Reccomendations <~$2000cdn

[GranteedEV]

Okay, so I want to add 7.1 surround sound and do it right. I don't really consider myself an audiophile, so I'm not going to go too far above this general price range of ~2000 canadian.

I don't really know much about home audio so what I'm planning on is essentially what some light review-reading has me thinking of going 5.1 first with the following, then adding an extra two channels some in the future along with a second subwoofer. If you've got some other recommendations, I'd love to hear 'em.

As far as listening, I plan to listen to music a bit, but mostly this is a home theatre for blu ray, DVD, PS3 games, wii (lol...I've never even experienced pro logic II)and 360 and hopefully it'll last me a solid 7-10 years. Nothing too ridiculously loud, though the occasional action movie might have me at floor shaking volumes.

The stuff I'm FAIRLY sure I'm gunna get

Reciever - Marantz 6003 (is it worth it for the extra 10 watts per channel over the 5003? the 5003 seems harder to find in canada, too)

Subwoofer - SVS PB10-NSD (and hopefully get a second one to match it someday)

The stuff I don't really know enough about but I'm leaning towards

Center Channel speaker - SV Sound SCS-01 Center Speaker
2 Front Channel Speaker - ????????????????????????????????
2 Rear Channel Speaker - 2x Axiom M2 v2 Bookshelf (and probably buy 2 more later)
Stands - ??? What are some cheap, sturdy ones?

I really wanna be blown away to be honest. I know very little about brands and that sort of thing. My current TV "setup" is some old sony reciever with two huge floorstanding speaker whose model number didn't even show up very much on google searches (SS C460-AV...anyone heard of them)

 

[jliedeka]

A couple of off the cuff reactions:

You probably at least want your front 3 speakers to match. If you are set on the SVS center, consider R/L from the same series. Going Axiom all the way around wouldn't be bad but they don't make a center that sounds good very far off axis. Unfortunately, that's pretty common at the lower price ranges so. You probably would be okay with Axiom M22s or M60s with one of their centers.

If you have a big room to fill, lean towards bigger speakers for the front R/L and consider 2 subs. For a small to medium sized room, you don't need anything too big. In that case, look for quality over power handling since the sub will be doing all the hard work.

It's cool that you are finally trying out surround sound. I've had surround gear for a while now. After hearing sci-fi movies in Dolby Digital, I never wanted to go back to just TV speakers or a small stereo.

I think you are on the right track. The best advice I can give you is any decent gear will sound pretty good to you. You can't expect perfection your first time out and won't really need to. The receiver you picked is as future proof as you can hope for right now. You picked a decent sub, you just need to find some respectable speakers within your budget.

 

[GranteedEV]

The dimensions of my room are roughly 16 x 17 give or take two feet...Is that what you would call a medium sized room?

And I'm not particularily set on anything, the reciever and sub i'm leaning towards, the speakers I'm pretty much open as long as someone is willing to post a clear and convincing argument. Those are just the ones that apparently seemed to be reccomended as far as value.

As far as the fronts all being the same, i'm a bit concerned because the company lists a different set of bookshelfs for front/rear compared to the specific center channel... so would I get 2 more of the same speaker or get 2x of SBS-01?

And by the way, would I be better off with a cylindrical sub?

 

[jliedeka]

I would call your room medium sized.

There are three models of speakers in the SVS series you are looking at. There are the larger floorstanders, the SCS MTM speakers and SBS bookshelf speakers. If you go with any of those, you are fine. By matching speakers, I mean speakers that have a similar sound. In a perfect world, all 5 or 7 speakers will have a similar timbre. Having the front 3 the same is second best to having all 5 or 7 the same.

I currently have a center that doesn't match my right and left speakers. I really don't notice the difference for movies. For music that is encoded in surround, I notice it a little bit. It helps that I have everything level matched but there is still a slight difference.

I would consider buying all but the sub from the same series. The SVS SxS speakers or Axioms are both decent quality. I'd say pick one and get all your speakers from there.

There are a few other possibilities to consider. Ascend Acoustics is having a moving sale where you can get 5 speakers for less than $1000 US shipped. I wouldn't rule out some good Canadian manufacturers like PSB or Paradigm depending on the deals you can find.

Just some of my thoughts, not gospel or anything.

Jim