Home Theater: It's a start!

[StarsFan4Life]

Well, tonight I pulled the plug and decided to upgrade my home theater system from a Logitech Z5500 to something more. Of course, it is not complete...but it is a start.

I currently have the following:

* Samsung 50" DLP 1080P HL50A650 - http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm...m/ccd/productDetail.do

* Sony PS3 80GB (upgraded to 320gb)

* DirectTV HD

Like I said, I was using the Logitech Z-5500 5.1 THX speaker system....to be frank...it just was not cutting it.

So, Frys had a sell on the following (which I now own):

* Infiniti Primus P362 Floorstanding speakers X 2 ($99 EACH, regularly $349 each) - http://shop1.frys.com/product/...sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

* Sony STR-DG520 5.1 (Local Fry's ad showed $199, went in store and for some odd reason that had two displays of the same model but one was $149, one was $199. The sales rep sold it to me for $149 - http://shop1.frys.com/product/...sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

I got it home, hooked it up and these speaker freakin ROCK. They do lack a bit of bass (still good imho) so I might add a sub. My question is, with my Logitech Z-5500 I mounted the satellite speakers and would like to use the center channel and the rear speakers (instead of buying new). Is this a good idea? Would it be a good idea to go back to Fry's tommorrow and grab two more of the P362 Floorstanding and make them rear speaker?

If you guys suggest upgrading the center channel and the 2 rear surround speakers, what do you suggest I do? Also, what about a sub. The z5500 was "ok", but when I watch Transformers on Blu-Ray, I want to feel it.

Suggestions and opinions are greatly appreciated!

 

[StarsFan4Life]

mistake, sorry, tried to edit original

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

You can hook up the Logitech sub to the sony's subwoofer pre-out and test if you want to use it temporarily. You can certainly keep using the logitech satellites as your surrounds, but don't use the logitech center channel. You'd be better off running a phantom center with the center track directed to the front two speakers rather than using the logitech speaker. Something like 70% of audio from movies comes out the center channel so you want that to play back on your best equipment.

Surrounds (and rears) are a lot less important and should be last on your upgrade list after a subwoofer and center channel.
Subwoofer can be whatever you want (I have suggestions in the sticky thread), but center channel should be the PC250 or the PC350

 

[StarsFan4Life]

Well, good lord, it took awhile but I finally found the Infinity PC250 in stock for $99 at Crutchfield.com. It has the silver grille, but I will contact Infinity and see about getting the black grille.

Anyone else know where I can find the PC250 for the same price (prefer a local store).

Also, what sub woofer do you recommend now?

 

[Tiamat]

SF4L: What is the size of your room, and what is your budget?

According to yoyo's stickied thread (which I encourage you to read), there are some entry level subwoofers from parts express, av123, SVS, HSU, BIC that you might be interested in.

 

[herm0016]

the infinity subs are pretty nice too. I have a 10 inch and it compares very well with other major brands that have the same level amp.

 

[StarsFan4Life]

Originally posted by: herm0016
the infinity subs are pretty nice too. I have a 10 inch and it compares very well with other major brands that have the same level amp.

What model is it?

 

[StarsFan4Life]

Originally posted by: Tiamat
SF4L: What is the size of your room, and what is your budget?

According to yoyo's stickied thread (which I encourage you to read), there are some entry level subwoofers from parts express, av123, SVS, HSU, BIC that you might be interested in.

What models?

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: StarsFan4Life

Originally posted by: Tiamat
SF4L: What is the size of your room, and what is your budget?

According to yoyo's stickied thread (which I encourage you to read), there are some entry level subwoofers from parts express, av123, SVS, HSU, BIC that you might be interested in.

What models?

Depends on the size of your room.

