Advice on Home Theater

[g99]

Hello just registered. I've been reading on here for a few hours now trying to find some reviews on Home Theaters. Heres my situation.
Im moving in about 4 weeks and Im looking to setup a nice home theater. Speaker size is an issue for me (actually for my wife), so to be honest I was originally going to go bose lifestyles, simply for its size, but after reading up i see the mistake there.
So I'm looking for a 5.1 setup, as minimally obtrusive as possible. My budget is pretty open, but I really don't want to spend more than 2K.
I like the Mirage Nano 5.1 HGB but dont know much about them and am having trouble finding reviews.
So, any input or recommendations is appreciated.
Thanks

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Hehe

"My budget is pretty open

and this

I really don't want to spend more than 2K

are conflicting statements.

How big is your room? (the one you would be moving to)
Did you consider inwall/onwall speakers? - These not ideal, but far better than any tiny speakers

Btw: Which side of the Atlantic ocean are you located at?

 

[g99]

I'll spend what i have to spend, i but i feel like 2k is a reasonable amount of money. I live in NJ, and I think on wall's would be fine. In walls are ok too if a good set can be found
I dont have the exact measurments of the room. I would estimate about 20 x 15, 14 foot ceilings. One wall is all glass.

 

[Tin Ear]

Btw: Which side of the Atlantic ocean are you located at?

I am really curious to see how this is baked into any HT recommendation .

As mentioned, the size of the space to fill with sound is critical. Does that 2K budget include a receiver, or is that just for a speaker system? If the requirement to go small is from the wife and based on aesthetics alone, there are some pretty good looking options out there. Always try to persuade the wife to "come listen" with you as you get father along and start sound sampling at stores. This can usually help shoehorn something a little larger into the space .

 

[g99]

I've tried the come listen, trust me it dosn't help. I do not own the receiver yet either. I think 2k is a fair deal for the speakers, but if i can get the reciever in that price also,great.

 

[markw]

A small lesson in physics is called for here.

The key to good sound is efficiently moving the air in the room. That's done by the cones of the drivers moving back and forth. The larger the surface area of the driver, the less it has to move. Also, a small speaker can only move so much. This forces you to accept the laws of physics which state that a small speaker will have difficulty moving sufficient air in a large space.

While small speakers are fine in a small room, they can easily be over-driven when asked to fill a large area with sound.

IOW, those Nanostats, or other similarly sized speakers, are fine when used within their design limits in a smaller environment, but asking them to fill a room that sizes like asking a Fiat 500 to tow an 8,000 trailer. It might do it for a period of time, but it ain't gonna be clean.

Now, I know what you're thinking: A sub-woofer can do the hard stuff, right? Well, only up to a point. They only go up the frequency range just so far and at some point the satellites have to handle the rest of the load. That means the satellites have to go low enough to meet (and overlap) where the sub starts to drop off.

So, you might want to consider some somewhat larger speakers.

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming...

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I am really curious to see how this is baked into any HT recommendation .

It will determine the available brands. Most US ID brands which we all love to recommend are prohibitively expensive in EU due to shipping and fees.

 

[zieglj01]

I'll spend what i have to spend, i but i feel like 2k is a reasonable amount of money. I live in NJ, and I think on wall's would be fine. In walls are ok too if a good set can be found
I dont have the exact measurments of the room. I would estimate about 20 x 15, 14 foot ceilings. One wall is all glass.

One question is, how loud do you plan to play this system?

Also, I would not set-up speakers close to the glass.

 

[g99]

I plan on playing it pretty loud occasionaly, but usually it will be normal TV/Video game volume. I like the idea of being able to turn it up very loud and enjoy it from time to time.
Mark, thank you for the response. I understand what you mean, I just really think the size will play a difference here. my wife works away from home 2 days a week. I Plan on just pulling the trigger and installing while shes away, then when she comes home she hopefullly won't even imediatly notice it. I could get the big box speakers, but the second she see's them a domestic violence incident will break out

 

[zieglj01]

I plan on playing it pretty loud, think of it as my home movie theater. I like the idea of being able to turn it up and enjoy it from time to time.
I just really think the size will play a difference here. my wife works away from home 2 days a week. I could get the big box speakers, but the second she see's them a domestic violence incident will break out

Some small speakers can sound nice - however, they will sill
sound Small - and will have limited power handling. You need
to at least, look at some decent bookshelf speakers.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I'll spend what i have to spend, i but i feel like 2k is a reasonable amount of money. I live in NJ, and I think on wall's would be fine. In walls are ok too if a good set can be found
I dont have the exact measurments of the room. I would estimate about 20 x 15, 14 foot ceilings. One wall is all glass.

I never heard Aperion in wall, but given their very high reviews of Verus speaker (here on AH) and one of the best in class home trial (30 days and free shipping BOTH ways) you have nothing too

3x Intimus 6-LCR In-Wall Home Theater Speaker - In-wall & In-ceiling - Architectural - Aperion Audio

and 1 pr of these: Intimus L6-IC In-Ceiling Speaker Pair - In-wall & In-ceiling - Architectural - Aperion Audio

In addition you going to need a sub... these are big and there is not much you can do about it
Standing cylinder at least will take the least floor
PC12-PLUS - SVS

You could try to get inwall sub - but to get any comparable result you'd need to invest 2-3 times more money into subs alone

 

[zieglj01]

I live in NJ, and I think on wall's would be fine. In walls are ok too if a good set can be found

One thing to remember about in-wall speakers - once they are in, they
are pretty much set. It would not be easy to rearrange your speakers,
or change your set-up.

If you are not afraid of refurbish, this would be some nice Boston high-end
in-wall speakers, for the front 3 channels.
http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/BOSVRI580/BOSTON-ACOUSTICS-VRi580-8in-2-way-In-wall-Speaker/1.html

If doing on-wall, one option to look at > Emptek
http://www.emptek.com/ew30.php

http://www.emptek.com/ew35.php

 

[markw]

For a room your size, I'd suggest you go for at least bookshelf/stand-mounts with at least a 6 1/2" driver. Something like these Ascend 170's with a good subwoofer should do the job, at least until you go to window-breaking loudness levels.

At 12 x 9 x 10, they aren't exactly what I'd consider imposing, particularly in a aroom that size. Of course, the 340's would be much better, but that might be pushing it.

 

[g99]

I like the idea of in-walls. I will look more into them. I'm not as worried about the sub. I feel like I can fit that in someplace where it wont even be noticed (behind couches, etc).