Newbie Here. Need help Choosing Speakers for 5.1.2 setup

[Dre180]

Hi All,

As mentioned, I am new to the home theater game (audio in particular). I have been doing a lot of research on receivers, speakers etc. I have settled on the Marantz 7012 for my receiver which i was able to snag a great deal on (new). My question pertains to which speakers I am going to pair with it. Just to let you know my situation. I will be buying a home soon. So I have no idea what dimensions my prospective HT room will be. I plan to build out this system in phases. Reasons are the aforementioned and $$.

I am currently in an apartment and don't want to piss off my neighbors too badly First will be bookshelves with a sub. Later i will add towers and a center channel, likely after i move. I have went ahead and ordered the Revel M16's. I am looking to pair with F36's and their center channel along with a rhythmik sub (or another sub suggestion). I took a chance as I have read good things and am unable to hear the speakers in person, so it's hard to say that was the right decision. They can be returned no problem if needed. I know it's only Revels entry level line so i'm open to other suggestions as well. I do not want to spend crazy money, but will spend enough to ensure i'm content with the speakers (around 5k for full set). I want to get the most out of my budget. Are their any other recommendations you guys can make for me or something else i should be looking at?

Intended use will be for about 60% movies/TV 40% music.maybe 70/30...Music wise, I listen to everything from hard rock (Metallica, AC/DC, Alice in chains to 80's music, 90's hip hop and more. a pretty broad scope of stuff.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

[snakeeyes]

What kind of discounts have you seen on the Revel Concerta2 series?

 

[Dre180]

What kind of discounts have you seen on the Revel Concerta2 series?

Actually- none at all. The m16’s are $900 a pair. The 36’s I believe are approx $2,000. That’s why I’m also open to other suggestions as well...

 

[lovinthehd]

Personally I wouldn't waste money and/or effort with the bookshelf thing as an intermediate thing due neighbors, that's simply your control of the volume knob that will piss them off whatever speaker setup you have. If you want towers, get them now rather than waste time/value with the interim "solution". Somewhat a matter of particular room/setup but bookshelves and multiple subs can do quite well vs towers/multiple subs.

 

[snakeeyes]

Actually- none at all. The m16’s are $900 a pair. The 36’s I believe are approx $2,000. That’s why I’m also open to other suggestions as well...

Oh ya at $900/pr for M16 or $2,000/pr for F36 plus sometimes tax and or shipping, there are other options to consider.

 

[Russdawg1]

Actually- none at all. The m16’s are $900 a pair. The 36’s I believe are approx $2,000. That’s why I’m also open to other suggestions as well...

I’d like to get a pair of these one days. They are nice. Good performers for the price and I come from an ID company, Ascend. Love them, but Revel does a real nice job with their speakers. They know their science.

 

[ryanosaur]

The Marantz is a good AVR... I have the 6012.
Revel concerta 2 came strongly recommended to me, but I couldn't find them to listen... But in that price range, you should check out Martin Logan Motion 60XT and 40... Monitor Audio Silver 500 and 300 (my favorites from those auditions) and a lot of people have been talking up the Aperion Audio Verus iii. Just as examples.
Philharmonic BMRs and Ascend Acoustics are good places to look.
And definitely look for getting your front 3 together and matched!... even if that means holding off on a sub. I love my subs, but if you're worried about your neighbors, well that's the fastet way p!ss them off!

 

[KickinSS]

Hi All,

As mentioned, I am new to the home theater game (audio in particular). I have been doing a lot of research on receivers, speakers etc. I have settled on the Marantz 7012 for my receiver which i was able to snag a great deal on (new). My question pertains to which speakers I am going to pair with it. Just to let you know my situation. I will be buying a home soon. So I have no idea what dimensions my prospective HT room will be. I plan to build out this system in phases. Reasons are the aforementioned and $$.

I am currently in an apartment and don't want to piss off my neighbors too badly First will be bookshelves with a sub. Later i will add towers and a center channel, likely after i move. I have went ahead and ordered the Revel M16's. I am looking to pair with F36's and their center channel along with a rhythmik sub (or another sub suggestion). I took a chance as I have read good things and am unable to hear the speakers in person, so it's hard to say that was the right decision. They can be returned no problem if needed. I know it's only Revels entry level line so i'm open to other suggestions as well. I do not want to spend crazy money, but will spend enough to ensure i'm content with the speakers (around 5k for full set). I want to get the most out of my budget. Are their any other recommendations you guys can make for me or something else i should be looking at?

