Am I getting hosed?

[OFile]

I am in the process of upgrading my receiver from dated prologic technology and will be purchasing speakers as well.

I would like to keep the cost under $1,300 CDN total package if I can but small overruns are ok.

I have been quoted $499 for Denon 1705 and $699 for a complete 6.1 Athena surround speaker package. I have been quoted $699 for Tannoy but only for a 5.1 package with the option of spending $100 for additional centre to 6.1. I am a little surprised that I cannot find any discussion regarding Tannoy products.

Given the budget above and quoted prices should I be looking elsewhere? Should I consider other products like HK (I have researched the 135, 230 and 235 but cannot justify the price increase of approx $100-$200)?

Are there products I should not purchase (excluding the obvious Sorny knock-off type products)?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions/comments. Listening area is approx 20ft by 15ft.

O

 

[Beegowl]

Research and Compare

In the last year I purchased new speakers and a new receiver after a couple of years of sporadic research. I finally came up with a strategy that eased my mind about whether I'm getting quality for my dollar. My strategy evolved into reading the forums and recommendations on sites like this one, finding speakers and components that I could audition at a local store, pricing the recommended components from different internet vendors, then deciding if it was worth the extra money and sales tax to buy from the local shop. If the price from the local shop was a reasonable markup (15 to 25 percent more) than the internet, I figured it was reasonable to support the services that the local shop offered (hours of patiently answering my questions and switching speakers and components), and so I would purchase from them.

It's certainly more work to do research and compare than it is to take someone's recommendation in a forum, but that's part of the fun of buying new audio video equipment.

I didn't buy the most expensive (Yamaha RX-V1500, Tannoy DC3 and DCC), or the cheapest, but I bought what I thought was a good value for what I wanted to do; and I wanted to ensure that I was getting decent quality for my dollar.

Are you getting hosed? If you buy before you do your research, you'll never know. On the other hand, if you've done your research and compared prices of internet vendors and local vendors on components that have good recommendations on sites like these, you'll know you're not getting hosed.

 

[aarond]

audioholics review of tannoy fx5.1

http://www.audioholics.com/productreviews/loudspeakers/Tannoy_FX5.1_review_p1.htmltannoy review

 

[zumbo]

and Athena 6.1

http://www.audioholics.com/productreviews/loudspeakers/AthenaTechnologiesMicra6p1.html

 

[OFile]

BeeGowl....

Thanks a lot. You and I are on the same page. $499 for a Denon is approx MSRP on the US Denon website. Just needed the comfort level is all.

Aarond and Zumbo....

Thanks for the links. I'm going to check them out now.

 

[mtrycrafts]

I am in the process of upgrading my receiver from dated prologic technology and will be purchasing speakers as well.

I would like to keep the cost under $1,300 CDN total package if I can but small overruns are ok.

I have been quoted $499 for Denon 1705 and $699 for a complete 6.1 Athena surround speaker package. I have been quoted $699 for Tannoy but only for a 5.1 package with the option of spending $100 for additional centre to 6.1. I am a little surprised that I cannot find any discussion regarding Tannoy products.

Given the budget above and quoted prices should I be looking elsewhere? Should I consider other products like HK (I have researched the 135, 230 and 235 but cannot justify the price increase of approx $100-$200)?

Are there products I should not purchase (excluding the obvious Sorny knock-off type products)?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions/comments. Listening area is approx 20ft by 15ft.

O

Just as a question, is there anything wrong with the speakers you have now?

 

[OFile]

I blew a satellite speaker and bought a set of Sony surrounds a while ago. Very low end. I figure if I'm improving the receiver I need to get speakers that will perform better.

As an update, I went into the local shop and listened to surround sound using the Animatrix and listened to music with a Pearl Jam CD. The Tannoy speakers did not seem to perform as well as I thought they would. The Animatrix sounded pretty good but Pearl Jam did not. They didn't seem to catch the highs and didn't sound to me that they were differentiating between the guitars. All of the instruments kind of meshed together which seemed a little overwhelming. So my problem now is to find another set. I'm looking at Paradigms but they seem a bit pricey. I wasn't able to audition them for very long as I kept them past closing time. I will be there in a few more days to test them out.

Any suggestions?

 

[mtrycrafts]

I blew a satellite speaker and bought a set of Sony surrounds a while ago. Very low end. I figure if I'm improving the receiver I need to get speakers that will perform better.

As an update, I went into the local shop and listened to surround sound using the Animatrix and listened to music with a Pearl Jam CD. The Tannoy speakers did not seem to perform as well as I thought they would. The Animatrix sounded pretty good but Pearl Jam did not. They didn't seem to catch the highs and didn't sound to me that they were differentiating between the guitars. All of the instruments kind of meshed together which seemed a little overwhelming. So my problem now is to find another set. I'm looking at Paradigms but they seem a bit pricey. I wasn't able to audition them for very long as I kept them past closing time. I will be there in a few more days to test them out.

