Audioholics Advice

[Toolboxx]

I looking for a new receiver & speakers and need your expertise. I think I have my new speakers picked out but need some serious Audioholics advice! I have a 55” RP Mitsu TV and I’m finally ditching my junky Samsung HTIB! My family room is rectangular (about 400sq ft) but the HT setup will only be using half the room...more like 15x12 or so.

I'm almost 100% convinced on getting the Athena Point 5 MKII's ($199) and adding a Dayton 12" sub but need a new $300 receiver to go with these. I am really new to home audio and while I have a good start at learning from these forums, I'm still kinda clueless.

I was thinking about getting an Onkyo TX-SR573/TX-SR503 or a Pioneer VSK-815. I may be able to stretch the wallet and get the VSK-915 but think the 1015 is out of range. Do you think these receivers will push the Athena’s well? D you have a sound preference between Pio/Onk or have another receiver suggestion to push my Athenas?

The S.5 sat's specs are:
* Frequency Response: 80Hz-20KHz +/-3 dB
* Recommended Amplifier Power: 20 - 100 watts
* Cross-Over Point: 2.0kHz
* Impedance: 8 Ohms Compatible
# weeter: 1" (25mm) Teteron Dome
# Woofer: 4" (10cm) High Performance

The C.5 center channel:
* Frequency Response: 60Hz-20KHz +/-3 dB
* Recommended Amplifier Power: 20 - 100 watts
* Room Efficiency: 89dB
* Cross-Over Point: 2.0kHz
* Impedance: 8 Ohms Compatible
# Tweeter: 1" (25mm) Teteron Dome
# Woofer: Dual 4" (10cm) High Performance

The Dayton sub is powered...

 

[DaveOCP]

I suggest a Pioneer. They really make great receivers for not much money. I havent been impressed with Onkyo lately, more specifically their quality control.

I also suggest starting with just two channels of much higher quality speakers, and adding speakers as you can afford to do so. Its much easier to augment a great pair of monitors like Athena Audition B2.2s, or NHT SB-1s, with a center channel and rear channels later on than it is to throw out a cheap 5.1 system and start over. Great speakers in stereo will always sound better than a cheap 5.1 system.

The NHTs in particular sound way better than they should for $300 a pair. You can do much better with the sub as well.

 

[tbewick]

I might be stating the obvious here, but for the speakers, you really should be more interested in how they sound rather than going on the specifications. Of course, a good pair of loudspeakers will have good specifications, but the specifications don't tell you everything (impulse response, timing, etc. etc.).

The person at the shop you're buying your equipment from should be able to advise you on a suitable amplifier to partner the speakers. Since an amplifier is wholly electronic, it should be one of the strongest links in the audio 'chain'.

I'd certainly go along on the advice offered by DaveOCP, though I think it would probably be better buying all your speakers together when getting a surround system. At least this way you'll be able to hear them playing all together at the shop. While you're there you can simply ask them to demonstrate the speakers in stereo mode, in order to try out just the front left and right speakers.

 

[DaveOCP]

"I think it would probably be better buying all your speakers together when getting a surround system. At least this way you'll be able to hear them playing all together at the shop. While you're there you can simply ask them to demonstrate the speakers in stereo mode, in order to try out just the front left and right speakers."

True, but to use the NHT's as an example, you're looking at $900 for 5 speakers, not including a subwoofer. That may be a tough pill to swallow all at once.

What I've done in the past is I've asked to hear several different center channels speakers by themselves. While the center doesn't do much for music, its absolutely critical for movies, as a weak center channel can bring down the whole system. When on their own, its fairly simple to determine which center does the best job with movie soundtracks. Once I determined which center channel I liked the most, I then asked to hear the whole system, and if it all sounded good together, I'd buy a pair of the main speakers and come back for the center later.

 

[Toolboxx]

Thanks for your advice guys... I'm remodeling my family room and am spending thousands on new windows, doors, electrical work, drywall, carpet, furniture and spending what's left on home audio...even though I wish it was the other way around!

Because of the limited funds of $850 or so, I'm just looking for the best bang for the buck right now for a solid, clean 5.1 system. I have read a few good reviews on the Athena Point 5's and figured it would be a pretty good sounding system for the money. I know the Dayton sub is less than desirable but for now, I think it'll do the trick. The Athenas are $200 plus $150 for the sub is pretty cheap so that leaves me with $200 for an upconverting DVD player (Oppo?) and $300 for a receiver.

But for the price, I can't get anything like this locally and no one in my area has these speakers on demo so I can't hear them first!

I'm really stuck on the Pioneer/Onkyo choice! I really don't understand some of the video conversion speak...can you help? Does the Pioneer 815/915 have component video switching? If so, enough bandwidth for HD? Can I plug multiple sources into the reciever and use the component out to one set of cables to my TV?

 

[jaxvon]

The Pioneer 815K does have component video switching (for 3 sources), which means that yes, you can plug in multiple sources and run one component video cable set to your TV. When speaking of upconversion on receivers, it means that the receiver will take lower quality video signals (like composite or S-Video) and upconvert them to component video so you can run all of your video sources through one output to the TV. Keep in mind it does not improve the quality of the lesser sources, but it does make things convenient.