Newbie needs help with home theater system...

[mazersteven]

Well you are correct about the Sensitivity (85dB) which further enhances my comments about an unbalanced system. So are you recommending >1k of amps to drive these 1K speakers?

Not recommending $1K in amps to drive these. But the sensitivity, and reviews need to be taken into consideration.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

Doesnt that point back to the balance issue?

Not recommending $1K in amps to drive these. But the sensitivity, and reviews need to be taken into consideration.

 

[MaxSpeedM3]

wow, i have no idea what you guys are talking about. man, i need to do some studying.

 

[mazersteven]

Doesnt that point back to the balance issue?

What with keeping everything in relation to one another? The percentages of what someone spends on their HT system is just a guide line. It's not written in stone. And some times it's just not possible to follow those unwritten guide lines.

 

[mazersteven]

wow, i have no idea what you guys are talking about. man, i need to do some studying.

We don't have a clue either. So we are all on the same page. Lost. LOL

 

[ParadigmDawg]

To simplify what I am saying here; I don’t recommend those speakers.

What with keeping everything in relation to one another? The percentages of what someone spends on their HT system is just a guide line. It's not written in stone. And some times it's just not possible to follow those unwritten guide lines.

 

[MaxSpeedM3]

To simplify what I am saying here; I don’t recommend those speakers.

cool...i understood that. i guess i'll have to get the measurements of the room, want to spend $3,500 +/-, and strictly for home theater. i don't watch a lot of movies, but when i do...i want it to sound great.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

What all does the budget include? (Speakers, AVR/AMP, DVD player, TV?)

cool...i understood that. i guess i'll have to get the measurements of the room, want to spend $3,500 +/-, and strictly for home theater. i don't watch a lot of movies, but when i do...i want it to sound great.

 

[abefroeman]

Hey M3 -

What gen M3 do you drive, E46? or do you just support BMW?

Anyways it looks like you might be happy with a budget of about $2,000. Correct? possibly a little more.

Here are some ideas

Receiver...A good idea is to get the best deal you can find. $1,000 is a lot to be spending on a receiver if you don't know what you want. Here is one for about $300 that is very good and you probably wouldn't notice a difference in sound when compared to that rotel unless critically listening to 2-channel music. Yamaha RXV 659

Speakers...In general people will recommend that you get traditional shaped and sized speakers. They just sound better. That means they won't be as small as the ones you picked out, but they won't sound as crappy either.

A lot of people say that you should go and listen to as many speakers you can find and pick the ones you like the best. If you are going to be listening to a lot of 2-channel this is right on. If you just watch movies than you could get by on other peoples recommendations. One of the most commonly recommended speakers for your price range are AV123's X series. AV123 You can get towers, center channel, and rears; or bookshelfs all around; or center channels all around; or towers all around; whatever you choose it should be within your price range and fit the room you want them in.

Another option is to go with a little more expensive speakers as they are the most important. Opinions vary as the price goes up so you will need to do some research as to what you want. Just make sure you spend the most time and money here. Some good ones might be paradigm studio 20s.

Subwoofer...Go get a good subwoofer. It's worth it. Call these guys--> SVS and tell them how much you are willing to spend (should be around $500-600) and tell them about your room and they will pick out something great for you.

If it were me:
3 paradigm studio 20s for the front (~$400 per speaker);
paradigms atoms for the rear (~$200 per pair);
SVS PB12-NSD sub ($600); and,
Yamaha 659 ($300).
That’s like $2,300 or so. And it would sound about 10 times better than the mini system that you posted originally.

If this is more that you would spend then substitute the Paradigms for the AV123 speakers. If you want to spend more than you can go up the paradigm ladder or do more research.

 

[abefroeman]

Hmmm, i am lazy.

I just read that post that your budget is $3,500.

There are a lot of ways to increase the budget of my above recomendation up to $3,500, but for someone that is a newbie, I would tell you to spend the rest on projector and screen, maybe some sound panels, or an HD player.

What kind of TV do you have? is this an appartment? or a house. Is this in the family or living room or is it downstairs?

If it is or if it could be down in the basement you could spend the rest of the money making it into a real home theater. Have a door that closes, get a big front projector just like the theater. Put up blackout curtains and frame the screen with movie theater style curtains. Get a real popcorn maker.

If you have all that or if you are in an appartment, then then best place to spend more money is on the speakers NOT the receiver.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

Now we are on the right road!

Hey M3 -

What gen M3 do you drive, E46? or do you just support BMW?

Anyways it looks like you might be happy with a budget of about $2,000. Correct? possibly a little more.

Here are some ideas

Receiver...A good idea is to get the best deal you can find. $1,000 is a lot to be spending on a receiver if you don't know what you want. Here is one for about $300 that is very good and you probably wouldn't notice a difference in sound when compared to that rotel unless critically listening to 2-channel music. Yamaha RXV 659

Speakers...In general people will recommend that you get traditional shaped and sized speakers. They just sound better. That means they won't be as small as the ones you picked out, but they won't sound as crappy either.

A lot of people say that you should go and listen to as many speakers you can find and pick the ones you like the best. If you are going to be listening to a lot of 2-channel this is right on. If you just watch movies than you could get by on other peoples recommendations. One of the most commonly recommended speakers for your price range are AV123's X series. AV123 You can get towers, center channel, and rears; or bookshelfs all around; or center channels all around; or towers all around; whatever you choose it should be within your price range and fit the room you want them in.

Another option is to go with a little more expensive speakers as they are the most important. Opinions vary as the price goes up so you will need to do some research as to what you want. Just make sure you spend the most time and money here. Some good ones might be paradigm studio 20s.

Subwoofer...Go get a good subwoofer. It's worth it. Call these guys--> SVS and tell them how much you are willing to spend (should be around $500-600) and tell them about your room and they will pick out something great for you.

