New HT Speakers - Need advise

[csavell]

Hello everyone, Im brand new to the forum and new to HT.

I am building a new HT in my new home 16x18. I am looking at either the def tech BP7002's for front, Def tech 2500 for center, not sure about rears/surround yet..

OR

Axiom Epic 80-600 (ep-600 sub, vp-150 center, qs-8 surround) from the reviews by audioholics.

I have listened to the def tech's at the magnolia room...anything is better than my current Bose acoustimas 28 :/

I don't want to spend more than $4,000 or so for speakers...any other advise would be great. thanks!
Chad

 

[ParadigmDawg]

Wow for 4k you can get some great stuff...

How many cubic feet is your room?

What are your constraints?

 

[csavell]

Not exactly sure what you mean by constraints but the room is 16x18 w/ 8' ceilings. There is one window on the 18' side but I will be blacking it out since I am going with a front projection setup.

I am planning on using the Denon AVR-3806, again from the reviews by audioholics.

My main #1 goal is to watch a movie and have that "wow" factor w/o breaking the bank...I will be listenting very very little to staight audio, 99% movies / TV.

Another thought is to go with the recomended "$12k Home Theater System" reviews and recommended by AH...

 

[Buckeye_Nut]

Hello everyone, Im brand new to the forum and new to HT.

I am building a new HT in my new home 16x18. I am looking at either the def tech BP7002's for front, Def tech 2500 for center, not sure about rears/surround yet..

OR

Axiom Epic 80-600 (ep-600 sub, vp-150 center, qs-8 surround) from the reviews by audioholics.

I have listened to the def tech's at the magnolia room...anything is better than my current Bose acoustimas 28 :/

I don't want to spend more than $4,000 or so for speakers...any other advise would be great. thanks!
Chad

Dont forget to take a look at Klipsch. If I was in the market to replace my theater speakers and I had $4k burning in my pocket, I'd be looking at something along the lines of Klipsch RF63 fronts, RC-64 center, RS-62 surrounds, and a SVSPB-12Plus2 subwoofer.

But hey... that's just me. You definitely owe it to yourself to find a local Klipsch dealer to check them out.

happy shopping

 

[ParadigmDawg]

You dont have to spend 12K for a wow factor for a "mainly" movie system but man would it be cool if you did.

#1 Go listen to as many speakers as you can find in your price range

Warfadale
B&W
DT
PSB
Monitor Audio
Paradigm
KEF
Energy
Ascend
AV123

#2 Get the center that matches your mains

#3 Pick out a AVR that will power your set-up and has the options you like. The AVR should cost about 1/2 of your 2 main speakers.

Yamaha
Denon
Pioneer Elite

#4 Get the biggest, baddest sub you can find

SVS
HSU

#5 Through in some inexpensive surround speakers

the lower model of whatever mains you get.

I believe the DT's you are looking at have built-in sub which may make it difficult to properly tune. So I would suggest a stand alone sub.

 

[mazersteven]

My main #1 goal is to watch a movie and have that "wow" factor w/o breaking the bank...

...

One of these is going to give you that "Wow Factor"

http://www.svsound.com/products-sub-box-plus2.cfm
or
http://www.hsuresearch.com/products/vtf-3-ho-turbo.html

With a set of these

http://www.av123.com/products_product.php?section=speakers&product=79.1

this

http://www.av123.com/products_product.php?section=speakers&product=100.1

and these

http://www.av123.com/products_product.php?section=speakers&product=2.1

or these

http://www.av123.com/products_product.php?section=speakers&product=7.1

Now that's WOW

 

[csavell]

Thanks

First, thank you to everyone who has replied...I hope to listen to some of these speakers this weekend. Here in Houston I am sure I can find a high-end store to listen to them...

quick question for mazersteven or anyone else
Just because of the size of the room I am going for 5.1. What would make you choose either the RS250 MKII or RSS300 Dipole Surround?

 

[mazersteven]

How far back is your seating (Listening area) to your rear wall?

