Newbie Odyssey Part 2 (Speakers)

[Krio]

A Big Thanks to 'tyhjaarpa & Lovinthehd' for guiding me trough the AV purchase ... Now i own a Marantz SR7010 (1250 USD shipping included -brand new) ... Some how Germany have very low prices for Av receiver 6 days should be in my mom's house in Italy... i Never had a home theater so i don' t have any brand preference nor knowledge , a mid entry receiver can be a good start ... that s why your inputs are vital for me ...

Speakers

this might be more complicated than the AV ... simply because ' Peng' replied something about 4 ohms, and suddenly i recalled that something happened in the far 1999 .. I had this idea to build my Hi-FI system, i started to purchase the parts ... Then i left Italy for work and basically i never finished it... I bought a pair of speakers that for the last 17 years they been living in the closet (mom isn't that happy about that)... The brand is Dynaudio and model is Audience 42 .(4 Ohms as i recalled well). they look perfect (as you can see from the pics) and been tested just yesterday to confirm they work properly.

Can those speakers be used as front or rear speakers? i can save 800$ of my budget ... but i dont want loose quality using old speakers designed for something else ...
Does the Marantz Sr7010 wont have any problem in long run? 4 Ohms seems problematic for amplifiers..
If i choose to use those speakers do i need to buy Dynaudio even for the rest of the speakers? or it's better to use a mix of different brands ?

lots of questions, i know but i have no idea of what to do ...

 

[PENG]

You wouldn't expect those little speakers to play loud anyway so using them as rear speakers should be fine. The SR7010 should not no trouble driving them in the rear especially if you set the crossover to 80 Hz or higher as you should. You can use them for the front left and right too but then you are going to have trouble finding a center speaker to match them and again they won't play very loud, though in a small room that may not be an issue.

 

[Krio]

Ok that make sense .... what about the rest of the speakers? any suggested brand? clearly my budget is 800 USD for the front speakers, the usual 200 for the center and sub might be higher because seems to be one important piece of the puzzle 800$ .... But if there are sets i can buy which are all the same brand which deliver a good sound with a reasonable price i ll consider it too ...

 

[lovinthehd]

I'm confused about your speaker budget. 3.1 for $1000 with $800 for L/R makes no sense to me....let alone "usual" of 200 for center/sub? Really have only a faint idea what's available in Europe in any case for either speakers or subs.

 

[Krio]

sorry for the confusion... i mean the front speaker alone 800 budget .. then central 250 to 300 $ and sub around 800 so about 2k USD for the 4 speakers ... clearly if i can spend less i go for it ... then i patch my 2 dynaudio as rear speakers ... should be 5.1 or so ...

 

[lovinthehd]

sorry for the confusion... i mean the front speaker alone 800 budget .. then central 250 to 300 $ and sub around 800 so about 2k USD for the 4 speakers ... clearly if i can spend less i go for it ... then i patch my 2 dynaudio as rear speakers ... should be 5.1 or so ...

Well ideally you want at least the same speaker across the front, and possibly an even more potent speaker in the center (as dialogue is focused there) so the budget looks odd in that respect....

 

[Krio]

Ok so maybe is best to buy all speakers from one brand and a particular series like ( B&W or pioneer )so the balance of the power should be ok ... and the budget will come at package ... example i set in my mind to spend 3k in total and i will look for one brand which can sell all the speakers for that amount, that would make more sense?

 

[lovinthehd]

Yes, usually within a given brand there's a particular line of matched or similarly "voiced" speakers you can choose L/R/C from (and then again you may not notice a subtle difference among speakers across the front). Not sure what you mean by the balance of power, though....

 

[Krio]

@lovinthehd sorry for the late reply, my message wasn't posted somehowi noticed only today ... ' ' ' balance of power ' i mean if i buy speakers from 3 different brands with 3 different wattage then i might experience and imbalance on the power or the sound ...

Moving to the brand i found a local distributor of Monitor Audio, seems the Bronze package (bronze 6 front -Bronze center -bronze FX -Bronze w10) is a good package ... well balanced and cost me around 1900 USD ...

Does anyone have any hearing experience with those speakers or some info about the manufacturer?

 

[lovinthehd]

@lovinthehd sorry for the late reply, my message wasn't posted somehowi noticed only today ... ' ' ' balance of power ' i mean if i buy speakers from 3 different brands with 3 different wattage then i might experience and imbalance on the power or the sound ...

