Newbie looking for advice...can anyone help?

[wolfman010]

Hey guys,
I'm new to the home theater thing and I was wondering if anyone could help me out deciding on my first components. First, the setup is going to include a Samsung 32" 720p tv, a playstation 3 (for music, games, and blue-ray), and that's about it actually. Baby steps haha. Anyway, I am looking for the following things to start out with (eventually working my way up to 5.1). The first things I would like to get are:

1. Suggestions on the best receiver for under 300 dollars?
2. Suggestions on the best floor standing speakers for under 300 dollars?

Can you guys help me with those two points to start off with?

Thanks a lot

[salvasol]

First of all....Welcome to the forum

wolfman010 wrote:

I am looking for the following things to start out with (eventually working my way up to 5.1). The first things I would like to get are:

1. Suggestions on the best receiver for under 300 dollars?
2. Suggestions on the best floor standing speakers for under 300 dollars?

Couple of questions: How big is your room??? ....How loud you will play the system??? ...Do you have a sub (in case that you go with just floorstanders)???

If this will be your first system, I suggest going with a HTIB (I know that most are not to good, but the Onkyo's are acceptable ).

Take a look at the HTS 6100 , is a complete system (just $94 above your budget); good thing is that you can upgrade the speakers little by little, not like other HTIB's that you need to replace everything to upgrade.

If you want to stick to your original plan, I suggest you to take a look at the Onkyo receivers and also look in the used market for good deals

[wolfman010]

My room is pretty small, about the size of a regular bedroom (I live in an apartment at college). I will take a look at that system. Could you make a suggestion as to those two things also though? I'm just starting off with floor standing speakers for now and will get a sub later.

[wolfman010]

Also, I don't have 694 dollars to spend all at once, that's why I want to start off with getting a receiver, a couple weeks later getting the first couple speakers...etc.

[JCD]

Purely suggestions, but..

For the receiver, I'd look at the offerings from Onkyo. Accessories4less usually has some pretty good deals on Onkyo stuff. This one is under your $300 limit.

As for the speakers, I'm not sure. I'm actually not a huge proponent of floorstanders, especially in that price range. I think you can find better performing speakers for the same price in a "bookshelf" speaker. Floorstanders can SOMETIMES provide more low end, but that's not a guarantee. I also think it's easier to properly set up a bookshelf speaker. In that price range, I think the SBS-01 from SVS is pretty hard to beat. If you can bump it up a little, I've heard GREAT things about the Usher S-520's. You'll want to get a sub at some point, but those are supposed to be pretty fine sounding speakers. Personally, I would cut back on your receiver budget and spend more on the speakers. I've mentioned it in other threads, but I'd go with 65-70% of your budget on the speakers and 35-30% on everything else. Speakers are way more important to the overall sound of your system than the electronics, so you spend your money accordingly.

[salvasol]

wolfman010 wrote:

Also, I don't have 694 dollars to spend all at once, that's why I want to start off with getting a receiver, a couple weeks later getting the first couple speakers...etc.

Take a look at this Receivers , and here is some Speakers .

You can also take a look in our classified area, maybe somebody is selling speakers....you can also check other places for good deals (I always like to go to BB looking for open box deals).

[wolfman010]

So you guys would get a better pair of bookshelf speakers than floor standing ones in my price range? I'll check those out, thanks guys!

[JCD]

wolfman010 wrote:

So you guys would get a better pair of bookshelf speakers than floor standing ones in my price range? I'll check those out, thanks guys!

I would.. but there are some that are pig headed and won't listen to reason and still continue to promote floor standers

Seriously though, I do believe that at almost every price point, you'll find a better bookshelf speaker than a floor stander. At least until you get in to the really expensive stuff. At some point, I'm going to build myself an all out system that will have a bookshelf that sits on a bass box housing a 12" or 15" woofer. With speakers, size matters. Most commerical floor standers you find don't get drivers bigger than about 8". For the real full sound, I believe you NEED to get at least a 10, but more likely a 12 and even better a 15" woofer. And add a subwoofer to fill out the very bottom octave. But again, this is going to be a VERY expensive project. Even building this speaker myself, I'm probably looking at ~$750/speaker if not more.

[wolfman010]

So for my main pair of bookshelf speakers what should I look for? Specific brands (but you mentioned that above), specs, size of woofers, etc?

And, when I add the three more speakers and the sub in the future to complete the 5.1, how do I choose those? Do they have to match the first two I'm buying in some way? Especially the "center" speaker?

[wolfman010]

What do you guys think of these?



How are they so cheap!? They retail at 500 for one!

[salvasol]

wolfman010 wrote:

What do you guys think of these?



How are they so cheap!? They retail at 500 for one!

They look nice and will be a nice starting point to your system.

I have JBL Stadiums (like in your case a bought them because it was a good deal), here is a specifications if you want to compare them Beta 50 and JBL Stadium .

You can complement your 5.1 later with Beta series speakers, and I suggest you to get a SVS sub or if you're handy a DIY....

[wolfman010]

How are they so cheap though? Should I be suspicious?

[salvasol]

wolfman010 wrote:

How are they so cheap though? Should I be suspicious?

