All,
I hate to create yet another "Help me find speakers"-thread, but.. well.. I need some opinions. I'm a HT novice but I'm looking to upgrade my HTIB setup to something more updated and better. Some specifics:
It would go into the 15x20 living room of my townhouse. The room is actually the long-leg of an L-shaped living/dining room. The sitting area is at the top of the "L" and the TV at the bottom along the wall shared with the dining room. The long wall (left edge) of the living room is dominated by two sliding glass doors and a fireplace. The short wall (right edge) also has a hallway leading to the rest of the house. It is soon to be hardwood, with area rugs. I mention this for speaker placement and/or audio qualities of the room.
My budget is approximately $2500 and I figured $1000 for a new receiver and $1500 for speakers. For the receiver I was leaning heavily toward a Yamaha RX-V2700. I like the HDMI switching/upconverting, the Network receiver and other features. Plus it seems to have favorable reviews.
Are there any recommended 5.1 or 7.1 speaker systems that match that Yammy for $1500? I was looking at the following:
System #1 ($1739)
Fronts: Axiom M22ti x 2
Center: Axiom VP100
Rear: Axiom QS8 x 2
Sub: Rocket ULW-10
System #2 ($1789)
Fronts: Axiom M22ti x 2
Center: Axiom VP100
Rear: Axiom M2 x 2
Surr: Axiom M2 x 2
Sub: Rocket ULW-10
System #3 ($1666)
Paradigm System Three.1
Fronts: Espirit x 2
Centers CC-170
Surr: ADP-170
Sub: PDR-12
System #4 ($1725)
Energy -- C-500
Fronts: Energy C-500 x 2
Center: Energy C-C100
Rear: Energy C-R100 x 2
Sub: Rocket ULW-10
Obviously I want to go listen to as much as I can before I buy, but I'd like to narrow the list down to 2-3 choices to make it more manageable. Also, being pretty new to selecting separate pieces are the systems above overkill/underkill for that receiver? for the room?
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks