Need advice picking 5.1 system with 1500 budget

[shadyJ]

I wouldn't be surprised if some of the low-frequency content in The Pacific could match that of Master and Commander. The Pacific had lots of very deep bass. Supposedly Tom Hanks and Spielberg were producing another HBO WW2 show about the airman and bombing campaigns. I don't know the status of that project, but I would love to see a series on the scale of Band of Brothers or The Pacific about a B17 air crew or something like that.

WW2 is great history, I enjoy learning about it as well, and also WW1.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Yeah shady, I was pleasantly surprised by the sound design in the pacific, and you're probably not far off. It just seemed in my room, that for as deep as the pacific goes, M&C went a touch lower. Just to refresh my curiosity, I'm gonna search. And I totally agree with an air series. That would be great. Especially done by those two.

 

[Audiosaur]

Yeah shady, I was pleasantly surprised by the sound design in the pacific, and you're probably not far off. It just seemed in my room, that for as deep as the pacific goes, M&C went a touch lower. Just to refresh my curiosity, I'm gonna search. And I totally agree with an air series. That would be great. Especially done by those two.

Tom Hanks couldn't star, though. Just a touch too old to pass as a 22yr old flying fortress pilot.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Tom Hanks couldn't star, though. Just a touch too old to pass as a 22yr old flying fortress pilot.

True. Might do well as an officer?

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

I wouldn't be surprised if some of the low-frequency content in The Pacific could match that of Master and Commander. The Pacific had lots of very deep bass. Supposedly Tom Hanks and Spielberg were producing another HBO WW2 show about the airman and bombing campaigns. I don't know the status of that project, but I would love to see a series on the scale of Band of Brothers or The Pacific about a B17 air crew or something like that.

WW2 is great history, I enjoy learning about it as well, and also WW1.

Here's a graph Bosso did awhile back. Some good stuff. Solid from 10 on up, and even below in spots. Not be all end all but damn good.
Sorry OP, just trying to inspire!!!
Lol, just clicked on Windtalkers on directv. Good story. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0245562/

forgot...

 

[Audiosaur]

True. Might do well as an officer?

Maybe Curtis LeMay.

 

[shadyJ]

Tom Hanks couldn't star, though. Just a touch too old to pass as a 22yr old flying fortress pilot.

He has been producing these series, not starring in them. But hey, with the wizardry of modern CGI, maybe he could pull off a 22 yr old pilot.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

He has been producing these series, not starring in them. But hey, with the wizardry of modern CGI, maybe he could pull off a 22 yr old pilot.

Huh, look at Jeff bridges in tron. Could happen!

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Maybe Curtis LeMay.

He reminds me of John Goodman lol.

 

[bikdav]

I have a fairly large living room roughly 18' x 18' with cathedral ceilings and is open to the kitchen and living room. I've attached some pics of how I intend to place the speakers. House should be finished being built in 8 weeks so I'm trying to decide on the right system. I'm trying to keep the surrounds on the smaller size as to not be an eyesore and to keep the wife happy, but at the same time I have a lot of room to fill with sound, so that is the dilemma. My plan right now is:

Onkyo TX-NR656 (room to grow)
(1) def. tech PC2000
(4) def. tech PM1000
and a sub. maybe svs sb12

I may end up having to just live with the def.tech sub for a while to get a better package deal on the center and monitors to stay in budget.

I was also considering the ELAC debut 5.1, for similar money, since the reviews are great, but this set-up is no where near as good looking or desecrate. Seems this set-up would have a lot more sound (assumption do to larger speakers) but I have no experience with either this or the def.tech.

Side question, dolby atmos, is it worth setting up the receiver for atmos if you don't intend to ever install overhead speakers? I'm not sure I'm really sold on this technology over a decent 5.1 set-up but I'm curious.

I'd love some feed back on my selection and other options. I've been out of the audio scene for over 15 years so I have a lot of catching up to do.

It sounds like you are on a good roll as is. The Onkyo TX-NR656 is quite a receiver [I own one]. As for the Atmos issue, I put a set of compact speakers on top my large front speakers and aimed the compacts upward toward the ceiling. It is not like having actual ceiling mounted speakers, but it does work. Dolby shows that option on their website.

 

[TD4W]

Resurrecting my old thread. I noticed today that NHT has some solid pricing on B-stock items. I'm specifically looking at the superzero 2.1's. Does anyone have any experience with B stock goods? I think I'm going to pull the trigger on 3 of these tonight for my LCR but was hoping for some feedback first.

Also, Is the NHT SS-10 sub pretty solid or should I spring for something better? Amazon has a great price at 279 so I was considering 2 of these instead of 1 better unit, like HSU VTF-.. @ 4-5 hundo +..

 

[Pogre]

I think most of my stuff is B stock. So far, so good. I'm happy with everything.

*I've never listened to NHT speakers but have read a lot of good stuff about them.

 

[TD4W]

Yeah, thanks for the input. I assumed the B stock stuff was fine.

