Give a newbie some speaker recommendations

[bromine]

First off, I've been reading here a bunch lately and I will tell everyone upfront that I am an absolute novice at this stuff. I know just enough to be dangerous, and what I do know is mostly limited to how to read the instructions and hook my stuff up. Hopefully correctly

Now to the point.....

The wife and I do not have a "theater" room per se. We have a den/living room/family room. Its just where we sit and watch TV. I've got a 37" Vizio that we love and have a audio system that belongs to the wife and was aqcuired way before we met. It consists of a Kenwood KR8040 receiver, a bose acoustimass 4 system and a bose acoustimass 5 sIII system. I hope to soon be upgrading the receiver to an Onkyo TX-SR705 and then adding a PS3 for gaming and blueray.

I understand that the general consensus is that bose isn't any good. Maybe it is, maybe it ain't . . . I don't know (my wife would tell you that I'm deaf as a stump, and she'd be half right), but they are hers and she likes them. She doesn't like the sound now as it is and I suspect that its more a function of the reciever being old/worn out/3.1 capable than a problem with the speakers per se. I just like the size of them. I haven't yet run the wires through the wall and into the attic, but once I do buy the reciever my intention is to run the wires and mount the cubes from the ceiling and then buy a subwoofer to suplement the two AM modules. If she ends up being happy, then I'm quite certain I will be happy as her ears are more tuned than mine.

If I do end up replacing the two bose systems with different speakers though, what would you senior audiophiles recommend I look at? Keep in mind that I like the size of the bose cubes and am going to mount them from the ceiling (not IN the cieling).

I'm interested to hear your recommendations.

Thanks

[salvasol]

First of all ... Welcome

bromine wrote:

... I am an absolute novice at this stuff. I know just enough to be dangerous, and what I do know is mostly limited to how to read the instructions and hook my stuff up. Hopefully correctly

Most of us came in the same situation ... novices, but ready to learn from others experiences

I've got a 37" Vizio ... a Kenwood KR8040 receiver, a bose acoustimass 4 system and a bose acoustimass 5 sIII system. I hope to soon be upgrading the receiver to an Onkyo TX-SR705 and then adding a PS3 for gaming and blueray.

Those will be some big improvements/additions to your HT

... She doesn't like the sound now as it is and I suspect that its more a function of the reciever being old/worn out/3.1 capable than a problem with the speakers per se. I just like the size of them.

There's a lot of factors to consider ... receiver, speakers, calibration, room, set up, etc., etc.
But you will improve the sound one step at a time (first the receiver you have in mind, then another step, and another ... )

Most who own Bose like them because of the size and easy to connect (most use just the console to connect everything); but when you want to upgrade is when the challenge begins ... I recall last week somebody was trying to add something to his Bose system, but was dificult because the connection need it was not present on the Bose module

... If I do end up replacing the two bose systems with different speakers though, what would you senior audiophiles recommend I look at? Keep in mind that I like the size of the bose cubes and am going to mount them from the ceiling (not IN the cieling)...

There's a lot of factors to consider here: Your budget??? ... Is that the size you want??? ... Do you want something bigger???, most small speakers do not have the same frequency response as bookshelf or floorstander ... Are you willing to use stands if need it??? ... Can you use brackets to install on walls/ceilings??? ... Do you want to play loud??? ... Do you want 5.1, 6.1 or 7.1??? ... Do you have a subwoofer or need one???

This seems like a lot ... but don't worry, you'll do it one step at a time; and you'll find a lot of help/advise here from members who are willing to suggest based on their experiences

[bromine]

salvasol wrote:

There's a lot of factors to consider here: Your budget??? ... Is that the size you want??? ... Do you want something bigger???, most small speakers do not have the same frequency response as bookshelf or floorstander ... Are you willing to use stands if need it??? ... Can you use brackets to install on walls/ceilings??? ... Do you want to play loud??? ... Do you want 5.1, 6.1 or 7.1??? ... Do you have a subwoofer or need one???

This seems like a lot ... but don't worry, you'll do it one step at a time; and you'll find a lot of help/advise here from members who are willing to suggest based on their experiences

I should have put all that in the post

Budget . . . I don't want to spend a whole bunch so lets say $500-$600 on speakers max. Less would be better

Size . . . . don't really want anything much bigger. Small and unobtrusive is the key. No floor stands either. Once I put the bose cubes on the cieling, all future speakers will be in the same spots. I have brackets now to mount the cubes to the ceiling (monster cable brand brackets for bose 321 speakers) so anything here after will be mounted similarly.

System . . . . I'm going with 5.1. I will likely go ahead and buy a subwoofer to compliment the bose am module, and I doubt that this thing will ever get cranked up really loud . . . it'll scare the parrots living in the back room


Thanks

[salvasol]

bromine wrote:

Budget . . . I don't want to spend a whole bunch so lets say $500-$600 on speakers max. Less would be better

So your budget is around $1500 (speaker and receiver, Right???)