Intended use will be for about 60% movies/TV 40% music.maybe 70/30...Music wise, I listen to everything from hard rock (Metallica, AC/DC, Alice in chains to 80's music, 90's hip hop and more. a pretty broad scope of stuff.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Hi. I just registered here so I could give you some feedback on your choice of Revel speakers. I have the F36s and M16s along with the matching center channel set up in one room in our home. This is not our main listening area/room but it is a room that my wife is in quite a bit. I was looking for a setup for my wife's "woman cave" and had taken her to some places in San Francisco to audition speakers. She heard some KEFs from the R series, I believe, that she really liked. Well I found a dealer locally that sold KEFs and wanted her to give them another audition before pulling the trigger on a purchase and it had been some time since she had heard them since we auditiones several others in that price range. Turns out that this dealer had some beautiful gloss white Revels out on the floor, the F36s. The dealer recommended that we audition these since we (my wife) said she really liked the KEFs. He said if you like those, you'll really like these. Well, I brought along a USB stick with about 200 gigabytes of uncompressed music. He got my wife set up and she listened to various types of music: Young the Giant, Alan Jackson, Michael Jackson, IRIS, Prince and many others. She loved them. I did too. They are a great value. Crisp highs, very clean midrange and good bass. I ended buying basically the whole Concerta2 line, minus the sub, because we liked them so much. My wife was fine with the bass but I added a sub to her system later. These can get loud without sounding strained. I would say that their treble is very clear and not laid back. Compared to my old Monitor Audio RX2s, they are probably not as bright as those were. Just going off of memory as I sold those awhile back. I enjoy speakers that have what some call revealing treble but then again, I'm 53 and my sensitivity to highs may not be same as a set of younger ears. I know I'm going on and on but just wanted to put in my two cents on your choice. I hadn't heard any Revels until that audition and came away impressed. I've owned a few speakers such as Vandersteen 2CEs (first high end speakers), Dynaudio Excite X12s, Paradigm S2s, B&W 805Ds, Vienna Acoustics Mozart Grand SEs and Joseph Audio Prisms. Oh and the Monitor Audio RX2s. I think that you'll be happy with your purchase. Happy listening!

 

[Dre180]

Personally I wouldn't waste money and/or effort with the bookshelf thing as an intermediate thing due neighbors, that's simply your control of the volume knob that will piss them off whatever speaker setup you have. If you want towers, get them now rather than waste time/value with the interim "solution". Somewhat a matter of particular room/setup but bookshelves and multiple subs can do quite well vs towers/multiple subs.

Oh I wasn’t getting the book shelfs because of my neighbors or as an interim solution. It was more a cost thing at the moment. The plan was to use them as rear speakers once I got the towers.

The Marantz is a good AVR... I have the 6012.
Revel concerta 2 came strongly recommended to me, but I couldn't find them to listen... But in that price range, you should check out Martin Logan Motion 60XT and 40... Monitor Audio Silver 500 and 300 (my favorites from those auditions) and a lot of people have been talking up the Aperion Audio Verus iii. Just as examples.
Philharmonic BMRs and Ascend Acoustics are good places to look.
And definitely look for getting your front 3 together and matched!... even if that means holding off on a sub. I love my subs, but if you're worried about your neighbors, well that's the fastet way p!ss them off!

Lol. Understood. I just wanted the sub to compensate for the lack of low end from the book shelf’s. Wasn’t necessarily going to crank my speakers. At least not yet

As far as the speakers are concerned I took a good look at the ML motion 40’s and 60’s, however I just felt the clarity was lacking - for my taste. Even compared to a B&W 704 I thought that speaker sounded better. I know many in the community don’t love bowers, but I did think they sounded good.

Again I’m a complete newbie, so I’ve been doing a ton of reading. I have also looked into the others you mentioned and have heard good things about all of them. The problem is I have no way of listening to any of them prior which makes my buying decision really tough. I’m essentially taking a shot in the dark with any of these. Do you think those mentioned are better than the revels in this price range? I could step up also to the M106 and F206 with Revel. Apologize for being all over the place, as again this is all new to me. But I have to start somewhere I suppose.

