Plan of 5.1 budget set up

[KEW]

Lets ask the tester himself, @theJman is frequent flyer in these parts.

Kurn, I could be wrong , but I think it's the NGX has few extra dbd in extension over dayton...
but tbh - both results are quite close and neither of them is really that great.
Dayton is slightly more tidy indeed.
If opportunity exist, I would look for nice 2nd hand sub. Only recently I saw a bit older HSU's VTF-2 for $200 in Dallas's CL

You are right, the NGX is the one that offers 2-3Hz more extension. I got the FR charts backwards.

Thanks for setting me straight!

Now that the Dayton has gone up from $130 to $150 and the NGX has dropped from $260 to $180, the NGX is a consideration. I discredited it based on my erroneous interpretation of the charts. Sorry for the confusion and also, apologies to AL2!

As far as "and neither of them is really that great", it depends on what you are looking for. For impulse response, if you compare them to the $1600 Martin Logan 1500X (which has about twice the overhang of the Dayton), they both look pretty great!

Then there is the $1000 Anthony Gallo Classico which has coincident max driver and port frequencies at around 70Hz!

Yeah, I am cherry-picking bad actors at prices that should provide good performance. But if someone has a budget of $250 or less, I think there is reason to be enthusiastic about the performance of the Dayton (and, likely the NGX, but I have not heard it, so cannot endorse it as readily). They far outperform the "likely suspects" in that price range from Polk and Infinity, and sound better than my $600 SVS SB12-plus!

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

True. like I said Dayton is pretty tight, but it's FR could be flatter. At it's price point of course it's a moot point, but lets say a $1000 sub could be a vast improvement
http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/speaker-subwoofer-reviews/125922-hsu-research-vtf-3-mk5-hp.html

 

[KEW]

True. like I said Dayton is pretty tight, but it's FR could be flatter. At it's price point of course it's a moot point, but lets say a $1000 sub could be a vast improvement
http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/speaker-subwoofer-reviews/125922-hsu-research-vtf-3-mk5-hp.html

You are right about the FR not being as flat as it might, but it really isn't bad (Jim had not yet started plotting the composite of the driver and port), and as long as someone is running Auddyssey, it should help with that.

 

[KEW]

Someone needs to do the NXG and Dayton side by side in the same room

More on the NXG here
http://www.soundandvision.com/content/review-nxg-nx-bas-500-subwoofer-page-2

Agreed!
I just blew my audition budget on a pair of HVL-1's.

 

[zieglj01]

Agreed!
I just blew my audition budget on a pair of HVL-1's.

Are you building a room add on, to store all your speakers?

 

[KEW]

Fortunately, I have a really big basement!

 

[Jfc]

Guys, how about the receiver, I'm torn between denon x2100 and x1100. Is direct mode 2.1 audio config not available with x1100? Is there an advantage of audio listening on direct mode? Direct mode is the main reason I'm leaning towards x2100 but I can save few bucks for x1100.

Any option aside from wave crest hvl-1? My wife wanted a smaller bookshelf...

 

[herbu]

Is there an advantage of audio listening on direct mode?

In my experience, Direct Mode only shines when you have extraordinary speakers or play at very high volume.

With "normal" speakers, I found the enhancements applied by the AVR made music sound much brighter and fuller at normal listening levels, and certainly enhanced the bass pleasurably. Only when played at HIGH volume did the enhancement become too much, and Direct sounded better.

When I moved up to what I consider extraordinary speakers, (in my case Philharmonic 3s from http://philharmonicaudio.com/) did I find that I got all the detail at normal volume in Direct mode.

 

[Jfc]

Thank you for the enlightenment. I might go with the basic for the meantime. Got a budget of less than 1k including accessories and cables... So my set up might be;
Denon e300 - $200
Wave crest hvl-1 (LCR) - $ 300
Dayton sub1200 - $ 150
Boston soundcraft 4.5 (SR+SL) - $100

Total of $750 plus cables, bookshelf stand, etc.

What do you think guys? Me and my wife are staying in an apt with two (2) kid's 4 and 2 years old.

 

[markw]

Thank you for the enlightenment. I might go with the basic for the meantime. Got a budget of less than 1k including accessories and cables... So my set up might be;
Denon e300 - $200
Wave crest hvl-1 (LCR) - $ 300
Dayton sub1200 - $ 150
Boston soundcraft 4.5 (SR+SL) - $100

Total of $750 plus cables, bookshelf stand, etc.

What do you think guys? Me and my wife are staying in an apt with two (2) kid's 4 and 2 years old.

Call me picayune, but why not just go for five Wave crests? It's only a few more dollars (485 for all 5) and you'll have the ideal setup of five matching speakers.

 

[Jfc]

I chose Boston 4.5 since I don't have enough space behind my sofa. Speaker should be wall mounted but should be light weight since wall is an ordinary wood. I don't like to have an issue with my landlord which staying on second floor.

 

[KEW]

Check Goodwill and consignment stores for your audio cabinet.
As people switch from CRTs to flat screens with soundbars, they realize they don't need a 16"-22" deep cabinet anymore.

 

[Jfc]

Another question, I realized I need to secure the receiver from my kids. Can you tell me which receiver has the option of disabling all front control buttons including the volume knob?

 

[agarwalro]

Another question, I realized I need to secure the receiver from my kids. Can you tell me which receiver has the option of disabling all front control buttons including the volume knob?

This is not something you'd get in any budget receiver. An entertainment unit with a glass door is your best bet. It you need to keep the door shut when the receiver is in use, cut massive holes in the back to ensure adequate ventilation.