Want great satellites for less. Must be small. Can it b done?

[Dagwood]

This is my first post here (and only my second visit).

I have a 19'x20' room with cathedral (vaulted) ceiling... And a corner fireplace. I have cheaper Polk satellites on four walls and a center channel, and an Polk 8" powered sub (50w). I also have a 100w 10" sub I'm not using right now. My Denon 1803 blew in a storm and I replaced it with a Denon AVR-890. I have not been pleased with my speakers. We like the looks of smaller speakers. I have not heard any say 1 good thing about Bose. I didn't think the Klipsche Quintets sounded much better than my little RM's... So what should I get?

Thanks for helping me!

 

[its phillip]

Try Orb Audio, Mirage (various small speakers), or Energy (Take Classic or RC-Micro or RC-Mini).

 

[gmichael]

KEF makes some small speakers that aren't bad, but most all of the small speakers only go down to 100 Hz or so. That leaves you with compromises. Can you go with bookshelf speakers?
And yeah, Bose is not well liked around here.

 

[Dagwood]

No, I'm afraid bookshelf speakers are not an option.

 

[Matt34]

Yeah Orb Audio would be a smart alternative to the Bose cubes.

 

[Dagwood]

Anyone have a link for where to buy them? It would be ideal to listen to them first. Does Orb have several different sizes? What sort of price and I looking at? Thanks a lot...

 

[its phillip]

www.orbaudio.com

You can get a single, dual, or quad orb set per channel.

 

[Dagwood]

ok... those may take some getting used to in terms of appearance... but not bad. Compared to the over priced Bose system with the double cubes (not defending Bose, just trying to understand) how is the double orb system so much better?

 

[its phillip]

because they're actually decent enough speakers.

http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/speakers/satellite/orb-audio-mod2
http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/speakers/satellite/orb-audio-mod4

 

[gmichael]

ok... those may take some getting used to in terms of appearance... but not bad. Compared to the over priced Bose system with the double cubes (not defending Bose, just trying to understand) how is the double orb system so much better?

For one, you can get their specs. http://www.orbaudio.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=25

 

[Dagwood]

I didn't know one couldn't get that from Bose. Interesting... I think I'll hook up the polks and see what they do. If they're okay, I'll leave them... I was just trying to find something smaller like them that would sound considerably better without the huge price tag. At this stage in my life, a huge price tag is 1K...

 

[its phillip]

What polks are you currently using?

 

[Dagwood]

RM 6000's...

 

[its phillip]

Ah. That seems pretty similar specwise to the Take Classics and RC-Micro.

I've seen the RC-Minis go on sale for $100 each once in a blue moon, and there is a member selling a pair of minis and a mini-cc in the classifieds here for a good price if you wanna check that out, and there are plenty of options for subwoofers.

 

[Dagwood]

... are the speakers you're speaking of considerable "step ups" from the RM 6000's?

 

[its phillip]

I would imagine so.

 

[Dagwood]

I was thinking the B&W 30 series looked decent but didn't notice what they cost yet??? Would these be a good choice?

Is there a general consensus amongst the majority of folks on here as to what THE BEST systems are within the various price ranges? Like under $500 or between 500 and 700, etc?

Also, I forgot to mention what I've read is an important detail... I have hardwood flooring throughout the entire listening area... Sorry about that.

Also, I have 30 days to return my amp if I don't like it or think I should get something different. I got the AVR-890 for $500... Should I be okay with that or could I get more bang for my buck with something else. I think Denon is good stuff, but then again, you guys are the experts.

 

[Dagwood]

I have it up and running... I must say, it will take some time messing around with the amp to figure out a lot of it. I tried the auto set up and it said there was no microphone... but i had it hooked in.????

The speakers sound okay... they'll do for now, I guess. I don't like that I cannot get the sub to play/activate in certain modes (stereo for one!) it just plays my front speakers with no sub!

 

[AVRat]

Sometimes these units need a reboot, see Resetting the Microprocessor on pg. 68. You may have a defective mike, hard to say what the problem is. Pg 60 has a table to show the speakers used in different modes, the sub should activate for most everything if the system knows it exists.

I just picked up a 4810 recently and hope to start integrating it into my system this weekend. I hope to have my new setup together on 7/27.

 

[corey]

Dag - Nobody seems to be bringing up the basics here. Trying to get full range sound reproduction from 2 & 3 inch speakers doesn't much work. There are very real reasons why violins are small and a stand up bass is large.