newbie low budget need advice entry Polks vs HTIB?

T

Tadsbud

Enthusiast
Hopefully I am not the only one here that loves movies/music but is doesn't have the cash to go big.

I am slowly finishing our small basement and have set aside half of the rec room area for a projector and some speakers. The area is about 12' x 12' with open areas to the left and right. I listen to classical, 70-present rock/pop, some trance/techno. I will also be using my PS3, and Wii (if the projector is not in the way).

I can spend about $2k--which I should be thankful I have a budget at all in this economy.

Here is what I have picked out:
Projector: Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 8350 ($1000)
Screen: undecided, might use wall for a few months
Receiver: Onkyo TX-NR609 ($400)
Speakers
Sub: Polk Audio PSW10 ($100)
Front: Polk Audio TSi200 ($220)
Center: Polk Audio CS10 ($100)
Rear: Polk Audio OWM3 ($100)

So my biggest question is with the speakers. Right now I am spending $520 on the speakers. I could possibly go up to $750 or so if it takes me to the next level.

I have looked at a few sets like:
Infinity TSS-1200CHR 6-piece Home Theater System ($500)
Energy 5.1 Take Classic Home Theater System ($400)
Energy 5.1 RC-Micro 5.1 Surround Speaker System ($600)
JBL CS6100BG 6-piece Home Theater System ($600)
Mirage MX 5.1-Channel Miniature Home Theater System ($650)
Mirage Nanosat 5.1 Small High-Performance Speaker System ($400)
Klipsch HD 500 Compact 5.1 Home Theater System ($380)

Out of these systems is there any to shy away from? Any best in class? How about the Polks I picked? Any upgrades that are well worth the extra cash? Like going to the RTi for fronts, the CS20 center or something beefier for the the sub? How do the Polks line up with the 5.1 Theater Systems?

My wife and I were naive enough to buy an overpriced Bose 2.1 system of some sorts several years back. Just watched "Priest" tonight on Blue Ray and it was the final straw for me. I had to crank up the volume all the way just to hear dialog and then the music was way too loud. Kept having to turn it up and down.

Anyways, any help at all would be much appreciated.

Thanks!
 
GranteedEV

GranteedEV

Audioholic Ninja
Get 2 good mains and leave it at that. You can't afford any real subs in your budget and those trash subs will be a waste of money. Also avoid the lure of surrounds when your budget's so small. They're so underutilized that you'll wish you had gotten better mains. Especially rear surrounds AND side surrounds.

I recommend

2 of these:
http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/KEFQ700WLN/KEF-Q700-Q-Series-6-1/2-inch-Walnut-Floorstanding-Speakers-Each/1.html
+
1 of these:
http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/MARSR6004/Marantz-SR6004-110w-X-7ch-Home-Theater-Surround-Receiver/1.html

For audio.

For video:
This screen: http://www.seymourav.com/screensDIY.asp - it's also acoustically transparent so you can place the speakers behind the screen for when you choose to add a center channel, so your center can be identical to the mains instead of a compromised horizontal center.

With that said, modern blu rays WILL have a high dynamic range, meaning that dialogue may be a lot quieter than background music or special effects. It's just the nature of the mastering and no speakers will compensate for that, although superior speakers like the ones I named may "sound less loud" with dynamics because room reflections sound less offensive. What you need is dynamic range compression on your receiver or blu ray player.
 
BoredSysAdmin

BoredSysAdmin

Audioholic Slumlord
KEF Q700 are great speakers and you'll certainly enjoy them listening to music, I'd still like to present option B just in case you are an impatient man and would want to have everything finished or just have lower total investment in this system.

So:
Receiver - There are few unhappy folks with Onkyo reliability around here, but then again plenty of unhappy owners of Maranz over amazon...
Reality is - no one is perfect....

