HT Audio system QUESTION. HELP!

[HDTVFREAK]

O.K. I have posted here before with a "similar" question, but I need opinions about the battle of price vs. performance. My question is this....
I am building a HT room that will be 36 X 16 ft in size so I know I will need a nice set of speakers to perform in that room. My question is even "if" I had a 4,000.00 budget to spend on a 5.1 audio system do I still need to spend that much?? Or is there a 2000.00 system out there that still will impress the hell out of me and others watching all types of movies.

Obviously the more you spend "most of the times" you get more performance, but would the 4,000.00 system really make me sad that I bought a cheaper 2,000.00 system??

I will most likely have a 700-900.00 receiver and an SVS 12" sub to go with these speakers

And the final question is, "if" you guys have "auditioning" experience from 2,000.00 budget speaker system that blows you away with the home theatre experience....what brands/models are they???

thanks a bunch. I literally have no experience with speaker systems except for the cheap little packages that you find at a best buy. Ugh.

 

[mazersteven]

IMO

Yes there is a performance, and sound quality difference between a $2000 system and a $4000 system. How much of a difference is truly personal. But IMO it's a fairly large difference of detail, and clarity.

 

[avaserfi]

I would have to agree with Mazer. I own a system that costs about 2k and I heard a 4k system the other day...if only I had the money. My girl had to slap some sense into me, but she didn't hit hard enough .

 

[HDTVFREAK]

Thanks

Was hoping to hear 2k was enough, but damn!!

Thanks for the quick responses.

 

[avaserfi]

Was hoping to hear 2k was enough, but damn!!

Thanks for the quick responses.

There is a point of diminishing returns with speakers. In the end it really depends on how much you are comfortable spending. For 2k you can get a great system, but for 4k you can get a better one then what about 8k or 12k? You need to decide how much you are willing to comfortably spend and stick with it there will almost always be something that sounds better but we all make compromises.

 

[Davemcc]

For that size room, I'd get the $2,000 speakers and spend the extra $2000 on a second sub, room treatments and/or skip the receiver in favor of a dedicated 200wpc amp and pre/pro. You have many options with that budget.

 

[mazersteven]

Are you going to use this system to listen to music? They you will without a doubt notice a difference.

IMO you need only 1 very good sub for your size room.

 

[OttoMatic]

Or is there a 2000.00 system out there that still will impress the hell out of me and others watching all types of movies.

Well, what are your expectations? What's going to be your usage? It sounds like mostly HT.

Is the sub going to consume some of that $2k budget?

A question about your setup: do you think one SVS sub will be enough in a room that size? (never played with one, so I don't know...). Would you/could you consider a built-in sub, either IB or perhaps LLT? Those types of subs can be very impressive for HT effects (and useful for music as well). They also have a great price/performance ratio.

To answer your question, though -- I do think there's a performance difference from $2k to $4k. Like you note, you should get more if you pay more. It's below that point where all things sound pretty good, but just "different". I think $4k might be approaching it. If I had to pick a number, I'd think that by $5k to 10k, you've really hit a point of diminishing returns.

Anyway, just some thoughts.

 

[no. 5]

How you spend the money may make a $2,000 budget sound better than a $4,000 budget; for example, a person may insist that all five speakers must be the same (which is fine if the budget allows it), but that would require a cheaper choice in speaker than if they had went with inexpensive surround speakers, and put the saved money to better mains and/or subwoofer (honestly, how often does a person critically listen to surround effects?), or if you like to watch movies at reference level, then maybe spending a bit less on a receiver and putting more money toward a power amp would make things sound better.

And if no attention is given to room acoustics (i.e. room treatments, subwoofer EQ and/or multiple well placed subwoofers), your movie watching experience will be less than it could be.

As for being happy with a $2,000 system; if you addition some 2k and 4k systems, and find that 4k doesn't sound all that much better than 2k, then yes, you can be happy by spending 'only' two grand.

 

[AVRat]

It sounds like an Ascend Acoustics system is what you are looking for. It definitely performs better than its pricing suggests.

One other thing, in a room that size you should do 7.1.

 

[Soundman]

Personally, It sounds as though you may need to spend a little more 2,000 for a room that size. If you are planning on spending $900 on a receiver(personally,I'd going with separates. You can get an Emotiva HT combo for that price and it will trounce just about anything else in the price range IMO) and if you get a midrange SVS sub for say $600, you're already at $1,500. That only leaves $500 for speakers if going with a $2,000 budget. Personally if money's tight, I'd go with a really nice receiver or amp, somthing that will allow you to build a nice system over time. If you can't afford it all at once, then maybe just get nice front speakers and add the surrounds later. Just a thought.

 

[mazersteven]

If you are planning on spending $900 on a receiver(personally,I'd going with separates. You can get an Emotiva HT combo for that price and it will trounce just about anything else in the price range IMO)

B.O.L.O.G.N.A.

 

[no. 5]

B.O.L.O.G.N.A.

That's a branch of SPECTRE, right?

 

[jcPanny]

Onix Rockets

Check out the current specials AV123 is running for a full 5.0 Onix Rocket system for about $2k with free shipping. Just add a receiver and the SVS sub. They will be offering a trade up program when they come out with a new line of Rocket speakers next year just encase you get the upgrade bug.

By September, Yamaha, Denon, and Pioneer should have their new receiver models out w/ HDMI 1.3a.