Newbie's first speaker set...some questions!

[suneo]

First off, lemme just mention that I'm a complete newbie going into this. I'll be moving to a new home and decided to go for a home audio system. It's a 2-story condo and I'll be moving into an upstairs unit, with a neighbor below. Going to be changing out the carpet for some cork flooring (which is supposedly good for sound suppression, and yes, I do have HOA approval for it).

The area I'll be setting up in is the living area, which is shared with the dining and kitchen areas. The entire room is about 22' x 16', but the area where the tv and audio system will be set up is about 86" x 16'. The 86" wall shares an adjacent wall to the hallway, and it's the wall where the TV will be. Allow me to illustrate...


_________| |____
| kitchen |.....TV.|
|______ /...........|
|.........................|
|.dining................|
|_______________ |

edit: OK that drawing didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped...the TV will be on the wall to the right of the hallway though. Basically from the hallway wall down is where my tv area will be.

Things I've gotten so far are an entry level receiver: Yamaha RX-V375

Originally I had thought of just getting a 2 speaker system due to the space constraint, so I had looked at the likes of Pioneer SP-BS22-LR, EMP Tek E5Bi, Wharfedale 10.1's and 10.2's, and the Boston Acoustics A26. At first I'd all but set my sights on the Wharfedale 10.1's, then later settled on the Boston Acoustics A26. Now I haven't heard any of these speakers except for the Pioneer SP-BS22-LR and while their sound imaging is nice, they don't have enough low end for me or my significant other.

My friend just let me know that he is planning to sell off his HT system so he's offered to sell to me 2x Infinity Primus P363, 2x Infinity Primus 163BK with stands, and an AV123 X-CS center.

For such a small space I'm sure this would be overkill, but would it work well as a perfectly good system in this space anyway? Or would I be better off with just a two speaker bookshelf system? There are some several things that I am being mindful of:

1) I haven't listened to it yet, but seeing as how the right tower speaker may be near the corner (maybe max about 8" away from the parallel wall, as many inches as it needs from the rear), will it be impossible to correctly place the towers on either side of the tv? Being a front ported speaker, would the sound still bounce from the walls unless I toe it in a bit? Or will it bounce regardless?

2) The tower speakers will be just a little over 5 feet apart, with the 163BK's behind me at about the same distance apart. Would the imaging capabilities of the whole system be stifled with such close proximity to each other?

3) For the P363 towers, what are some ways that I can lessen the impact to the downstairs unit? I'll most likely be listening at low levels mostly for this reason, but do they have enough oomph to cause a bit of a nuisance if I were to turn it up to moderate listening levels?

4) Reading some reviews on the P363's it's been discovered that rather than the 8ohm rating in the spec sheet, it's been tested to be actually 4ohm. Would the Yamaha 375 receiver be able to power this well?

I'd done some reading but don't have that grasp of some of the terms yet mainly because I haven't spent a whole lot of time doing some serious listening yet, but maybe I could get some extra advice from you guys first to help me understand the capabilities or limitations of the receiver or speakers.

 

[ImcLoud]

I would go with a 3.1 system, some decent bookshelfs with a matching center and a nice small subwoofer... What is your budget?

 

[suneo]

I would go with a 3.1 system, some decent bookshelfs with a matching center and a nice small subwoofer... What is your budget?

Since we're in an upstairs neighbor, we're gonna have to skip the sub. I think I'm looking at a budget of $500. I was going to plunk down for either the Wharfedale 10.2's or Boston Acoustics A26, but my friend wanted to sell off his system (minus sub) and offered it for $500.

I guess the whole 5.0 system in such a small space is too much after all eh? haha

I just had the thought that maybe if I go with a 3.0 system in the main area, perhaps I could use the remaining 2.0 for the bedroom or office room. So, maybe P363 + center for the tv area, and the 163's for the extra room.

For the most part the tv area will be about 50/50 movies/games and music.

 

[afterlife2]

These are on sale. Get 3 pairs and use one as a center: Amazon.com: Pioneer SP-BS21-LR 80-Watts RMS 2-Way Speakers (Pair): Electronics

 

[shadyJ]

Depending on how much you are paying for the Infinitys, that might not be a bad deal, those are good speakers. The only thing is, you will want a matching center speaker for a proper front stage setup. You would want the Infinity Primus c351 center with those.

As far as stand-off distances and toe-in are concerned, you can't know the effects they have on the sound they are in your room and positioned. The brand or type of speaker isn't going to make a big difference here. What would have a greater impact is room correction EQ on your AVR. Since you already have your AVR, you are stuck with however well your Yamaha deals with that. The same thing goes for the difference of the distances of the fronts and surrounds. Your AVR will make all the difference here.

As for reducing the speakers impact on your neighbors, basically the only thing you can do is turn down the bass. Bass is what goes through walls. The less bass your system puts out, the less your neighbor will hear your system.

Your Yamaha isn't likely to have any problems with the Infinity speakers, don't worry about the impedance rating unless you are prone to really cranking your system for long periods of time.

 

[suneo]

Thanks for the responses guys.

As for the BS21's, I actually tried out the BS22's that I had picked up before I started really looking into things, and while they do a great job of projecting its sound around me and despite my need for less bass, I felt that it had too little bass. I don't want to get into earth rattling bass, but I don't want to have too little either. Hopefully I can find a good balance.

I haven't had a chance to hook up the receiver yet either, so maybe I'll try it out when I get the speakers from my friend.

 

[markw]

Several random thoughts:

First, even though you show the system to be in a tiny corner of a large room, that large room still has a lot of air to move.

Second, small speaker drivers only move a small amount of air. Get used to the fact that if you want more bass you'll either have to concede to a sub or start looking at larger speakers with larger drivers.

For bookshelves, the two you mentioned, or even these PSB B6s would be good choices and provide reasonable bass (for their size) but keep in mind that any speaker can be played loud enough to piss off neighbors.

...but you DO want your center speaker to be of the same lineage as your other two front speakers.