Got AVR, plz help with speakers

[cutiger]

Purchased Denon 3310CI. Convinced bit reluctantly to stay away from Bose accoustimass 10. Research so far pointed that there are better speakers and more bang for buck for the same price.

Room size : 20W x 27D x 20H (2-story open ceiling room)

Looked at Definitive Tech ProCinema 800 but its $1200

Would like to keep the speaker size to small to accommodate significant other.Plz help pick on-wall speakers and sub for <= $900.

Thanks for reading.

 

[sholling]

Welcome to the board. Staying away from Bose is a wise move. The two problems that you are going to run into is on-walls generally don't have great sound quality. Second is there is no way that you will get room shaking bass in an 11,000cuft room with a single subwoofer. Especially within your budget.

So okay here are some ideas. If you must have wall hanging speakers I'd take a look at these discontinued Energy Take FPS for $129 each for the left right and center. Just keep in mind that they are discontinued and finding an exact match for surrounds later on will be next to impossible. A exact match with the surrounds isn't critical but it's nice. You will need a sub with these.

A second option that would do a better job of filling that huge room would be a pair of Klipsch RB-61 bookshelf speakers for $500/pr. Klipsch are very efficient but aren't everyone's cup of tea. I'd try to give them a listen before buying or buy from someplace that takes returns. Start with a 2.1 system because that's all you can afford for now. Again you'll want a subwoofer.

The problem is that there is no $400 sub that is going to fill that room. You're going to be hard pressed to find a $1500 sub that will fill that room with room shaking bass. Another option would be just starting with tower speakers like Infinity's Primus P362 for $160-200ea depending on sales. The matching center is the PC350. Then wait on the subwoofer and surrounds until you have more money. The Infinities are really easy to drive.

Sources for subwoofers are Elemental Designs, Hsu Research, SVSounds. All are Internet direct and offer great quality and bang for the buck. And all three would be happy to help you size a sub (or two) for your room.

 

[AJinFLA]

This system + 2nd sub comes in <$900. Feel free to add a 3rd sub (Polk) if you wish. The more subs, spread around the room, the smoother and even the bass will be for everyone listening.
Just be realistic in you expectations of sound pressure levels in your fairly large space.

cheers,

AJ

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Option 3:
http://store.audioholics.com/product.php/2058/0
plus two of these bad boys:
http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/item/features/549234750/jamo-sub-550?s_c=site_search
total $900 (including free shipping)

 

[m_vanmeter]

"AJinFLA"....not to be argumentive, but did you read the size of "cutiger's" room. Those tiny KEF speakers will absolutely disappear in a room that size.

For the budget posted, Polk Monitor 70 towers and a CS2 center or the Infinity Primus P362 towers and a PC350 center (as mentioned previously) would be a better place to start.

 

[markw]

A speaker's main (only) function is to move air in a room.

The more air, the better.

The smaller the speaker, the less air it's going to be able to move.

The less air a speaker can move, the harder it's gonna have to work.

The harder the speaker has to work, the poorer the sound will be.

With a room that size, you should be looking at larger speakers otherwise you'll be trying to bail out a boat with a shotglass.

 

[jamie2112]

With a room that size(as people have mentioned) you really need to go with tower speakers as they are going to fill up your gargantuan ( I so rarely get to use that word in a sentence) room much better than smaller bookshelf speakers.I understand the other wants small unobtrusive speakers or in walls but you are NOT going to get the output to fill that room with those types of speakers.That being said there are many towers out there that are stylish and have a small footprint.B&G's Z3 comes to mind as well as Jamo C607.Your budget it limiting in this situation but you can start with some good fronts and a center add a sub and later get your surrounds in place.Are you opposed to buying used? There are some really good deals on www.audiogon.com right now in the floorstanding section.If you want more bang for your buck, I would buy used myself.I have bought every pair of speakers I owned used,and have been very satisfied with ALL my purchases. These are nice sounding speakers http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrfull&1278412018&/Spendor-S5e
http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrfull&1278359496&/Quad-22L2-Rosewood
http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrfull&1278227071&/NHTs-st4---sb3---sc2
http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrfull&1278211488&/Monitor-Audio-RX6--Walnut
These are nice http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrfull&1278126956&/Usher-6311-Piano-Black
http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrfull&1278126392&/Vmps-rm-1---626-lcr
http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrfull&1277851160&/Paradigm-Monitor-90p-v4

You get the idea,good luck!

 

[jamie2112]

Another member here has these for sale and they are very nice and would do well in that room http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=65195

 

[sholling]

As myself and others have said you'll need large very efficient speakers to fill that space. No small satellite is going to be able to do that job. If I were you I'd start with a good 2.1 system and then go back and fill in the other spots later as money allows. Both the Infinity P362 towers and the Klipsch RB-61 bookshelves fit that description. Then come Christmas or your birthday your spouse can get you the matched center. The cool part is that both are probably available locally for you to audition and see which you like better.

For a subwoofer I'd stretch my budget. You could either buy a single massive budget busting sub with a plan of buying a second sub later; or buy something within budget now - with a plan to replace it next year with two large subs. You might check with Hsu Research and SVSounds and see if they have any b-stock. In fact it looks like SVS has a b-stock PB12-NSD for $525. Next year you could add a second and be styling.

 

[AJinFLA]

"AJinFLA"....not to be argumentive, but did you read the size of "cutiger's" room.

Just be realistic in you expectations of sound pressure levels in your fairly large space.

Those tiny KEF speakers will absolutely disappear in a room that size.

