[ghporter]

I'm looking at putting together a modest home theater setup by the end of the year (finances permitting). Right now I have a very good idea of what TV to get and a pretty good idea of what amp to get. But I have no clue about speakers. I want to set up at least a 5.1 system, but wiring back speakers will be problematic-no continuous baseboard from the front wall to the back wall, and running wires under carpet is a Bad Idea.

What kind of speakers do I need for the main 4 channels? The amp I'm looking at puts out 110W/channel max (WAY STUPENDOUSLY more than enough for this room), so I don't need anything that will handle lots and lots of power, but I want good sound reproduction. What do I look for in a subwoofer, and what about the center channel speaker? Is 7.1/7.2 enough better in the majority of movies that I need the extra speakers and wiring?

My budget is not enormous, but I don't want "cheap" either. What do I want to make this work?

[Buckaroo]

Not exactly modest, but we know you're rich and you can afford it.

the ultimate million dollar speaker: sign me up for two! on [technabob]

[brassplayersrock²]

I'm currently testing out PSB, and am actually going to be keeping the set I'm using; which I usually don't do.
Here's the link to what I'm testing.
PSB Speakers - Alpha Series

Great sounding system for the price. If you want a bit more oomph, go with the B1 set with C1 center. The LR1 and CL1 are still very good, but I was more impressed by the bit bigger B1 and C1 set.

edit:
The sub... well, you'll feel the sub. It's not punchy, or boomy. It has a nice TIGHT sub feel. The way it should be.

Going by your post, you will be happy with a single sub, as long as it's placed in the right spot in the room.

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-ALLH84N...placement.html

http://www.crutchfield.com/Learn/lea...acoustics.html

[Mrjinglesusa]

Stick with 5.1. You will not notice a huge difference with the extra 2 speakers in a 7.1 system.

I would highly recommend Infinity Primus speakers as a good compromise between price and quality. Trust me, you won't be disappointed with these speakers.

Mains: Infinity Primus P362s: Infinity Primus P362 Single floor-standing speaker at Crutchfield.com

Center: Infinity Primus PC350: Infinity PC350 Center channel speaker at Crutchfield.com

Surrounds: Infinity Primus P152s: Infinity Primus P152 Single bookshelf speaker at Crutchfield.com

Some reviews:

Infinity Primus P362 Reviews

Infinity Primus P362 - ProductWiki unbiased product reviews

Discussion Thread on Primus Line:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...nfinity+primus

[tooki]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

1. I want to set up at least a 5.1 system, but wiring back speakers will be problematic-no continuous baseboard from the front wall to the back wall, and running wires under carpet is a Bad Idea.
2. What kind of speakers do I need for the main 4 channels?
3. What do I look for in a subwoofer, and what about the center channel speaker?
4. Is 7.1/7.2 enough better in the majority of movies that I need the extra speakers and wiring?

1. Running speaker wire under rugs isn't hazardous like it is with power cords, but what you can get is flat tape cable that can literally be spackled over.
2. Matching good-size, full-range speakers for L, R, and center. You can get smaller ones for the rear pair.
   Bear in mind, there are five main channels, not four: front left, center, front right, surround left, and surround right. The subwoofer channel (denoted as the ".1") is also discrete, but you can live without a sub if need be, esp. in a small room if the main speakers are big enough).
   I have B&W for mine, I also like Polk Audio and Boston Acoustics. What I personally like is balanced sound. Some speakers are very bass- or treble-heavy, and I don't like those (e.g. Klipsch to me is low-heavy).
3. I don't really know about subs, but the center speaker must be an acoustic match for the left and right. I'd recommend either buying three identical speakers for the front, or the dedicated center speaker from the same line of speakers, which will be designed to match.
4. Absolutely not. Only a trivial number of movies even have more than 5.1 channels, and unless you have a huge auditorium, you wouldn't really hear the difference on a 7.1 movie. A second sub channel is also entirely pointless if it's not a gigantic space.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

It's really a good time to be buying a speaker system. There are quite a few moderately cheap manufacturers which really put out some quality products nowadays.

