Big to Small- What are some good choices?

[ozz316]

I am downgrading the size of the speakers in my living room and need some help pointing me in the right direction. I currently have a pair of JBL Northridge floor speakers. Don't remember the model, but they have 2 10" woofers, a mid, and tweeter in each. I also have a Northridge center channel, no rears. I want to go smaller and sleaker to go along with the new Plasma I am replacing my rear projection with. I was looking at the Klipsch Synergy SLXs, found them for a really good price online where I bought the TV. My father has a full set of Klipsch reference line which I am very impressed with, but after reading reviews on this forum, the Synergy line isn't getting much love. I have never been a big fan of smaller satellite speakers, but if there is a line out there that might change my mind, I would be interested in hearing about them. I don't have a very large budget, was going to just purchase the 2 Synergy speakers and keep my old JBL center for now. Any suggestions would be very helpful.

Also, wanted to add I listen to alot of music in my living room, more on the hard rock side along with movies. Thought I should add that.

Thank you in advance.

 

[mazersteven]

Are these speakers going to be wall mounted? Or are you mounting them on stands? Budget?

 

[furrycute]

Do you have a sub in your system?

If you plan to use the new speakers mainly for music, you have to seriously consider the downsides of going from towers to satellites. Those satellites are not going to give you nearly the kind of visceral impact you've come to expect from your JBLs'.

Even with a sub, unless you are prepared to spend a lot of time fiddling around with sub settings and placement, you are not going to achieve very good integration between the satellites and the sub.

And a good musical sub (such as the Velodyne DD series) will cost you an arm and a leg, much more than what your old JBL's cost you.

 

[ozz316]

Was planning on mounting them on a wall. I would like to stay under $500 if at all possible, that is why I was looking at the Klipsch Synergy SLX and a sub. I can get the Synergy for around $100-150 each so that is why I was looking at them. But then again I am definately wide open.

As far as music, I am going to save the JBLs and put them somewhere else and will probably use them for more of the music, but in saying that I am not sure about that either. For now most of the music will be in the living room, but with a new baby I can't jam out like I used to either .. So let's say 75% movies and 25% music. I know I am going to lose alot from going away to smaller speakers, but I had an old pair of Advent Baby II speakers 15 years ago and those sounded pretty good, but then again the room was smaller also.

 

[gus6464]

Klipsch Quintet III $299
http://www.ubid.com/Klipsch_Quintet_II_Home_Theater_System_5_Speakers_-_Free_Shipping/a602156238-rsearchone.html

Then save the other $200 until you can double it and buy a nice sub like a HSU VTF-1 for $399.

 

[mazersteven]

Paradigm Cinema

http://www.paradigm.com/en/paradigm/fronts-cinema-series-1-2-2.paradigm

If you didn't want to lose sound quality and could use small bookshelf speakers.

Usher S-520
http://www.usheraudiousa.com/products/loudspeakers/usher-series/s-520-shielded

 

[ozz316]

Klipsch Quintet III $299

Then save the other $200 until you can double it and buy a nice sub like a HSU VTF-1 for $399.

Do those Quintets have good mids?

Paradigm Cinema


These paradigm speakers look very interesting. Do they sell them online or only brick and mortar? Is there anywhere to see prices?

If you didn't want to lose sound quality and could use small bookshelf speakers.

Usher S-520

I think I want to stay away from bookshelf speakers if possible. Looking for something a little sleaker.

 

[mazersteven]

Usher S-520

I think I want to stay away from bookshelf speakers if possible. Looking for something a little sleaker.

They are very "Sleek".

 

[gus6464]

Do those Quintets have good mids?

Audioholics review:
http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/speakers/satellite/klipsch-quintet-iii

 

[Davemcc]

I listened to the Cinema series a few times before I actually bought them. In terms of on-wall speakers, they sound really good, but they don't have a lot of bass extension. You will need a sub. That's to be expected with on-wall speakers, though. They retail for around $200 each.

