Home Theater Recommendation

[djmurray324]

Hi - I am new here and thank you in advance for your help. I have been spinning my wheels and really can't make a decision. Too much info is clouding my head. I really have no clue on this stuff .

Looking to build a home theater system. I have a room that is 24 x 20 and 9 feet tall. I just purchased an onkyo 515 receiver, got a pretty good deal on amazon $299. Prefer not to return it unless I made a complete mistake. We will mostly use it for tv/movies, but also some music.

I am now looking for a 5.1 set up that will work in my size room. I can only spend about $1,200 or less on the speakers. I had a $1,500 budget and already spent $300 on the receiver.

I prefer either bookshelfs or satellites for the front speakers. We have small children and I'll have to compromise on floor standing fronts.

I was working with crutch field and they recommended the following set up.
Polk TSI 100 for the fronts
Polk cs20 for the center
Polk tl2 for the rears
Polk 550wi sub

The other options they gave me was the definitive technology procinema 800 and the Polk tl350.

Are any of these a good setup for my situation and price range? Is there a better set up?

Thanks for the help!

 

[slipperybidness]

I'm sure you can do better with that budget. I'll leave it to others on the 5.1 recs though

 

[afterlife2]

Hi and Welcome!
Forget about the Polks.
Here is a review of the new Pioneer 5.1.
Pioneer SP-PK52FS Review - Watch CNET's Video Review
You can get them at tigerdirect.com separately without sub:
Search Results for Pioneer Andrew Jones at TigerDirect.com
or
Jamo 5.0:
Amazon.com: Jamo S426HCS3 5pcs Home Theater Speaker System: Electronics

Review: Jamo S426 HCS 3 & SUB 260 review - Surround Sound System - Trusted Reviews

Someone will chime in with a subwoofer for you.

 

[sholling]

My advice is to start with a good 3.1 system and add the rest later rather than compromise on quality. The reality is that with at least 5000 cubic feet you're looking at spending half your remaining budget on the subwoofer. About the bare minimum subwoofer for a room that size - assuming that it isn't open to a larger space(s) is a Hsu Research VTF-2 but there are others in that class including some by Outlaw Audio and Rythmik. I would send each of them a drawing with room measurements to each and get them to size a sub for you. Anyway that's a bit over 1/2 of your $1200. You also have borderline too much room to go with small bookshelves up front.

So options, if you have a Fry's near you you could wait for their next sale on Infinity P363 towers. They've had them on sale (reg $300ea) for $200-300/pr a few times in the last few months. Add a PC351 center and you're in budget. Of course there is no guaranty that they'll have them on sale again and if you don't have a Fry's near you or you can't wait in hopes for a sale Amazon has the P363 towers for $200ea and they have the matching center for $180. With a good sub that's a very capable 3.1 system. Later when you have more money you can add the P163 which are on sale for $85ea.

You could also go with a Hsu Hybrid-2 or Hybrid-3 system for about the same price with shipping. I'm just not sure how well the Hsu bookshelves will fill a room that size.

FWIW if you can swing it last year's TX-NR709 is a far more capable receiver and you can find a factory refurb for $450. If that's too much they have a factory refurbished Denon AVR-2112 for $369 which is also a far more capable receiver but not in the 709's league. Both come with 1 year factory warranties.

I hope that helps.

 

[djmurray324]

Thanks

Thank you both for the quick reply's. I just measured my room, a bit different than what i thought. It is 23x20 with 8 ft ceilings. I know this is close but thought I'd mention it.

 

[ImcLoud]

Get a good sub for that room, HSU vtf2... I believe it is $600 shipped...

that is going to eat up 1/2 your budget, but I wouldnt settle for less...

Are you mounting your speakers on the walls? Since you dont want from towers? Or are they going on a tv stand? If on the wall you dont want rear ports...

Now for 5 book shelfs $600 is not much....

Ascend acoustics- 5- 200se's This is what I would do, I love this speaker, 10lbs of amazing sound shipped these 5 will cost you around $710 {these have no porting so you can hang them on the wall}


HSU- 5.0 system is on special for $859 shipped {I like the Ascends better} Rear porting on these...

SVS- has clearence SBS02's for 150 pair and center for $99 so $400+ship for all 5, I have heard the bookshelfs but never the center, they sounded good, but not great.... No rear porting...

If you go with the 200se's you wont be disappointed they sound amazing, I ran mine off my 5x2 amp for a week while getting everything ready, and they just wow you every time, they make the sound of a much larger speaker...

 

[ahblaza]

How about three (LCR) Ascend Acoustics CMT 340SE's for $600 + shipping.
In the Classifieds Ascend Acoustics CBM 170SE's and more, the 170's are sold.
Thanks

 

[ImcLoud]

How about three (LCR) Ascend Acoustics CMT 340SE's for $600 + shipping.
In the Classifieds Ascend Acoustics CBM 170SE's and more, the 170's are sold.
Thanks

This would be a nice setup too... I have this for my front 3 with a set of 200se's in the rear...
You could buy his front 3 and the vtf2 then when you save up another $300 buy a set of 200se's for the rear...