It would ultimately be necessary to get a better handle on your budget, Glen. Whether you're talking $500 or $1000 or $2000 or $5000 for a "not enormous, but not cheap" budget would really make a difference in what you're aiming for here. In addition, the type of amp you're using would be helpful - some speaker/amp combinations are known not to produce the "best results."

PSB, Infinity, Polk Audio, Energy speakers are all bigger-name brands which nonetheless are known for a solid price-to-performance product.

To be honest, if I were you I'd consider Craigslist/Kijiji/whatever. In my experience there's quite a large used-speaker market out there and you can usually get great stuff for surprisingly cheap.

For example, I have a 13-year-old pair of Energy Pro Series 4.5s for my personal stereo setup, paired with a 1977 Sony STR-6800SD amp. They're perfect "condo speakers" - light on bass so the people around/below don't complain, but otherwise very well-balanced - and I've found they match superbly with my amp, which is a touch warm and on the "polite" side. I spent around $250 for the pair, and they'll make fantastic rears when I decide to replace my current cheap Panasonic 5.1 "kit home theatre system" (which is quite bad, but necessary because it has wireless rear speakers and I don't have a good/cheap way to run speaker wires in my current pad - open concept design, hardwood floors, etc. etc.).

Definitely worth your time checking out the "lovingly used" stuff IMO!

greg

[analogue SPRINKLES]

Energy. Amazing speakers. Mine have been awesome in the past 10 years I have used them and i am sure they will last me another 20. Stylish too.

Products

[ghporter]

Thanks for the inputs. The room is about 18'X20' so I don't need ginormous speakers to fill it. I'm hoping to spend less than $1000 on the speakers, much less if possible without buying crap.

I already have nice speakers for front left and right-I've replaced the actual speakers in the enclosures recently, they can handle all the power I can give them, and they have a nice sound. Finding a matching center would be an issue, I guess, unless I just put the existing speakers in the back and buy new fronts. I have seriously been considering "bookshelf" sized speakers for this setup, since the room is not huge and won't need that much sound to really fill it up.

I guess I can run "tape" speaker wires for the rear speakers, but I'll have to figure a way to pull the stuff under the existing carpet, and then properly terminate it at both ends. Are there special connectors for this stuff, so you can lay it down under carpet and then bring it up to a wallplate?

[ghporter]

Just did some looking (at Fry's just because I was looking for something else there) and came up with these two speaker systems:

Infinity 5.1 speaker package

JBL 5.1 package

Any comments on these?

[jokell82]

Originally Posted by analogue SPRINKLES 

Energy. Amazing speakers. Mine have been awesome in the past 10 years I have used them and i am sure they will last me another 20. Stylish too.

Products

Energy speakers are fantastic. Also check out Paradigm:
http://www.paradigm.com/en/paradigm/news/

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

Just did some looking (at Fry's just because I was looking for something else there) and came up with these two speaker systems:

Infinity 5.1 speaker package

JBL 5.1 package

Any comments on these?

I'm sure they're both decent little products, but didn't you say you already had mains? If you're looking only at a centre channel, two rears and a sub you could spend $600 buying those piecemeal and probably get a far better system (although it probably wouldn't look at sleek, granted).

I mean, those speakers only have dual 2.5 or 3.5 drivers and half-inch tweeters. I'm sure you could find something better than that if you looked around.

greg

[ShortcutToMoncton]

What is the brand name of your amp and mains, Glenn? That would be a good start anyway, so at least we could go from there if you just wanted to add things.

Unfortunately Craigslist San An is a freakin dead spot. No Kijiji either. What do you guys use out that way?? There's a ton of great stuff available in Houston....

greg

[Eug]

Since you already have reasonable mains, you could get a reasonably comparable centre-channel speaker, and two cheaper surrounds. This would be the easiest way to save money. You can also get a sub later if necessary, but that's optional. 5.0 system, as it were. However, it can be hard matching up a centre.

