For example, why haven’t I seen a single negative review of a speaker?
You haven't been looking in the right places? Seriously though, it depends on where you look. So if you're looking at Amazon reviews, you have to remember most of those reviews are from people who actually bought the speakers. You don't think they want to dump on something they've paid money for, do you? "Professional" reviewers get the gear for "free" so they are more likely to be slightly more subjective about things, though I've seen some reviews where just because a loudspeaker cost $5000 it got a glowing review.
How much of my budget should be allocated to speakers v. amp(s) ?
Most of it. In theory you should be able to find the perfect speakers for yourself that can output the power you want/need and keep you satisfied for many, many years. I actually spent ~80% of my budget on speakers and am STILL spending on speakers as I wasn't satisfied with my crappy sub nor the center channel I received for free. Depending on what you're looking at, they are potentially the most expensive part of the whole mix, and if they aren't and the equipment is, most likely you're spending WAY more on equipment than your speakers even need to be driven with. Many 8 Ohm speakers are super efficient and sound great, meaning you tend to not need a whole lot more than a really good AV receiver to drive them.
Hi all, Should I be considering bookshelf or floorstanding speakers?
Yes. It really all depends on the application and how big your space is. How large/small is the room? If you are trying to fill a 15x10x8 area with sound, book shelf or floorstanders will be enough. If you plan on moving to a bigger space, try to envision how large this future space will be. If you're looking at the potential for a 20x20 space, look at bookshelves but also floorstanders. And if you're looking at bigger than that for the future, look pretty much exclusively at floorstanders for at least the fronts and potentially the rears.
Hi all, What share of the budget should be allocated to Mains v. Center v. Surrounds v. Sub, and should they be the same brand?
The front l/r, if you plan on listening to stereo music, should bear the brunt of the cost honestly. If you plan on home theater, the center is an integral part of the equation and you shouldn't necessarily skimp on that either. In all honesty, what I'm finding out as I build out my system is that the center channel should be mounted in a vertical over horizontal position, unless specifically designed to deal with the sound radiation issues horizontal orientation brings to the table. This negates a surprisingly large amount of center channel speakers, as despite being designed as horizontal speakers they are really designed for that orientation. It's difficult for me to explain. If you can get the same speaker for front, center and rear, you're golden. Most people don't do that though.
The speakers should be a timbre/sonic match for the best sound quality, which generally means limiting yourself to specific lines from a specific manufacturer. You can, however, happily mix and match and still be satisfied with the sound. If you are someone who has some level of interior design intuition, you'd probably never be satisfied with the "ugliness" of a mix and match setup. The sub can be from a different manufacturer, though some will tell you this should match the speakers as well. I'm using an Acoustech subwoofer with my B&Ws and have no problem with the sound quality of the bass when the sub is included in my music or theater playback.
It's been said before and it'll be said a million times again. Find somewhere you can actually AUDITION the speakers and potentially receiver/amps you are looking at. This can't be stressed enough. And make sure you take YOUR material with you. Bring CDs, DVDs, Blu Rays and your MP3 player and make sure it's all material you are intimately familiar with and want it to sound its best. If you don't have a Hi-Fi store in your area, Best Buys mostly all have Magnolias in them, so worst case scenario you can audition what they sell if nothing else. And if you do audition in a hi-fi shop, buy from them if they do a good job of helping you figure out what you need and what sounds best to you. It's pretty rude to audition locally then buy from Amazon or something.
Hi all,
- My max budget is ~$5K for everything
- I live in an apartment, so the system will generally be listened to at neighborly volumes; needs to sound great at lower volumes
- I would like the system to be multichannel for TV and movies, but the primary use will be for 2-channel music (so unless there’s something amazing about multichannel music I’ve never experienced, I’m considering being super-thrifty on the surround speakers because the creaking doors in movies aren’t interesting enough to spend a lot of money on, or maybe even using the Beta 50s as the surrounds)
- I listen to rock, classical, little bit of pop, little bit of metal
- I ‘ve had HK 3480 stereo receiver, two Infinity Beta 50 floorstanders, and an Infinity SW-12 sub (speaker review here (tinyurl.com/3fnludt) for years now and need a system that’s sufficiently better to justify the upgrade. I will probably keep that sub, but the floorstanders should probably go. Advice appreciated on that front.