Features wise - this onkyo is really superior to the 6004 unit:
http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/ONKTXNR808/Onkyo-TX-NR808-7.2-Channel-3-D-Ready-Network-A/V-Receiver/1.html#!specifications

Regarding speakers - this kit - retails for 1,099.88 - now on fire sale at $450 or even lower at $360 if you dont mind opened box product. This deal wont last long
http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/item/features/544231343/jamo-s606hcs3?s_c=site_search


Sorry, like G-EV said - your budget doesn't leave any room for sub, but if you decide to increase it - Rythmik FV12 would be a good choice.
 
jonnythan

jonnythan

Audioholic Ninja
The guy is thinking about buying a $400 receiver and spending possibly up to $750 on speakers, and we recommend a $470 receiver and $940 speakers?

The Polk Monitor series is the predecessor of the TSi line and is practically identical. You can get a pair of the Monitor 60 on eBay from Polk for $250 and the CS2 for $120. This will be much better than the TSi200 (Monitor 40) + CS10 (CS1). The next step up would probably be Infinity P363s for $400 plus the PC351 for $200.
 
BoredSysAdmin

BoredSysAdmin

Audioholic Slumlord
The guy is thinking about buying a $400 receiver and spending possibly up to $750 on speakers, and we recommend a $470 receiver and $940 speakers?

The Polk Monitor series is the predecessor of the TSi line and is practically identical. You can get a pair of the Monitor 60 on eBay from Polk for $250 and the CS2 for $120. This will be much better than the TSi200 (Monitor 40) + CS10 (CS1). The next step up would probably be Infinity P363s for $400 plus the PC351 for $200.
Anything Polk prior to LSi series are complete and utter trash and LSi are WAY over the price point OP is looking for.

Infinity P363's are good and solid choice, but I question the wisdom of 3.0 system, 2.1 would be much better choice
 
F

FirstReflection

AV Rant Co-Host
I'm going to come at this a little differently if that's ok :)

With a $2000 budget for a projector, surround sound, and let's not forget about other important things like power protection (a battery backup for your projector bulb is a MUST in my book!), cables/wire and a screen! Trying to get all of that on a $2000 budget, I'm of the opinion that it's better to not try and make this a "dream" system, but rather, to come in knowing that you're going to have to compromise and sacrifice a little bit and thus, go with speakers that are very good for what they are (cheap :p ), but aren't trying to pretend like they're bigger and better than they are!

So here's the system I would put together with a $2000 budget:

Projector:

Epson Home Cinema 8350: $1150 - looks like you already found this gem! No better choice in the under $1500 price bracket. Really excellent. You won't be disappointed :D I'm not sure where you found that $1000 price though. The lowest I'm seeing is about $1080, with $1150 being the going price on the most reliable internet resellers like projectorpeople and amazon. So I'm going to play it safe and give it a $1150 price tag.

Battery Backup UPS Power Protection:

APC Back-UPS ES 750 (BE750G): $80 - As I said, I consider a battery backup UPS (uninterruptible power supply) to be absolutely vital for any projector or DVR. Everybody gets a power outage from time to time. If it happens while you have your projector on, it can seriously shorten the life of your bulb or even cause the bulb to explode! That's because the cooling for the hot bulb instantly shuts off if the power goes out...but not if you have a battery backup! APC is THE go-to company for power protection. The Back-UPS ES 750 gives you 5 outlets with battery protection and 5 other outlets with surge protection for less vital gear. The battery life isn't all that long if you have your gear up and running, but the idea isn't to keep your whole theater going during a power outage; the idea is simply to give you enough time to safely shut down your gear, allowing your projector to go through its proper cool-down cycle with its fan going. And if you have a DVR, you can keep your recordings going for a while. Might not get you through a long black out, but if the power's only out for 15 minutes or less, you can keep your DVR running and not lose your recording! Must have, IMO.