 

[BassBomb]

www.theaudiovideosource.com

/\ has black grills for PC250 PC350.. Personally I would go with the 350

Use P162's if you want smaller rears

 

[StarsFan4Life]

Originally posted by: BassBomb
www.theaudiovideosource.com

/\ has black grills for PC250 PC350.. Personally I would go with the 350

Use P162's if you want smaller rears

So is the Infinity PS-10 any good? Is $179 a good price for that? How is www.theaudiovideosource.com in terms of reliability? They seem to be cheap on the PC250 and the PS-10

 

[BassBomb]

Originally posted by: StarsFan4Life

Originally posted by: BassBomb
www.theaudiovideosource.com

/\ has black grills for PC250 PC350.. Personally I would go with the 350

Use P162's if you want smaller rears

So is the Infinity PS-10 any good? Is $179 a good price for that? How is www.theaudiovideosource.com in terms of reliability? They seem to be cheap on the PC250 and the PS-10

I bought my PS-12 and P162's from there. They are pretty good (border costs killed me, but that was not their fault).

They are an authorized retailer of Infinity for discontinued or refurbished products. So make sure you are buying what is "NEW" but discontinued (such as the black grilled P162's)

Again depends on the size of your room as far as how well the PS-10 will hold up. Subwoofer isn't really needed to match the rest, so you may find better options that aren't Infinity.

I use my PS-12 within a 12x13 room and it rocks.

 

[StarsFan4Life]

Originally posted by: BassBomb

Originally posted by: StarsFan4Life

Originally posted by: BassBomb
www.theaudiovideosource.com

/\ has black grills for PC250 PC350.. Personally I would go with the 350

Use P162's if you want smaller rears

So is the Infinity PS-10 any good? Is $179 a good price for that? How is www.theaudiovideosource.com in terms of reliability? They seem to be cheap on the PC250 and the PS-10

I bought my PS-12 and P162's from there. They are pretty good (border costs killed me, but that was not their fault).

They are an authorized retailer of Infinity for discontinued or refurbished products. So make sure you are buying what is "NEW" but discontinued (such as the black grilled P162's)

Again depends on the size of your room as far as how well the PS-10 will hold up. Subwoofer isn't really needed to match the rest, so you may find better options that aren't Infinity.

I use my PS-12 within a 12x13 room and it rocks.

I think I will order my PC250 from them since it is only $119 shipped. It comes with the black grille so no worries there either.

Still debating on an actual sub woofer. The logitech satellites are decent for the rear surround, right?

 

[herm0016]

I have the ps-10 paired with primus 150's and it also rocks, a room about the same size, 13x12. It will rattle the house if i turn it up.

 

[gplracer]

I have dual SVS subs. I think they are the best in their price range. SVS

 

[StarsFan4Life]

Originally posted by: herm0016
I have the ps-10 paired with primus 150's and it also rocks, a room about the same size, 13x12. It will rattle the house if i turn it up.

I think I will go with this. My living room is about 20 x 20 or so. Now, I ordered the PC250 so now I lack the subwoofer. Again, I will ask, will the logitech rear speakers still be ok to use on the rear/surround?

Also, where is the best/cheapest place to pickup the PS10?

 

[gplracer]

For a room that is 20x20 it will be hard to get reference level with the Infinity ps-10. My room is 20x18 with 12ft ceilings and I have dual SVS 20-39 subs. I think if you look at the SVS subs and compare the specs to the infinity subs you will see a big difference. Of course they are more $$$. You have a large room that requires more. This type of sub would be good in a much smaller room.

Mine have enough bass to make you head feel like bugs are crawling on it during the pod race scene on Episode One.

 

[StarsFan4Life]

Originally posted by: gplracer
For a room that is 20x20 it will be hard to get reference level with the Infinity ps-10. My room is 20x18 with 12ft ceilings and I have dual SVS 20-39 subs. I think if you look at the SVS subs and compare the specs to the infinity subs you will see a big difference. Of course they are more $$$. You have a large room that requires more. This type of sub would be good in a much smaller room.

Mine have enough bass to make you head feel like bugs are crawling on it during the pod race scene on Episode One.

I guess I should add that I only want to spend a max of $200 on the sub....

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: StarsFan4Life

Originally posted by: gplracer
For a room that is 20x20 it will be hard to get reference level with the Infinity ps-10. My room is 20x18 with 12ft ceilings and I have dual SVS 20-39 subs. I think if you look at the SVS subs and compare the specs to the infinity subs you will see a big difference. Of course they are more $$$. You have a large room that requires more. This type of sub would be good in a much smaller room.

Mine have enough bass to make you head feel like bugs are crawling on it during the pod race scene on Episode One.

