Hello HTS new here.
Let me start off by room size. I live in a small house and the hardwood floor living room is 11x14. The 50" tv is about 3ft from door followed by windows. On the right of tv is about a foot of wall until hallway. I have a cheapo Pioneer 5.1 pawnshop purchase I used for a bedroom, it is now in the living room but it is not adaquete. The speakers are all wall mounted. Rears are 6ft high and the fronts are higher but placed 30 degrees tilted downward due to tv size and door.
I have a Velodyne CHT 8 that I will replace sub with, a bigger Pioneer bookshelf uninstalled (might not have enough room by tv's sides) & Sony STR-DG520 reciever 5x100W
I want small white speakers to replace all little Pioneers any recommendations? 4-500$ budget.
Center Polk TL3 or Definitive Technology Procinema 600 or 800.
Here is what I've researched; Polk Blackstones TL2 or TL3/ Cambridge Audio Minx Min 11 or 21/ Boston Acoustic Soundware/ Polk OWM3/ Definitive Technology Promonitor 600 or 800
Right now a company called SVS has these SBS-02s on sale for half price. They are not white but trust me they are a huge step up from what you have listed.
Thanks. That is a great deal but in a game of inches they are too large. I have only 60" of alocated floor space and the tv is 47" in width sitting on a 50" entertainment stand. Unless there are bookshelf speakers that are 5" wide I will need speakers I can mount to the wallmounts already in place.
I've heard the DefTech ProCinema 1000's, and if the 800's are similar, they'd get my vote. Solid little speakers, plenty of output for their size, the option to match the center with the mains (of the two centers you mentioned).
If you go for the 800's for the front three you can save a few bucks and get the 600's for surrounds if that helps keep things in budget.
Yeah the DefTech's sound ideal. The center is small enough that it would fit bellow the tv. A ProMonitor center 1000 paired w/ 800 LR and top it off w/ 600's in the rear. I also have been looking at the Polk Blackstone series since I've liked what I've heard from my friend's Polk 5.1, but are bookshelf size and my dad has a great pair of floor speakers. Don't know if their small sats perform as well as higher up their line.
So far since I've been on this forum I've found many other choices like SVS SB-02 and Axiom M2 you guys mentioned thank you. The problem is that they are just too big because the door opens on left side of the tv and there is a hallway on right side of tv. Mounting them on the wall is still in the way as the bookshelf sized speakers would protrued to far out and run the the risk of getting in contact w/ people coming in & out of door. I have to hang the LR high up 6,6" angled downward 30 degrees towards a center tv listening spot. Is this bad? LR are probably 9" apart in a 11x14" room.
Just be careful that you dont go to small a speaker as your space is large enough that you will over drive any small speaker into distortion and thats not good.
This is my 5th post so hoefully this works.
Bellow are the pics of the room where in I want to update HTS.
The door would be problematic if I were to have a left bookshelf speaker since those kind of speakers have too large a depth. Small speakers will fit beside tv but would that shrink the soundstage? Are the LR speakers too high like that even if angled at ear level as they are?
1. Leaving everything the way it is I would seriously consider a soundbar as the way to get considering that hallway.
2. Conisider flipping the room (i.e. put the TV and sound system where the two lazyboy are currently) then you have lots of room for floorstanders on either side. The Andrew Jones pioneers would be nice in this case
I've seen those big bulky speakers, ugly but have great reviews amd value. I ruled out soundbar early because there aren't really any passive ones that I know of. I have a receiver that I want to put to use since I can't store it anywhere else. The room can't be rearanged, where would the lazyboys go?
I have just discovered the DefTech Mythos series on wall speakers. I little more than budget but hell they may work. Any verdict on the Mythos series?
After much thought and the suggestions from you guys, I am going to get an LCR soundbar. I wanted to list some of the few I found to get some feedback. What do I need to be looking for decibel and frequency wise? The sound sys will be for entertainment & the occasional music dvd/iPod. Using entry level Sony A/V 100Wx5 channel attached to a Velodyne CHT 8" ported sub. Rear sat will come later depending on brand choice.
Boston Acoustic LCR Soundbar P400
80Hz-20kHz 2800Hz crossover
15-125W
90dB
Not to burst your bubble but soundbars in my opinion are a real poor way to get decent sound. The fact that some even say that they go as low as 60Hz is truly laughable as you simply cant make a tin can sound like a doghouse. Size matters and soundbars are ok if you just want sound but if your looking for good surround sound with some nice lower mids/bass thats not the way to go.
All true but it also depends on the venue. I have a TV above a fireplace in the living room. No place for a reciever unless I put it behind the TV in the cavity. Wife would have a FIT if I strung wires to get true surround sound or starting putting holes in the dryway to run them. I my case the best I could do beyond the TV speakers as some audioengine A2 just for better stereo. A soundbar would have bene nice but I didn't even have room for that. Luckily I have my cave, but we seem to still watch alot of TV and movies on the living room one.
Well I'm back on the fence about my 5.1 set up situation lol. I've thought about save some dough and using the Pioneer bookshelves I already have as the L&R. Only thing I need is a center channel, so here is my question. I've read all over the forum that it is best to keep matching front soundstage, so Pioneer has a Andrew Jones SPC-22 center. Ok great. Only thing is that it is rated @ 6 ohms and my other speakers are 8 ohms. Will the AJ center work w/ all 4 other 8 ohms speakers? If not any recommendations on other mismatching center speaker? 200-250$ max
If not I'll scratch that plan and fully commit to the Klipsch Quintet V edition lol for 400$ used.
It is best to have your front stage - LCR - all the same and the cheap pioneers that you have are not from the same line of speakers as that Andrew Jones designed Pioneer center so they won't sound great together.
Have you thought about doing in wall speakers for your front three? A new Home Theater Shack sponsor HTD (Home Theater Direct) has some nice in wall speakers for really great prices. They would be much better than any sound bar.
The 6 ohm speaker will sound louder then the 8 ohm but the variance can be adjusted via the individual volumes in the receiver. What TheLaw sayes is true and the centre Will sound different then your mains due to age and different drivers. However, nothing is stoping you from doing this if you feel you can live with that. Once you have the extra $ move your old pioneers to rear surround and upgrade the main so the Andrew Jones pioneers.
Well I got some speakers. They are small, but tall. A local pawnshop had a crazy misspriced pair of DefTech BP7006 bipolar tower speakers...and a DefTech pro1000 center channel all for 330$. They all work, haven't cranked them up though. When I asked for measurements (38x6x12) the guy looked it up online and then saw how much they truely are ea. so I said "thats what it's marked at, thats what I'm paying." Man I got lucky what a deal. Now I only need to pair them w/ pro800 satelites and I'll have a pretty good entry level system.
Play around with those 7006 try having nothing around them in a 1 foot circle then try 2 or 3 IF you can. What is behind them? Again if you can try with or without curtains...as an example. Small changes can make a big difference.
Unfortunately I won't be able to because it is too tight a fit. L channel has a wall behind it and the R channel will have part of a wall but mostly open hallway. I will send pics when I've got it all set up this weekend.
It will be an experiment for you, don't just place them for what looks good. Even a few more inches may make a difference, toe in, toe out. However, you may be perfectly happy with where the look good, who knows.
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