Or, as you say, you can put the current speakers in the back, and then get a matching front pair and centre. This may be the best option to make matching the fronts and centre easiest.

In my experience towers are usually the easiest to set up to sound nice in a 5.0 system, although if you must skimp, then skimp on the surrounds. I find in a mix and match system, trying to match inexpensive bookshelf speakers with a good but inexpensive sub from another brand can be quite difficult, although many people do do it. OTOH, if you're living in a condo or apt., you're probably better off getting rid of the sub altogether, and just use half-decent tower speakers in front.

If it's a pain to run the speaker wire under the carpet, then run it along the wall, in wire conduits. You can get paintable plastic wire conduits that come with adhesive already attached. That usually actually works out to much cheaper (and easier) than flat tape-type wire. I run mine in conduits just above the floor. This is what it looks like, although I wouldn't run it that high above the floor. For speaker wire I wouldn't necessarily use that vertical part either, unless it's in a corner.



You can probably forget updating the amp. 98% of the time, it's a waste of time and money when your first priority should be the speakers.

P.S. A lot of Canadian speaker lines have been mentioned (eg. PSB, Paradigm, Energy), and I would agree with putting those on the short list for the value and mid-range categories. They have often been lauded for being relatively inexpensive for what they provide. Much of the reason is they started out with no speaker labs of their own. They all used the same government-supported speaker research lab, and passed on the savings to the customers. I have Paradigm myself, although I use their "Reference" class speakers up front in my main system which won't meet your budget criteria. My sub is an SVS. BTW, but like I said you might be better off not using a (true) sub in a condo/apt., or else it will annoy all your neighbours.

[BadKosh]

JBL 4311's or 4312's.

[Shaddim]

Speaker recommendations, hmmm. That's tough, since they vary so much according to taste. Do you like a bright sound or more relaxed? What ratio of music to movies are we looking at, Glenn? Do you want to buy online or are you buying locally?

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Yeah, I imagine that the "type" of sound would probably be determined by what kind of music he will probably be listening to through this system. If it's going to be used for music, what do you normally listen to Glenn?

It's too bad you're not in Houston - there was a nice older KEF system for sale on Craigslist that would've been perfect.

greg

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Definitive Technology CLR 2300

For example there's a nice centre for you... might be able to swing it for $350 perhaps (it looks new, and they go for $650 on Amazon). It also has a little sub in there so if you want to forgo a "real sub" you could just pair it with some mains.

greg

[ghporter]

How about a great big "shotgun" reply?

Originally Posted by ShortcutToMoncton 

What is the brand name of your amp and mains, Glenn? That would be a good start anyway, so at least we could go from there if you just wanted to add things.

Unfortunately Craigslist San An is a freakin dead spot. No Kijiji either. What do you guys use out that way?? There's a ton of great stuff available in Houston....

greg

I'm looking at Sony amps-their STR-DN1000 looks like it will fit my needs. And it took me a while to figure out what was so cool about Craigslist-I went to the Austin list and got an eyefull.

Originally Posted by Eug 

Since you already have reasonable mains, you could get a reasonably comparable centre-channel speaker, and two cheaper surrounds. This would be the easiest way to save money. You can also get a sub later if necessary, but that's optional. 5.0 system, as it were. However, it can be hard matching up a centre.

Or, as you say, you can put the current speakers in the back, and then get a matching front pair and centre. This may be the best option to make matching the fronts and centre easiest.

In my experience towers are usually the easiest to set up to sound nice in a 5.0 system, although if you must skimp, then skimp on the surrounds. I find in a mix and match system, trying to match inexpensive bookshelf speakers with a good but inexpensive sub from another brand can be quite difficult, although many people do do it. OTOH, if you're living in a condo or apt., you're probably better off getting rid of the sub altogether, and just use half-decent tower speakers in front.

