First, I apologize for the length of my post! Im hoping to help out some people that might also be new to HT, and could be looking for input from people like me, who have just moved on from being completely ignorant, to SLIGHTLY knowledgeable.
Second, I want to thank everybody here on audioholics. Being completely new to the HT world, starting from scratch, it was a bit tough to get my head around all the terms, brands, and models, and without you guys, I would have forever been in the dark! Combining a hundred+ searches, and a few posts here and there in various forums, I was able to piece together a system with the performance I was looking for, within the budget I had to work with.
So since I am not really a power-poster here on audioholics.com, more of a lurker/learner, most of you probably don’t know anything about my journey. For reference, let me share with you what I ended up with, and then my thoughts on how it all came together.
AVR = Pioneer Elite VHX-01
Front = Polk RTi 10s
Center = Polk CSi 5
Rears = Polk FXi 4s
Sub = Elemental Designs A3-300 with the upgraded driver
Details on my equipment decisions:
AVR – My original budget for my AVR was around $400. I looked at the Onks, the Yammys, the Denons, and the Pioneers. After I researched everything that was important to me, I decided that the Pioneer seemed to suffer from the least number of problems, while maintaining just as much, if not more, bang-for-buck than all its competators. But I quickly discovered that going from the 1018 to the VHX-01 was worth the extra money. Pre-outs, 12v triggers, and some other things made it a tad more future proof. And lets face it, the Elite AVRs are just plain sexy. Nothing wrong with a bit of eye candy with your puchase!
Fronts - I would of loved to have gone with better fronts and a better center channel, but all added up, I was maxed out on my budget. From everything that I read, the RTi10s were a LOT of speaker for the money, and I was able to listen to them a while ago and thought they sounded great, so I went with them. I was able to get them for around $280 a piece, a steal if you ask me.
Rears – Fxi 4s. Great reviews, bi-pole, not to big, not too small, very affordable (got mine for $349 for the pair) they sound fantastic as surround sounds. Can’t go wrong I don’t think
Sub – Here is another piece that caused me some grief. What I wanted was enough sub that I could really push a larger room without feeling like I was really working the sub too hard. I wanted power, clarity, and headroom. I quickly realised that if not careful, the sub of choice could MURDER your budget. The last thing I wanted to do, was choose a sub then only to immediately realise that I needed more. After comparing SVS, HSU, ED, and a couple others, I decided that the ED A3-300 was the best performance on the dollar out of any sub out there. 350watts, upgraded 12” driver, fully featured, no tax, and NO shipping, it is the most woofer for the money. The only downside, is that it certainly isn’t as pretty as the competitors, but in figuring out where I wanted my dollars to go, performance was the priority and the misses agreed. $500 door-to-door is really incredible. Easily the best deal out of all my components. The guys are ED were great to work with, I highly recommend them.
Performance of my equipment:
While I am new to home theater, I am not new to what sounds good. I have been a car audio enthusiast for quite a while, and I have been a studying musician for over 20 years. So when reading my performance opinions, take that into consideration.
Polks – One of the first thing I did when I got all my stuff hooked up, was put on a Sarah Mclaughlin CD. The CD is well recorded, levels are great, the drums pop, and the vocals really shine. The performance of the Polks are astonishing. They are clear, precise, and with the receiver running “flat”, seem to push a perfect balance of highs, mids, and low mids. Not a single tone or note seems out of place, or too harsh. I really can’t find any downsides to these speakers…. Seriously. The only thing I can think of, is that the LOOK of the speaker might not appeal to everybody. I think they look great.
Sub – the sub is incredible. It plays low, loud, controlled, with an almost effortless feel. Sometimes it plays so low, I can only feel the couch moving. The room is 30’ by 18’ that opens up to the kitchen and entryway, with big 14’ ceilings. On 1/3 to 1/2 power, the sub shakes the ENTIRE house. I’m amazed that the sub not only fills such a huge room with bass SO well, but that it could power a room twice the size too. The sub is placed near the corner of the room, but not right in it. Maybe 2 or more feet along the wall away from the corner, on the inside of the right main speaker.
Running full surround – The first thing I did to test the setup in HT, was toss in Iron man on Blu-ray through my playstation. The opening scenes are mostly dialog between Robert downey Jr. and some soldiers cruzing in a convoy in a hum-vee. 5 minutes in, they get attacked and an explosion rumbles. I was SO surprised and the power that came out of both the polks, the center, and of course the sub, that it literally made me jump. Me and the misses both looked at each other and simultaneously said “Holycrap!”. I’m still pretty new to the technical mumbo-jumbo side of HT, but I can’t imagine the sounds from the movie being duplicated any more accurate. It was loud, powerful, direct, but not painful or harsh to listen to. The overall sound, was overwhelming (in a good way). Our mouths were on our lap for the entire movie. What a difference it makes having fantastic audio, to match a fantastic picture. (47" phillips 1080p lcd)
In conclusion, I can say im 100% satisfied with all the components I went with, and can recommend them all with confidence, to anybody limted to a total budget of around $2000 like I was. (I went a little over). That’s it! Thanks again to everybody on here that helped me with my decisions… they paid off for me big time.
New audioholic / HT addict
Cpt. America
