OK...I have a budget of 3100.00 for speakers..Need help choosing.s..

[HDTVFREAK]

I will be using it for Dedicated HT room 36 X 16 ft room with one 15 inch riser. I will be wanting a second set of surround sound speakers for the back area of the HT room.

The 3100.00 will be for 2 Fronts, 1 Center, 2 pairs of Surrounds.

I have auditioned the Def Tech's that have the subwoofers in the FRONTs and they sounded great.

I have heard the AV123 are good quality.

I will be using a Pioneer 1018 receiver to push the speakers.

Will get subwoofer separately later.

Thanks for the help

[ParadigmDawg]

You just have to get out there and listen to as many speakers as you can find and see what sounds good to you.

Look for:

B&W
Paradigm
Dynaudio
PSB
MA

[rnatalli]

You just have to get out there and listen to as many speakers as you can find and see what sounds good to you.

Look for:

B&W
Paradigm
Dynaudio
PSB
MA

A good list. I would add a few ID carriers like Axiom, Av123, and Aperion who have speakers in this price range.

[ParadigmDawg]

Good collection of ID products there.

I just listed what I have auditioned and liked.

A good list. I would add a few ID carriers like Axiom, Av123, and Aperion who have speakers in this price range.

[jostenmeat]

Big room, dedicated HT, if you don't mind the looks, and can back em up with serious amplification, check out JTR.

large HT means you want power handling.

[Gov]

Save some dough and get (3) Ascend Acoustic Sierra's L/C/R and a pair of 170SE's for the rear.

[jostenmeat]

Save some dough and get (3) Ascend Acoustic Sierra's L/C/R and a pair of 170SE's for the rear.

As an Ascend fanboy, that is a nice set of speakers. Great for music, great for a living room.

But for a dedicated HT measuring 36x16, I would not even consider a bookshelf of any kind really. Hell, I'd probably see if implementing tower surrounds would work out. They would most likely need their own risers.

[john72953]

$3,100 is perfect for a Totem set-up.

Fronts: Totem Sttaf - $1800
Centre: Totem Mite-T - $600
Rears: Totem Mites - $700

Total: $3,100

And trust me....they'll blow Klipsch, Polk, Energy, DefTech out of the water!

John

[jostenmeat]

Totem is a nice brand for music as well. As is Aperion. However, these two brands have offered some of the lowest sens ratings I've ever seen, if not the very lowest. The mite-t for example is measured at 86db/w/m. Hope you got beefy amps for a 36ft long room, and then I hope it can handle that power you throw at it when you do get it.

If 38% from the back wall, you are STILL sitting 22 ft or so from the front wall. Seeing how SPL decreases exponentially with distance, I'd start looking at 300w/ch amps. Well, ok, just making a point.

[john72953]

Totem is a nice brand for music as well. As is Aperion. However, these two brands have offered some of the lowest sens ratings I've ever seen, if not the very lowest. The mite-t for example is measured at 86db/w/m. Hope you got beefy amps for a 36ft long room, and then I hope it can handle that power you throw at it when you do get it.

If 38% from the back wall, you are STILL sitting 22 ft or so from the front wall. Seeing how SPL decreases exponentially with distance, I'd start looking at 300w/ch amps. Well, ok, just making a point.

There is no question that the Totem's need adequate power and it's a point well brought up.

[ratso]

want to double your budget? go to audiogon and get your speakers for half price.

[deedubb]

$3,100 is perfect for a Totem set-up.

Fronts: Totem Sttaf - $1800
Centre: Totem Mite-T - $600
Rears: Totem Mites - $700

Total: $3,100

And trust me....they'll blow Klipsch, Polk, Energy, DefTech out of the water!

John

I can't stress the importance of auditioning every speaker you can and buying what *you* think sounds best. For example, I think for HT, Def Tech will blow Totems out of the water. They provide an amazing HT experience, and the built in subs are just icing on the cake. The C/L/R 3000 is one of the best centre channels I have ever heard. If you can audition Def Tech in a Home Theatre environment, I would definitely recommend it.

EDIT: I guess you have auditioned the Def Techs already! Time to go audition some others and compare.

[Gov]

As an Ascend fanboy, that is a nice set of speakers. Great for music, great for a living room.

But for a dedicated HT measuring 36x16, I would not even consider a bookshelf of any kind really. Hell, I'd probably see if implementing tower surrounds would work out. They would most likely need their own risers.

Whoops.....my bad did not see how big the room is. I agree, the Sierra's may have trouble filling that room. The 340SE's would probably be better, but still fall a bit short.

[john72953]

I can't stress the importance of auditioning every speaker you can and buying what *you* think sounds best. For example, I think for HT, Def Tech will blow Totems out of the water. They provide an amazing HT experience, and the built in subs are just icing on the cake. The C/L/R 3000 is one of the best centre channels I have ever heard. If you can audition Def Tech in a Home Theatre environment, I would definitely recommend it.

EDIT: I guess you have auditioned the Def Techs already! Time to go audition some others and compare.

Let me clarify something, because it needs to be said.

I am first and foremost a 2-channel audio fan (75% music/ 20% movies/ 5% gaming). As such, I selected Totem Sttafs because I truly beleive they are more refined for 2-channel listening. The rest of the speaker setup was built with those in mind, hence the addition of the Totem Mite-T Center and Totem Mites for rears. Additionally, my BD collection consists of about 20 or so Concert BD's and they get repeated play.

If I were NOT into audio as much as I am, and was primarily a movie watcher and/or gamer, I probably would have selected another brand of speaker.