If it's a pain to run the speaker wire under the carpet, then run it along the wall, in wire conduits. You can get paintable plastic wire conduits that come with adhesive already attached. That usually actually works out to much cheaper (and easier) than flat tape-type wire. I run mine in conduits just above the floor. This is what it looks like, although I wouldn't run it that high above the floor. For speaker wire I wouldn't necessarily use that vertical part either, unless it's in a corner.



You can probably forget updating the amp. 98% of the time, it's a waste of time and money when your first priority should be the speakers.

P.S. A lot of Canadian speaker lines have been mentioned (eg. PSB, Paradigm, Energy), and I would agree with putting those on the short list for the value and mid-range categories. They have often been lauded for being relatively inexpensive for what they provide. Much of the reason is they started out with no speaker labs of their own. They all used the same government-supported speaker research lab, and passed on the savings to the customers. I have Paradigm myself, although I use their "Reference" class speakers up front in my main system which won't meet your budget criteria. My sub is an SVS. BTW, but like I said you might be better off not using a (true) sub in a condo/apt., or else it will annoy all your neighbours.

It's not likely I'll find a match to my existing speakers, since they came with a JC Penny-branded system from 25 years ago, so I think I'm going to, at most, move the current speakers to the surround positions. I think if I go with Panduit, I'll just put the box on the baseboard-I just don't want plain wires coming out of the carpet... And upgrading the amp is a must. My current amp is a multimedia receiver (an STR-DG600) which switches various inputs for the TV and amp-and it doesn't have anything for HDMI. We're a stand-alone house, so we can use as much bass as we want, but we're not big into "thump" music, so that's probably not a big issue.

Originally Posted by ShortcutToMoncton 

Yeah, I imagine that the "type" of sound would probably be determined by what kind of music he will probably be listening to through this system. If it's going to be used for music, what do you normally listen to Glenn?

It's too bad you're not in Houston - there was a nice older KEF system for sale on Craigslist that would've been perfect.

greg

We want clean sound that replicates what is on our DVDs pretty well. We listen to a whole lot of different genres of music, with the few exceptions being hip-hop and "club music." We've been electronica fans since before it was named that, but we stick to really old stuff like Tangerine Dream, Brian Eno, and such. So we'd need some pretty much all-around reproduction, though not necessarily with any particular genre-specific tonal qualities.

Originally Posted by Shaddim 

Speaker recommendations, hmmm. That's tough, since they vary so much according to taste. Do you like a bright sound or more relaxed? What ratio of music to movies are we looking at, Glenn? Do you want to buy online or are you buying locally?

We like something sort of inbetween "warm" and "bright" music reproduction. When we have time we watch movies at home, but that's part of the idea-having a home theater system with a nice, big TV gives us more reason to stay home and enjoy. Right now we spend almost all the time the system is on listening to music, either on CDs, from my old 60GB 4G iPod, or from Serius/XM over DirecTV. I'd like to buy things locally if at all possible, but without going to some rather high-priced places (locally "Bjorn's" is the recognized "home theater expert," but they are EXPENSIVE!).

[olePigeon]

Bose

[Shaddim]

This may be a bit of a sticker shock, I don't know, but if I were doing HT on a bit of a budget I'd look into a set of Divas from Swans. They'll run about $2,000 for mains, center, and surrounds (you need to add a sub). They are the best value, bar none. I installed a set of these and they sounded like an $8k set of B&Ws, just outstanding.

Product information:Swans Diva 4.2HT

If you want to go further down in price, really down, check out Polk.

Two of these: Newegg.com - Polk Audio Monitor 60 Cherry Floorstanding loudspeaker Single
One of these: Newegg.com - Polk Audio CS2 Cherry Center Channel Loudspeaker Single
a set of these for surrounds: Newegg.com - Polk Audio Monitor 30 Cherry Two-way bookshelf loudspeaker Pair
and a sub: Newegg.com - Polk Audio PSW505B 12" Powered Subwoofer Single

It's a decent set at a very good price.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

It's not likely I'll find a match to my existing speakers, since they came with a JC Penny-branded system from 25 years ago, so I think I'm going to, at most, move the current speakers to the surround positions. I think if I go with Panduit, I'll just put the box on the baseboard-I just don't want plain wires coming out of the carpet... And upgrading the amp is a must. My current amp is a multimedia receiver (an STR-DG600) which switches various inputs for the TV and amp-and it doesn't have anything for HDMI. We're a stand-alone house, so we can use as much bass as we want, but we're not big into "thump" music, so that's probably not a big issue.