 

[djmurray324]

We are having a built in media center with but in cabinets next to it put in the wall our tv will be. I planned on customizing a shelf on the cabinets to fit the fronts and center. This installation will take up most of that wall and really leave no room for floor standing speakers.

I could also hang the speakers on the wall. Whatever is more appropriate.

 

[djmurray324]

One other item. I have an old Cambridge soundworks bass cube 10. Is this something I can use in this room? My preference was to buy a new sub but can use this and spend more on the other speakers if it's a better bet. My gut tells me that that sub isn't high quality.

 

[sholling]

How about three (LCR) Ascend Acoustics CMT 340SE's for $600 + shipping.
In the Classifieds Ascend Acoustics CBM 170SE's and more, the 170's are sold.
Thanks

That would be even better than the Infinities.

 

[ahblaza]

We are having a built in media center with but in cabinets next to it put in the wall our tv will be. I planned on customizing a shelf on the cabinets to fit the fronts and center. This installation will take up most of that wall and really leave no room for floor standing speakers.

I could also hang the speakers on the wall. Whatever is more appropriate.

The 340SE's are not Floor Standing speakers.

 

[sholling]

We are having a built in media center with but in cabinets next to it put in the wall our tv will be. I planned on customizing a shelf on the cabinets to fit the fronts and center. This installation will take up most of that wall and really leave no room for floor standing speakers.

You're making problems for yourself putting speakers in nooks. Most bookshelves are rear ported and having rear ported speakers in a cubby holes will either muddy the bass (unplugged ports) coming from them or reduce their bass extension (plugged bass ports). It can be done but another option might be to build speakers into the cabinet. I'm not a speaker builder but hopefully someone here can help you with analyzing that possibility.

 

[ImcLoud]

The 340's have rear ports, but I have my center hanging on the wall, and plugged the port, but the I spoke to the owner and he said the center can be plugged, but if you are using them for music they are better not plugged and the 170's are not to be plugged at all...

It seems like you want a small bookshelf with no rear porting, the 200se's are calling you check them out. The svs clearance speakers are not rear ported but they also are not half the speakers the 200's are..

 

[afterlife2]

If you can go listen to the Pioneers at Best Buy or The Infinities at fry's and see which one you like better. I bought the Infinities and didn't like them and sold them. Some board members here like them. I just thought something was missing for me. If I were in the market I'd get those new Pioneers. I'm sure the prices are gonna go up higher + you'll have enough to get good sub. Make sure you take a couple of CD's with you when you go listen.
SVS make some good subs as well here is a good one:
PB12-NSD - SVS

 

[zieglj01]

We are having a built in media center with but in cabinets next to it put in the wall our tv will be. I planned on customizing a shelf on the cabinets to fit the fronts and center. This installation will take up most of that wall and really leave no room for floor standing speakers.

I could also hang the speakers on the wall. Whatever is more appropriate.

The Focal 705V is front ported and is $100 off >> buy 2 pair
and use one speaker as a center - cheaper than the regular
center channel.
Dedicated Audio - Focal Chorus 705V Loudspeaker -- WENGE

For a tight budget, front ported and still good sound >
HTD Level Two speakers - also come in cherry
http://www.htd.com/Products/level-two-speakers

 

[djmurray324]

Wow thank you all. So i wasn't aware of the porting issues. I can really design the media center and cabinets however I want. That being said should i go 340's over the 200's? If so how much room around them is ideal?

The Ascend site notes that the 200's are for very small rooms. Would they work for me?

 

[ahblaza]

Wow thank you all. So i wasn't aware of the porting issues. I can really design the media center and cabinets however I want. That being said should i go 340's over the 200's? If so how much room around them is ideal?

The Ascend site notes that the 200's are for very small rooms. Would they work for me?

My 340's are for large rooms and have 50 months of transferrable factory warranty left.

 

[ImcLoud]

Wow thank you all. So i wasn't aware of the porting issues. I can really design the media center and cabinets however I want. That being said should i go 340's over the 200's? If so how much room around them is ideal?

The Ascend site notes that the 200's are for very small rooms. Would they work for me?

The 200's will do fine in a larger room, BUT, the 340's will do sooo much better, I have 3-340's for my front stage, and they are amazing, I listened to all of them Klipsch, energy, pioneer, HSU, Polk, infinity, ect.. The 3-340's are amazing and cheaper than all but the pioneers...
If you can afford the 340s go for it, the porting shouldnt be a huge issue, I was told by the owner of the co. he plugs his center... So I plugged mine, now as far as the 2 fronts, its up to you, I owuld plug them vs letting them fire into a cabinet...
Keep in mind they are large speakers, and like to be angled towards the listener... Mine sound best angled towards each other, I tried them straight out and didnt like the results..

You wouldn't be disappointed with either setup, the 340's for $600 is a good deal they would cost over $900 shipped new... Thats what I paid.. and Im happy with them... If you were closer you could come over for a listen, you would be writing this guy a check for $600, I wish he was selling them when I bought mine..

 

[djmurray324]

Great, where do I find the classifieds? I am new here, sorry if that's a dumb question.