Receiver:

Onkyo TX-NR609 or Denon AVR-1712: $400 - I like Onkyo myself. They really push out the features for the price. But their customer service SUUUUUCKS, so if you happen to get one of their hot-running units, it's a pain getting it fixed or replaced. The alternative at this price point is the Denon AVR-1712 and it's pretty competitive feature-wise. What I would strongly recommend is that you go to onkyousa.com and denon.com and download the manuals and read through those. You can't really go by the specs and features that are just listed on the product pages because those are often inaccurate. Read the manuals instead and that will fully detail the features. If the Onkyo has a feature that you really want that the Denon lacks, I've no problem recommending the 609. Where Onkyo really shines is at the $600 price point where the TX-NR709 is the least expensive receiver out there to offer pre-outs for all speakers. To me, that's an important feature because it means that you can add separate amplifiers in the future if you want to. But with your budget, $200 extra is a lot, and either the 609 or 1712 should be just fine for what you need ;)

---

So, at this point, we're already up to just over $1600. That leaves very little room for speakers and a screen plus cables and wires. If you were trying to get honest-to-goodness great speakers at the lowest possible price, I'd be telling you to spend at least $350 (more like $550) on the subwoofer alone! So I think your best bet is to put that kind of idea completely out of your head for the moment, and instead, focus on the idea of getting "pretty darn good sound - amazing when you consider the price"! The type of speakers that you can easily and happily upgrade one day in the future because you spent so little on them. And speakers that are still good enough that they wil impress you now and then, one day, easily move to another room or sell for very close to what you paid for them originally! I give you...

Speakers:

Onkyo SKS-HT540: $260 (at Amazon) - these are, hands down, my absolute favorite extremely low cost speakers. They are surprisingly good. To be perfectly honest, throwing price out the window, I would take them over the Polks that you were considering and put them just a fraction down in performance compared to the Energy 5.1 packages that I consider to be the best out of the list of the candidates that you listed.

Honestly, if you are limited to around $500, I say that it is not worth it to spend $500 unless you want to get just a single pair of good bookshelf front speakers. Instead, spend half that on these Onkyo speakers. The Onkyo SKW-204 subwoofer that comes in this package constantly makes me smile whenever I hear it. It's no Rythmik FV12 or HSU STF-2 - let's be clear about that! But for around $110 on its own, it's an honest-to-goodness little gem that thumps its little heart out and just puts to shame the subwoofers that you'll find in most of those $500-ish 5.1 package systems.

Bottom line is that if you want to spend $500 on just a pair of front bookshelf speakers, that's a good way to go. You can add the subwoofer, surrounds and center (I'd go in that order) later and get a very good pair of speakers for now.

But if you want surround sound right away (and 7 channel surround at that!), you absolutely cannot beat the SKS-HT540 package. THIS is the way to do surround sound speakers on the cheap. Instead of being disappointed and feeling as though you want to upgrade almost right away, but paying a full $500 or $600, which isn't chump change, you can pay a mere $260 and be darned impressed! At that price, it's awfully hard to feel disappointed when you get sound quality that is actually pretty darn good. At that price, it's easy to justify an upgrade in the future because you paid so little right now! And at that price, it's easy to sell them later or just use them in another room.

On your budget, this is what I would buy - no question. Check out some reviews online if you need more convincing ;) One thing to note - the Onkyo SKS-HT540 speakers are actually physically larger than you might expect! Onkyo's OEM didn't try to overcome physics with "magic", marketing and lies. They just put together honest speakers with inexpensive parts and you get the rewards of just plain, simple design. I hope you go with these because, to me, the next real price bracket for a 5.1 speaker set starts at over $1000 where you're spending at least $350 on the sub alone and around $750 or more on the speakers. Below that price point, it's compromised-performance city. So if you're looking at compromised performance no matter what, why not spend as little as possible? Why spend $500 when you can get the same performance - actually BETTER performance, IMO - spending only $260? It just makes sense, and I hope you'll agree :)

---

So after shipping is included, we're probably close to around $1900 now. That doesn't really leave you enough money to get a fabric screen of any kind unless you really can find that 8350 for less. If you can, or if there's a little "wiggle room" in the budget, my favorite low-cost screen is the Da-Lite High Power with either Da-Lite's least expensive frame, or better yet IMO, their "Model B" or "Model B" manual pull-down screen case. When it comes to transportability and easy installation, nothing beats a manual pull-down screen. Da-Lite's High Power fabric is really excellent for pull-down screens. It hides any "waves" in the fabric, which always crop up with a non-tensioned screen. And its high gain gives you image a huge "wow" factor, with a really bright, vibrant image that you can even watch with some ambient light.