I use an STR-DG500 with my second system. I just plug the HDMI devices directly into the TV. I have two HDMI devices hooked up to the TV.

To control everything together, I use a Logitech Harmony remote. I prefer to use the 360 because it was the cheapest at the time that had dedicated (and colour coded) A & B buttons along with a Guide button, but other people use other models.

[Shaddim]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

Bose

damn, made coffee shoot out of my nose.

[brassplayersrock²]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

Bose

[Teronzhul]

I'll echo the praise for the Energy speakers, as I have some Athena's which I love that are made by the same company. Great speakers, however, I also purchased an active Athena Subwoofer (AS-P6000) that died just out of warranty. Lots of others have had the exact same problem and I'm a bit irritated that Klipsch (the now parent company of Audio Products International who makes both Energy and Athena speakers) recognizes that there was a faulty run of main boards that caused premature failures, but they refuse to extend warranties or do anything to help those of us with what are now fancy end tables.

So yeah, love the speakers, pissed at the company.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

It's not likely I'll find a match to my existing speakers, since they came with a JC Penny-branded system from 25 years ago, so I think I'm going to, at most, move the current speakers to the surround positions. I think if I go with Panduit, I'll just put the box on the baseboard-I just don't want plain wires coming out of the carpet... And upgrading the amp is a must. My current amp is a multimedia receiver (an STR-DG600) which switches various inputs for the TV and amp-and it doesn't have anything for HDMI. We're a stand-alone house, so we can use as much bass as we want, but we're not big into "thump" music, so that's probably not a big issue.

Yeah, moving them to the rear and spending money on mains and a centre sounds like it might be your best bet I would imagine.

The Diva system Shaddim suggested has a great name, but I imagine it's well out of your budget range at this point?

While the Polk Audio system is much cheaper, I'm very confident that you'll still be extremely happy with the results.

greg

[Dakar V]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

Bose

I was wondering who wasn't going to have the self-control to not make that joke.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by brassplayersrock² 

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by Dakar V 

I was wondering who wasn't going to have the self-control to not make that joke.

I wasn't not wondering who wasn't going to not not use enough double negatives.

[Dakar V]

You fix the sentence then, grammarian.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by Dakar V 

You fix the sentence then, grammarian.

You have me confused with a gay Dane.

[Dakar V]

No, I'm just saying put up or shut up.

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by Dakar V 

No, I'm just saying put up or shut up.

I think you have him confused for a gay Dane.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Oh good, this thread is now a bickering MSN conversation.

[ghporter]

Back on MY original subject, I like using the receiver to control everything, including inputs to the TV, which I do right now (with composite, component and S-Video inputs coming from various components), so that all I need to do is select the device and BINGO everything is set up. The TV I'm looking at has a number of HDMI inputs, but using multiple remotes or even multiple inputs to the same remote to change audio source for the surround sound and video source for the right HDMI input would be a pain to manage, much less explain to my wife (who, while very technically inclined, has no patience for gadgets that don't behave well).

[Shaddim]

You never did mention a price range.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

Thanks for the inputs. The room is about 18'X20' so I don't need ginormous speakers to fill it. I'm hoping to spend less than $1000 on the speakers, much less if possible without buying crap.

I already have nice speakers for front left and right-I've replaced the actual speakers in the enclosures recently, they can handle all the power I can give them, and they have a nice sound. Finding a matching center would be an issue, I guess, unless I just put the existing speakers in the back and buy new fronts. I have seriously been considering "bookshelf" sized speakers for this setup, since the room is not huge and won't need that much sound to really fill it up.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by Shaddim 

You never did mention a price range.