As you can see they stated that are used ( details )....

The bad news is that they have only one at $149, the other is $499.

Keep looking around and I'm sure you'll find a good deal.....also, I read a lot about this JBL L820 (Bookshelf ) and all L series

When I bought my Stadiums I paid $125 each, regular price was $250+, they were new speakers....

[wolfman010]

Jeez where did you find that deal? On this site?

[salvasol]

wolfman010 wrote:

Jeez where did you find that deal? On this site?

That was an everyday task, check Amazon (you can do it through us we're a store front), or you can do an online search but you need to know what speaker you're looking for (or you will get 1000's of deals )

I read that you can find good deals on ebay too, I bought some used speakers there and I also found good deal on Craiglist and Wikiki

Good luck searching

[wolfman010]

Would a HTIB be that bad for the first go around? Something from best buy or something? I could always take it back if I didn't like it

[salvasol]

wolfman010 wrote:

Would a HTIB be that bad for the first go around? Something from best buy or something? I could always take it back if I didn't like it

I suggest you to read this thread first .....http://www.hometheatershack.com/foru...tems-read.html then make your decision.

You can also get an AVR first, then take a look at this system (http://www.hometheatershack.com/foru...em-review.html), there's another company (http://www.fluance.com/allproducts.html) where I bought some speakers (AVBP2 bipolar) but I replaced them with others with a better frequency response (they're stored)

[wolfman010]

Ah! So many choices! haha. Ok maybe this will narrow it down some:

As far as receivers go, which brands should I be looking at? Especially the ones with the higher quality lower budget ones?

As far as bookshelves or floorstanding speakers go, which brands?

[wolfman010]

How about Axiom M22 v2's? They look REAL nice

[JCD]

wolfman010 wrote:

Ah! So many choices! haha. Ok maybe this will narrow it down some:

As far as receivers go, which brands should I be looking at? Especially the ones with the higher quality lower budget ones?

As far as bookshelves or floorstanding speakers go, which brands?

I think there are three brands of receivers that get the most nods:

1. Denon
2. Yamaha
3. Onkyo

Onkyo may be the value leader of the bunch based purely on features/cost.

As for speakers, there are simply hundreds or even thousands of brands that are out there. And as was mentioned, everybody has a different taste, so what may sound good to me may sound like garbage to you. That being said, I'd take a look at the offerings from:

• Paradigm
• Klipsch
• PSB
• Polk
• Infinity
• SVS (internet only)
• Etc.

I'm pretty sure that each has something in your price range.

You might want to read this. It might help clarify some of my points.

[JCD]

wolfman010 wrote:

So for my main pair of bookshelf speakers what should I look for? Specific brands (but you mentioned that above), specs, size of woofers, etc?

And, when I add the three more speakers and the sub in the future to complete the 5.1, how do I choose those? Do they have to match the first two I'm buying in some way? Especially the "center" speaker?

Missed this on the first pass..

I'd simply look for a speaker that sounds good and can get down to ~80hz or so. If you plan on getting a sub later, you won't need anything that reaches down too far. I wouldn't worry too much about the size of the woofers -- unless you're looking at something less than 4". At that size, unless you have a lot of them, I just can't see them pushing enough air to be effective/good.

When you round out your system, my preference is to find the exact same speaker to round out the surrounds as well as the center. If you want to go cheaper on the surrounds, that would be ok in my opinion, just find something that sounds reasonably close. But I think it's critical that the center speaker be the same as the left and right, or at least the matching center designated for speakers you buy. There are reasons why a horizontal speaker is not as good as a vertical -- the reasons for having a horizontal speaker are purely aesthetic with a tradeoff, often, to the sonics. They typically cost more too (they will often have more drivers and are sold as single).

[wolfman010]

What about Axoim M2's or M3's to start off with? Then, as I get more money, I could add the M22 v2's as my mains and put the M2(3's) as my surrounds.

Could you take a look at axioms website for me and tell me if the M22 v2's would be good mains and the M2(3's) good surrounds?


Thanks

[JCD]

wolfman010 wrote:

What about Axoim M2's or M3's to start off with? Then, as I get more money, I could add the M22 v2's as my mains and put the M2(3's) as my surrounds.

Could you take a look at axioms website for me and tell me if the M22 v2's would be good mains and the M2(3's) good surrounds?


Thanks

I haven't heard them, so I can't tell you if I'd like them. All speakers look great on paper -- well, usually. It's when you actually listen to them that you can say "I like it" or "I don't like it". So, on paper, they look fine, but since I haven't heard them, I can't tell you if I would like them in person or not. And then, if I did like them, you might hate them due to personal preferences.

All that being said, I have heard people comment favorably on Axiom speakers, but I'm a little skeptical about their claims of how low they can go.

I do like your idea of buying what you can now and them "upgrading" to something more later. I'd probably do something similar if I were just starting out and had limited funds.

[tonyvdb]

I have not seen anyone mention the speakers from Yambeka audio. For $299 its a great deal and have heard good reports about them from members who have bought them.
A review is seen here

[wolfman010]

So would nice bookshelf speakers be good enough to use as my mains? Or would a floor standing speaker be better suited for that?