Convinced bit reluctantly to stay away from (tiny/near invisible) Bose accoustimass 10.

For the budget posted, Polk Monitor 70 towers and a CS2 center or the Infinity Primus P362 towers and a PC350 center (as mentioned previously) would be a better place to start.

Would like to keep the speaker size to small to accommodate significant other. Plz help pick on-wall speakers and sub

Luckily you (and others) know much more about aesthetics, spouse demands, maximum required SPL, seating distance from loudspeaker and how to calculate propagation losses of point souces, etc, etc...than either the OP or myself. Congratulations and good luck setting up your....excuse me, cutigers system.

 

[cutiger]

Thanks everyone for their suggestions / comments. Got a list of things to look for and do research on options. Getting fronts, center, sub sounds like a good idea or to start with 2.1 and add later.

Do hear what you guys are saying w.r.t moving sound and understand the room accoustics part of it but wiring is already in place behind the wall. Would be a stretch to re-do all of that (hide the holes and run the speaker wire thru hardwood and crawl)

Thanks again for ur time.

AJinFLA -- it's all good. there is always something new to know.

 

[AJinFLA]

No worries.
It's not that the tower speakers the others recommended couldn't be mounted on a wall, it's just that it would look rather strange .
The KEF's I recommended are meant to be wall mounted and are a significant step up in SQ from the similar Bose type system and will play much louder too (104db).
Hopefully you don't sit the full 27' way from the screen nor require cinema level SPL. Otherwise, you may indeed want to look elsewhere.

cheers,

AJ

 

[sholling]

Thanks everyone for their suggestions / comments. Got a list of things to look for and do research on options. Getting fronts, center, sub sounds like a good idea or to start with 2.1 and add later.

Do hear what you guys are saying w.r.t moving sound and understand the room accoustics part of it but wiring is already in place behind the wall. Would be a stretch to re-do all of that (hide the holes and run the speaker wire thru hardwood and crawl)

Thanks again for ur time.

AJinFLA -- it's all good. there is always something new to know.

I don't think most of us realized you had in wall wiring. I know I didn't.

 

[cutiger]

Are you opposed to buying used?

Generally not opposed buy buying used is like flipping a coin esp when its long dist IMO with items like these. It appeared that the consensus was even PROCINEMA from DEFTECH aren't going to cut for the room size.

 

[cutiger]

I don't think most of us realized you had in wall wiring. I know I didn't.

You are right. I dont think anyone realized / took that into consideration. My bad, i didn't had that detail called out in my post. Newbee mistake, next post will be better

 

[cutiger]

I don't think most of us realized you had in wall wiring. I know I didn't.

Sholling, any suggestions for on-wall speakers given the updated information of wiring behind walls..

Thanks

 

[sholling]

Sholling, any suggestions for on-wall speakers given the updated information of wiring behind walls..

Thanks

The hard part is your budget but I'll toss out some ideas. I haven't heard these but the discontinued Energy Take FPS might be a possibility for the front three at $129ea. They would look good but coming back later for two more for the surrounds might not be possible. Anyway 3 x $129 = $390 and leaves you $500 for a subwoofer or two.

You might be able to wall mount a pair of the excellent front ported Klipsch RB-61 bookshelves ($500). They aren't small though and Klipsch are a love it or not speaker (a bit fatiguing to some ears) so I'd get out and give them a long listen. These are super efficient and will fill that space well. But a pair eats up most of your budget leaving you only $400 for a sub.

I have a pair of Boston Acoustics CS26 (~$80ea online) bookshelves wall-mounted in my 3000cuft master bedroom using Pinpint AM-40 mounts. They aren't in the same league as the klipsch but I like them. The matching center is the CS225C for about $150. That still leaves you $500-550 for a sub.

Perhaps some of the professional installers here could suggest some in-wall speakers but I suspect that budget might be an issue.

 

[sholling]

I'll toss out a budget buster to. I haven't heard these yet but they have a decent rep.... SVSounds has their 5.1 SBS-01/PB12-NSD bundle on sale (while out of stock) for $1200. Then All you would need to do down the road is add a second sub, but until then the PB12-NSD is a darn good sub and they make good end-tables for the sofa.

I just don't know if their satellites are rear ported or not. If so they will need a wall mount that holds them a few inches from the wall.

 

[cutiger]

The hard part is your budget but I'll toss out some ideas.

So I shared my thread and got $600 added to the budget of $900 making total budget of $1500 (bye bye which ever got de-prioritized off the list, we will see you when wee see you..) Having expensive AVR handy does do tricks

Btw, today I got asked why POLK RM705, KLIPSCH HD500, or there seems to be a deal on polk RM 95 for $499 wont go well with that expensive AVR sitting around. Kinda cat caught my tongue because when we were discussing AVR purchase, I have told that a powerfull AVR wont require one to buy powerful / expensive speakers, woofer. Never took the room dim. in the picture.

I noticed def tech procinema 800, any opinion on that.. looks like ur pick of PB12-NSD is pretty good, but $600 bucks for just woofer and looks like one will do for now but the picture doesn't seem to be complete with out a second one.

 

[AJinFLA]

With Bose cube aesthetics seemingly out the window and the new budget with a desire for greater SPL capability:
3 x JBL 8340A across the front
2 x JBL 8320 rears
2 x Dayton SUB-120
Will do the trick in your large room within budget.
Didn't get a chance to listen to the 8340's but the 8320's sounded quite smooth and balanced with music.

cheers,

AJ