Modest Home Theater Plus Music

[JimPaudiox]

We have mid sized Infinity speakers that since we have down sized our house, now doninate the room. We would like to replace them with a home theater system (five small speakers and a sub) for about $800 to $1200 US. And a new receiver to match for about $300 to $500. I have looked at reviews on the web for 16 brands of speakers and 11 brands of receivers and am very confused. I have lost some high range hearing due to power equipment, so an expensive system would be lost on me.

Can you provide a recommendation for a matched setup that would produce good movie sound but also good music sound. We like jazz and new age music.

Thank you for your help.

Jim

 

[HookedOnSound]

there is alot of choice

speakers: Athena's are a good value. They have a Home theatre in a box pkg. I don't own any of them but i did have a chance to listen to them and sounded very good, not perfect but for the price, I wouldn't pass them over until you hear them. Hopefully they are available in your area.

receiver: i'm not as current on this technology, depending on the inputs you need and what you plan on hooking up, you might want to make a short list of absolute must haves and wants (secondary). At the price point you are looking the price will definitely limit the features....alot of ppl on this forum might recommend yamaha and denon brands (maybe RXV-450/550 and AVR-1705/1905?). I also agree those brands offer good value as well.

you might be able to save yourself some money and buy several items together since your dealer might offer a better package deal price.

If you can, go to your local dealer and audition your speakers before you buy. Don't buy on anybodies recommendation other than yourself....if it sounds good to you that's what counts!

Good Luck

 

[Leprkon]

you might look at the Mordaunt-Short speakers at Accessories4less.com. a pair of MS902 fronts ($350), a MS905c center ($ 250), a pair of MS903 rears ($ 230), and a decent Velodyne, SVS, or HSU sub will put you in business, along with a Denon 2105 or Yamaha 5760 or 5790 receiver to drive them...

they also have an excellent Canton LE125 speaker package (complete kit) for right at a grand and several smaller packages between $ 500 and 800.

 

[Tex-amp]

Ascend Acoustics would be another good choice to look into paired with the Pioneer 1014.

 

[Ilovemovies]

We use Athena's and we are quite happy with them

F Left- Athena
F Right-Athena
C Front-Athena
C Rear-Yamaha
Back L- Athena
Back R- Athena
Sub W- Axiom

 

[Nick250]

My vote goes to Paridigm Atoms. Wonderful, rich sound for such small speakers.

 

[JJMP50]

You mentioned that you listen to music as well as HT. IMO I have never heard a SAT/SUB do music justice. Keep in mind I haven't heard every system out there, but I've heard many. A decent set of Bookshelves on stands with a sub do just fine and SAT/SUB arrangements do well for DVD/Movies. Just make sure you take an old favorite CD with you to test. Some of the SAT/SUB systems just don't seem to like old fashion 2 channel rock and roll.

 

[nm2285]

Check out Energy's offerings, especially the Take 5.2. Great with movies and music.