I'm just torn on the sub. Everyone seems to love these HSU VTF.. models. they seem flexible during set-up as well.

 

[zieglj01]

Yeah, thanks for the input. I assumed the B stock stuff was fine.

I'm just torn on the sub. Everyone seems to love these HSU VTF.. models. they seem flexible during set-up as well.

HSU is good and a good choice

However, if I were to go with a 10 inch budget-friendly sub it would be the Emotiva BasX S10 sub. The word has really been nice/good on them so far
https://emotiva.com/products/subwoofers/basx-s10

 

[TD4W]

Order is placed for the LCR. Excited to check out these superones. I didn't want to miss the deal so I pulled the trigger.
I have some more time to figure out the sub, any and all suggestions are welcome.
I'll do some reading on your suggestion. Emotiva BasX S10
I have a lot of house volume to fill and had planned to just run 1 HSU, but I was considering the idea of (2) cheaper subs right off the bat. If HSU ever went on sale I'd just run 2 of those, but I never see a deal.

 

[TD4W]

Receiver help needed.
I've pretty much narrowed down to the Denon AVR X1300, 2300, or 3300 from all the reviews I've read and recent pricing it seems like any of the 3 would be a solid choice for the system I'm putting together.
System - 3 NHT Superones , 2 Super Zeros, and probably an HSU sub and Ill be upgrading to an OLED in the fall.
The question is with regard to the 3300, which is my front runner at the moment, I'm sure the audio quality is best with this model, but I'm not really sure the other features are really going to come into play, but if I ever want a 2nd Zone or expandability it seems like a no brainer. I'm just not sure either of these things are in my future. Is the audio quality improvement on its own worth the extra 1-2 hundo?
I have plenty of things to spend money on with a new house and all so I'm just trying to not overbuy.
Thanks for any help!

 

[Pogre]

The 3300 is a great receiver. As far as sound quality, there won't be a difference between the 3. However, MultEQ XT32 is what makes it worth the extra $ to me. XT32 did a really good job in my room. Especially with bass.

 

[TD4W]

Any good recommendations for wall mount speaker stands for back surrounds? I'm considering:
https://www.amazon.com/VideoSecu-Clamping-Bookshelf-Surrounding-MS56B/dp/B000X9O8SI/ref=zg_bs_297859_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=7F7ZSK97K9V5WZHT7ZRR

My only concern is that there won't be quite enough tilt for the back surrounds in my set-up. Set post #1 for layout.
Any other suggestions are welcome.

Thanks again for all the help thus far. The experience and knowledge here is awesome.

Also do people like wall plates? They seem a little to visible for my likening so I may just use a coax grommet for fronts (speakers mounted on shelves. for the backs on the mounts I think drilling through the back plate of the mount and pulling wire through will be the cleanest. Open to suggestions.

 

[NINaudio]

I used omni-mount 10's to mount my super zero surrounds. Still working great!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0015YU0FA/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[TD4W]

Resurrecting the old thread again. Need some help. Home stretch, almost there...

Good News - I've finally moved into the new place, and on day 2 (priorities, I definetly caught some crap for this) I set up the HT. (3) NHT Super one 2.1 for LCR, (2) NHT Super zero 2.1 for surrounds. powered with a Denon X3300. I performed some initial calibrations and over all everything is sounding very nice so far. Speakers are configured like pics in post #1, except on nice floating shelves and not so close to the corners.
The BAD - I have no sub yet! , I know tragedy. So, I've been sold on going with an HSU VTF-2 MK5 (12") or a HSU VTF-3 MK5 HP (15") but man is it hard to get a deal on one. I'm sure they are worth every penny of the going rate $539 and $799 respectively but the WAF might not be there.
I did find a HSU VTF-3 MK5 HP (15") B stock item for $697 I'm considering but it's still a lot.

Alternative is an emotive BasX S12 for $399

Lastly is the JBL 550P that was mentioned in the deals section. Looks like a killer deal! But I'm sure I'm giving up a bunch in comparison to the other options.. but maybe not so much in my crazy big room?.. I don't know?
https://www.amazon.com/JBL-Studio-550P-10-Inch-Subwoofer/dp/B0071UQ8FS

I'm simply looking for any suggestions at this point. Are there deals expected to come up this fall on HSU or SVS? I'm becoming really impatient, but I can hold out till fall if it's the right thing to do.

Right now I'm thinking of picking up the JBL 550P, if anything as a place holder till I can upgrade.
So, with that in mind, once I do pull the trigger on an HSU or equivalent could I run the JBL with the HSU?, or is this going to cause some issues, since they are quite different?

Goals-I'm just looking for some decent sound quality with some depth at low frequency. I understand that it is not feasible to fill my 8500 Sq. ft. open concept space with super impactful base.. and to be honest the WAF would never go for it anyway. Future basement HT is when I will takes things up a notch.

This forum has been very helpful in my endeavor to put something decent together over the past few months. Thanks everyone!

P.S. the above mentioned Omni mounts worked pretty awesome.