My enthusiasm for the Totem brand is obvious, but I should have explained the reason why in my earlier post.

John

[AVRat]

What will the seating distances be to the front speakers? From the front wall? To the rear speakers?

[Midcow2]

I will be using it for Dedicated HT room 36 X 16 ft room with one 15 inch riser. I will be wanting a second set of surround sound speakers for the back area of the HT room.

The 3100.00 will be for 2 Fronts, 1 Center, 2 pairs of Surrounds.

I have auditioned the Def Tech's that have the subwoofers in the FRONTs and they sounded great.

I have heard the AV123 are good quality.

I will be using a Pioneer 1018 receiver to push the speakers.

Will get subwoofer separately later.

Thanks for the help


If you like Def Tech go with Def Tech surrounds. If you can find a local HT store you can probably get 15-25% off of the list price.

You room is large and you need to layout where the video will be and where the people will be. 36 feet is a long distance.

Let's say you are 2/3 the way back (24 feet) half-way causes acoustics problems. (later a 130" projector screen for video)

front speakers and center, two surounds at side 24 feet back back surrounds at 36 feet.

In your particular case, you are probably not going to be able to audition the exact or even close room setting.


A Pioneer 1018 is pretty stout AVR at 130 watts per channel so just about any 8 Ohm speaker with average (88dB) or higher sensitivity sould be able to be driven loud enough to please you.

Here is place tha seesm to have pretty good Def Tech prices:
http://www.surroundcity.com/DEFINITIVE-TECHNOLOGY-DEF-TECH-Def-Tech-C225.aspx

Look at a possilbe starting point as a pair of Def Tech 7002s and CLR 2002 center for $2224.
http://www.surroundcity.com/DEFINITIVE-TECHNOLOGY-BP-7002-CLR-2002-P1671C225.aspx


Then buy two pairs of Mordaunt-Short MS914 Floorstanding Speakers for surrounds for $349/pair

http://www.tsto.com/cgi-bin/tsto.storefront/EN/product/2511


Total cost = $2922

Good Luck.

MidCow2

[HDTVFREAK]

First row will be 15 ft away.
Second row will be roughly 20 fit away.

Will have a bar area in the back for people who don't have a spot to sit.
(This won't happen often, as the first two rows will seat apprx 10 people.)

Thanks for the help

[jostenmeat]

First row will be 15 ft away.
Second row will be roughly 20 fit away.


If the seats are HT seating, 5ft is most likely too tight. FYI.

Im glad that your Pioneer 1018 choice has preouts to add an amp, just in case.

My vote, again, is to think in terms of power handling. There are not too many people who have a large dedicated HT, with seating for 10, and always leave the volumes as "moderate". When the screen gets that big, my impression is that the volume often becomes commensurate. Then, if you put something on like Band of Brothers DTSMA track, you might really crank it. Someone did that recently with PSBs, and sent his Denon receiver into serious distortion/clipping. Anyhoo, I bet nice DT towers would fit the bill fine enough, if not on some JTR level.

[fredk]

Axioms, either the M60 or M80 at 95db sensitivity would work fine with a reasonably powered receiver. There are a number of Axiom owners that have theaters this size and manage to deliver all the decibels they need.

Personally I would add a sub before the rear surrounds.

I would think the first thing is to listen to a few different speakers to get a sense of what sound you like. If there is a set with high sensitivity in there great, otherwise consider you may need separate amps.

Looking at your receiver, consider the ohm rating of the speakers. The M80 is a 4ohm speaker and some receivers do not have an adequate power supply to feed them.

[Midcow2]

First row will be 15 ft away.
Second row will be roughly 20 fit away.

Will have a bar area in the back for people who don't have a spot to sit.
(This won't happen often, as the first two rows will seat apprx 10 people.)

Thanks for the help

Sounds nice can I come over if I bring hot buttered pop-corn and ice-cold beer ?

I would put first surrounds at each end of the first row at ear levle facing them into the row. The second set I would put behind the second row a couple of feet from the ends facing toward the front.

Good Luck!

MidCow2

[Gov]

Then, if you put something on like Band of Brothers DTSMA track, you might really crank it

I just watched episode 7 of this series @ -5db MV on my Pioneer SC-05 with Ascend 340SE's. When EZ company is getting repeatedly fire bombed I about ducked for cover in my own foxhole :D It sounded incredible. I just wish there was a bit for LFE used in the episodes. Great mini series though! Sorry for the temporary high jack, I just had to share.

[clouso]

for 3100$ i would go with the monitor series from paradigm...monitor 11v6(fronts).. cc390(center) and apd 390 (surround).Paradigm is known for this great performance line at an abordable price.

[BoB/335]

for 3100$ i would go with the monitor series from paradigm...monitor 11v6(fronts).. cc390(center) and apd 390 (surround).Paradigm is known for this great performance line at an abordable price.


I auditioned the Paradigm Studio 60's which is upline from the monitor series. The Studio 100's were out of my price range. I was introduced to Axiom and was told that their M80's are very similar in sound to the Studio 100's. The M80's are also highly efficient. I was going for fronts and a sub but shopping in their Factory Outlet Store I saved 10% and then another 5% for buying 5 of more pieces.
So I am getting:
Pair of M80's
Pair of QS8 surrounds
VP-150 Center Channel
EP-350 Sub all for $2596 shipped from the Outlet Store

The EP 500 will bring you in just over $3000 for a complete system shipped and a 30 day trial period.

My system should be here some time next week. Can't wait!

Best of luck deciding. It's pretty tough!!!!!!!!!!!