- My exclusive source for music will be digital files; depending on the pre/pro or receiver, I may need a Squeezebox, but I do not need any other source (I don’t have any CDs or Vinyl anymore)
- System will be in the living room of my apartment, which is probably 15x20x8.
$5000 is a good budget. I've spent ~$3500 so far and will most likely be in the $5000 range when all is said and done. My room is 25x18x10.
Looking at the Infinity Beta 50 specs, the frequency response looks good. The power rating looks good. Sensitivity looks good. Unless you are completely dissatisfied with them, you may want to just keep them. Though looking at your budget below, spending $2000 on the front l/r will net you a better sounding set of speakers for sure.
Based on what I’ve read, I’m thinking this so far:
- Emotiva UMC-1 7.1 Pre/Pro ($700) (is it worth going to the Marantz AV7005 for twice the money or is it better spent on speakers?)
- Emotiva XPA-5 5-channel power amplifier ($900)
- Keep the subwoofer
- Center channel, mains, and surrounds: Totally lost. Probably $2K for the mains, 500 for the center, $300-400 total for the surrounds? Suggestions very much appreciated.
I know this has been an unholy mess of a bunch of n00bish questions, but really appreciate any help you can give me!
The Emotiva UMC-1 should be more than adequate for what you're trying to accomplish. One thing to be aware of is that it will NOT do 3D pass through. It's HDMI 1.3a and not 1.4 spec, so it's not able to do 3D. If you don't plan on ever doing 3D, it's probably perfect.
Then I look at the Emotiva XPA-5. First, it's $900. The second question becomes... do you really need it? The UMC-1, assuming you get 8 Ohm speakers, should easily be able to handle a 5.1 or 7.1 power load at the levels you hope to run it at. I'd only recommend upping to the better amp if are trying to really drive the speakers loud. At apartment neighbor friendly levels, there's not way you're likely to ever need an amp. The other good part about the amp is it can always be added later if you decide you need it, right? So try the UMC-1 (or whatever you decide) and see how it performs on its own. If its not able to drive the speakers at the level you want, then decide to get the amp. But from what I can see on your room size and the levels you want to drive, I really think the amp would be overkill at this point. If you plan on moving to a house and it's not a townhouse or you aren't right next to your neighbor and you want to drive them hard, then buy it when you move.
For the front l/r I'm using the B&W 683s and they are fantastic. No complaints. I love the depth and the brilliance of the sound from them. They were $750 each. If you can afford the next step above and out of the "budget" 600 B&W line, do it. I couldn't afford it so I stuck with the best in class based on personal auditions. 683 frequency response is great and even at higher levels there is no problem from them at all.
But really the best thing for you to do is to decide how much you want to spend on speakers total. Locate a local hi-fi place and really get to know the equipment you're looking at. Not sure you'll find an Emotiva receiver there, but in terms of speaker selection and finding you the best option for your budget, you can't beat a great hi-fi team helping you.
Don't let anyone tell you that what they have is the best. Experience it for yourself. Don't blind buy off the Internet. Doing either will leave you questioning whether you really got the best options at your budget. You'll get upgrade-itis and probably want to upgrade long before you actually need to.
The last thing to consider is music quality. If you have a low bit rate source, the best speakers out there will make it sound like poop. A good loudspeaker should present you with exactly what's there, and if you're focused on 128 bit MP3s, you will be sorely disappointed with good equipment. If you've got FLAC files then you should be golden, or even lossless WMA/AAC or even high bit rate compressed files.
If all your files are on a PC and you want to drive the music from the PC, you might want to look into a DLNA capable receiver. You're going to pay more than the $700 of the UMC-1, but you'll save yourself a lot of heart ache down the road going with DLNA today if that's your plan.
