Let my start by saying I'm VERY inexperienced in this field and I've been reading this site and several others for days; however, I'm still clueless on what I need to buy. Also, I see A LOT of posts that say go sample the speakers myself; however, I live in a VERY rural area and there aren't many places to audition this type of equipment.
I want to set up a 7.1 HT in my 22x20x8 basement. I'm considering an Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 1080 UB Projector for movies, Xbox 360, and Wii. I'm also considering a Onkyo 805, because it seems like it will give me all the connections I need to hook up my Xbox and Wii. Now I'm having a lot of trouble deciding which speakers to get. I have a 10 year old Velodine Sub that still seems to put out A LOT of deep bass. I need advice on fronts, sides, and rears. Ideally, I'd like to stay below $1,500. Can anyone offer advice???
Thanks in advance.....
What I would do is to take a pad of paper with you, write down the make and model of each speaker you audition and what you liked and disliked about the speakers you were auditioning. Was the bass tight and deep or was it boomy and loose sounding? Were the mids life like or were they hollow or just too pronounced? Was the treble irritating and harsh or were they dark and not revealing or were they smooth that made you want to listen for more? How was the imaging?
Bring music with you that you are very familiar with and know quite well. To make it easier to audition HT speaker systems, listen to the main speakers in 2 channel mode with music. Music is much harder to reproduce acurately then a movie soundtrack so if the speakers do well with music, then they will do well with HT. Speakers that do HT well may not do well with music.
When auditioning the center channel of the same brand and series as the main speakers, pick a difficult source like an announcer that mumbles alot. If you can make out what the mumbling announcer has to say, then you have a good center channel.I would go to speciality stores first and start auditioning speakers first instead of going to the internet first. Once your likes are determined, you can mention them here and fellow members can make internet brand recommnedations based on your likes/dislikes.
The specality stores are better setup acousticaly then the big box stores which will make auditioning a little easier. It will give you an idea of what you like in a speaker.
Keep track of what amp or receiver is powering the speakers you're auditioning.Try to get a receiver/amp that closest resembles what you have or want to get.It just reduces another variable when audtioning speakers.One thing to keep note off.
When auditioning speakers, make sure the volume levels are matched between the diiferent speaker pairs because the louderspeaker pair will always sound better. Listen to levels that you think you would listen to most of the time because thats how you are going to be using them most of the time.
Thats being said, I love my PSB Image series setup. Its worth an audition.