I thought I had. I'd like to stay well under $1k for the whole speaker system, even lower if I decide to use the old speakers for the rear channels. I may want to upgrade later, but for now I just want to sort of get into the "big kids' pool" of home theater-not the kiddie pool with a $400 "home theater system" that is centered on a DVD player, and not $4,000 worth of "custom matched, gold plated speakers with ultra high <buzzword><buzzword> worth thousands more!" Just a start, at a fairly modest price.

As it's looking now, I think I can manage to stay under $500 with a decent front/center set and a not-too-burly subwoofer.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

For that price, unless you want to take your time and search around Craigslist, the Newegg Polk Audio stuff Shaddim mentioned is probably where you want to be. The CS 60 monitors and CS2 center is probably the best bang for your buck at those very, very cheap sale prices. Cherry or black?

greg

[BadKosh]

I own 4 KEF 104aB's and 4 JBL 4311's and have tried both with my 55" Sony Wega. The KEF's are more smooth and go down very low. The JBL's are wonderful, Dynamic and overpower the room I have which is long and narrow. I use the 4 KEF's (2 per side powered by a Crown PSA-2) without the multichannel stuff. The various 4 or more channels of sound toys all sound fake. Gimmicky. I let the room create the acoustics.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by ShortcutToMoncton 

For that price, unless you want to take your time and search around Craigslist, the Newegg Polk Audio stuff Shaddim mentioned is probably where you want to be. The CS 60 monitors and CS2 center is probably the best bang for your buck at those very, very cheap sale prices. Cherry or black?

greg

Oh definitely black. It'll go with everything, while the cherry is too bright for my oak-with-mission-finish furniture. I'll have to look at these units very carefully-they look pretty darn good.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Originally Posted by BadKosh 

I own 4 KEF 104aB's and 4 JBL 4311's and have tried both with my 55" Sony Wega. The KEF's are more smooth and go down very low. The JBL's are wonderful, Dynamic and overpower the room I have which is long and narrow. I use the 4 KEF's (2 per side powered by a Crown PSA-2) without the multichannel stuff. The various 4 or more channels of sound toys all sound fake. Gimmicky. I let the room create the acoustics.

That's a beautiful system! Those old JBLs have a fantastic name too.

What about multichannel for movies? I'm a stereo guy for music as well, but I've come around to the 5.1 home theatre experience.

greg

[Shaddim]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

Oh definitely black. It'll go with everything, while the cherry is too bright for my oak-with-mission-finish furniture. I'll have to look at these units very carefully-they look pretty darn good.

Those are really the only ones I can recommend at <$1000 for the whole set. Also, for what it is, that sub will put out some really nice bass for movies. It's meaner than it looks.


BTW, sale ends on those in a few days.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by Dakar V 

You fix the sentence then, grammarian.

"I was wondering who would be so lacking in self-control that he or she would make that joke."

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Originally Posted by Shaddim 

Those are really the only ones I can recommend at <$1000 for the whole set. Also, for what it is, that sub will put out some really nice bass for movies. It's meaner than it looks.

BTW, sale ends on those in a few days.

Yeah, those are really some good sale prices; for those prices Glenn, I have a hard time imagining that you'll find prices a lot better than that even going the used route, where you forgo warranties/returns/convenience/etc.

If you're buying new, you'd basically be looking at doubling your price point to start getting "noticeably better sound" I would think.


greg

[Shaddim]

That's a fact. There's not a better <$1000 deal to be had anywhere, period.

Edit: Damn, I just added it up, it's $750 for that setup w/ sub. That's just ****ing crazy pricing. Glenn, get your CC and order now.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by Shaddim 

That's a fact. There's not a better <$1000 deal to be had anywhere, period.

Edit: Damn, I just added it up, it's $750 for that setup w/ sub. That's just ****ing crazy pricing. Glenn, get your CC and order now.

