About to pull the trigger on 2.0 system, opinions? Also, speaker placement too close?

[badaboom423]

First time buyer here, so not sure if I'm missing something major, but this is what I'm planning to buy.

Fronts: 2 WaveCrest HVL-1
Receiver: ONKYO TX-NR535

I was thinking of these speakers too, CANTON GLE-426, but I think the WaveCrests are better.
Fronts will be on their sides, only way they would fit on my tv stand. Everything seem ok?

As far as speaker placement, am I sacrificing a lot of quality having them so close together? Don't really have any other option, should I still go ahead and buy?

 

[rojo]

Firstly, thanks for the pic. We would've argued with you about placement for pages without the visual help.

Speaking of placement, fireplaces seem to ruin everything. I have nothing against fireplaces in general and think they're lovely, but it seems like 9 placement difficulty threads out of 10 seem to involve a blasted fireplace. You know, with your TV there, you're never going to have a fire in it. Would you consider moving your TV in front of the fireplace and mounting the WaveCrests on either side with wall mounts for a bit wider separation?

For the receiver, I recommend the Denon AVR-X1000 over the Onkyo. Modern Onkyos are reputed to run hot and have a short life on their HDMI boards.

Should you still go ahead and buy? Well, with the placement you have now, there'll be little advantage of separate bookshelves over a speaker bar (other than the ability to add a grown-up subwoofer). But anything's got to be better than the TV's built-in speakers, right?

 

[badaboom423]

I'm not planning on using the fireplace, but I can't move the tv right now.

Would you suggest one of those speaker bases when the tv stands on top of it, over the 2 front speakers + receiver? I thought the 2 front speakers would have been better, but didn't think speaker placement would have a big impact on sound

 

[rojo]

Let me ask you this. Had you planned on adding an external subwoofer? If not, then the Dayton Audio TV stand might be right up your alley. It would actually be much cheaper than the WaveCrests + an AVR, and it includes a built-in subwoofer (although "sub" might be stretching the truth a bit).

 

[badaboom423]

I'm in a 3rd floor apartment, think a subwoofer would bother downstairs neighbors. While that tv stand looks nice, my wife likes the one we have right now. So I think it's either the receiver and 2 front speakers, or the tv base thing.

 

[rojo]

Not sure what you mean by TV base thing. Can you link or show an example? And given the height of whatever base you have in mind, would that raise the television to an uncomfortable height? Your stand is already pretty tall.

Also, if you're not going to run a subwoofer, you probably ought to look for mains that have a little deeper extension. The ELAC B5 will be comparable to the WaveCrests, but offer extension down to 46Hz; the ELAC B6, down to 44Hz with a little better sensitivity. Full specs.

You don't have to rule out a subwoofer, though. If you get a sensible front-firing sub and add carpet spikes or an Auralex Subdude to de-couple it from the floor, it probably wouldn't bother your downstairs neighbors.

If you can stretch your budget a bit, this Outlaw Audio OSB-1 would probably give you the best sound quality within your placement constraints and without using a subwoofer. Assuming you were budgeting $550 - $600 for AVR + speakers + speaker wire + shipping, the Outlaw wouldn't be too far beyond what you would've paid anyway. It looks identical to this Atlantic Technology soundbar -- so maybe the customer reviews will help. There's also this AH preview, which doesn't really say much.

 

[badaboom423]

I can't link, but something like this was suggested, it's on amazon.
Proficient PAS62015

 

[afterlife2]

First of all give us a budget ($500-900?) we can work with then I can try to recommend something.

 

[badaboom423]

Budget would be like $400, just need 2 front speakers that fit in the 18x7 space, and a receiver. No sub

 

[afterlife2]

I would try Craigslist. Lots of bargains there. Where are you located? I can do a search...

 

[rojo]

I can't link, but something like this was suggested, it's on amazon.
Proficient PAS62015

I dunno man. See, on one hand, when I think of manufacturers of audiophile sound quality, Proficient is not a brand that comes to mind. This Andrew Jones Pioneer butcher block speaker would give me a little more confidence, as I know the designer has a history of squeezing a lot of quality out of a small budget. On the other, it's got some pretty decent specs, and the enclosure size seems plausible for dual 5 1/4" woofers to reach below 40Hz. My worry is that the main woofer + tweeter combo has a slapped together crossover (12dB/octave on the tweeter with the mid running full-range). For the price and your budget, I'd say it's worth an audition, though. It's bound to be better than your TV speakers for certain.

 

[badaboom423]

So you would still prefer a soundbar over the original setup I had (the 2 speakers)?

 

[rojo]

I'm having a hard time figuring out where you'd put bookshelf speakers. Even laid on their sides, they'd still be around 7.5" tall or more, which would cover part of the screen when placed in front of the tv. Also considering that you're avoiding a subwoofer and you're on a shoestring budget, the butcher block speakers seem like they'd be a better fit. You'd probably get a little better stereo separation from a sound bar, plus possibly a center channel; but you'd still miss out not having a subwoofer. A sound bar with uncommonly low extension like the Outlaw / Atlantic Tech might help, but that's nearly double your budget.

Sent from my LG-VS980 using Forum Fiend OSP v1.3.3.

 

[badaboom423]

I'm having a hard time figuring out where you'd put bookshelf speakers. Even laid on their sides, they'd still be around 7.5" tall or more, which would cover part of the screen when placed in front of the tv. Also considering that you're avoiding a subwoofer and you're on a shoestring budget, the butcher block speakers seem like they'd be a better fit. You'd probably get a little better stereo separation from a sound bar, plus possibly a center channel; but you'd still miss out not having a subwoofer. A sound bar with uncommonly low extension like the Outlaw / Atlantic Tech might help, but that's nearly double your budget.

Sent from my LG-VS980 using Forum Fiend OSP v1.3.3.

The speakers are going inside the shelves, if you see the picture, at each side of the ps4 and ps3, where there's a big white book and a bunch of CDs on the other side.

 

[rojo]

Oh. How tall are those cubbies? How wide? How deep? How far away do you sit from the tv?

Sent from my LG-VS980 using Forum Fiend OSP v1.3.3.

 

[badaboom423]

those are 7" tall, 18" wide, 20" deep. That was my main problem, but the speakers I found seem to fit and are ok with being placed horizontally rather than vertical. I sit like 8 feet away

 

[theJman]

The HVL-1 speakers will need to be augmented by a subwoofer because there's only so much a small pair of bookshelf speakers can do. If you opt not to add a sub you may find the sound a bit thin.

 

[badaboom423]

The HVL-1 speakers will need to be augmented by a subwoofer because there's only so much a small pair of bookshelf speakers can do. If you opt not to add a sub you may find the sound a bit thin.

I know, but I don't want to be annoying ot the neighbors. Guess I'll have to live without a sub for now

 

[theJman]

I know, but I don't want to be annoying ot the neighbors. Guess I'll have to live without a sub for now

There are countless apartment/condo dwellers with a subwoofer so I'm not sure you should exclude yourself simply because of that. You are free to do/not do whatever you feel most comfortable with of course, but to be honest it's hard to imagine a small sub would tick anyone off. A few kids running around playing would probably transfer as much noise.

 

[badaboom423]

There are countless apartment/condo dwellers with a subwoofer so I'm not sure you should exclude yourself simply because of that. You are free to do/not do whatever you feel most comfortable with of course, but to be honest it's hard to imagine a small sub would tick anyone off. A few kids running around playing would probably transfer as much noise.

I'll buy after if I feel I need that extra bass. Right now I just wanna know if what I'm buying will be good