If it were me:
3 paradigm studio 20s for the front (~$400 per speaker);
paradigms atoms for the rear (~$200 per pair);
SVS PB12-NSD sub ($600); and,
Yamaha 659 ($300).
That’s like $2,300 or so. And it would sound about 10 times better than the mini system that you posted originally.

If this is more that you would spend then substitute the Paradigms for the AV123 speakers. If you want to spend more than you can go up the paradigm ladder or do more research.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

I really like the AV123 package idea and the Paradigm idea. If you can; try to find as many speakers in your price range and go audition them. Here is a list of my favorite most of which I auditioned 5 months ago.

Paradigm studio series
Warefedale Evo series
PSB Image series
KEF IQ series
Monitor Audio RS series
Ascend CMT-340
AV123 Rockets
Aperion Intimus 633

Any good dealer at a high-end store will discount you a "package deal"

Once you figure out your speakers the AVR will be the easy part.

 

[MaxSpeedM3]

What all does the budget include? (Speakers, AVR/AMP, DVD player, TV?)

the budget only includes speakers (5.1), sub, and amp. i'll wait on the DVD player because of all the changes. i have an older Pioneer 43" plasma. i'll probably upgrade the plasma later, too.

 

[MaxSpeedM3]

Hey M3 -

What gen M3 do you drive, E46? or do you just support BMW?

Anyways it looks like you might be happy with a budget of about $2,000. Correct? possibly a little more.

Here are some ideas

Receiver...A good idea is to get the best deal you can find. $1,000 is a lot to be spending on a receiver if you don't know what you want. Here is one for about $300 that is very good and you probably wouldn't notice a difference in sound when compared to that rotel unless critically listening to 2-channel music. Yamaha RXV 659

Speakers...In general people will recommend that you get traditional shaped and sized speakers. They just sound better. That means they won't be as small as the ones you picked out, but they won't sound as crappy either.

A lot of people say that you should go and listen to as many speakers you can find and pick the ones you like the best. If you are going to be listening to a lot of 2-channel this is right on. If you just watch movies than you could get by on other peoples recommendations. One of the most commonly recommended speakers for your price range are AV123's X series. AV123 You can get towers, center channel, and rears; or bookshelfs all around; or center channels all around; or towers all around; whatever you choose it should be within your price range and fit the room you want them in.

Another option is to go with a little more expensive speakers as they are the most important. Opinions vary as the price goes up so you will need to do some research as to what you want. Just make sure you spend the most time and money here. Some good ones might be paradigm studio 20s.

Subwoofer...Go get a good subwoofer. It's worth it. Call these guys--> SVS and tell them how much you are willing to spend (should be around $500-600) and tell them about your room and they will pick out something great for you.

If it were me:
3 paradigm studio 20s for the front (~$400 per speaker);
paradigms atoms for the rear (~$200 per pair);
SVS PB12-NSD sub ($600); and,
Yamaha 659 ($300).
That’s like $2,300 or so. And it would sound about 10 times better than the mini system that you posted originally.

If this is more that you would spend then substitute the Paradigms for the AV123 speakers. If you want to spend more than you can go up the paradigm ladder or do more research.

i have an e36 m3. i'm in the bimmer forums under the same name. i'll look into your setup. thanks for all the information. helping me a lot.

 

[MaxSpeedM3]

Hmmm, i am lazy.

I just read that post that your budget is $3,500.

There are a lot of ways to increase the budget of my above recomendation up to $3,500, but for someone that is a newbie, I would tell you to spend the rest on projector and screen, maybe some sound panels, or an HD player.

What kind of TV do you have? is this an appartment? or a house. Is this in the family or living room or is it downstairs?

If it is or if it could be down in the basement you could spend the rest of the money making it into a real home theater. Have a door that closes, get a big front projector just like the theater. Put up blackout curtains and frame the screen with movie theater style curtains. Get a real popcorn maker.

If you have all that or if you are in an appartment, then then best place to spend more money is on the speakers NOT the receiver.

i have a Pioneer 43" plasma on a media stand. the setup will be in our game room on the 2nd floor of our house. the stairs open right up to it so it's not closed off. the ceiling is vaulted and a window is in the center of the room opposite the stairs. the room is rectangle in shape and we have a sectional dividing the room. we are only using half the room for our home theater setup.

 

[mazersteven]

the budget only includes speakers (5.1), sub, and amp.

For $3500 I'm all over this

Speakers

http://www.av123.com/products_product.php?section=speakers&product=11.1

or this (don't know what rear surrounds would be better for you)

http://www.av123.com/products_product.php?section=speakers&product=10.1

Subwoofer

http://www.svsound.com/news-news.cfm#UltraUpdate

 

[mazersteven]

There are a bunch of options for your budget. Take your time and research all of them. Have fun with the process.

Ascend Acoustic Sierra package

4- http://www.ascendacoustics.com/pages/products/speakers/SRM1/srm1.html

1- http://www.ascendacoustics.com/pages/products/speakers/SRM1C/srm1c.html

 

[ParadigmDawg]

Now that is the easy way to do it. I would jump on a system like this!

For $3500 I'm all over this

Speakers

http://www.av123.com/products_product.php?section=speakers&product=11.1

or this (don't know what rear surrounds would be better for you)

http://www.av123.com/products_product.php?section=speakers&product=10.1

Subwoofer

http://www.svsound.com/news-news.cfm#UltraUpdate

 

[mazersteven]

Bowers & Wilkins CM series

http://www.bowers-wilkins.com/display.aspx?infid=816

 

[ParadigmDawg]

Opps...did we forget something to power it with?

Now that is the easy way to do it. I would jump on a system like this!