Looking for speaker recommendations

[MrBuffet]

Hi All,

I recently moved to the US from Europe, and as one of the bonuses, I was fortunate enough to find myself in a house that has two large rooms, one I can use as a dedicated Home Theater room, and another I can use for my "real" Hi-Fi system.

The "real" Hi-Fi system is one I already have and is very pleased with (as is the bank and insurance company), so the focus here is on the theater system.

I'm building my theater from scratch (PAL TV's and 220V amps don't work all that well in the US, so I sold all my gear prior to the move), and as such most decisions have been made at this point:

1) The TV will be a wall mounted plasma or LCD, in the 50"-55" range
2) The receiver I'll be using will be a Pioneer VSX-82TXS
3) Movies will be played on an Oppo 1080p player, PS3 Blue-Ray and a HD-DVD TBD
4) Games will be played on a PS3 through HDMI
5) TV programming will be through the set-top box, likewise through HDMI

This pretty much leaves speakers, cables and the other odds and ends. However this is where the trouble starts; the move to the US has presented the unique challenge that most speaker brands in the US are complete new to me -- hence the need for recommendations as to which brands to audition, as well as pointers towards what people feel is a complete waste of time.

The system will be used exclusively for watching movies, TV (sports) and playing console games, and I can 100% positively state it will never be used for music auditioning / critic listening, hence I'm looking to see if I can bring the speakers + sub in around (or below) the $2500 - $3000 mark.

The room I have chosen for the home theater is fairly large (~3800 cubic feet), so I do not as such have any space restrictions. Floor standing speakers for the front is clearly a possibility, however I would likely prefer the surround speaker to be wall or pedestal mounted. My most important criteria for the speaker setup is on finding a good balance between clarity, granularity, imaging and power. I'm expecting the setup to be balanced to a point where the sub and bass is not dominating the rest of the sound stage, where voices are clear and well presented, yet I do want to ensure the "movie theater feel" to test my newly poured foundation.

I fully realize that speakers are by far the most subjective part of any setup, and always subject to compromise, hence people tend to disagree (a lot), but please give me your opinions, as I'm sure I'll find it useful.

Thanks in advance for your feedback

MrBuffet

 

[j_garcia]

You can still get most or all of European speakers here...what brands are you familiar with and like? What is the budget? ~4K cf is a fairly large room, so you will want something decent up front to really fill it well and a decent sub for the bottom end.

 

[billnchristy]

Skip the oppo and just get a Toshiba HD-DVD player, the upconversion is outstanding.

 

[AVRat]

The room's dimensions will also help. I'd definetely start with either an HSU VTF-3 HO or SVS PB12+ for the sub duty. Are you considering a 5/7.1 system?

 

[silversurfer]

The room's dimensions will also help. I'd definetely start with either an HSU VTF-3 HO or SVS PB12+ for the sub duty. Are you considering a 5/7.1 system?

From what I have read, the VTF-3MK3 should be more than fine. Hsu recommends it for up to 4500cu/ft, and according to one review I read, it had more output than a PC-Ultra.

 

[silversurfer]

Skip the oppo and just get a Toshiba HD-DVD player, the upconversion is outstanding.

This is a debate I am going through as well. The Oppo plays SACD and DVD-A, and I enjoy those formats. The Toshiba does not play SACD(unsure about DVD-A), but the look of HD-DVD is great!

 

[Pit36]

I'm looking to see if I can bring the speakers + sub in around (or below) the $2500 - $3000 mark.



MrBuffet

Hi there, in that price range I went with the Kef iQ series 5.1 setup and Klipsh RSW10 Dual Subwoofer. So far I'm very pleased with this setup for HT. However, for music in the other hand the towers put out mid to upper bass, so the sub makes a big difference. Also, they reveal the quality of the recording. The poorly recorded ones do not sound very good as well as mp3. My receiver plays mp3s trough USB and even the 256bit mp3s sound pretty poor compared to a pair of old DCM speakers I have in my family room that I use for music only. Now the newer recordings (in Cds), sound great and when listening to instrumental music you can hear each instrument independently (it's hard to explain you would have to listen to them).

You won't regret adding the Kef iQ series to your "must audition list" . Good Luck!

 

[MrBuffet]

You can still get most or all of European speakers here...what brands are you familiar with and like? What is the budget? ~4K cf is a fairly large room, so you will want something decent up front to really fill it well and a decent sub for the bottom end.

Sorry for taking this long to reply -- brands that I know and love (or hate) are;
-- B&W
-- I like their airy/transparent high / mid section, especially in the
CDM7SE and other mid-high range systems, but I find them a bit
wanting in the bass section, and typically find them overpriced.
-- Cerwin Vega
-- Way to much uncontrolled bass (think: a big dude kicking a wet
cardboard box)
-- Argon
-- OK, but lacking the clarity in voice reproduction and seems to be too
narrow in their focus
-- Dali
-- I'm prop. biased on these, but I had 3 units burn out on me, hence I'm
very sceptical of thier build quality
-- Audionote
-- I love these ones, ALNICO drivers, silver wires, X-overs in seperate
cabinets, matched within 0.1 db from 18Hz - 35KHz etc. etc., I use
these in my "real Hi-Fi" system, but at $16K a piece I simply cannot
affort these in a 7.1 setup

other than that I have listened to several brittish and german makes, but never long enough to come up with an educated opinion.

Also the dimensions of the room is 22 x 25 feet with a 9 foot ceilling.

Thanks,

MrBuffet

 

[MrBuffet]

The room's dimensions will also help. I'd definetely start with either an HSU VTF-3 HO or SVS PB12+ for the sub duty. Are you considering a 5/7.1 system?

7.1 would be the desired setup

Thanks,

MrBuffet

 

[AVRat]

I calculate the room at 4950 cu. ft. A Polk RTi8/CSi5/Fxi3 combo or Ascend Acoustics 340s for fronts combined with either Def Tech BP2Xs/Polk Fxi3s for surrounds with the previous subs I mentioned should fit the budget. As a sub otion, I would als recommend 2 HSU VTF-2 MK3s.

 

[Warpdrv]

Maybe you could give us your whereabouts... and someone could give you some places in your area to go audition some decent quality speakers.....
There are so many out there....

Looks like you have thought everything out very well....
I for one would wait on the HD-DVD/BluRay war...

Making suggestions for speakers is very difficult... and it sounds like you have some well developed tastes, you need to go out and listen...