Lookin for a few good suggestions!

[Jsn]

Hi everyone. I'm new to the forum. I've been reading a lot lately, trying to decide on the right Surround Sound system to fit my needs. Originally, I was dead set on a Bose system, for the reputation, and because of a demo that I sat threw in a bose store. After researching, I've come across a lot of forums that do nothing to but talk about how much of a rip off Bose really is, and that the quality of their products aren't what they are hyped up to be. So I started looking for alternatives. I figured that with the money that I was going to spend on the Bose speakers alone, I could piece together a pretty good system. I didn't realize that there were so many choices though!

I am buying a new house, and would like to install a good quality surround sound system to compliment my brand new 62" HD DLP TV. My budget is around $1,200. I have been reading reviews on different receivers and I think that I have decided on the Sony STR-DG1000 due to the features, power and expandability to 7.1. I am going to put together a 5.1 system for right now.

What I need is some advise on the speakers. I have a big living room and it is open to the breakfast area, so I think that I need more than satellite speakers. I am thinking about Tower speakers for the front, book shelf speakers for the rear, a good center and a powered sub. I went to a couple of stores today and listened to some speakers. The problem was that they didn't have the receiver hooked up to a dvd player, so I was only able to hear music threw the speakers. Out of the speakers that they had, the ones that sounded the best to me were the Cerwin Vega VE series. Is this a good brand for a surround sound setup, or are they mostly for Music?

If anyone would like to give their suggestions on a good quality setup within my budget, I would really appreciate it! With so many choices out there, I just don't want to settle for a system, and regret it later. Thanks alot for your help!

-Jason

 

[Seth=L]

First, is you budget of $1200 for speakers only, or does that include the receiver?

Second, what other speakers have you additioned aside from Bose and Cerwin Vega. Typically Cerwin Vega isn't what most people would consider to be good for music or quality sound reproduction, but rather being loud and virtually indestructable in terms of what kind of power you through at it. Not saying that you shouldn't like Cerwin, because if you really like the sound more power to you. I would just think that you wouldn't have heard any good speakers if you thought that Cerwin Vega sounded the best.

 

[mazersteven]

Hi

I am thinking about Tower speakers for the front, book shelf speakers for the rear, a good center and a powered sub.


-Jason

Hello Jason,

I feel for your budget you would be better off purchasing a good bookshelf speaker instead of a floorstanding speakers for your mains. You will get a better quality speaker because bookshelf's cost less then floorstanding speakers. So you'll have IMO better sound quality.

 

[jcPanny]

Speaker options

Check out the SVS 5.1 bookshelf system or the AV123 X-series speakers. AV123 just started manufacturing the X-sls and X-mtm floorstander speakers. You should be able to get a 5.1 system with these in your price range. They also offer a risk free audition of their bookshelf speakers.

 

[Jsn]

Thanks for all of the replies! I'll check into those speakers. The reason that I decided on floor standing speakers for my fronts are because of the size of the room. I didn't think that the book shelf speakers would travel as afar as the floor standers. I may be wrong though?

@Seth=L I did not get a chance to audition many speakers. There aren't many good home theater stores that I've found in the Ft.Walton beach area of Florida. The speakers that I auditioned were at REX, and were pioneer, sony, and the Cerwin Vega. But again, I was only able to hear music threw them, not any surround sound effects. I also went to Circuit City but their home theater speakers weren't hooked up correctly, so I was not able to hear them. The budget that I was referring to included the receiver. I know that I will have to spend extra on the cables and surge protector. I figured that if I ordered the system online, I could probably get a pretty good deal.

I'm in a difficult position with my speaker decisions. The stores are limited around here, and there are many brands mentioned on here, and other sites, that aren't available in stores here to audition.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

I would consider one of two things. Either go with one of the complete systems from SVS or AV123 or build your system slowly. You could always start out with the main speakers and the AVR and build from there.

A good bookshelf should have plenty of headroom since it just has to "make it" to your listening area. The sub is not a place to skimp because it sees all your cubic feet in all open rooms.

 

[Jsn]

So do you think that I should purchase the sub that comes with one of those systems, or is there a better sub that I should buy individually?

 

[tman]

How big is your listening area?

From reading on posts, not listening here are some suggestions if you are talking about 5.1 HT+music (take this for what it is, just glib suggestions):

More people seem to prefer Ascends to Hsu or AV123 Onix or PSB or Pinnacle for same price. Ascend on-axis response in what is published looks quite flat up to 20kHz. However they are little more expensive vs. your price ($800 for about 5 170SE's) so not much room for S/H, sub, and amps unless you can stretch your range.

Onkyo makes good basic amp if you don't want to think too hard in selecting one. A good one will be about $350-400 from a good retailer.

Hsu Research has some deals that will reduce the price of system (4x HB1, 1 HC1, VTF2M3) to your range (if you don't need an amp). There are positive reviews but they are not the prettiest thing out there. If your space is large and you don't have problem with how they look may be worth a try.

AV123 cabinets look good e.g. Onix x-ls's, the better sub option for a package deal (ULW10?) is well reviewed, musical but may be too small if your room is large.

