The $2500 Complete System Any Newbie SHOULD Buy! (Take Advantage of Summer)

[agarwalro]

i just ordered 340's across the front and a pair of 170's for sides. I have 13x16 living room that is open and overlooks the dining area which is about 10x18 and the ceiling is vaulted throughout, would spending 600 dollars on one sub be better than say getting two klipsch rw12d subs when they are on sale for 300 bucks apiece?

NICE! That will make for a killer surround setup.

Since you have a rather large space to pressurize, you will need multiple subs to get an even bass at all seating locations and you will need high output ported subs to give you slam/volume. With your budget, look into SV Sound, Hsu Research, Dayton Audio on Parts Express... There are several good options and the Klipsch subs are not one of them.

 

[adatrao]

Advise

Hi FR,
I have a great regards to your posts and threads, particularly the way you analyze and suggest what is BEST for beginners like US.
I wrote the following as a separate thread as well but want your guidance.

I am a beginner planning to spend $3000, spend this 3k in increments within a year. Outright I can spend $1500 and slowly ramp up to set up my Cave (perfect theater *** music experience, with bass shakers etc.).
My biggest bottle neck is that I stay in Middle east (Saudi Arabia).
we have limited options with authorized dealers ONLY for Bose/Onkyo/Klipsch and Yamaha.
if you suggest some good models, I need to get them shipped here.
It would be great if you can throw light on sources that can ship with lesser fee.

As a matter of fact, I was about to buy a Bose system for $2500 (poor advise from friends, great marketing skills) and was shy of $500. I think that saved me!!! luckily I was browsing for ratings and could not find Bose anywhere.
After some research and window shopping for good offers - I have decided to buy Onkyo TX NR 818. [I could build my knowledge about AV's and need to extend it to other areas; simply saying I dont know which speakers or sub woofer are good for me. But I can pretty well say what I want from a AV.]
Reasons for deciding for NR818:

• video upscaling
• Zone 2 and 3 extensions for future
• Network support
• Audyssey XT32, THX certified + Dolby etc.
• with a Discount offer of 25% which ends in two days time TX NR 818 is presently $1000 here. (if i order this online from Amazon, for $1000 product, need to pay $300 for shipping. So shall I buy this locally, rest speakers and subs from US?)

As I know zone 2/3 can be run with analog only, now here I am in dilemma - we will have more of digital going forward, so shall I think of buying something that can accept digital for other zones. Is gapless very important as 818 is lacking this feature.
I have a Dell laptop and can I directly give FLAC files input from this to the AVR without loosing on quality?

So, Am I on the right path (for my dream project) by choosing Onkyo NR818 ?
Room size presently - (13 ft* 9 ft*10ft) will upgrade in a years time to twice the size.
Movies & Music- 50% each. I will not play at high volumes, but want awesome experience at mid and low volume as well.
want some complete advise from you. Like if my NR818 choice was correct? shall i buy few speakers now, sub and surround speakers later? If you suggest I can stretch myself upto $2000 now for buying necessary things and later buy the rest.

any plan that can work for my case - even shipping or companies that can ship Saudi Arabia etc...
I will not add TV cost into this as I plan to buy anyhow.
I can actually take extra cost in increments - like $1000 per year and want a cave in 5 years time. Hope you can understand my dream and present constraints. I am blindly willing to buy whatever you suggest as I believe You and your experience. Also here (Saudi arabia) I have no luxury of hearing to great systems before choosing except Onkyo with their own speakers, yamaha Av , jamo speakers, Roland speakers and Bose.

Thanks...Adatrao

 

[ahblaza]

NICE! That will make for a killer surround setup.

Since you have a rather large space to pressurize, you will need multiple subs to get an even bass at all seating locations and you will need high output ported subs to give you slam/volume. With your budget, look into SV Sound, Hsu Research, Dayton Audio on Parts Express... There are several good options and the Klipsch subs are not one of them.

I had this exact setup for a long time and must say you will not be disappointed, these speakers can flat out play loud and clean without goobs of power. the 340's upfront will give you a huge front stage presentation, identical speakers LCR is the way to go, a very nice seamless transition. Cross them over to a nice sub (don't skimp here). My opinion, stay away from Klipsch subs (let alone duals) I would recommend one good ported sub rather than two mediocre ones. If you're looking to spend in the $600 range, I would stretch my budget a bit and go with one of these for now, unbelievable bargain (price to performance). They can really fill a large room.
POWER SOUND AUDIO — XV15
I have these and can attest to the quality and performance of PSA products, and Tom and Jim are the best guys to do business with. here is a review of the XS15, the sealed version. Scroll down to post #820
Power Sound Audio Discussion Thread!
Hope this helps, killer setup my man
Cheers Jeff

 

[ankurdesai]

Surrounds

It looks like basically all of the bipole/dipole surrounds recommended in this thread are now either out of stock or much more expensive than they were at the time of recommendation. Anyone know of something that might be had for $200 / pr or so?