 

[Dre180]

Hi. I just registered here so I could give you some feedback on your choice of Revel speakers. I have the F36s and M16s along with the matching center channel set up in one room in our home. This is not our main listening area/room but it is a room that my wife is in quite a bit. I was looking for a setup for my wife's "woman cave" and had taken her to some places in San Francisco to audition speakers. She heard some KEFs from the R series, I believe, that she really liked. Well I found a dealer locally that sold KEFs and wanted her to give them another audition before pulling the trigger on a purchase and it had been some time since she had heard them since we auditiones several others in that price range. Turns out that this dealer had some beautiful gloss white Revels out on the floor, the F36s. The dealer recommended that we audition these since we (my wife) said she really liked the KEFs. He said if you like those, you'll really like these. Well, I brought along a USB stick with about 200 gigabytes of uncompressed music. He got my wife set up and she listened to various types of music: Young the Giant, Alan Jackson, Michael Jackson, IRIS, Prince and many others. She loved them. I did too. They are a great value. Crisp highs, very clean midrange and good bass. I ended buying basically the whole Concerta2 line, minus the sub, because we liked them so much. My wife was fine with the bass but I added a sub to her system later. These can get loud without sounding strained. I would say that their treble is very clear and not laid back. Compared to my old Monitor Audio RX2s, they are probably not as bright as those were. Just going off of memory as I sold those awhile back. I enjoy speakers that have what some call revealing treble but then again, I'm 53 and my sensitivity to highs may not be same as a set of younger ears. I know I'm going on and on but just wanted to put in my two cents on your choice. I hadn't heard any Revels until that audition and came away impressed. I've owned a few speakers such as Vandersteen 2CEs (first high end speakers), Dynaudio Excite X12s, Paradigm S2s, B&W 805Ds, Vienna Acoustics Mozart Grand SEs and Joseph Audio Prisms. Oh and the Monitor Audio RX2s. I think that you'll be happy with your purchase. Happy listening!

Thanks so much for not only registering but for the detailed description! I truly appreciate it. I really want the white ones. But crutchfield doesn’t have the towers in white and I’m unsure if they are restocking them. Being i bought the book shelf first, I wanted to make sure I can match them. Maybe I will swap them for the whites if They do restock the towers. I’m glad to hear you hold them in high regard. I know they are not the end all be all of speakers, but from everything I read - every review said they outperform their price and stack up against anything in that price range. So that definitely has me intrigued. I’m just curious. What sub did you wind up pairing with them?

 

[KickinSS]

Thanks so much for not only registering but for the detailed description! I truly appreciate it. I really want the white ones. But crutchfield doesn’t have the towers in white and I’m unsure if they are restocking them. Being i bought the book shelf first, I wanted to make sure I can match them. Maybe I will swap them for the whites if They do restock the towers. I’m glad to hear you hold them in high regard. I know they are not the end all be all of speakers, but from everything I read - every review said they outperform their price and stack up against anything in that price range. So that definitely has me intrigued. I’m just curious. What sub did you wind up pairing with them?

Let's see. We had a small Paradigm Ultracube 10" in the room for awhile but I wanted to put that back in the home theater room as it's small and it kicks bass (lol). The other sub in our home theater room is a Paradigm Signature Servo. The Ultracube is tucked in next to our couch and out of the way. It just works in that room. Really like it. I thought of getting something from HSU Research for her room but ended up pulling the trigger on an Elac Debut 2.0 3030. I got it through B&H a few weeks ago when it was on sale for $499. I read a few reviews online and pulled the trigger sight unseen. The sub is normally $699. I figure if it's not what she wants sonically, we can flip it for something else. I do a lot of reading and research on things before I commit my/our money to a purchase but that was just a really great deal. I haven't set it up yet as we are having her room repainted. We just picked up a nice entertainment center made by Coaster in gloss white as well for about $250. Model number is 700910B1 in case you're looking for something for your electronics that's attractive and not from IKEA. Currently the Revels are driven by a Yamaha Aventage RX-2060. I may pick up a couple or three of Outlaw Audio 2200s later but it might be overkill. Hope this helps. You'll be pleased with your purchase I'm sure. What Hi-Fi? Had a nice write up on the M16s. I think they are still their favorite speaker under $1000.

 

[snakeeyes]

I thought I was the only one who liked white speakers. . I recently bought some Canton Vento 820.2 bookshelves that are white gloss with black magnetic grills (although I don’t use grills most of the time). I paid $720 at Accessories for Less, tax free and free shipping in the fall but they did drop all the way down to $700 just before Christmas. Lots of speakers there were on sale the 2nd week of Dec.

