shes made her speaker choice.

anthony gallo? round sound? I have no f'n clue. has ANYBODY HEARD THESE? are they in anyway good? good news is shell buy the speakers so I dont complain to her about wanting 'big' sound. but still no big box sub.and no big round sub either. so I can get my rotel unit but will the 80 watts be loud enough? and will the gallos handle it?

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Philip Hamm]

Run conduit and electricity for a front projector when the house is being built.

Plan for an infinite baffle subwoofer (do a google search on that term)

 

[Philip Hamm]

IB subs are the best bass you will ever hear. You can make a simple one with two 15" speakers and it will blow away anything out of the box for less than $2K.

 

[Sam A]

im not building the house, just buying one. should be closing this week.


Philip, please explain. "IB subs are the best bass you will ever hear. You can make a simple one with two 15" speakers and it will blow away anything out of the box for less than $2K."

like I said above, I dont want a lowrider in my living room. my old CV's sounded great, a kick in the chest but didnt sound loose at all.

I dont need that much bass!

 

[John Garcia]

I've heard the Gallos. Better than Bose that's for sure. Hopefully the ones with the dual drivers and tweeters for the front 3 (Due), rather than the single little "eyeball light" (A'diva?) ones. Not ideal, but I guess a good compromise. I didn't take any notice of their subs though. Only one shop in my area carries them.

 

[Sam A]

gosh darn it. shes pissed now cause im on here trying to get a 'second opinion'. how can I make here realize what good sound is? ive played my CV's loud for her and she just covers her ears. I even played her music like dave's band and phish and stuff. id like to take her to a high end store and such but then shell want the $$$ stuff.

 

[Garrett Lundy]

So.... are you really looking for a surround sound system? or just a 2-channel stereo so that the wifey can listen to her Hootie CD's?