Finished Basement and added projector area and need advice on speakers and receiver

[alumiu90]

I recently finished my basement and added a 16 x 24 area for a projector and wired for 7.1 sound, but plan to only use 5.1 at the moment, but will easily be able to upgrade latter. I need some advise on a receiver and speakers as I am a complete novice at audio equipment. I have budgeted between $400-500 for the receiver, but if I can get a great receiver for less I would be elated. As for speakers I have budgeted $750-$1000 for speakers as my wife and I went seriously over budget with adding a bar, etc. The 16 x 24 foot area opens to a larger area and is broken up by a soffit which the projector is mounted too. All of the equipment will be stored in a separate cabinet that we built in under the stairs. Because of the soffit and bar area one of the surround speakers will have to be mounted from the ceiling so I am limited by weight and ability to hang one of the speakers.
I have been following the Yamaha 673V pricing this summer and thought that might be a good choice, but was not sure. I was thinking of floor standing fronts, but I have plenty of wall to mount speakers to the side of the projection screen etc. Speaker wire was all run so that I had options between floor standing and wall mounted front speakers. For my RF remote I was thinking of going with the URC RFS200 bundle as it will do what I need it to do.

I would appreciate any advice and guidance forum members might provide as I am completely confused by all of my choices, etc.

 

[alumiu90]

Still looking for advice please.

Still looking for advice from members of the forum.

I recently finished my basement and added a 16 x 24 area for a projector and wired for 7.1 sound, but plan to only use 5.1 at the moment, but will easily be able to upgrade latter. I need some advise on a receiver and speakers as I am a complete novice at audio equipment. I have budgeted between $400-500 for the receiver, but if I can get a great receiver for less I would be elated. As for speakers I have budgeted $750-$1000 for speakers as my wife and I went seriously over budget with adding a bar, etc. The 16 x 24 foot area opens to a larger area and is broken up by a soffit which the projector is mounted too. All of the equipment will be stored in a separate cabinet that we built in under the stairs. Because of the soffit and bar area one of the surround speakers will have to be mounted from the ceiling so I am limited by weight and ability to hang one of the speakers.
I have been following the Yamaha 673V pricing this summer and thought that might be a good choice, but was not sure. I was thinking of floor standing fronts, but I have plenty of wall to mount speakers to the side of the projection screen etc. Speaker wire was all run so that I had options between floor standing and wall mounted front speakers. For my RF remote I was thinking of going with the URC RFS200 bundle as it will do what I need it to do.

I would appreciate any advice and guidance forum members might provide as I am completely confused by all of my choices, etc.

 

[tmurnin]

Given your budget and room constraints, you might think about just starting out with front L/R/C channels and a subwoofer and then add surrounds later. A good subwoofer for that size room will start at around $500 so you don't have a lot of money left to play with. I would probably even start with just a 2.1 system for now and add the center later and then the surrounds.

one other thing, given your room issue, you might think about in-ceiling for surrounds. They're not ideal, but their limitations are really minimized when you're talking about surrounds rather than fronts.

are you open to used equipment? You'd certainly get more for your money there.

as for the receiver, any of the options from Denon, Onkyo, Yamaha, Pioneer should be fine. At that price point, you're going to get a decent AVR no matter what brand you go with. I would second the idea of minimizing the amount you spend on a receiver and switch that budget to speakers if at all possible.

 

[shadyJ]

My advice would be to just go 2.0 or 2.1 for now and add other pieces later to get full 7.1. $1.5k can get you an OK 5.1 surround sound, but you would do much better in two channel at that price. The Yamaha would be a good receiver. I would do a couple bookshelf speakers to start with. If you have woodworking skills and some tools, you would get a tremendous bang from your buck from a kit like one of these or these. There is also some great subwoofer flatpack cabinets from that website which can help you make a killer sub for relatively cheap. You can get the performance of a system worth thousands for only hundreds if you are willing to do some cabinet construction yourself. If you don't want to mess with DIY, I would just get the 2.1 setup from here, those sell a good speaker and one hell of a subwoofer.