Can get ventriloquist from Hsu along with a sub (at least until you have money to buy better bookshelfs). Again not the prettiest things.

Can try to get a basic entry speaker like Infinity Primus 150 if still available and spend more on the amp and the sub, upgrade the speakers later if you have concern.

SVS is another brand like Hsu for subs.

 

[jcPanny]

Bookshelf vs. Floorstanders

You might consider an MTM speaker for the mains and sender like the Onix X-cs, or the speakers from SVS or Ascend.

The extra driver increases the sensitivity of the speaker = plays louder with the same amount of power input. In the case of the AV123 speakers, the X-sls is the floorstander version of the X-ls. It wont have more output, just a larger enclosure and is tuned lower. The X-mtm will be the floorstander version of the X-cs.

 

[Jsn]

What do you mean by "Sender"?

 

[j_garcia]

I think he meant center. The X-CS is essentially a center speaker that can be used as mains also. SVS also offers the SCS-01 center to be used as all 3 up front and then you can use the SBS-01s for surrounds. Either way, I would probably go with an SVS (if you go with the SVS speakers) or HSU sub.

Let me just recommend against the Sony receiver also.

 

[billnchristy]

I would say get X-SLS fronts ($319 + shipping) X-CS center ($139 + Shipping)
X-LS rear or another set of SLS ($220 or $319)

Adding around $130 for shipping puts you at just over $900

You might even be able to go subless for a bit with the SLS towers...but not too long before you will want some serious bass.

Maybe a HSU VTF2?

My parents are in Pensacola and I bought them an Onix system with 3 ref.5s and a panasonic XR-55 for Christmas...I was pretty happy with the sound.

 

[Davemcc]

Can get ventriloquist from Hsu along with a sub (at least until you have money to buy better bookshelfs). Again not the prettiest things.

Not in a large room. But they are quite attractive looking little things as a matter of opinion.

 

[Jsn]

Let me just recommend against the Sony receiver also.

Thanks for all of the recommendations everyone! I've been busy reading the reviews on all of them. One question though. Why not the Sony receiver? The 1000 is 120 x 7, 7.1 Surround sound, XM Ready, HDMI up conversion, and just about every other feature that you could think of. For the price, I couldn't find any other receiver with the same features.

 

[j_garcia]

Yep all the features anyone could want...and that's about it. Just read around and you will find that Sony doesn't exactly have a big following for its receivers (ES line is better). I can honestly say I will never own another Sony receiver.

 

[rexracer]

Tough price point. I just put together a 5.1 system and for $1200 I would do it this way.

Yamaha rxv-659 $379 (authorized dealer)
X-ls pair $220
X-cs center $139
Primus 140* $99 (crutchfields)
Hsu stf-2 $319
______
$1156 + tx & shipping

I ended up getting Axiom M3's and a VP-100 up front, and have the Infinity Primus 150's for the rear (5 1/4" woofer VS 4 or 4 1/2" for the 140's) The 150's are an amazing speaker for the $120 I paid for the pair, but Crutchfields no longer has them available. They may be available elsewhere. The yamaha is a great receiver, though it doesn't do HDMI. From what I've heard from people here who've listened to many speakers, the X-LS's probably can't be beat for the price, and my STF-2 rocks, though I haven't heard the x-sub, I don't think you can do much better for the price, again. Good luck!

 

[Seth=L]

To the OP, you may want to look into the BIC or Premier Acoustics stuff, the present a good value. They are efficient (taking you wattage further) they can handle decent amounts of power, they are fairly inexpensive even for their larger floorstanders. If you liked Cerwin Vega you may like these, only I would say BIC is better in many ways. Of the speakers you auditioned I could see why you preferred the Cerwin Vega's because those other speakers where lame.

I don't have any experience with that Sony, but then I have yet to hear anything bad about it. It has a solid appearance (I have been up close and personal with the unit and it appears to be of comparable build quality of other similarly priced competitors). It has a very good feature set. If you can, go somewhere to listen to the receiver with some decent speakers and see how it does.

It seems the DG1000 is very similar to the DA3200ES. The ES model has a 5 year warranty where as the DG1000 only has a 2 year. They have the same connections and features. The power rating for the ES is 10 watts more per channel, but that could be a load of phooey. The DG1000 is on average $150 less than the ES.

 

[Jsn]

Thanks for all of the help everyone! If anyone else has any recommendations, please comment. All of the speakers that have been suggested so far seem to have good reviews. I'm just trying to narrow the search down for my budget. It seems like I may have to increase my budget a little to cover everything.

 

[KC23]

I started the EXACT same way with nearly the same room situation as well.

I ended up with Axiom M60s floor towers and decided to wait for the rest so I could get something that is a large step up from the "surround in a box" stuff.

Saved up for the sub and got a HSU 2.3.

Next I'll be getting the Axiom Q8s for the rear surrounds and then lastely I get the center channel Axiom VP150.

Axiomaudio.com

Research em, I think it might be what you would be happy with in the end.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

Yep; it's hard to beat the piece by piece method, you end up with a much better system and get to spread out the money. If your lucky like I was; it will drive your wife crazy and she will tell you to just go buy everything you want and quit talking about it.