continued...
Next, let's get you a really good subwoofer. If there is one component where you should NEVER skimp, it is the subwoofer. Making a subwoofer that can play low and loud, but still stay accurate and clean at the same time is quite difficult. You really cannot cut corners. If you do, it is very obvious that the sound quality has been compromised.
For a room your size, I would highly recommend the
HSU STF-2 . It's $350, which is honestly about as inexpensive as anyone can make a subwoofer before you really start to notice the quality going down. It's a very nice subwoofer that is just right for your room size. It might be physically bigger than you'd expect. Make sure you take note of its 17" tall x 14" wide x 17" deep dimensions and really understand how large that is. But again, there is no cheating physics and no cutting corners when it comes to good bass. It takes what it takes. And the STF-2 is of the highest value. No corners cut, and not a penny wasted.
Being in an apartment, you will also find it VITAL to damp your subwoofer's connection to the floor. Especially with a downward-firing desing like the STF-2, which must use "feet" on the bottom to give the driver room to fire downward. Damping just means having some sort of shock absorber in between the "feet" of your subwoofer and the floor. If you put the "feet" directly on the floor, every vibration of the subwoofer when it plays will get transmitted directly into the floor, and the floor will start to vibrate in sympathy with the subwoofer. When the floor vibrates, so do the walls, and so does the ceiling! They're all connected. This is called structure-borne sound transmission, as opposed to the airborne sound that we're all used to. It's just like when you put your ear to a train track and can hear the train coming from miles and miles away, even if you stand up and cannot hear the sound of the train just through the air. Structure-borne sound can travel really easily, and this is why you can so easily hear bass thumping away in other apartments, even when you cannot hear the higher notes. Bass really gets structures moving! But if you damp the connection between the subwoofer and the floor, you really cut down on this structure-borne sound transmission. That means happier neighbors, and it means you get to play your subwoofer at a reasonable volume without bothering them! So it is WELL worth it.
Like I say, damping just means having some sort of shock absorber. You can make your own by just having some sort of platform for the subwoofer to stand on, and then some layers of nice, thick carpet underlayment, or some packing foam or something like that in between the platform and the floor. You want something that is squishy enough to act as a good shock absorber, but still stiff enough to not get crushed by the weight of the subwoofer.
There are ready-made damping platforms. The most popular come from a company called Auralex. Auralex has the SubDude, which is 15" x 15", and the GRAMMA, which is 15" x 23". The STF-2 will JUST fit on the SubDude. Even though the STF-2 is 17" deep, the "feet" are in about 1.5" from the outer edges, so it JUST fits on the 15" long SubDude. If you want a slightly more stable platform though, the GRAMMA easily holds the STF-2, or perfectly fits the larger HSU VTF-2 MK4 subwoofer, which is a really terrific subwoofer for $550 (currently on sale) if you want to spend more and go even bigger and louder and deeper than the STF-2
Both the SubDude and GRAMMA are widely available and go for about $50. So if you don't want to spend that much, you can certainly make your own damping platform. But the SubDude and GRAMMA look nice and aren't insanely expensive or anything, so they're still a good option, and easy to recommend.
Now there's the matter of your Surround speakers. I'm honestly not informed enough about the current wireless option to offer good advice. Hopefully someone else can step in
If you find a solution that let's you connect any speakers you like as the Surrounds, then the Pioneer speakers have the SP-BS22-LR model that would match the SP-FS52 and SP-C22 Fronts. With the Ascends, you could simply get another pair of HTM-200SE, or opt for something a little cheaper, like the
Emotiva XRM-4.1 , which are a good enough sonic match to the Ascend speakers for Surround duty, and very affordable
Lastly, head on over to
monoprice.com to get all of your cables and wires and accessories. You won't find better prices than Monoprice. They almost look too good to be true! But Monoprice is the one exception to that rule. They sell the exact same Chinese manufactured cables and wires as pretty much every other brand out there. They simply cut out all the middle men and only take a very small margin. Monoprice shows you just how cheap cables and wires ACTUALLY are, and just how much everybody else is ripping you off on those items! These aren't cheap because they're bad, they're cheap because they're not marked up 1000%! Same stuff. Same Chinese factories. So buy from Monoprice. There's literally no benefit to paying more, other than looks, possibly
You'll need a
subwoofer cable . Make sure you figure out where things are going to be placed so that you can order the right length. Or just buy a few different lengths - they're so affordable!
You'll want several
HDMI cables if you don't already have them. I'd make sure to buy "High Speed" certified. Again, they're so inexpensive, and High Speed are certified to always pass 3D and higher resolutions without problems, so better to be safe.
You'll need
speaker wire . Again, figure out how much you'll need beforehand. And might as well order extra. Easy to forget extra length for height, or routing around corners or in behind things. Monoprice has clear jacket and white jacket. For any lengths longer than 40 feet, use 12 AWG. Under 40 feet 14 AWG is fine. With wire, the higher the Gauge number, the thinner the wire
I'd also highly recommend grabbing some
Banana Plugs - especially for the connection to the AV Receiver. I usually just use bare wire to connect to the speakers, but for connecting the other end to the AV Receiver, Banana Plugs are SO much more convenient.
There's a video on the page I linked to if you need instructions on how to connect the speaker wire to the Banana Plugs. It's really easy.
I don't know if you already have
Wii Component Video cables , but if you don't, Monoprice even has those! You should use Component Video if you aren't already. Make the Wii look as good as it is able. It's not HD, but 480p is better than nothing! Certainly better than the horrible Composite 480i cable that comes with the system.
That should about do it! Hope that's of some help. You should be well within budget with all of this. And it'll be a really nice system.
Enjoy!