 

[ImcLoud]

It looks like basically all of the bipole/dipole surrounds recommended in this thread are now either out of stock or much more expensive than they were at the time of recommendation. Anyone know of something that might be had for $200 / pr or so?

Fluance makes an affordable bi di pole type speaker
Amazon.com: Fluance AVBP2 Bipolar Surround Sound Satellite Speakers: Electronics

I prefer a regular book shelf for surrounds,, you can get them from $30 pair and up and they will do the same thing...

 

[jonnythan]

It's tough to find good bipole/dipole speakers at a decent price. They do have twice as many drivers as a conventional speaker.

I'd recommend another pair of HTM-200s. Or a Pioneer setup.

 

[ImcLoud]

It's tough to find good bipole/dipole speakers at a decent price. They do have twice as many drivers as a conventional speaker.

I'd recommend another pair of HTM-200s. Or a Pioneer setup.

this is true, the fluance aren't bad at all though, luckily the surrounds dont do much and hardly get any power and never for long...

 

[ankurdesai]

OK, so...

... Fluance it is. Can I ceiling-mount those and point them downward at the listening area?

I was also hoping to "sanity check" what I've got in my own $2500 system. As it stands, I am considering the following budget allocations (all prices include shipping but not tax):

LCR: approx $630 (The Definitive Tech Mythos 2/3s-- meets the critical WAF requirement for our modern-looking home)
Surrounds: approx $125 (Fluance, as noted)
Sub: approx $375 (HSU STF-2)
Receiver: approx $470 (Denon 2113, refurbed from A4L)

So a total on gear of about $1600; add in tax, installation and cords and I'm probably just a bit under budget.

Here are a few upgrades I might consider:
- I can replace with Mythos 2/3 combo with 3 Mythos 8s ($450 more)
- I can kick the sub up to a HSU VTF-2 MK 4 ($240 more)
- I can upgrade to the Denon 2313 ($150 more)

Or, I could just be happy to come in under budget. What do you guys think?

 

[agarwalro]

- I can replace with Mythos 2/3 combo with 3 Mythos 8s ($450 more)
- I can kick the sub up to a HSU VTF-2 MK 4 ($240 more)

I would say these two are definitely worth it.

The receiver upgrade only if the 2313 has a feature the 2312 doesn't. I see the 2313 has Audyssy MultiEQ XT vs just MultEQ in 2312. FWIW, some may consider XT an upgrade worthy feature.

 

[ankurdesai]

Right, but say I can't do both. Which one do you think is the more important upgrade? Thanks!

 

[jonnythan]

Sub is much more important than the receiver. Why do you even need the 2312 as opposed to say a 1912 or 1712?

 

[ImcLoud]

SUB is going to give you a noticeable difference where the avr is not... I would get the better sub for sure..
as far as the fluance are concerned what do you mean mount them on the ceiling? not facing directly down but mount them with like an omni ceiling mount and tilt them down a little? I have my surrounds about 4 feet over the listening area {heads} facing each other and tilted down slightly towards the listener, works very well.

 

[ankurdesai]

Yes, tilt down is just what I meant. Sounds like that will work, then. Thanks!

I am no longer interested in upgrading the avr. Thanks for the advice. Think I will go with the sub upgrade.

 

[agarwalro]

I am no longer interested in upgrading the avr. Thanks for the advice. Think I will go with the sub upgrade.

Good call.

 

[Audioklepto]

Incredible thread! Thanks so much guys.
I'm looking to build a system and the advise here has helped a lot. HTM-200SE R/L & center and probably a STF-2 sub. I'll run 5 speaklers for a bit then decide what else to buy.

I have a lot of music on large capacity thumb drives for transportability, and I have been comparing the Denon AVR-1912 to the 1712. The 1712 seems to more than meet my needs at a great price but lacks a USB port. Anyone have any ideas how I can get my music out of a thumb drive into the 1712 cheaply/easily?