New here and I need you're help.

[Mc-Roux]

Hello all

First of all I'm new here and I come from Canada in the province of Quebec. I actually speak french but I also learned english at school. I actually still live at my parent house but I'm about to leave for an apartment or maybe I will rent a house I will see later.

I would like to get a new surround system to play game and watch movie. I would also listen to some music with it. I currently own a Logitech z-5500 sound systems. It can play quite loud and it had a decent quality but since a years my amp (wich is located in the subwoofer) is making a funny electrical noise when it's on stanby when it's not in use and since that it still play loud but the whole system is playing much more distortion than it used to do and it's pass warranty.

So I'm looking to buy a whole new system but I don't know much about home cinema and I don't want to buy the wrong thing and end up wasting 500 or 1000 buck for nothing.

I don't want to put 2000$ in this project and I'm okay to order from Internet.

I want a good receiver in the 300-500$ range, do they actually last a while? Can I hope to keep this receiver for say 5 or 6 years and if I want to get better speaker in 2 or 3 years will it still be enough up to date to not have to upgrade it again? Or it's not worth putting that much money on the receiver now and just wait to get something better later if I upgrade my speaker?

For the speaker I don't mind buying them in kit or separately. I'm looking for something that can play quite loud to fill a medium to large room (since my sound system will probably end up in the living room when I move in apartment later). I'm looking at maybe 500$ for the speaker. They don't really have to come with subwoofer. Anyway the subwoofer that usually come in those low priced speaker kit are usually garbage (Actually I've never heard one that sounded good and played enough loud for the whole system).

As for the subwoofer I will probably order it from part express. Actually the money I will put on the sub is not counted in the project since I will order it later when I know what speaker I get. I looked at part express and I read alot of good review about the build yourself subwoofer kit they sell. I could also get the part separately and build my own enclosure. I want something that sound good (Not muddy or boomy) and can play at least as loud as my Logitech z-5500 sub wich is already quite loud. I will probably get a sealed enclosure since it give a quite good result for sound quality.

Sorry for the long book I've just written but I had to present myself So I need you're recommendation on what you would buy with around 800-1000$ not including the subwoofer.

Thank You
Steeve

 

[Mc-Roux]

I've read alot of review and buying guide today and I came up with this

- Onkyo TX-SR608 seem's to be a good entry receiver. Would you recommend it? Also what kid of subwoofer output it has? Is it high output for passive subwoofer or a RCA type output for active subwoofer? I've looked on their website but I can't find this information.

-For speaker I haven't find much except those Klipsch Quintet. They are 50 and 75 watt rms into 8ohm, has a decent sensibility and hare two way (wich is certainly better than my 1 way Z-5500 speaker). The thing that confuse me is the : CROSSOVER FREQUENCY Satellite: 3700Hz
Center: 3100Hz . Is this the cutoff for the tweeter in the satellite? Or it's actually the lowest frequency that the satellite will play? I hope note cause it would make a big hole between 80 and 3100hz.


The only trouble is that no store close to me carry them, so I can't hear them. There is futureshop but the only thing he would carry is some polk audio and klipsch HD theater 300 wich they sell for 600$ That why I want to buy online.

Sorry I can't post link to the speaker I'm talking about I don't have enough post yet.

 

[GO-NAD!]

I've read alot of review and buying guide today and I came up with this

- Onkyo TX-SR608 seem's to be a good entry receiver. Would you recommend it? Also what kid of subwoofer output it has? Is it high output for passive subwoofer or a RCA type output for active subwoofer? I've looked on their website but I can't find this information.

-For speaker I haven't find much except those Klipsch Quintet. They are 50 and 75 watt rms into 8ohm, has a decent sensibility and hare two way (wich is certainly better than my 1 way Z-5500 speaker). The thing that confuse me is the : CROSSOVER FREQUENCY Satellite: 3700Hz
Center: 3100Hz . Is this the cutoff for the tweeter in the satellite? Or it's actually the lowest frequency that the satellite will play? I hope note cause it would make a big hole between 80 and 3100hz.


The only trouble is that no store close to me carry them, so I can't hear them. There is futureshop but the only thing he would carry is some polk audio and klipsch HD theater 300 wich they sell for 600$ That why I want to buy online.

Sorry I can't post link to the speaker I'm talking about I don't have enough post yet.

That Onkyo would be fine for you. It has to sub outs for active subwoofers. The crossover frequencies you refer to would be between the tweeter and mid/bass drivers in the speakers - not between the speakers and subwoofer.

Now, I'm going to say something you may not want to hear. Those Quintet speakers will be better than what you have, but in my opinion, not even an entry-level system for anyone who is serious about sound quality. The published frequency response for them - Satellite: 120Hz-23kHz and Center: 125Hz-23kHz does not impress me. They don't qualify that FR with a +/- 3dB tolerance. The usable bass may only extend down to about 140-160 Hz. That would not be tolerable from my standpoint. The subwoofer crossover would have to be set way too high to achieve a well-blended frequency response across the range.

You have set a $500 budget for your speakers. You will not get a good quality complete system for that amount. I suggest that you buy a pair of quality bookshelf speakers. Here's a couple of good models from Axiom:

http://axiomaudio.com/m3.html
http://axiomaudio.com/m22.html

Then, as you save more cash, get a centre channel speaker and a pair of surrounds - in that order. That way, you won't feel like upgrading within a year.

I hope that helps. And, of course, that's just my opinion. Others may suggest differently. Be patient - you don't need to get everything right away. By the way, your english is very good - far better than my french.