Finally, for your cables and wires, you will, of course, head on over to monoprice.com ;)

So that's that! The keys in my recommendations are the APC Back-UPS ES750 battery backup, which I really think is vital, and the Onkyo SKS-HT540 speakers, which are just a steal and the way that I absolutely think anyone should go for a full surround setup unless they have over $1000 to spend on speakers.

Hope that helps!
 
M

m_vanmeter

Full Audioholic
please remember the original OP specs .... like a 12'x12' room

as mentioned The current "best bang for the buck" deals are the Jamo S606 bundle (the towers are a very modest size) and Polk Series 2 Monitor speakers (I humbly disagree with a previous comment...my Monitor70 towers and CS2 center are not trash, but excellent speakers for the money spent and their intended purpose)

Since listening to music is also a requirement, I would not recommend any of the listed small satellite speaker bundles. They just will not do justice to full dynamic range classical music....or even survive trance/techno. ;)
 
T

Tadsbud

Enthusiast
This forum is absolutely amazing. Thank you all for the replies.

One thing I forgot to mention is that I have small children that will, no doubt, knock over floor speakers (unless you know a way to eliminate that?). I will increase my overall budget to add speaker wire, power protection, and other cabling (I actually had those calculated in my electric wiring budget). That DIY screen material looks interesting...I will have to check into that more--might be a fun project and save a few samosas.

I really want to stay within $400.00 on the receiver--I'll check that Denon out as a comparison for the Onkyo. The $2k is a ballpark budget--so let's say I have $500-750 to spend on some speakers. OK after reading the replies I am open to a few more options.

1. Stay with a box set and go with the Onkyo SKS-HT540 and save up for something better down the road.

2. Get a pair of nice Bookshelf speakers for $500-750 and hold off on the surrounds, sub, and center.

3. Get a $200-300 sub with $300-500 Bookshelf speakers and hold off on the center and surrounds.

For options 2 I am thinking about some Axiom M22's. For option 3, maybe some axiom M3's with a Polk Audio PSW505 ($200)? I am open for a floor standing speaker if I can somehow ensure it won't get knocked over by my little angels =)
 
jonnythan

jonnythan

Audioholic Ninja
A simple way to prevent kids from knocking over floorstanding speakers is to attach them to the wall with a wire or string. I bought a picture hanging kit for about $5 at Walmart, put one of the little hooks on the top of the back of the speaker and another on the wall, then tied a piece of wire between them. My speakers are front-ported, so they're pretty close to the wall and the wire is completely invisible. But you can't tip them over.

If I were you and had $750 to spend, I'd probably get a pair of P363s and an HSU VTF-2 or Bic PL-200 with a plan to add a center and surrounds later. Depends on the size of the room and planned listening levels though.

BTW, don't get a Polk sub. Horrible value. If you have a smallish room you can get away with bookshelves and a Bic F12 for under $200.

You don't want to run bookshelves without a sub, especially for home theater. And especially M22s. The M3 has better bass output than the M22.
 
GranteedEV

GranteedEV

Audioholic Ninja
please remember the original OP specs .... like a 12'x12' room
This is why I think a narrow directivity speaker, like, but not limited to, the KEFs, will sound best in such a room. It will attenuate off axis response well enough to improve dialogue clarity for OP.

One thing I forgot to mention is that I have small children that will, no doubt, knock over floor speakers (unless you know a way to eliminate that?).
They should definitely come with floor/carpet spikes for just that scenario.

I really want to stay within $400.00 on the receiver--I'll check that Denon out as a comparison for the Onkyo. The $2k is a ballpark budget--so let's say I have $500-750 to spend on some speakers. OK after reading the replies I am open to a few more options.
I understand that, but the one I linked is more like a $1100 MSRP receiver. Entry level receivers simply can't compete with a true mid level receiver. The amp sections will be better, and so will the auto-setup. It's not a minor difference. I genuinely think it's worth the extra small bit of money for what you get in return. The very high quality preamplifier out jacks alone, are worth it.