Moving to the brand i found a local distributor of Monitor Audio, seems the Bronze package (bronze 6 front -Bronze center -bronze FX -Bronze w10) is a good package ... well balanced and cost me around 1900 USD ...

Does anyone have any hearing experience with those speakers or some info about the manufacturer?

Speakers don't work quite that way. A maximum wattage rating tells you little except the point at which the manufacturer thinks damage will occur. Won't even sound good with even half the max power in many cases. To determine how balanced one speaker is vs another use the sensitivity rating. Even then its not that important as your avr has adjustments for individual speaker levels to account for differences in sensitivity (and distance to an extent, differently than the "distance" setting, which is actually a delay setting). You probably wouldn't want to mix speakers of drastically different sensitivities, though.

According to the MA website, the Bronze 6 says 90dB sensitivity, Bronze FX 87 dB, none shown for the center, the sub has its own amp. Shouldn't be a problem.

Monitor Audio is a well respected speaker company. I've never heard them personally but I'd like to. Don't know about their subs, how much do they want for the sub?

 

[Krio]

Ok something new to learn about the sensitivity ...

I attached the listing price for the Monitor Audio (there are data on the sensitivity) , it is in Philippine pesos so you have to divide per 47 and remove the 15% as discount , about 607 USD the sub only ... pricey mmmm

 

[lovinthehd]

Ok something new to learn about the sensitivity ...

I attached the listing price for the Monitor Audio (there are data on the sensitivity) , it is in Philippine pesos so you have to divide per 47 and remove the 15% as discount , about 607 USD the sub only ... pricey mmmm

I saw a price in the US of 700 so that's not bad in comparison. It's a 10" driver (with a 10" passive radiator) sub with a modest amp, doesn't dig particularly deep for movies. Don't know what else you have in the way of choices, though I'd look around unless the aesthetics matching is important to you (the sub doesn't need to match brand otherwise).

They don't have a spec for sensitivity for the center either....interesting. Probably in the neighborhood of the others, though.

 

[Krio]

Wow... That s awesome ... I think i can find most of the brands here ... yes i wish to have a sub which kick pretty much - i can find KEF , B&W , JBL, klipsh, definitive technology, and many others ... if i want stay in Monitor Audio then there is the Silver W12 which is 12'' sub
(http://www.monitoraudio.co.uk/products/silver/silver-w12) but i am afraid is around 1600 USD ... i would prefer stay within 800 USD range for a sub ... note that the room is about 30/35 SQM - if you have any suggested brand i will look around ...

 

[lovinthehd]

We have internet direct sub specialists like Rythmik, Power Sound Audio, Reaction Audio, Seaton, JTR, Deep Sea Sound, Funk Audio, etc....the big speaker company offerings usually don't compare for performance or value. Somewhat depends on your spl and extension goals, too.

 

[Krio]

Ok i never heard of any of those brands but let me see what i can find around .... then i ll post what and how much ...

 

[lovinthehd]

Ok i never heard of any of those brands but let me see what i can find around .... then i ll post what and how much ...

SVS too, that may be the easiest to find among that group, too.

 

[Krio]

You are correct i found only SVS in Philippines ... now what model??

 

[lovinthehd]

Have you looked at SVS' US website? What is the total volume of the room the system will be in? Is that room a sealed room (can it be closed off?)? The sub sees the whole space it is in whereas you can more define the listening area for other speakers by placement around your listening position.

 

[Krio]

I am looking at this site (http://www.mkcinternational.com/subwoofers/) svs philippines ... unfortunately on this house i have a ' L' shape room at the very end the kitchen then the dining room and the living room ... where the tv is placed at the corner facing one side of the ''L' . lets imagine that all over is 60 SQM but ll point the speakers in 30 sqm ... the PB 2000 could fit my budget ..

 

[lovinthehd]

I am looking at this site (http://www.mkcinternational.com/subwoofers/) svs philippines ... unfortunately on this house i have a ' L' shape room at the very end the kitchen then the dining room and the living room ... where the tv is placed at the corner facing one side of the ''L' . lets imagine that all over is 60 SQM but ll point the speakers in 30 sqm ... the PB 2000 could fit my budget ..

So a fairly large open room? Ceiling height is?