I haven't had too much time to play with them yet, but so far I'm not disappointed. I'll have a better idea what they are capable of once my Emotiva subs arrive and I find some time to dial everything in. Still, I think the Cinema series is probably the best bang for the buck in on-wall speakers.

 

[ozz316]

I listened to the Cinema series a few times before I actually bought them. In terms of on-wall speakers, they sound really good, but they don't have a lot of bass extension. You will need a sub. That's to be expected with on-wall speakers, though. They retail for around $200 each.

I haven't had too much time to play with them yet, but so far I'm not disappointed. I'll have a better idea what they are capable of once my Emotiva subs arrive and I find some time to dial everything in. Still, I think the Cinema series is probably the best bang for the buck in on-wall speakers.

Which Cinema series do you have? I am going to the local dealer here this week to check them out. It sounds like the pricing on them is very reasonable. He had 2 other lines that I am going to check out also, but can't remember them off the top of my head.

 

[Davemcc]

I have three of the 220's across the front and two of the 110's as surrounds powered by a Denon AVR-686 and with a small Sony sub for now. The system is in a small bedroom and seems to have no trouble being powered by the small Denon. I haven't been able to play around with them much because I've had out of town guests staying in that room practically since the day I hooked them up three weeks ago.

I didn't hear any particular advantage of the 330's over the 220's, especially for the extra money. It's a big jump from one to the other. One thing I found is that the 220 is actually a fairly large speaker, larger than it seemed in the store. Try to actually hold one in your hand to get an idea of how big they really are.

 

[ozz316]

Well, I went to a local dealer and listened to the Paradigm and DefTech speakers. They had the ProCinema 1000 setup and they sounded very good. The actual setup was the 1000 front and center 800 rear and I believe the 1000 sub. They sounded very good and clear. Also listened to the Cinema 110s but they only had them setup in the main room without any other speakers except the bass. They sounded good also, I can't say if they were worse or better, just different. I didn't like the bass that came with the Paradigm's but that is easily rectified. The price is going to be a factor I think. I just wish I could have gotten a better listen to the Paradigm speakers. They didn't have the 220s so I couldn't listen to them and the 330's are out of my price range. The only other thing that I noticed was the Paradigm's didn't seem to spread as much as the Deftech's either. Is this normal or was it just the setup?

Sorry for the long post.

 

[Davemcc]

I can say that the step from the 110 to the 220 is a pretty big step in size and sound based on my in-store listening. Even though I have the 110, I haven't tried them out as mains for comparison. I just placed them in the surround location and left it at that. Even my 220's are not yet set up properly as LCR so I can't acurately comment on the soundstage. So far, all I've done is lay the three LCR speakers horizontally along a shelf that runs under the TV. Until I get them properly hung in a vertical orientation, I don't think I should comment on their soundstage except to say that in the store, they seemed to image OK.

Also, I did have the chance to listen to the DefTech Mythos on-walls and didn't hear (IMO) anything to justify the higher price. Keep listening to more speakers if you can and try to see if your shop can get the 220's in stock and listen to them with a sub crossed over at ~100Hz.

 

[ozz316]

I will see what they can do, or see if there is another retailer in town. Luckily I live in a larger city. The salesman I was dealing with said they don't keep the 220s in stock because the sound difference with the price point between them and the 330s didn't justify keeping all 3. I don't know what the difference is for sure between the 220 and the 330, but he acted like it wasn't much. Shopping for floor speakers sure was alot easier than this.

 

[Davemcc]

I found the 330's a touch brighter than the 220's when listening side by side. Otherwise, very similar. I don't really like overly bright speakers, but I found I prefer the 220's with a small boost to the treble.

What I've listened to most on that system since I set it up is the Crosby-Nash DVD-A in lossless via 5.1 analog. There is no way to adjust the sound parameters in that configuration, but they sounded very good like that. I think there's still a lot of potential there when I get the time to setup and tweak them properly.