 

[ImcLoud]

Lets start with your total budget of $1500, that isn't undoable...
$596 VTF-2 MK4 Subwoofer
$299 DENON AVR-1913 7.1ch Home Theater Receiver w/AirPlay 3D ready | Accessories4less
$600 get a pair of cbm170s with a cmt340 center Ascend Acoustics - Quality loudspeakers Made Affordable Via Direct Sales then when its time to upgrade get a pair of cmt340s and move the 170s to surround duty, and when you want more bass add another vtf2 for $600... you can pick up and use any set of bookshelfs for your surrounds until you get the money for the rest...

or you can go with the hybrid 2 5.1 package Hybrid 2 Packages

there are options out there..

 

[SearchofSub]

With $1,500 for 5.1 set-up + AVR, your not gonna get much. I really suggest you just go with 2.0 first, then add the sub next, then the sorrounds.

$1,000 for a pair you have the Tekton Lore's (towers) which get really good reviews. And pick up a reciever with Audessey NOT MCACC because the MCACC wont EQ below 65hz. You need Audessey for your sub.

 

[rgriffin25]

Here's an interesting idea.. How about some suggestions that are with in his stated budget? I realize he may not end up with a system that will shake the rafters, but a budget is a budget. I have heard good things about the Andrew Jones speakers made by pioneer. They should fit nicely within your budget. I happen to be a pretty big Klipsch fan and recently added the Quintet speakers to a TV in my upstairs living room. Very clean and dynamic sounding speakers with great build quality. Additionally, you may save some money on a receiver if you went for one without networking and or multi-zone. The RX-V475 would fit the bill and save you some cash at the same time. You can opt for the RX-V575 if you decide to go ahead with the 7.1 set up.

Receiver
Amazon.com: Yamaha RX-V475 5.1-Channel Network AV Receiver with Airplay: Electronics

Quintets
Amazon.com: Klipsch Quintet 5.0 Home Theater Speaker System (Black): Electronics

If you went with the pricing from the links above you would have a $500 + budget for a decent subwoofer.

I am not saying a multi step process is a bad idea. Certainly in the long run your results would be more satisfying. However that doesn't mean you can't get a pretty nice system now and stay within your budget.

 

[SearchofSub]

Edit -

For 26 x 14 room, you really need atleast a VTF 3.4 to pressurize it enough. My recommendatioin is the Andrew Jones Pioneer speakers 5.0 set with the Hsu VTF 3.4 sub, a denon reciever with audessey and cables from Monoprice.

 

[Jeff R.]

If you live near a metro area....I would troll Craigslist and see what is out there in the used market. Buy speakers used if you can find some reasonable ones, bonus is you get to listen to them and if you don't like them don't buy them. There are always people upgrading to new stuff and have old speakers sitting around, I would buy a new receiver and a new subwoofer with the remaining budget once the speakers are determined. Stick with a minimum af a $500 subwoofer budget, You can likely get a nice DIY kit off of PartsExpress for a sub to save some money also.....

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

This avr: DENON AVR-2312CI 7.2 Integrated Network A/V Surround Receiver | Accessories4less
$399+about $20 shipping=$420
(upgraded from 1913 above for much better version of Auto-Room correction)

Fronts:two of these: Amazon.com: Pioneer SP-FS52-LR Andrew Jones Designed Floor standing Loudspeaker (each): Electronics
$176
Center:
Amazon.com: Pioneer SP-C22 Andrew Jones Designed Center Channel Speaker: Electronics

Rears:
Amazon.com: Pioneer SP-C22 Andrew Jones Designed Center Channel Speaker: Electronics
$90

Sub: Outlaw Audio LFM-1 EX Powered Subwoofer
total= approx $1500

 

[lsiberian]

Here's an interesting idea.. How about some suggestions that are with in his stated budget?

