Home Theater Speakers...

[nvanprooyen]

I know there are a few people here that know a lot about audio....Crys immediately comes to mind. I want to get a relatively inexpensive 5.1 set that sounds good. The room that they are going into is relatively small. I already have a receiver. I found these for $350, reviews look solid across the interwebs:

http://www.amazon.com/Energy-Classi...74541&sr=1-1&keywords=energy+take+classic+5.1

Willing to spend a little more, but don't want to spend much more than $500...so looking for the best bang for the buck.

Advice?

 

[Crystallas]

The energy take classics are fairly popular. They're a very good set of speakers. Nowhere near audiophile, but if you want to go audiophile on a budget, you're better off adding one piece(or set) at a time, ie: Buy 2 cabs now(hopefully full-rangers), buy a center channel later, buy two more speakers, woofer(s) , etc.

They are shelf speakers, and lack the cone depth to be good ceiling mounted speakers(if that was your intention.) You'll have to have the 4 shelf speakers sitting on sturdy shelf, or stands.

What are your receivers specs. As long as you match impedance with a recommended speaker, and you don't go underpowered, you'll be somewhat okay going off interwebz reviews on this stuff. The real questions lie on the type of audio you like to hear. If you match your music taste to the speakers, all movies and TV shows/sports fall into place nicely.

 

[Crystallas]

And BTW, if you were looking to piece together something, I've seen cambridge S30's for $150 a pair. Energy makes great bang for the buck sets, but this would be IMO, a small step up, and within price.


Oh, and I'm not a Pioneer guy, but here is a piece-able system as well that is an amazing bang for the buck. They take up a little bit more space, but IMO, the best kept secret on the market.
http://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-SP-BS41-LR-Watt-2-Way-Speakers/dp/B0045US6DE
http://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-SP-FS51-LR-Floorstanding-Loudspeakers-Black/dp/B004H1M4NO

That's 4 for $261+s&h for the shelf and loudspeakers. Which gives you budget room for a lot of options. Maybe even a listen and adjust type of mentality. ie: if you feel you're not getting enough bass, Add a powered sub. If you feel you're good with bass, but these speakers aren't in their full potential, add an amp. etc. Here's the whole breakdown of their recommended setup(which is actually awesome, because it's a AJ engineering design, and his stuff is, for the first time seeing the budget-market). http://www.ecoustics.com/products/pioneer-sp-bs41-lr-bookshelf-speakers/ In fact, I would suggest this route above everything else, just because you'll likely have a use for them for many years, where the Energy, while also great for the price, will be somewhat dull and limited to smaller rooms.

 

[nvanprooyen]

Thanks Crys

 

[Crystallas]

Np nvan. Let me know how it works out, even if you decide to go a different route all together

 

[nvanprooyen]

I didn't realize how old the receiver I had was....no HDMI inputs, so now I'm on the hunt for a good budget receiver as well. What do you think about this one?

http://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-RX-V375-Channel-Theater-Receiver/dp/B00B981F38

Main input is going to be my PS3. Looks like it has pass through for 4k. Probably won't need to worry about that for awhile, but nice to have for future I guess. Also supports 3D, which I do use from time to time. Features and reviews seem good for the price point.

PS: I think I'm going to go the Energy route on the speakers, especially now that I have to get a receiver too. If I ever decide to go full audiophile, I will likely move the Energys to my office / bedroom or something and start fresh in the family room.

 

[Crystallas]

I don't use traditional receivers because I run HTPCs for everything. But I use an HDMI audio splitter, and I paid $30 for it. Considering your budget, that might be a good solution. If this is something worth considering for you, make sure you have an HDMI splitter that supports signal processing, not just a rewired HDMI cable with a few audio outs tapped in. ie: An actual box, not just a Y-cable.

 

[ShiftyDevil]

I've been thinking about getting a soundbar. I sold my house a year ago, and am living in an apartment, and don't plan to move into anything larger for a few years, so a full sound system doesn't seem worth it.

