New HT Speaker Advice

[aaronboy20]

I am moving into a new house with a dedicated theater room that will mostly be used for watching sporting events/ TV / DVDs. I have an Onkyo TX-SR674 receiver already and was wanting to get some advice on speakers to make up a 5.1 system for a 20 x 20 x 8 room. I plan on purchasing the HSU VTF-3 MK3 sub, because I have heard such great things about them.

I am hoping to spend around $500/pair for front speakers, which I would like to buy tower speakers.
$350-400 for a center channel.
And $400-500 for the 2 surrounds.
However, I guess this money could pooled with a high end of around $1500. I was just looking for suggestions as to what you all with much more expertise think about the highest quality, best sounding home theater type speakers within this price range would be. I know most think that you need to go out and listen for yourself, but there are not many high end speaker stores where I am from. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[mazersteven]

AV123 MTM mains for $449 a pair

http://www.av123.com/products_product.php?section=speakers&product=105.1

 

[Tex-amp]

You can also find used Ascend Acoustics 340SE in your price range right now as Ascend owners upgrade to the new Ascend Sierras. Ascend offers a 5 year transferable warranty and the SE version has only been out 1.5 years. So you'd get at least 3.5 years of warranty on a pair of used 340SEs.

 

[mazersteven]

You can also find used Ascend Acoustics 340SE in your price range right now as Ascend owners upgrade to the new Ascend Sierras. Ascend offers a 5 year transferable warranty and the SE version has only been out 1.5 years. So you'd get at least 3.5 years of warranty on a pair of used 340SEs.

Although the 340Se is a find sounding speaker. It is not a floorstander like the OP stated.

 

[silversurfer]

From reading a lot of posts from various boards, mazersteven, you seem to be a bit of an AV123 fan, and Tex an Ascend fan.

That said, the Ascend definitely is not a true tower, but can be made to look like one with the custom stands. They definitely do not have the finish options like the AV123 speakers. The OP said he would like towers, but did not say absolutely.

Since, the X-MTM is a tower version of the X-CS, I think, there is a new review of the X-CS and has some words of comparison to the CMT-340SE.

It is in the June issue here:
http://www.affordableaudio.org/

 

[mazersteven]

From reading a lot of posts from various boards, mazersteven, you seem to be a bit of an AV123 fan, and Tex an Ascend fan.

That would be funny since my last post over at AVS was recommending Ascend 340 speakers.

Who is the fanboy now Silver?

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=856367

Seems you don't have a clue.

 

[angstadt530]

I have two suggestions:

First, I wouldn't spend >$400 dollars on surrounds with your budget. I would take the extra money I'm saving on the surrounds and put that toward better, more expensive mains. Your center channel budget should be fine.

Secondly, I know you want towers, but at least consider bookshelves. I, too, wanted to get towers when I was first looking into mains, but the guys here on the forum convinced me otherwise: A pair of bookshelf speakers worth $500 or even $600 will be of much better quality than that of a floorstander. The main advantage to floorstanders (besides my personal opinion that it just looks better to have a big pair of towers up front) is their ability to handle lower frequencies (i.e. better bass). However, you'll be using a HSU VTF-3 MK3, which is a pretty sweet sub; you won't need your mains to be doing any low frequency work. So a pair of $500 bookshelves will be of better quality than a pair of $500 towers, and with the VTF-3 at their side, they will definitely outperform the equally priced towers. Just my two cents.

 

[MUDSHARK]

That would be funny since my last post over at AVS was recommending Ascend 340 speakers.

Who is the fanboy now Silver?

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=856367

Seems you don't have a clue.

Are we grumpy this week, Steven?

 

[silversurfer]

Sorry mazersteven, I didn't mean it to come off as offensive.

The post you referred to, X-series was already mentioned, and you mentioned you owned them.

 

[mazersteven]

Sorry mazersteven, I didn't mean it to come off as offensive.

The post you referred to, X-series was already mentioned, and you mentioned you owned them.

I don't own them. But I do have a set of MTM's and Strata's in my living room.

 

[silversurfer]

I don't own them. But I do have a set of MTM's and Strata's in my living room.

Did someone do you a favor?

 

[mazersteven]

Did someone do you a favor?

Your asking me to kiss and tell. That's not nice. LOL