Best 5 speaker setup $800 or less will buy?

[bacchus99]

Need a left, right, center, and 2 surrounds. I know my budget sucks but hey i'm a tight arse. I'll probably grab a SVS sub to match with this(800 dollar budget does NOT include the sub). My living room is open and modern looking. These speakers need to be wall mountable and sound great with movies. 75% movies/25% music. Was thinking about just getting the Klipsch Quintet SL. I haven't heard any other systems in this price range. I'll eventually have a flat screen and will want the living room to still look slick. These will be attached to a Yamaha 663. Thanks!

 

[forkbeard]

Have you considered the EMP on-wall speakers?

I haven't heard them, but they were well reviewed by a trust-worthy source. If I were looking to mount all my speakers on the wall (my wife would love it!), I'd have to consider them. Sold by the AH store, the price looks almost too good to be true. EMP EW25, EW30, EW35 at $100 each. Now I'm not exactly sure how they would perform oriented horizontally, but it looks like they sport a M-T-M design. And maybe even symmetrical blowholes.

 

[Midcow2]

an idea

Need a left, right, center, and 2 surrounds. I know my budget sucks but hey i'm a tight arse. I'll probably grab a SVS sub to match with this(800 dollar budget does NOT include the sub). My living room is open and modern looking. These speakers need to be wall mountable and sound great with movies. 75% movies/25% music. Was thinking about just getting the Klipsch Quintet SL. I haven't heard any other systems in this price range. I'll eventually have a flat screen and will want the living room to still look slick. These will be attached to a Yamaha 663. Thanks!

A couple of thoughts:

(1) The fronts and center are most important. You could get better fronts and center by not getting surrounds now. For timbre it is better the fronts and centers match. Surrounds are for enhancement and don't really have to match.

(2) Since you are planning on getting a sub (and by the way SVS is one of the best subs) you could get some good bookshelf speakers and use crossover to direct bass and lower notes to sub.


Good Luck!

P.S.- 663 is a nice AVR

 

[Davemcc]

You could probably do a Paradigm Cinema Series setup in that budget.

 

[jonnythan]

What about the SVS SBS-01 system?

 

[bacchus99]

So it seems there are better systems for the money than the klipsh system? I don't have the luxury of hearing some of these brands before i'd buy them so i'm not sure how good that would be. My left and rights are bose 301's now but once i get a flat screen there will be no room for the bookshelf speakers. The bose 301's have 8" woofers and the wall hangers have much smaller woofers...I'm wondering if i'll be disappointed with small front left and rights? I know bose sucks.

 

[Shicks18]

IMHO spending $800 on just the fronts and center will sound a lot better than spending $800 on 5 speakers. So budgeting $500 on the mains and $300 on the center would open up your options a lot more.

If you live near a Tweeter they have a pair of Polk RTi10's for $480 (buy 1 get the second one free). Then get a Polk CSi5 with the remaining $300. That would make for a great start.

 

[Soundman]

What about the SVS SBS-01 system?

I second that! If you are planning on getting an SVS sub anyway, getting a package like this would save you some more money. Plus, these speakers sound good for the money.

 

[j_garcia]

The SBS-01 system would seem to be one of the easiest choices to make if you are already planning on getting a sub from them. They have included mounting holes and are fairly easy to mount.

 

[abboudc]

Need a left, right, center, and 2 surrounds. I know my budget sucks but hey i'm a tight arse. I'll probably grab a SVS sub to match with this(800 dollar budget does NOT include the sub). My living room is open and modern looking. These speakers need to be wall mountable and sound great with movies. 75% movies/25% music. Was thinking about just getting the Klipsch Quintet SL. I haven't heard any other systems in this price range. I'll eventually have a flat screen and will want the living room to still look slick. These will be attached to a Yamaha 663. Thanks!

I'd get 5 Ascend CBM-170
$788 + $56 shipping (there's a discount if you order 5)
Ascend CBM-170

IMO the Ascends are in a league above the SVS...(though to be fair, they cost a little more too).

 

[calnbs]

SVS will be a great choice. Also close out such as Athena at audioadvisor.com for the 5.0 under $600. If you are patience, you can buy Infinity and Polks on sale as well at frys and other retailers. I just finished with my second system, 4 Infinity 362 & PC350 for under $600. Harmon Audio is auctioning their refurbished JBL 890 on ebay with full warrenty. Most of them were going around $180 each.

 

[mazersteven]

What about the SVS SBS-01 system?

Excellent recommendation

 

[ChunkyDark]

I haven't heard the EMPs but I do have the RBH version and they sound great. The RBHs are sleek and modern looking and mount easily to the wall. They don't go real low, but you'll have a nice sub to take care of that.

 

[WmAx]

The Behringer B2030P is in a league above the Ascend CBM-170, if you want to be fair.

In all seriousness, though, if you want the best for the dollars spent, the Behringer B2030 is unbeatable; it's measurements(the ones primarily responsible for perceived sound qaulity as is understood by the current perceptual research) are simply superior to anything else suggested here so far. It's not the prettiest speaker(it has no grill), and it does not have a fancy name, but if raw performance for the $ is what counts - show me a unit that even matches it - much less exceeds it - for even $600 per pair. But wait -- the B2030P costs $130/pair. From the cost alone, I expect not many will take it seriously - I understand that feeling. I did not believe it was possible to engineer a speaker of this quality and sell it for that kind of cost either - until I measured a set....

One could buy a set of these and get a nice entry-level hi-fi subwoofer approximately in the budget listed by the OP.

-Chris

 

[jcPanny]

Av123

The AV123 X-series and ELT series are other good options in your price range. They also offer a risk free trial on all of their speakers.

 

[avliner]

My personal pick would be the SVS system either!

I've recently got 03 SCS-01 for the L/C/R front array duties and I'm really impressed with their performance so far.

They've replaced 03 JBL Studio S38II, though

Good luck and keep us posted!

Regards, Chuck

 

[abboudc]

The Behringer B2030P is in a league above the Ascend CBM-170, if you want to be fair.

In all seriousness, though, if you want the best for the dollars spent, the Behringer B2030 is unbeatable; it's measurements(the ones primarily responsible for perceived sound qaulity as is understood by the current perceptual research) are simply superior to anything else suggested here so far. It's not the prettiest speaker(it has no grill), and it does not have a fancy name, but if raw performance for the $ is what counts - show me a unit that even matches it - much less exceeds it - for even $600 per pair. But wait -- the B2030P costs $130/pair. From the cost alone, I expect not many will take it seriously - I understand that feeling. I did not believe it was possible to engineer a speaker of this quality and sell it for that kind of cost either - until I measured a set....

One could buy a set of these and get a nice entry-level hi-fi subwoofer approximately in the budget listed by the OP.

-Chris

Chris, mind posting a review with your measurements?

 

[3db]

A review of the Energy System by Audiholics

http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/speakers/satellite/energy-take-classic-review

 

[jonnythan]

The Behringer B2030P is a studio monitor.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

You could get 3 pairs of Alesis Monitor Ones for $600. That would leave you with an extra speaker, but no doubt you could no doubt find a use for it. The Monitor One is a lot of speaker for the money, and that would be a truly fantastic-sounding system!