Front 3 speakers for HK AVR 500

[pjoseph]

I am helping a friend of mines parents with getting new speakers.
They currently have a HK AVR 500 and some floor standing front speakers.

They are looking to get rid of the floor standing ones for smaller ones they don’t want anything on the floor, the wife was pushing for bose but I said thats not an option here...
They will be building an entertainment center into the wall which will hold a new plasma, front 3 speakers, shelves, ect..

The speakers must not exceed 12" deep, I know speakers should be placed some distance from the wall but that is not an option.
In their current system they had a large cutout with a door with a square cutout in the door which is where the sub was placed.
I was able to convince them to take the sub out of the cutout and place it in the room.
I notice a lot of bookshelf speakers have a port in the rear I am guessing I want to avoid this design if they are going into cutout I am guessing will be a little larger than the speaker is?

Budget $300-400 for all 3

Thanks

 

[zieglj01]

HTD Level Two
HTD Level TWO Bookshelf Speakers
The Center
http://www.htd.com/Products/level-two-speakers/Level-TWO-Center-Channel-Speaker

 

[FirstReflection]

Well, I'm glad you were able to help your friend's parents avoid the Bose "cube" speakers.

I must admit though, I'm rather confused by the $300-$400 budget for all three front speakers. If they were planning on Bose, that's way too small a budget. I mean, 3 of the Bose cubes SHOULD be priced at about $50 - and that's with a 100% mark up included. But thanks to the retail insanity of Bose's fixed prices, they would've been looking at about at least $600 if they'd gone Bose.

The reason I bring it up is because if they were willing to spend that kind of money on a horrible, horrible Bose speaker system, that same amount of money could buy them something pretty darn good! Even with the compromised on-wall and in-cabinet placement.

For example, a pair of the Goldenear SuperSat3 with the matching SuperSat3C center might be within reach price wise. The folded ribbon tweeter tends to sound better than traditional tweeters in compromised placement scenarios, so it's a good option in cases like these where looks are taking dominance over ideal placement and sound quality

 

[afterlife2]

x2: HB-1 MK2 Horn Bookshelf Speaker
Center: HC-1 MK2 Horn Bookshelf Speaker
A little over budget, but worth it.

 

[pjoseph]

Regarding the bose it was only mentioned but never looked into I don't believe they are aware of the price.

 

[theJman]

Along with the speakers already mentioned a few others that might be worth considering are:

• Cadence C19b {for all three channels}
• EMP Tek E3b and E3c
• Fluance ES Series {for all three channels}
• Premier Acoustic PA-4.0 and PA-4.2c {use coupon code TV15 for a 15% discount}
• Aperion Audio Intimus 4B and 4C

 

[FirstReflection]

Regarding the bose it was only mentioned but never looked into I don't believe they are aware of the price.

Ahh...understood

Well I'll throw one more recommendation into the mix that is closer to your intended budget then: Ascend Acoustics HTM-200SE

A 3 pack of L/R Mains and a Center will set you back about $450 once you include shipping. Ascend's SE speakers have a tremendously good tweeter for the price. Easily one of my absolute favorites in terms of performance for the dollar. The HTM-200SE is sealed, compact, wall-mountable and can handle a good amount of power and output surprisingly loud volume levels despite its compact size.

Lots of good suggestions, but Ascend's HTM-200SE are what I would go with in this situation if it were my money

 

[pjoseph]

Thanks for the input

How much clearance around the speakers should I recommend since he is building this custom, or does it not matter much?

 

[zieglj01]

How much clearance around the speakers should I recommend since he is building this custom, or does it not matter much?

Placing speakers inside a cabinet (even front ported and sealed ones),
causes me to think about cubby holes, cavities and tunnels. And this
makes me think about vibrations, reflections and resonance. I would
make sure that the speakers are placed to the front edge of the shelf,
and at least put bumper feet under them - I would have enough room
to stuff the top, sides and back of the outside speaker cabinet, with
something like open cell foam. Since this is custom built, I would build
a front frame to cover up and hide the visable foam area. If no one is
going to do the frames, then maybe wrap the foam in some decorative
speaker cloth material.
If you do not want to go this far, then at least put bumper feet under
the speakers and bring them to the front edge of the cabinet. Also >
give them some free space.

 

[FirstReflection]

Yes, the goal with any in-cabinet installation is to avoid as many reflections and as much resonance as possible. The best way to avoid reflections is to bring the front of the speaker as far forward as possible - at LEAST flush with the front of the cabinet, and preferably with the front of the speaker hanging out and past the front of the cabinet.

In terms of reducing resonance, the more space around the speaker the better, and whatever space does exist around the speaker, stuff it full of sound absorbing material (insulation) so that as much of the sound energy is absorbed and kept away from the surfaces of the cabinet as possible.

And you want to decouple the speaker from the cabinet - as in, do not have it sitting on a shelf. You can decouple the speaker by using a wall mount so that the bottom of the speaker is not touching the shelf below it, or you can use a decoupling device such as an Auralex MoPad or some IsoNodes so that there is literally a "shock absorber" between the bottom of the speaker and the shelf upon which it sits.

It's pretty simple in concept - don't let the soundwaves hit any part of the cabinet so that the cabinet never has a chance to resonate or vibrate in sympathy with the speaker and become a big ol' sounding board itself! You want the sound to come from the speaker, and the speaker alone. So don't give the soundwaves a chance to reflect off of any inner portion of the cabinet (which would happen if the speaker is recessed into the cabinet in any way), don't let the speaker directly touch any part of the cabinet (ie. decoupling the speaker), and absorb any soundwaves and vibrations that are coming from the body of the speaker itself by packing the opening full of sound absorbing insulation. Roxul Safe'n'Sound or Owens Corning 703/705 are both great insulation options and are both easy to work with. And you can put some acoustically transparent material over the front to hide the insulation and the speaker if you like - basically making a speaker grill that goes over the opening of the cabinet as well

Acoustimac.com is an easy way to get the insulation and fabric