I guess I should add that I only want to spend a max of $200 on the sub....

Probably should just save you money until you can spend more. In such a large room, unless you have the subwoofer nearfield, its not going to do much below 30hz at all. You are working against physics, and the workaround just can't be had for such a low budget (yet) :/

In a few months however... maybe Mark Seaton and Craig's SCAMP-10 (Tweak City Audio) will be the ideal subwoofer for you at 160$. Most certainly perhaps the best bang for buck subwoofer at that price range, but you will have to be patient.

 

[StarsFan4Life]

Originally posted by: Tiamat

Originally posted by: StarsFan4Life

Originally posted by: gplracer
For a room that is 20x20 it will be hard to get reference level with the Infinity ps-10. My room is 20x18 with 12ft ceilings and I have dual SVS 20-39 subs. I think if you look at the SVS subs and compare the specs to the infinity subs you will see a big difference. Of course they are more $$$. You have a large room that requires more. This type of sub would be good in a much smaller room.

Mine have enough bass to make you head feel like bugs are crawling on it during the pod race scene on Episode One.

I guess I should add that I only want to spend a max of $200 on the sub....

Probably should just save you money until you can spend more. In such a large room, unless you have the subwoofer nearfield, its not going to do much below 30hz at all.

Ok cool. So again, what about the rears? Should I leave the logitech's on there or go with the P142?

 

[StarsFan4Life]

Good grief. I found the PC250 and a pair of P142's for $217 shipped from www.us-appliance.com. Anyone ever heard of them?

 

[gplracer]

The logitech speakers will be ok as long as you like them. They would not be the best but could do for now as you save up for a sub to fill your room. The will not have as much volume as your other speakers more than likely. You can get a sound meter from radio shack and calibrate all of the speakers too so the volume is the same from where you sit.

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: StarsFan4Life

Originally posted by: Tiamat

Originally posted by: StarsFan4Life

Originally posted by: gplracer
For a room that is 20x20 it will be hard to get reference level with the Infinity ps-10. My room is 20x18 with 12ft ceilings and I have dual SVS 20-39 subs. I think if you look at the SVS subs and compare the specs to the infinity subs you will see a big difference. Of course they are more $$$. You have a large room that requires more. This type of sub would be good in a much smaller room.

Mine have enough bass to make you head feel like bugs are crawling on it during the pod race scene on Episode One.

I guess I should add that I only want to spend a max of $200 on the sub....

Probably should just save you money until you can spend more. In such a large room, unless you have the subwoofer nearfield, its not going to do much below 30hz at all.

Ok cool. So again, what about the rears? Should I leave the logitech's on there or go with the P142?

Check out my edit above.

For the rears, its up to you between the P152 and P162. Do you have to spend the money now to get a package deal?

You want the PC350 for the center. Do not go for the PC250 as the 350 is just a superior design and worth more money. It will have much better horizontal dispersion which will help immensely for dialog especially if you are not dead center in front of the TV.

Its design isn't optimal* but being a WMTMW**, it is close and should have minimal lobing on the horizontal axis.



*Optimal would actually be a third floorstanding 362 standing vertically in between your front 362s.

WMTW in a horizontal array is almost as good as long as you place the speaker's tweeter close to the same horizontal plane as the front speaker's tweeters.

**woofer-mid-tweeter-mid-woofer design layout

 

[StarsFan4Life]

Originally posted by: StarsFan4Life
Good grief. I found the PC250 and a pair of P142's for $217 shipped from www.us-appliance.com. Anyone ever heard of them?

Tiamat....what about this? The PC250 is much better than Logitech Z-5500's center channel speaker, right? Same goes for the P142's as rear compared to the Z-5500's ?

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: StarsFan4Life

Originally posted by: StarsFan4Life
Good grief. I found the PC250 and a pair of P142's for $217 shipped from www.us-appliance.com. Anyone ever heard of them?

Tiamat....what about this? The PC250 is much better than Logitech Z-5500's center channel speaker, right? Same goes for the P142's as rear compared to the Z-5500's ?

Perhaps I shall rephrase what I said earlier,

Get the PC350 or don't bother buying a center channel at all.