Cheeky little bird are we. I think building up a system over time is a better approach, but if the OP wants it all now your suggestions are the way to look. I'd lean the Andrew Jones way myself. Of course the OP could get the Andrew Jones system and then upgrade it later like most of us do..

 

[SearchofSub]

Yeah I suppose Outlaw for the sub would work. I think BoredSysAdmin is the best way to go for your budget.

 

[alumiu90]

Thanks BoredSysAdmin.

You are inline with what I want to do. I am very mobile with my company and I want to be able to enjoy this new addition to our house sooner than later, plus we blew our budget on the basement project via cost overruns and so money is tight right now.

What does the forum think about pairing the Pioneer Andrew Jones Floor Speakers and Rear speakers with a Polk subwoofer or center channel Amazon.com: Polk Audio CS10 Center Channel Speaker (Single, Black): Electronics or the Asoustech H-100 Cinema Series 500 watt Subwoofer Amazon.com: Acoustech H-100 Cinema Series 500-Watt Front-Firing Subwoofer, High-Gloss Black: Electronics. Or the BIC America F12 12-Inch 475-Watt Front Firing Powered Subwoofer?

Or would the Klipsch Quintet 5.0 Home Theater Speaker System be the better route to go?

Also can someone advise on wall mounting or ceiling mounting brackets for the Pioneer SP-C22 rears as I do not believe they have any mounting holes on the back of their cabinets. Can they be wall mounted? If not can someone recommend another good pair of surround speakers that would fit my budget.

Thanks everyone!

 

[tmurnin]

If you get the Pioneer floorstanders, get the Pioneer center. Why would you look at a Polk center? I don't know anything about that particular sub, but I would stick with options from established sub companies like HSU, SVS, PSA, or Rhythmik. I believe the subs that Outlaw sells are just repackaged Hsu subs, but I could have that wrong. All of those Internet direct subs will have a quality product.

 

[shadyJ]

If you get the Pioneer floorstanders, get the Pioneer center. Why would you look at a Polk center? I don't know anything about that particular sub, but I would stick with options from established sub companies like HSU, SVS, PSA, or Rhythmik. I believe the subs that Outlaw sells are just repackaged Hsu subs, but I could have that wrong. All of those Internet direct subs will have a quality product.

They are not repackaged Hsu subs, but they are very similar, although not identical, to the Hsu 12" VTFs. Hsu was involved in designing the Outlaw subs.

 

[tmurnin]

Thanks for the clarification.

 

[alumiu90]

I am going to have problems mounting the Andrew Jones rear speakers based on my set up. One speaker will be mounted to a sidewall and the other speaker will be ceiling mounted on a low soffit where we have to be cautious of headroom clearance. If the speaker hung as low as my projector that would be ok as there should be enough head clearance.

Thus can someone recommend some smaller satellite speakers that would go well with the Pioneer Andrew Jones Floor speakers and center channel speaker that I could mount given my restrictions? Or would it be better to go with an in wall / in ceiling speakers?

Someone also mentioned an HSU subwoofer, would a STF-1 be satisfactory to mate with the Andrew Jones Floor speakers and center channel? I have never even heard of HSU.

Thanks

 

[shadyJ]

How big can the dimensions be for the surround speakers? Here is a pair of small speakers that might not sound so bad and ought to fit in your space and might even blend in the decor better.

The STF1 would be good for a small room. Your room is too big for that model though, and certainly too big for the Andrew Jones sub. I think you should aim for the Hsu VTF2 at the least, yeah it is twice as expensive as the STF1, but it will be waaay more satisfying.

 

[alumiu90]

Thinking of something more along the lines of satellites just because my soffit really creates a headroom clearance issue with a speaker mounted to it. Right now the wires were run to the soffit location to balance out the speakers, but I am going to look at it again this weekend to see if I can run another speaker wire to another location that would allow me a better mount. However for now a pair of satellites would be my best option.

 

[afterlife2]

These: Amazon.com : NXG Technology NX-AW4B 4" 75-Watt 2-Way Outdoor Weather Resistant Speakers (pair) - Black : Electronics