. . . don't really want anything much bigger. Small and unobtrusive is the key. No floor stands either. Once I put the bose cubes on the cieling, all future speakers will be in the same spots. I have brackets now to mount the cubes to the ceiling (monster cable brand brackets for bose 321 speakers) so anything here after will be mounted similarly....

Please ... if you have to buy speaker cable in the future, don't buy monster cable "is a waste of money"; you can get 14gauge wire cheaper at Lowes/HomeDepot and it will perform the same or better

Placing speaker on the ceiling or near the ceiling is not the best for the sound; is recommended that front speakers (L, C, R) be placed at ear level (36" - 48" from floor) or if higher aimmed to the ears ... and for surrounds a little higher (60" - 72")

. . . I'm going with 5.1. I will likely go ahead and buy a subwoofer to compliment the bose am module, and I doubt that this thing will ever get cranked up really loud . . . it'll scare the parrots living in the back room Thanks

Poor parrots ... be sure to close everything so they don't fly away

I suggest you to take a look at this system ... http://onkyousa.com/model.cfm?m=HT-S...ss=Systems&p=i it comes with everything you need (and speakers are not to big), here is some price comparisons too http://reviews.cnet.com/home-theater...tag=prod.txt.1 ... is ready to decode TrueHD and DTS-HD for BluRay, and also comes with the autocalibration feature ...

[bromine]

salvasol wrote:

So your budget is around $1500 (speaker and receiver, Right???)



Please ... if you have to buy speaker cable in the future, don't buy monster cable "is a waste of money"; you can get 14gauge wire cheaper at Lowes/HomeDepot and it will perform the same or better

Placing speaker on the ceiling or near the ceiling is not the best for the sound; is recommended that front speakers (L, C, R) be placed at ear level (36" - 48" from floor) or if higher aimmed to the ears ... and for surrounds a little higher (60" - 72")



Poor parrots ... be sure to close everything so they don't fly away

I suggest you to take a look at this system ...... is ready to decode TrueHD and DTS-HD for BluRay, and also comes with the autocalibration feature ...

I didn't by monster cable The bracket to mount the speaker were made by monster cable. got 5 of them for $25 bucks on ebay . . . . . the speaker wire is generic 14g from Lowes.

Due to the way the room is layed out, there are two big archways on either side of the TV so mounting on the walls is out (not that the mrs would let them be placed there anyway). I THINK though that I should still be able to get pretty good sound as the ceiling brackets are fully articulating and will let me "aim" the speakers in any direction. We shall see.

thanks for the link to the system . . . I am on my way to the web now to check it out

[thxgoon]

I'm confused, maybe I missed something. Do you already have the Bose speakers and you're looking to add to the system? Or are you just looking for speaker solutions other than Bose?

If you can swing something a little larger than those cubes I'd definitely check these SVS speakers out.

If you can't go any bigger then I'd check out Definitive Technology Pro Cinema and Inifinity. They both have offerings in your price range that are small and sound better than Bose IMHO.

[bromine]

We already have the two bose systems and speakers . . . . they are my wife's and she likes them. I was just asking for recommendations for similar sized speakers should I eventually recieve the okay to replace them with something new.

[thxgoon]

Ok I got ya.

I'd start with a subwoofer.. but thats just me

[salvasol]

thxgoon wrote:

Ok I got ya.

I'd start with a subwoofer.. but thats just me

Nope ... that's second (his AVR is old according to him)

a function of the reciever being old/worn out/3.1 capable ...

He wants a 5.1 too ...

Def Tech will be a lot better than Bose and the Onkyo I recommended him ... I think they start at $125 each, Right???

[thxgoon]

Without a sub I think the speakers are in the $400-800 range for the set. Here's a link to their site.

[Sonnie]

I moved this to the Home Audio Speakers forum.

[JCD]

I think you've already gotten some good advice regarding what to buy should you decide to change from the Bose speakers you've got.

It's hard to find speakers that small that sound any good. With speakers, size matters, so finding a good sounding small speaker is nigh-impossible.

That being said, the only other speakers that I know of that compete size wise with the Bose you have are the small orbs from Gallo or Orb Audio. How good are they? No idea since I"ve never heard them but it seems like they're more favorably received than Bose. The Orb guys can be bought and tested out in home for the price of the shipping if you end up not liking them.

I'm also going to echo the placement issues that have been mentioned -- ceiling mounted speakers really take a hit sonically. If you must mount them (as opposed to using stands), mount them on the walls instead.

Oh, and here is an article on why Bose gets bashed on these types of forums. My opinion is that Bose isn't a bad speaker for what they are, they're just extremely overpriced.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

JCD

[tonyvdb]

Hi Romine,

I will also echo the suggestions of not mounting the speakers on or from the ceiling. Your asking for all sorts of issues one of the worst being having small speakers up so high will really cause the sound to be directed poorly and you will loose allot of the imaging.
I personally also think that Bose has "some" good speakers but as already stated very overpriced. Your alternatives being that you want to stay small are limited however not impossible. there are many "bookshelf" sized speakers in white finishes that will disappear into the decor of a room but produce very good sound. Do you have a picture of the area where you want to have the speakers this would help us greatly in giving you some better options, is there any possible placement on side or front wall?