 

[ryanosaur]

What sub did you wind up pairing with them?

As much as I love my subs, I think this is an area where a long game approach is going to suit you better.
Subs and LF being as finicky as they are towards room volume, I can't help but wonder if you wouldn't be better off waiting a little. I know, I know... Its a horrific thought. But here's the kicker... if you buy a small sub now to hold you over, thats gonna be, what, $500? Buy your towers so you get close to full range now, and be ready to buy the right sub for the new home! If the right sub is 2 15" rythmiks, what are you gonna do with a 10" speedwoofer? Ya its a good product by all accounts, but if you need to fill >5000'3, even 4 of those won't necessarily make you happy.
Anyway, as much as we all love to help spend other peoples money... I want to spend yours where its gonna matter the most! I'd hate for you to have to sacrifice great bass later for something that won't anger your apartment neighbors now.

 

[snakeeyes]

As much as I love my subs, I think this is an area where a long game approach is going to suit you better.
Subs and LF being as finicky as they are towards room volume, I can't help but wonder if you wouldn't be better off waiting a little. I know, I know... Its a horrific thought. But here's the kicker... if you buy a small sub now to hold you over, thats gonna be, what, $500? Buy your towers so you get close to full range now, and be ready to buy the right sub for the new home! If the right sub is 2 15" rythmiks, what are you gonna do with a 10" speedwoofer? Ya its a good product by all accounts, but if you need to fill >5000'3, even 4 of those won't necessarily make you happy.
Anyway, as much as we all love to help spend other peoples money... I want to spend yours where its gonna matter the most! I'd hate for you to have to sacrifice great bass later for something that won't anger your apartment neighbors now.

I just remembered that thread with the guy who was going to do six 10in subs. The six “Yugos” vs the two “Ferraris”. LOL

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

As much as I love my subs, I think this is an area where a long game approach is going to suit you better.
Subs and LF being as finicky as they are towards room volume, I can't help but wonder if you wouldn't be better off waiting a little. I know, I know... Its a horrific thought. But here's the kicker... if you buy a small sub now to hold you over, thats gonna be, what, $500? Buy your towers so you get close to full range now, and be ready to buy the right sub for the new home! If the right sub is 2 15" rythmiks, what are you gonna do with a 10" speedwoofer? Ya its a good product by all accounts, but if you need to fill >5000'3, even 4 of those won't necessarily make you happy.
Anyway, as much as we all love to help spend other peoples money... I want to spend yours where its gonna matter the most! I'd hate for you to have to sacrifice great bass later for something that won't anger your apartment neighbors now.

This

 

[everettT]

These would be another great option and available in any color you can think off
http://www.salksound.com/model.php?model=SongSurround+I

 

[shadyJ]

Revels make very accurate loudspeakers. You can't go wrong with the Revels, although the M16s do have a bass bump around 100 Hz to give the impression of bigger bass from a bookshelf speaker. Otherwise it is a very well-rounded speaker. A good alternative in this price range is the Outlaw Audio LCRv2. The Ascend Sierra looks very good too as does the SVS Ultras. I like the Hsu CCB-8 although it is a bit of a strange bird compared to these others, but it is still one of the best imaging speakers I have ever heard. I would imagine the Paradigm Premier bookshelf speakers are quite good after my experience with the 800F and 500C. I think that RSL might have a winner with the CG5 and CG25 too. PSB, Dynaudio, and Monitor Audio are sure to have solid offerings in this price range as well.

 

[KickinSS]

Thanks so much for not only registering but for the detailed description! I truly appreciate it. I really want the white ones. But crutchfield doesn’t have the towers in white and I’m unsure if they are restocking them. Being i bought the book shelf first, I wanted to make sure I can match them. Maybe I will swap them for the whites if They do restock the towers. I’m glad to hear you hold them in high regard. I know they are not the end all be all of speakers, but from everything I read - every review said they outperform their price and stack up against anything in that price range. So that definitely has me intrigued. I’m just curious. What sub did you wind up pairing with them?

Hello again. I just spoke with the local dealer where my wife and I got the gloss white Revel Concerta2 speakers. He does ship, is an authorized dealer and can get you the gloss white you're looking for. His business name is NCS Computer and Audio. His number is 916-605-9680. Call or text. He has a brick and mortar store in Roseville, CA.