Need help with picking speakers and receiver (budged ~$1500)

[VanBasten]

Hi,

First, I'm a total newbie so hopefully someone could point me in the right direction.
I'm looking for a home theater system that will be used for 50% movies and 50% music. Music and movies are of equal importance (I would love to hear a good reproduction of the helicopter woosh ;-))

In short, here's what I have / need:

Room dimensions:
- 20(l)x14(w)x10(h). I'll be sitting about 10-14ft away from the TV/speakers/sub. There's carpet in the room.

So far I have purchased:
- Sub: SVS SB12-NSD (400watt)
- TV: Samsung 4K JS8500

Need:
- Speakers. I think I'd like to start with a 2.1 system and maybe add surround later if needed. 5.1 would probably be max I'd want to go with.
I think I'm leaning towards bookshelf speakers since I already have a sub, and from what I'm reading I'll probably get better bang for the buck quality-wise. I just have no idea about brands, models, compatibility with receiver, sub, etc.

Connection: Do I care about optical vs RCA vs something else?
Space is adequate and could probably accommodate most systems.

Budged: probably about $1,000 for a pair, unless there's something out there that's really worth getting for few hundreds more OR something very reasonable for few hundreds less.

- Receiver. Something that works with a 4K TV (if that even matters at all) and has descent features. I've read somewhere that "Audyssey’s MultEQ XT" would be nice to have, but have no idea what that is.
Budged: probably a few hundreds max.

- Anything else I should get?


Thanks!

 

[Ty Wayne]

So you have around 1500 bucks to spend on a front L & R, and an AVR?

Check out Ascend's at ascendacoustics.com. I know you can get some Sierra 1's for around a grand/pair.
As for the AVR, if your interested in 4k, depending on what kind of console or streaming device you are using, I'd personally look for something thats HDCP 2.2 compatible. On the "connection", lots of people use optical but I dont believe you can get dolby truehd via optical. I could be wrong on that. Matters not, as your best and easiest connection is going to be HDMI, which delivers audio and video through a single cable.

 

[billg71]

I just bought a pair of LSA-1 Signature monitors from Underwood HiFi and I'm very pleased with them, especially at $900/pair(+ shipping, no stands, though). I'd never heard the LSAs but they had some good reviews and I'm quite happy. I upgraded from a pair of home-built Zaph SR-71s(which were pretty good speakers) and the LSAs have them beat.

NHT has their Classic 3s on sale for $338/each, they also get good reviews.

Either choice leaves you with ~ $550-650 for a receiver which should be doable.

HTH,
Bill

 

[VanBasten]

What do you guys think of KEF LS50? How do they compare against the Sierra1 and LSA-1?

 

[PENG]

What do you guys think of KEF LS50? How do they compare against the Sierra1 and LSA-1?

They are great for a small room. If you sit 10 ft from them and have a good sub then they can work well for you too.

 

[TheWarrior]

Wow, somebody who wants to start with TWO really good speakers, and build up from there!

The force is with you VanBasten!

 

[tyhjaarpa]

What do you guys think of KEF LS50? How do they compare against the Sierra1 and LSA-1?

I don't know how they compare, but LS50 is really nice speaker all around. They have surprisingly good bass as well but as you have sub to go with this doesn't matter. Will work really well with sub.