Choosing Surround sound speakers??

[Janik]

Hello,
Brand new member here.. up to now I've had a stereo & simple tv.
My stereo is 10 yr old Arcam amp/ CD player with Royd Abbot loudspeakers. However, the allure of HDTV and 5.1/7.1 surround is starting to weaken my defences and I'm seriously considering taking the plunge.

I positively love the Abbot speakers & still want to use them in whatever system I go with. The tv will be purchased last, & I need to get an AV receiver, but right now I'm researching the additional speakers required.

I've been looking at the KEF KHT2005.2 surrounds($500), and also Infinity TSS-500 speakers($400). Does anyone have any opinions on either of these two brands??

Or should I dump these choices and look for others?

This oldtimer knew every term and technical nuance 25 years ago, but the new stuff can get quite confusing to choose a good balanced AV system!!

 

[j_garcia]

I'm not familiar with those Abbot speakers. Are these new models or older ones? I checked out their site and it appears they do have a selection of speakers to put together a complete package, and that is what I would recommend. At the very least, get a center that matches your mains since that really does matter. The surrounds are less critical unless you intend to do a lot of multichannel music.

 

[Davemcc]

Hold on a minute. I see it's you over there looking for a $2k receiver to drive $4-500 speakers. I would consider going for a much less expensive AVR and apply the savings to the purchase of better speakers and a decent subwoofer. The Onkyo TX-SR605 or 705 may be adequate for what you need. An SVS 5.1 speaker package may also be a good choice to look into based on the reviews and feedback I've seen. I know the subs are great.

I'm suggesting that you get the theater entirely new and separate from your existing system and keep the Royd system for dedicated 2 channel use. I took a quick look at the Royd page and I think it might be tough to timbre match the Abbots with anything but Royds and equally difficult to level match the Abbots with the newer Royds, which have a far different sensitivity rating than the Abbots, like 83db (1w/1m) against the Abbots 90db. Trying to integrate these Abbots into a home theater will likely result in a less satisfying apples/oranges melange when a complete, integrated and dedicated HT system is easily within your budget.

 

[Janik]

Geez Dave, you bring up points I haven't even thought of.. I just assumed that I could integrate my good set of main loudspeakers into a surround setup. Sounds like some experimenting is in order, as whatever speaker system I order would include 4 satellites, 1 centre, & 1 sub. If my existing Royds sound good in the mix, I'll leave them in and put the extra two satellites into a 7.1 configuration. At least that's what I'm hoping??

What do you think of KEF KHT2005.2 surround speaker system, as opposed to SVS? They seem to have good reviews as did the SVS system, and normally cost about $1k for the set of black finish but for some strange reason the silver finish is half price! I checked the specs and it is exactly the same speaker system.. and the silvers don't look that bad. Go figure.
Have you listened to either?

 

[Davemcc]

I'm afraid that building a quality system won't be as easy as shopping for price over the internet when trying to integrate an existing set of speakers into the mix. It will take some live auditions, listening to speakers to find what matches the existing pair.

The center channel is the most important to match as closely as you can to your existing speakers and will likely be the most expensive. It's important to match the center and mains in home theater, because as sounds travel across the soundstage through the L-C-R, the tone will change when it crosses the center and over to the opposite side if they are mismatched. For example, people's voices as they walk across the screen might sound quite different as the sound mixes through the center channel to the left or right.

I haven't heard the KEF system you are referring to, but if you want to integrate the Royds, I doubt that a prepackaged solution will create a properly integrated system. I stongly advise that you go out and listen to as many center channels as you can and choose the one that most closely matches the Royds, then choose two or four surrounds from the same line and a good sub.

Really good center channels can be had from a number of manufacturers, ranging from Energy, Axiom, Paradigm, Era, B&W, Focal.JMLabs, AV123, and so many others and each has good choices for surrounds. If you try to describe the sound quality of the Royds, members here can assist in trying to point you in the direction of speakers with similar qualities. The same goes with subwoofers. If you can tell us the size of the room and your expectations, we can guide you towards a sub within the budget that will be far better then your typical theater in a box subwoofer.

 

[fmw]

Let me make a contrary opinion about center channels. The center channel speaker actually delivers around 70% of the sonic content of movies. It is easily the most important speaker in the system for movie watching. I would put the subwoofer second and finally the mains with the surround being comparatively unimportant. Obviously music listening is different.

The point is that, if you have just adequate main speakers, it makes more sense to me to get a really good center channel than to worry about matching it sonically to the mains. I see nothing wrong with having a center channel that sounds better than the mains.

Yes it is nice to have some sonic matching when sounds move across the soundstage from side to side, but most of the time, the center channel is working alone or is delivering different content than the mains. In other words I consider it nice, not critical, and consider it more important to have a great sounding center than to have one that matches the mains.

Calm down. Yes it is best to have great sounding speakers all the way around. Yes, I know the rest of the world diagrees with me. But I think you see my point.

 

[j_garcia]

So I suppose the question to start with is what is the budget and where do you really see this going? Do you want it all now and are willing to go with lesser quality or spend more over time adding pieces and end up with a better system?

I don't entirely disagree with a good center, but I listen to more music (which means often 2ch) than movies so I built my system around my mains. It just so happens that my center is identical to my mains, but it just sort of worked out that way

 

[Janik]

Decided on surround speakers

Well, I'm going to go with the KEF KHT2005.2 5.1 package. They are very highly rated, but boy!!, what price swings from vender to vender!!

I've seen them as expensive as $1600, but I'm having them shipped from Vann's in Montanna for $499.

 

[Adam]

The last time I checked, JBL was still making an entry-level line (the Venue series.) I would be surprised to see decent speakers even more affordable than those.

Ahhh, stolen from Joe Schmoe from here.

You're having fun stealing quotes from others to get your post count up, aren't you?

 

[j_garcia]

I don't get why someone would be so persistent in trying to get their crap onto a site that is clearly doing a good job at keeping them out.... Ignore them.