1. Stay with a box set and go with the Onkyo SKS-HT540 and save up for something better down the road.
I wouldn't.

3. Get a $200-300 sub with $300-500 Bookshelf speakers and hold off on the center and surrounds.
Cheap subs like this are trash. They can sound really annoying and full of distortion. What you need are two quality, low distortion subwoofers. This simply isn't in your budget right now so why throw away $2-300?

You've already made a similar mistake with the bose setup and now you're doing something very similar.

If you want a great setup, you need to start with the fundamentals of good sound.

2. Get a pair of nice Bookshelf speakers for $500-750 and hold off on the surrounds, sub, and center.
This could work, although you really for such a room do want narrower dispersion than the typical tweeter/midrange setup, because reflections off of walls will just reduce intelligibility and accuracy.

For options 2 I am thinking about some Axiom M22's. For option 3, maybe some axiom M3's with a Polk Audio PSW505 ($200)? I am open for a floor standing speaker if I can somehow ensure it won't get knocked over by my little angels =)
The polk sub will be trashhh, and the Axioms would not be my choice. How do you plan to set the M22s up? If you're going to wall mount them, they may sound boomy. Unless a speaker is designed for a near wall mounting, they may have too much sound below 500hz. THe contrary is also true - unless a speaker is designed to be 3 feet into the room, it may have too little below 500hz or so. You want a good balance of intended placement with actual placement, if you want clear dialogue that doesn't shout and doesn't sound "full of chest".

I strongly think you need speakers with NARROW directivity. Four great choices for you, IMO might be

Mackie HR624 mk II
Aperion Verus Forte Bookshelf
KEF Q300 Bookshelf
JBL Pro LSR 2325

But i still think you may as well get (--good--) towers. Less lower midrange distortion (IE 100hz to 250hz) could mean less of that "too loud" feeling that seems to bother you.
 
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Pyrrho

Pyrrho

Audioholic Ninja
Anything Polk prior to LSi series are complete and utter trash and LSi are WAY over the price point OP is looking for.

Infinity P363's are good and solid choice, but I question the wisdom of 3.0 system, 2.1 would be much better choice
I very much disagree with your assessment of the "i" series (now RTi) of Polk speakers, and so do many others, such as:

http://www.stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/417/index.html

In my opinion, the RTi series is good for its price point, but not good compared with more expensive speakers. For example, I like them more than similarly priced Paradigm speakers that I have heard, as well as some others that some people like.

Be that as it may, if he is willing to go with just a pair of speakers and forgo surround sound for now, he can have a pair of LSi speakers under budget direct from Polk:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PAIR-LSi7-CHERRY-Bookshelf-Speakers-Polk-Audio-40-OFF-/360372072585?pt=Speakers_Subwoofers&hash=item53e7d97089#ht_5391wt_838

Or:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PAIR-LSi9-Cherry-Bookshelf-Loudspeakers-Polk-Audio-/360372065664?pt=Speakers_Subwoofers&hash=item53e7d95580#ht_4775wt_838

And at the budget we are talking about, I personally would go with just 2 speakers for now, as the quality is not likely to be very good for a complete set of speakers at such a low price, though obviously what he should do depends upon his personal standards for what is good or good enough, not mine or anyone else's who isn't going to be listening to them.

I personally would not bother with a subwoofer less than this, though obviously most people live with something less for their whole lives.
 
BoredSysAdmin

BoredSysAdmin

Audioholic Slumlord
I very much disagree with your assessment of the "i" series (now RTi) of Polk speakers, and so do many others, such as:

http://www.stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/417/index.html

In my opinion, the RTi series is good for its price point, but not good compared with more expensive speakers. For example, I like them more than similarly priced Paradigm speakers that I have heard, as well as some others that some people like.

