Beginner looking for Guidance

G

GodsWrath

Audiophyte
Hello all, longtime lurker first time poster here looking for help as I start building a home theater. With our tax return, my wife has granted me a $1,000.00 budget to start our home theater. This is hopefully a foundation I would like to improve on as funds and time become more readily available. Our living room is 12' x 14'. At first I was leaning towards an Onkyo HTIaB, but after weeks of reading different forum posts I have completely changed my mind. My current plan is as follows

Speakers - 2 Pioneer SP-FS5.
1 Pioneer SP-C22
Subwoofer - Hsu STF-2

So my plan is to start out 3.1 then upgrade to 5.1. My first question is does this seem like a viable foundation to build off of. Next is I have no idea what receiver to get for this setup. I'm not loyal to any brand and I know I will have to go the refurbished route. I currently have a 50 in plasma, PS3, X box 360 and an Apple TV all hooked up via HDMI. Listening will be 50 % tv and movies, 30% video games, and 20% music. Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks again.

P.S is that sub too much for those speakers? Meaning will it overpower them or is it overkill. The reason I like that sub is because ImCloud highly recommends them as a benchmark for entry level subs.
 
S

shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
The STF2 is a good sub, and it is definitely not overkill for those speakers. My question is how loud do you like to listen? That is a good system for a modest volume, but if you want to watch movies at sound levels commensurate with that of commercial cinemas, my advice is to beef up the subwoofer and skip the center to begin with. You can also get a higher quality system and save money by using bookshelf speakers for the front stage, as you do not need the deeper bass extension of tower speakers when a subwoofer is tackling those regions. I am saying a better foundation for improvement would be to blow your budget on a 2.1 with the speakers as bookshelf speakers. If you want the power of tower speakers later, you can always use the bookshelfs as surrounds when you upgrade.
Get some bookshelfs like these HTD Levels Threes, Ascend CBM-170s, Hsu HB-1 mk2, or these Arx A1b, and put them together with this Hsu VTF2 mk4 sub, that sets you up for a great system.

If you want a really solid foundation for a great system down the road, just go with 2.0 for now, like these Focals for instance, or these KEF towers. Also worth considering is these Arx A5 towers and these EMPtek E55Ti towers. Towers can get you you some decent bass until you get a subwoofer. If you can do without some solid bass for awhile, getting a 2.0 of high quality bookshelf speakers would be setting yourself up for an even higher end system eventually- check out these Ascend Sierras, or these KEF R100s if you want something really hi-fi. Of course, higher end components make the upgrade path a longer one in that you want to keep everything to about the same level of quality, but the more you invest individually in high quality parts, the better system you will have and the longer you will have it for the pride of ownership. If you buy cheaper stuff now, it will be a lot more disposable as you will be less likely to care for it to the degree that you would something really nice.

Anyway, spending $1k on a couple of bookshelf speakers may be absurd depending on your goals, but I am just mentioning that as a possibility since you are open to the idea of building up your system. If you don't need really exquisite sound or bass that will pound your chest, your listed setup would be fine. As for receivers, there are a lot of good options out there, I would be looking at Yamaha, Denon, Pioneer, Harman/Kardon and maybe Onkyo. A good place for refurbished receivers is Accessories4less.com.
 
mpompey

mpompey

Senior Audioholic
Ditto everything just posted. Just remember Home theater is a journey, you are never going to be finished.

So go ahead and break it to the significant other now. :)
 
Bryceo

Bryceo

Banned
I think you shouldn't listen to others about get selection as you've got the idear, it's a test and trial hoby really
 
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