New system for the great room...

[Sonnie]

Now that we have the new Samsung 61" LED DLP in the great room, it's time to get a small non-invasive system to accompany the new display. My wife has commented that the sound on the DLP is lacking tremendously compared to our former Toshiba big screen. Of course she has wanted larger speakers for a while now for when she listens to the digital music channels.

This great room system needs to be simple and inexpensive as possible. We are not looking for anything that will blow us away. I don't even really care for surround, just front LCR and a receiver. The center will be placed on the top shelf of the display stand and therefore is limited to a maximum height of 6".

The only source right now is a Dish Network ViP622 receiver. However, when the Samsung dual hi-def player comes in for the HT room, I'll move the Toshiba XA2 to the great room.

I prefer floorstanding mains so that I want have to worry with stands, but I'm not going to totally rule out the use of stands.

For the center I'm considering the Yamaha NS-C125PN 2-Way Bass Reflex Center Channel Speaker System (Piano Black) for $100 shipped.



This center will fit easily within the 6" shelf space since it's a little under 4" tall.

For the fronts I'm considering the matching Yamaha NS-125FPN 2-Way Bass Reflex Tower Speakers (Piano Black) at $150 shipped.



I like that these are small/slim and will not be intrusive, plus they are piano black which will match the piano black bezel around the DLP display. $250 for a LCR setup seems cheap enough. Obviously though, with these only sporting 3" woofers, the response is going to be extremely limited. I'll need a very small sub and Yamaha hasn't long released something that I think will work perfectly and will fit in with the equipment easily.

Yamaha YST-FSW150BL Advanced YST II Down-Firing Active Subwoofer and it appears Dell surprisingly has this for $160 shipped.



This sub should fit on my display shelving with my components and keep me from having a sub box on the front wall.

Of course all of the above are merely what I've found thus far that seems like a good fit. Total in the speakers is $410.

Receiver wise... the least expensive unit that will pass 1080p HDMI appears to be the Onkyo TX-SR505 7.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver (Black) for $263 shipped.



$673 for this system is really more than I want to spend so I may end up having to opt for a HTIB system. Or maybe consider better towers with 6.5" woofers and fore go a sub since we're not looking for thunder or boom.

Suggestions and recommendations are welcomed!

[MrPorterhouse]

For extreme value, the Onkyo HTIB's are about as good as they come.
http://www.us.onkyo.com/model.cfm?m=HT-SR750&class=Systems&p=s
The center is almost 7" in height, so this system may not work, but it should fit the bill for cost and performance.

[tonyvdb]

Sonnie, you of all people should know that spending just a bit more is a huge step up but I agree that the Onkyo HTIB systems cant be beat. and the best part is you dont have to upgrade the receiver even if you replace the speakers down the road.

[Captain Crunch]

tonyvdb wrote:

Sonnie, you of all people should know that spending just a bit more is a huge step up but I agree that the Onkyo HTIB systems cant be beat. and the best part is you dont have to upgrade the receiver even if you replace the speakers down the road.

[Captain Crunch]

AV123 x-sls Tower Loudspeaker
and no one has to tell you sonnie about SVS!

Used x-sls or a used svs set up ......cough cough hint hint!!

[Sonnie]

I would go with the SVS setup, but the center won't work and it's a little more than I want to spend. Not to mention I'd probably need a sub with those. I haven't checked out the x-sls speakers, but I'll look at them.

[Sonnie]

What a difference a few days makes... the Shack store drops the price on the Onkyo 505 to $239 shipped and Matt posts his review on the Yambeka Audio Speaker System.

I'm thinking about ordering up both, we may have something going on in our great room in a few days.

[Sonnie]

Things have changed drastically... just like that. The wife now wants a larger display... the 61" is not big enough, so we sold the 61" to my brother and we will be getting the 67" when it is released hopefully soon. In the meantime we are still using the 61" for a while until my brother gets his place.

I did go ahead and order the Onkyo receiver and the Yambeka speakers for him. They will work very nicely for him. However, I don't think we will want tower speakers with what we are about to do now. Most likely we will go with the same receiver as I ordered my brother. I have actually thought about stepping up to the 875 just for the Reon processor, but that's a lot of money for a receiver in our great room. I would only want the processor if it improves satellite pictures, otherwise there would be no need for the expense.

The wife now wants the full entertainment center that she has wanted for quite some time. I suppose we are going to move ahead and build it now, so things may change a little on what system we get.

Here's the plans for the entertainment center...



We may end up doing some cabinets down low... this is not final by any means, just tentative plans.

This attaches to the corner hutch that we use to use for our equipment rack several years ago before we built the dedicated HT room. The entire front wall will be filled with one big massive shelving system.

Here's an old picture of where the above will go...




The great room is big... huge... 20' x 22' or something like that... with lots of door openings and 10' ceilings. No place for acoustical treatments, not to mention the WAF. Keep in mind though, we are not looking for blasting the windows out sound. We simply want to improve on the TV sound, which is horrendous in these slim DLP displays. The wife listens to some music channels all along and the TV speakers just don't cut it for her.

I suppose the most important feature we will be looking for is good dispersion since the seating is so spread out, therefore the most important decision will be for the speakers. I suppose we will most likely be looking at bookshelf speakers now. I just don't see towers fitting in the entertainment center. The shelves will be adjustable, but the wife is not going to want speakers taking up that much room. Bass is not in the picture because she does not like the rumbling type sound. Whatever the bookshelf speakers will do will most likely be fine. 40-50Hz shouldn't bother her too much and should keep us happy enough with bass for this room. No doubt that will be better than TV speakers anyway.

The center will no longer be as limited as it was before because we can place it on the adjustable shelf just above the TV. Height should not be nearly the issue it was before.

I'm going to be considering my bookshelf and center options for now. Budget is probably somewhere around $1000 or less for the front three speakers. I do have access to quite a few brands at cost... and I am not against buying used from Audiogon and similar.

I would like to have several options to choose from... if you have any, I'm listening.

[avaserfi]

Are you planning on having a subwoofer in this setup? If not what are you looking for in terms of LFE from a bookshelf?

Lastly, would your wife allow a Behringer processing unit (DCX2496) in your great room?

edit: One more thing - would you be opposed to modifying a speaker slightly? Some minor woodworking skill would be required for certain mods while others would require access to a heat gun.

[Sonnie]

No sub... wife doesn't care for the rumble and how the bass travels through the house. Probably 40-50Hz with the bookshelves will be ample.

The Behringer probably would not match too well... and would probably make things more complicated than I want to get in the great room. Same with woodworking on speakers. I don't want to go quite that far, but some simple modification I don't mind. It would be nice if we could find something that is plug 'n' play, if you know what I mean.