I have a nice 52 inch flat screen, but, has the downside of flat screen cabinet speakers that point backward toward the wall. A soundbar seems like the best solution for my needs at the moment, but don't know anyone that has one, any recommendations from anyone?

 

[Crystallas]

I've been thinking about getting a soundbar. I sold my house a year ago, and am living in an apartment, and don't plan to move into anything larger for a few years, so a full sound system doesn't seem worth it.

I have a nice 52 inch flat screen, but, has the downside of flat screen cabinet speakers that point backward toward the wall. A soundbar seems like the best solution for my needs at the moment, but don't know anyone that has one, any recommendations from anyone?

Unfortunately soundbars aren't really anything special. Although you can get a big improvement over existing sound with better speakers for sure. So what I would suggest is to simply go and demo a bunch at a store, and see if you like anything.

You could just find a 2.1 system too, which IMO is another compromise, but your money goes a lot further and you get a lot better sound IMO. In fact, you could even get a compact music system(the two speaker cabs and a cd/mp3/radio, ala 90's style) and TV out to that system, and IMO, you would get a better bang for the buck than a soundbar.

 

[nvanprooyen]

Your HTPC comment got me thinking. I probably have enough stuff laying around to build one pretty cheap. Plus I've always wanted to get a NAS to stick all the stuff I've "collected" over the years on it. Dumb question - What does that look like from an audio perspective? Do you run straight out of the HTPC into an amp or something?

 

[Crystallas]

Yes, I run outputs to an amp. Just bare in mind, Frankenstein HTPCs could wind up being loud and a power hog, if you don't plan correctly.

I keep my NAS in a rack with other systems, firewall and router. But with networked computers, where you keep storage doesn't matter if the system is on when you need it to be on.
My main HTPC basically is my netTV, console emulation box, and of course, I sift through my network storage for all multimedia. It's old now, but basically it's a geode 1.5GHz system with a radeon 55xx low profile card. A bit dated now, but still does what I need it to do.

 

[nvanprooyen]

I ended up getting the Energy Take Classics, along with the aforementioned Yamaha receiver. Very happy with them so far. I'm not an audiophile by any stretch of the imagination, but for the $ I spent...they sound great in the room they are in. Definitely could find a good use for them (office, bedroom etc) if I decide to upgrade in the future.

Also bought an amp for my outdoor speakers

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00026BQJ6/ref=oh_details_o07_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

along with one of these little Bluetooth things so I can easily control what's playing outside from my laptop, iPad etc:

http://www.amazon.com/HomeSpot-NFC-enabled-Bluetooth-Receiver-System/dp/B009OBCAW2/ref=pd_sim_e_9

Next up:

- I have a PC I rarely use anymore that I am going to turn into a HTPC. Think I'm gonna install XBMC on it. It's an AMD quad core with 8 GB of RAM and a 2 TB drive. More than enough for my purposes I think. Noise isn't really a consideration because I am planning on sticking it in the closet in my office, which is the same wall as the living room where the TV is mounted / where the receiver is etc. So I'm gonna drill a hole, run an HDMI cable through and I should be set right?

- After that, I'm gonna save up and throw a NAS into the mix. That will go in the same closet.

- Then probably buy a few raspberry pi's w/ XBMC and put them in a few spots around the house. Master bedroom, living room etc. Maybe get rid of that Bluetooth thing I mentioned earlier and hook up a Pi to the amp.


Thanks for the advice in this thread Crys!

 

[DMelt36]

I had a decent stint working in the home theater department at Best Buy. I know that there's far more knowledge about home theater products out there than I ever learned at Best Buy.

But the one guy at our store who was the go-to guy for any questions would swear by the Klipsch brand for performance.

They've got a 5.1 system at Best Buy for $599. I purchased it for my parents (using the employee discount) and they've really enjoyed its performance.

Just my $. 02.