 

[csavell]

good question

Good question...with the room being 16 wide by 18 deep, I plan on putting the first row of seats ~7ft next around 15ft. Hard to tell exactly since the wife really wants a couch also, maybe along side wall instead of 2 rows of 3 seats....we wont be in the house till next month.

I will be using a front projection, haven't decided on screen size just yet.

 

[mazersteven]

Well JMO I would use the RSS300 Dipole Surround.

 

[csavell]

Thanks for your help...no doubt those are some of the nicest looking speakers for that price range and I have yet to find one review saying they weren't awesome speakers...going to give it a few days and probably pull the trigger.

What about the receiver, wouldn't want to spend over $1200 or so...I do have an older pionneer dolbe receiver, could I use that and windows media center? Not sure how to set that up though :/

 

[mazersteven]

Thanks for your help...no doubt those are some of the nicest looking speakers for that price range and I have yet to find one review saying they weren't awesome speakers...going to give it a few days and probably pull the trigger.

What about the receiver, wouldn't want to spend over $1200 or so...I do have an older pionneer dolbe receiver, could I use that and windows media center? Not sure how to set that up though :/

Hey I just seen this.

http://www.av123.com/products_product.php?section=speakers&product=11.1

http://www.av123.com/products_category_pack.php?section=speakers&brand=3

You might want to ask some of the owners of them what they use to drive these.

http://av123forum.com/

I would think that the Denon AVR-3806 or AVR-2807 would work just fine.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

That AV123 system would rock and those speakers are beautiful!

 

[jcPanny]

AV123 speakers

In your speaker budget you should consider the larger Rocket 850's for mains.
Alternately, if you do a lot of 2 channel stereo listening, you could get the Strat Minis, a Ref 100 and Ref 1's for surrounds. The Starta Mini's have powered woofers, but you would still need a sub for HT.

 

[billnchristy]

I have a set of 760s and use a Yamaha reciever to power them.

It does a very admirable job at it.

We recently had a small GTG and used an Onkyo 95w x7 and it did a pretty spectacular job as well.

I have 760s as fronts, RSC200 center, X-CS side rears and ref .5s as back rears...its a bastard but it sounds awesome.

Sub duties will be handled by 2 MFW-15 when they become available.

 

[mkossler]

In your speaker budget you should consider the larger Rocket 850's for mains.
Alternately, if you do a lot of 2 channel stereo listening, you could get the Strat Minis, a Ref 100 and Ref 1's for surrounds. The Starta Mini's have powered woofers, but you would still need a sub for HT.

Boy, those things are going to need a pretty big room. I have heard the 750's and 760's in a larger room than the OP's, both set up with the RS200 center and RS300 dipole surrounds (both also with SVS subs). They both were absolutely 'rock your world' level systems, and I thought almost too much for the room size. The 850's are drop-dead gorgeous, but I think they need a LOT of air and space .

 

[csavell]

I know this is a loaded question

Heh...I know this is a loaded question but I already pulled some speaker wire...do these 760's / 200 / etc need a specific size or type of wire? I ran 18/2 CLR3 before they put up the sheetrock...I could use it to repull different wire if needed...just curious. Hate to spend $3k on speakers and they sound like poop becuase of the wire

 

[mkossler]

18 gauge is... just a little too light for my taste.

I personally would prefer to go with 14-12 gauge wire with those speakers. Being the thrifty soul I am, I would just go to Home Depot or the equivalent and get zipper wire. Others 'round these parts would probably suggest Blue Jeans Cable or an equally reasonable and high-quality equivalent.

 

[csavell]

Thanks! Guess I will use that pre strung wire as a tug line to pull new wires

Found this great article too...this site rocks for a/v...truly...what a gem to find!

http://www.audioholics.com/buying-guides/how-to-shop/cable-budget-guidelines

 

[ParadigmDawg]

I use the home depot 14ga wire; it is pretty stiff but works great.