Be that as it may, if he is willing to go with just a pair of speakers and forgo surround sound for now, he can have a pair of LSi speakers under budget direct from Polk:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PAIR-LSi7-CHERRY-Bookshelf-Speakers-Polk-Audio-40-OFF-/360372072585?pt=Speakers_Subwoofers&hash=item53e7d97089#ht_5391wt_838

Or:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PAIR-LSi9-Cherry-Bookshelf-Loudspeakers-Polk-Audio-/360372065664?pt=Speakers_Subwoofers&hash=item53e7d95580#ht_4775wt_838

And at the budget we are talking about, I personally would go with just 2 speakers for now, as the quality is not likely to be very good for a complete set of speakers at such a low price, though obviously what he should do depends upon his personal standards for what is good or good enough, not mine or anyone else's who isn't going to be listening to them.

I personally would not bother with a subwoofer less than this, though obviously most people live with something less for their whole lives.
I had a chance to audition entire monitor series bookshelfs and well as RTi and LSI/24
What I said about sound quality of budget Polk - I'll keep my opinion - they sounded very hash to me and completely lacked bass (I expect some bass even from a bookshelf)
LSi/9 however was clear, warm and had plenty of bass.
$450/each for LSi/7 is still above his budget and at $900/pair (not to mention $1200/pr for LSi/9) he could really get something much better than polks.
 
T

Tadsbud

Enthusiast
I have a whole list of bookshelf speakers to check out now--good info. Hopefully I can find a lot of these in local audio stores (obviously not the online only speakers). I really like the review on the Aperion Verus Grand Bookshelf's--free shipping both ways makes mouth happy.

The refurbed Polk LSi7's and 9's look tempting--hopefully I will find a place to listen to these. Does anyone have experience ordering refurb'd polks?

BTW I am in the South West part of Ohio. Anyone suggest a good music store in the Cincinnati/Dayton/Columbus area?

Does needing to have the speakers attached/close to the wall take a dump on anything?

Some of the subwoofer conversation has me wondering what I should be budgeting for. Is there something I can get in the $300-400 range that I can resale later and upgrade to the subs that seem to be the sweet spot for moving from cheap bass to good bass. Or is it better to just save my bus money for a few months until I can throw down $800+?
 
GranteedEV

GranteedEV

Audioholic Ninja
Some of the subwoofer conversation has me wondering what I should be budgeting for. Is there something I can get in the $300-400 range that I can resale later and upgrade to the subs that seem to be the sweet spot for moving from cheap bass to good bass. Or is it better to just save my bus money for a few months until I can throw down $800+?
Save your money. You will want multiple subs, and low distortion/decent frequency response, for example 2 x Rythmik FV12 subwoofers perhaps.
 
Pyrrho

Pyrrho

Audioholic Ninja
I had a chance to audition entire monitor series bookshelfs and well as RTi and LSI/24
What I said about sound quality of budget Polk - I'll keep my opinion - they sounded very hash to me and completely lacked bass (I expect some bass even from a bookshelf)
LSi/9 however was clear, warm and had plenty of bass.
$450/each for LSi/7 is still above his budget and at $900/pair (not to mention $1200/pr for LSi/9) he could really get something much better than polks.
You are not paying attention to things very closely at all. Those are for pairs of speakers, not individual speakers. It is $450 for a pair of LSi7 speakers and $599.95 for a pair of LSi9 speakers, direct from Polk from their eBay store. And those prices include shipping. So they are both under budget, not over budget.
 
BoredSysAdmin

BoredSysAdmin

Audioholic Slumlord
You are not paying attention to things very closely at all. Those are for pairs of speakers, not individual speakers. It is $450 for a pair of LSi7 speakers and $599.95 for a pair of LSi9 speakers, direct from Polk from their eBay store. And those prices include shipping. So they are both under budget, not over budget.
hmm, you are right ... busy day and I'm not bored today at all
 
Pyrrho

Pyrrho

Audioholic Ninja
I have a whole list of bookshelf speakers to check out now--good info. Hopefully I can find a lot of these in local audio stores (obviously not the online only speakers). I really like the review on the Aperion Verus Grand Bookshelf's--free shipping both ways makes mouth happy.

The refurbed Polk LSi7's and 9's look tempting--hopefully I will find a place to listen to these. Does anyone have experience ordering refurb'd polks?