Yeah, about that... I won't get paid until Sept 1, so I'm going to miss out on that deal.

On the other hand, I've taken a hard look at the room and figured something out: my rear speakers will have to be hung from the ceiling. It's about the way the room is shaped more than anything else. The room is 20' wide, 15' deep, and has a 10' ceiling. There are doorways or archways in three places around the room, effectively separating the wall the TV must go on from the other walls, and no way to get speaker wire under the carpet, so I simply can't get speaker wires under the carpet or around the baseboard to the back of the room. But I CAN crawl through the attic and install speaker wire there with only limited effort (beyond the fact that the attic is not habitable when the outside temps are in the low 100s as they have been for the last 7 weeks...). I have other stuff to do in the attic anyway, like routing coax for my satellite antenna (I'm looking at adding HD service, and that takes two cables, not just one), so I'll be working up there anyway. Hanging speakers from the ceiling has made me rethink the project.

I'm now simply looking at getting started. I'll begin with getting "economy" speakers for the surrounds and running speaker wire through a cable protector so I can work out where in the floorplan they should best go.

When I get things figured out, then I'll start looking at really good speakers. The Polk R50s are regularly $199 at Fry's, so having to wait won't put too big a dent in my wallet. A Polk center speaker and sub will be part of the deal too, but again, waiting until I get things sorted out won't cost me that much.

I really appreciate everyone's advice in this. I've spent a long time living on a shoestring, and I'll admit that walking into a "listening room" and seeing bookshelf speakers that list for $1200 EACH is intimidating. Sure, they're Infinity speakers and probably well worth it, but still, that's more than two-weeks' pay used to be... As it is, starting a new job and making real money will take some time to sink in, and there are unfortunately some priority expenditures that will be taken care of before fun stuff. I can go slow with this (my current receiver will do at least 5.1 surround, and I won't get the TV itself until very near the end of the year), which I think is the beauty of a component system in the first place.

Now I know more about what brands to look for, what to avoid (I saw a Bose system at Fry's yesterday that listed for $2k and didn't include a sub at all...). I also now know that I need to see what the room itself sounds like with multiple channels-bookcases, drapes and pictures on the walls will impact how the room sounds-before I decide what speakers I'll need to get the right sound out of my sources. And I have a realistic idea of how much all this will cost: more than I'd thought, but less than it might.

Now, to find some "decent" bookshelf speakers to start experimenting with. Suggestions for some that don't just plain suck?

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

Yeah, about that... I won't get paid until Sept 1, so I'm going to miss out on that deal.

Originally Posted by Shaddim 

Edit: Damn, I just added it up, it's $750 for that setup w/ sub. That's just ****ing crazy pricing. Glenn, get your CC and order now.

I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.

[indigoimac]

Polk also has an ebay store with refurbs and such -- might be worth a look. I have not bought from them, but you might be able to get a little more bang for your buck.

http://stores.shop.ebay.com/Polk-Aud...__W0QQ_armrsZ1

Crutchfield also has an outlet and scratch and dent but they're usually a tad overpriced in the first place though it depends.

[BadKosh]

Originally Posted by ShortcutToMoncton 

That's a beautiful system! Those old JBLs have a fantastic name too.

What about multichannel for movies? I'm a stereo guy for music as well, but I've come around to the 5.1 home theatre experience.

greg

Thanks Greg. I've owned these KEF 104aB's since 1978!

I have listened to 4 different home surround type systems. $8000 pro installed, to as litte as $350. Not impressed. In fact, in all my days as a pro audio guy, doing movie theatres I only heard one effect sound that was believable. It was the sound of the pipe bouncing past you after the 1st Drop ship crashed in "Aliens". You can do amazing things when you play with the phase of a stereo source. Firesign Theatre made it sound like people chasing each other around the room and in back of you- all the way back in 1970... I don't think I'm hallucinating. They did it with two channels on vinyl.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.

Except that I don't put stuff on a credit card if I can help it. Bad karma and all that. Plus interest, of course.