Any suggestions?

What I would suggest is find a set of speakers that you must have to replace what you now have.
Then, you would mate a receiver to it to handle the speakers impedance and sensitivity along with your listening level preferences. These would have an impact on the receiver so you don't want to cart before the horse.

 

[jchokie]

For what it's worth, I just bought a Athena Micra 6 system from Best Buy for $250 US. It was new, in the pack. I was looking at more expensive speaker systems, but simply couldn't pass this deal up. I don't know if they are still running the deal or not. I bought the system the Sunday after Christmas...

Good Luck,

John

 

[OFile]

I have been debating wether or not to get the Athena package but the local Futureshops do not have listening rooms for me to test them. Some of the ones that are a little out of the area do have them but their product knowledge seems subpar. One guy tried to tell me the package was 6.1 even though the box and product description clearly said 5.1. So in short I'm going to stay away. I haven't found any other local shops that carry them.

About replacing the speakers and then matching the receiver....isn't that the same thing? The receiver is a Kenwood (7yrs old) without dolby digital. I would be buying main left and rights and keeping the surrounds. Since I don't have a sub currently (forgot to mention that), I would be buying that as well. It just makes sense to me to upgrade the surrounds at the same time.

It seems more practical to make the purchase all at once in order to listen to the components together as opposed to purchasing separately and then matching in my living room and having to return items. Or it could just be the price to pay for the situation I'm in.

Paradigm and Klipsch are going to be my next auditions. I haven't decided on Infiniti yet........

Thanks for the tips.

Owen

 

[OFile]

For what it's worth, I just bought a Athena Micra 6 system from Best Buy for $250 US. It was new, in the pack. I was looking at more expensive speaker systems, but simply couldn't pass this deal up. I don't know if they are still running the deal or not. I bought the system the Sunday after Christmas...

Good Luck,

John

The package runs for $499Cdn in Toronto. If they were to sound at all like the Tannoys, I would have to pass. I can't seem to justify the expense on speakers that I am not impressed with regardless of value. $499 is still a hefty price for products that don't perform to my liking.

 

[Mchacona]

after long research and willingness to put out $1500 us for a decent sounding system for my 20x16 room i have settled on the following.

polk rm7200 5.1 speakers (these were $1299 but discontinued and selling for $699 while they last at crutchfield)

I was going to spend the extra savings on a denon 3805 or marantz or something really great until my av guy calmly explained I would be throwing $ away unless I

a. planned to upgrade to 6.1 or 7.1
or
b. thought I wanted another zone.

neither of which I want or need. so I settled on the Denon 1705 $399 @ Crutchfield and set it up today. Initially it sounded horrible since I didn't read the instructions. Polk says to run the fronts through the powered sub and to set them up as large and then set the sub in the receiver to the off position. Well after thinking I made a big mistake I followed the directions and it sounds awesome with video and music. I had to borrow a sound meter from my neighbor since the lower end receivers don't do auto setup and there is no on screen dipslay but with the cash I saved I bought some nice RGB cables, some optical cables and the beatles white album on CD. I'm totally pumped and have a system that suits my needs with more power than i need. hope this helps..

 

[OFile]

Thanks. I haven't listened to polk. I'll give it a go

 

[Nick250]

About replacing the speakers and then matching the receiver....isn't that the same thing?

I

Not even a little bit. The speakers and room acoustics contribute 95% or so to the sound you hear. The reciever contributes very little as long as it has enough power to handle your speakers of choice. So find the speakers you like and then choose the receiver has the power and features that you need. You total audio budget should be about 60% for speakers and 40% everything else including receiver, DVD player etc.

 

[OFile]

Not even a little bit. The speakers and room acoustics contribute 95% or so to the sound you hear. The reciever contributes very little as long as it has enough power to handle your speakers of choice. So find the speakers you like and then choose the receiver has the power and features that you need. You total audio budget should be about 60% for speakers and 40% everything else including receiver, DVD player etc.

Thanks. Didn't think of it in terms of that. So basically for example, Paradigms costing $900 with JVC at $500 would be a better choice than say Denon and Athena combo (just as an example). In other words, a lower end receiver with decent speakers would be the right approach?

Owen

 

[Nick250]

Thanks. Didn't think of it in terms of that. So basically for example, Paradigms costing $900 with JVC at $500 would be a better choice than say Denon and Athena combo (just as an example). In other words, a lower end receiver with decent speakers would be the right approach?

Owen

Exactly. A $1000 receiver and $400 speakers will sound, well like umm $400 speakers. However $1000 speakers and a $400 receiver will sound far, far better than the $1000 receiver/$400 speaker combo. Audition as many speakers as you can in your price range before you make your final speaker choice. Have fun.

Nick