Main > Everything Else
buying a new receiver for my home theater
boykster:
My room is 12x18 and my bookshelf mains fill it well, but it's an enclosed space. I honestly don't know if those sony floorstanding speakers will fill that room or not, it's not as simple as just the speakers. what's your total budget for speakers again? I'd seriously consider buying from a dealer / vendor that will allow you to return the speakers within 30days with no restocking fee. Many vendors consider that a demo period and you'd be suprised how many have a process in place for just that.
I'm a big fan of HTD speakers (home theater direct) and that's what I use in my theater. I have a Level 3 set of front bookshelf speakers, a Level 3 center channel, and a pair of Level 2 speakers as my rear surrounds. My side surrounds are some cambridge soundworks dipole/bipoles that I picked up for better dispersion of the surrounds. HTD give you a 30day in home trial, and they'll pay return shipping even if you're not satisfied.
zaphod:
I agree with auditioning speakers in person. When I purchased my Paradigms yeeears ago, I spent several hours over several visits listening to various CDs of mine on different speakers. Broadly speaking, you can get a comparative idea of two speakers maximum output by looking at the sensitivity- the higher the less power is required for the same volume. Not that you'd ever push it to the max but that allows for a fair comparison using just their spec sheets for max output.
Spend some listening time (and possibly a little more money) and buy good quality speakers now. I certainly wouldn't waste your time on Sony speakers. Cambridge are well reviewed. I've also heard some pretty decent Polks. Infinity's normally have low sensitivity but have nice sound (not their entry-levels, though). For a smaller room, I've actually heard an Onkyo HTIB sound pretty nice. My parents have a set.
And, for what its worth, I love banana plugs for connecting the cables to the receiver and speakers.
ChadTower:
OTOH, if you buy a decent speaker, it will sound pretty good. For most people the difference between the Polk and the Infinity is pretty irrelevant. So unless you really want to get that last 0.5% out of the configuration, just get some decent speakers, and be happy.
hulkster:
yeah, well my receiver came in yesterday. i hooked it up and ran the auto calibration thing on the receiver. i havent watched a movie yet (waiting on hdmi cables to come in from monoprice.com) but when i do, i should be able to notice a difference then.
i have however, noticed that the sound is a lot bolder and clearer than before. maybe its just louder because the speakers have been optimized. im not sure, but just from watching tv last night (heroes in HD), it really sounded cleaner. sweet.
DrumAnBass:
Regarding speakers - another option is to go the DIY route - check out these project speakers posted by PartsExpress: http://www.partsexpress.com/projectshowcase/homeaudio.cfm
I used Cambridge Soundworks myself for center and surrounds and like them. You also might want to check out http://www.orbaudio.com/, http://www.aperionaudio.com, http://www.axiomaudio.com/, and http://www.aad-direct.com/
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[*] Previous page
Go to full version