BTW I am in the South West part of Ohio. Anyone suggest a good music store in the Cincinnati/Dayton/Columbus area?

Does needing to have the speakers attached/close to the wall take a dump on anything?

Some of the subwoofer conversation has me wondering what I should be budgeting for. Is there something I can get in the $300-400 range that I can resale later and upgrade to the subs that seem to be the sweet spot for moving from cheap bass to good bass. Or is it better to just save my bus money for a few months until I can throw down $800+?
I don't have direct experience ordering refurbished speakers from Polk. However, I do have experience with refurbished products, and I expect you would be happy with the results. Polk gives the full warranty for the refurbished products you buy from them, so if there is a problem, they should take care of you.

As for buying subwoofers to resell later, unless you buy something used at a good price, you will likely lose money on the deal. With your budget, buying used is attractive, but you need to be careful about used things, as there is generally no warranty, and it is very likely to not be in new condition.

What most people do is buy crap because they cannot afford something good, and then they buy slightly better crap because they are dissatisfied with the first crap they bought, and do this maybe a time or two more, spending as much money on crap as they would have spent on something good if they had just saved their money until they could afford something good. Unless you know what you are doing with buying and selling used equipment, I strongly recommend saving your money until you can afford something good, and simply living without a subwoofer in the meantime. If you do know what you are doing with buying and selling used equipment, then that would be the way to go if you are impatient to have something now. But most people lose money on buying and selling used gear (remember, shipping costs are real costs). Save your money and only buy quality, and then you will not need to upgrade. You will spend less money in the long run if you take this advice, while ending up with better equipment than you would otherwise be likely to get.
 
jinjuku

jinjuku

Moderator
You are not paying attention to things very closely at all. Those are for pairs of speakers, not individual speakers. It is $450 for a pair of LSi7 speakers and $599.95 for a pair of LSi9 speakers, direct from Polk from their eBay store. And those prices include shipping. So they are both under budget, not over budget.
Get the LSi 9's at that price they perform really well. Fair warning though: Get a receiver with Pre-outs. You will benefit from a 4 ohm stable amp for them at some point.

There is also an X-Over mod for the 9's that improve them.
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
I agree with GranteedEV; go for the high quality KEF Q towers + Marantz AVR and build slowly from there.

But if you just cannot afford the higher budget or just flat out don't feel like it (like my brother who actually makes more money than I do), then I will recommend a complete audio system for $1,000.

Obviously, the lower the budget, the more compromises you will have to make.

For AVR, I recommend the Marantz SR6001 for $280 (retail $1200):
http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/MARSR6001/Marantz-Sr6001-Receiver-100w-X-7ch-Hdmi-Home-Theater-Surround/1.html#!specifications

5 Infinity P163 bookshelf speakers for $425 (retail $160 ea):

http://www.amazon.com/Infinity-Primus-Two-way-Bookshelf-Satellite/dp/B0045NCB32/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1314224829&sr=8-1

Here is a TRUE review of the Infinity speakers you can be proud of:

http://www.soundstagenetwork.com/measurements/speakers/infinity_primus_p162/

2 BIC F12 subwoofers for $183 (retail $500 ea) each:

http://www.amazon.com/BIC-America-F12-475-Watt-Subwoofer/dp/B0015A8Y5M/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1314225033&sr=1-1

Grand Total $1072 shipped (retail $3,000).

The Marantz 6001 lacks TrueHD/DTS HD & only has 2 HDMI inputs, but it will have a much better amp than your typically AVR for only $280!!! You will not be able to tell the difference between DTS-HD MA vs. DTS and Dolby TrueHD vs. Dolby Digital, especially when you don't have higher budget system.

The Infinity P163 has excellent speaker measurements regardless of price. They won't compete against the KEF Q700 or Q900, but for your budget, they are excellent speakers.

Finally, I believe the BIC F12 is a HSU clone budget sub. It will not win any awards for bass extension. If you want a "true" subwoofer, you will have to spend more than $600 each on a subwoofer, but that is beyond your budget. So for your budget, I think two F12 subs will be a reasonable compromise.
 
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