Speaker suggestions for home theatre

[Rage187]

Just ordered a ONKTXSR804 recevier to go with an Optoma HD70
going to running the following components into it

Xbox360
w/ HD DVD addon
Scientific Atlantic 8300HD

Looking for some speaker suggestions for at least 5.1

Sub $500 price range?

Sub $1000 price range?

 

[MustISO]

Take some time and do some research on the home theater sites:
avsforum
hometheaterspot

Then go to a few stores and listen to speakers in your price range. When you find some you like, take them home and try them out. If you don't like them return them. The speakers can sound very different in your room than they will in a store.

You may also want to look at some speakers sold only online. AV123, Axiom, Ascend are all nice.

 

[Scipio Africanus]

There's alot of solutions at your price range.

Don't take this the wrong way, but I think you overbought in terms of receiver price. Generally, I like to use as a rule of thumb that my speakers cost about double my receiver. Why? Because speakers last and have higher resale value than electronics, which go obsolete faster due to changing formats and standards. My guess is you bought it because of its HDMI upconversion, which may or may not be future proof.

With that off my chest, I'm a huge advocate of internet direct speaker companies. Axiom, HTD, AV123/Onix, Aperion, Ascend and alot of smaller boutiques. My two favorite are probably AV123 and Ascend. Go to both websites. However, you may like a brighter sound then Axiom would probably be the better bet.

In the case of AV123, check our their X line which has tons of value and probably has the best cabinets this side of audio. In the case of Ascend, its a little simpler, you should be able to slap something together using their CBM-340 which is an excellent speaker. Both use parts way more expensive and better designed than your mass market Worst Buy etc speaker.

 

[Rage187]

Originally posted by: Scipio Africanus
There's alot of solutions at your price range.

Don't take this the wrong way, but I think you overbought in terms of receiver price. Generally, I like to use as a rule of thumb that my speakers cost about double my receiver. Why? Because speakers last and have higher resale value than electronics, which go obsolete faster due to changing formats and standards. My guess is you bought it because of its HDMI upconversion, which may or may not be future proof.

With that off my chest, I'm a huge advocate of internet direct speaker companies. Axiom, HTD, AV123/Onix, Aperion, Ascend and alot of smaller boutiques. My two favorite are probably AV123 and Ascend. Go to both websites. However, you may like a brighter sound then Axiom would probably be the better bet.

In the case of AV123, check our their X line which has tons of value and probably has the best cabinets this side of audio. In the case of Ascend, its a little simpler, you should be able to slap something together using their CBM-340 which is an excellent speaker. Both use parts way more expensive and better designed than your mass market Worst Buy etc speaker.

I absolutely bought this receiver specifcally for the HDMI upconversion. I have a ceiling mounted projected and have cables dangling from the ceiling. This way I can run one HDMI cable across and down the wall.

I will definatley check out your recommendations.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

There are some very exciting products coming up in the X-series from AV123 :thumbsup:

I too am a bit concerned that so much of the budget was spent on the receiver, but I guess I just personally wouldn't mind having a second cable set running to my projector.

http://av123forum.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17722

I too would say that something along the lines of 2:1:1 for speakers:receiver:sub would be about right for spending.

For $500 you don't have a whole lot of options for 5.1

For around $1k, the AV123 X-series or an SVS system.

You should definitely try to go out and demo some stuff to see what kind of sound you like.

I don't know if you've looked at my general audio thread, but I put some general tips in there.

EDIT: oh and just FYI the Onkyo 674 is a less expensive unit that also does HDMI conversion.

 

[praeses]

I like the Bose=Crap in your signature, YOyoYOhowsDAjello. I cannot believe how many people believe advertising over actually listenning to the product prior to purchasing it. It frustrates me how much loyalty is garnered towards a specific product just because the purchaser invested their money in it.

Anyhoo, every Onkyo receiver I have used to date I have been pleased with but I think the 674 is worth skipping. I haven't had a chance to try out a TX-SR804, but hopefully it doesn't suffer from the problems that the 674 had. Although semi-unrelated, I have always wondered why the Onkyo's have such cheap housings... although I tend to buy A/V equipment for the internals anyways.

If you must go < $500 for speakers(I wouldn't recommend it, as for the reasons Scipio refered to regarding investment balance), and are looking for a 5.1 setup, there are some decent Polk packages that will fit the bill (barely). the $500-1000 bracket, I'm not sure about, the >$1000 I have plenty of suggestions but unfortunately they will not be of much help.

Most of the 500-1000 speakers will be from a typical big retail store, and they often sound pretty aweful even in their sound rooms. Many things sound amazing for up to the first 5minutes, but after that when your ears start to focus properly on the sounds it seems like a waste of money. I bought some JBL's just for my bedroom not too long ago 8" fronts/bookshelfs for the music factor, but they were only worth it for the mass discount I received.

 

[Rage187]

hmm, not sure about 2.1

Looks like I'm gonna have to spend about $750-$1000 for an ok 5.1.