It's (finally) almost that time..shopping for a 2ch system for the living room

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jlee

jlee

Lifer
Sep 12, 2001
48,512
220
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update
Thanks everyone - I ordered a Denon 1610 (received a 1611! :D) from Electronics Expo ($285ish) and a pair of Polk Monitor40 Series II bookshelf speakers from Newegg ($112ish). I will probably end up with a Dayton 8" sub and a Polk center in the near future, but this should hold me over for a little while. :)




Roommate and I live in a small 2br apartment with a neighbor downstairs and there's not much room to work with, but I no longer have my TV set up with my computer so I've lost the use of my PC speakers (Z560's). TV speakers aren't good enough. :p

This is the room:
48964430.jpg


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I'm considering two floor speakers that I may be able to, down the line, use as surrounds...trying to keep the budget as low as possible (within reason) as I've spent way too much money this year already, but I'm also in no rush so I could wait until I had enough for a good price/performance ratio. Tentatively $500-800 to work with at this point (for two speakers and a receiver).

I think I will pass on a subwoofer until I have a house (we get along very well with the downstairs neighbor..no need to aggravate him :p), and I can live without a center/surrounds. Really I just want (much) better quality sound.

Infinity Primus P362s are $152.44/ea at Electronics-Expo. I've also found some CL listings:
http://worcester.craigslist.org/ele/1954443912.html
http://nh.craigslist.org/ele/1911803903.html

Polk Monitor 50's are $94.99/ea at Newegg right now, but I think I'd prefer a better speaker (assuming price has anything to do with their sound quality).
 
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YOyoYOhowsDAjello

YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
Aug 6, 2001
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If you are indeed going to build a system around this set of speakers, keep in mind that AV123 is out of business now.
 
jlee

jlee

Lifer
Sep 12, 2001
48,512
220
106
Ah that's a good point; would make completing a set rather difficult.
 
S

s44

Diamond Member
Oct 13, 2006
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81
That wall reflection is going to be a bitch in that corner.
 
jlee

jlee

Lifer
Sep 12, 2001
48,512
220
106
It's all I've got to work with - can't really change the orientation without killing the ability to walk through the room. Now we can do it without cutting in between the couch & TV, which is a godsend if someone is gaming.
 
S

s44

Diamond Member
Oct 13, 2006
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I'd make sure to get good room correction in your AVR. The Denon 1610 is still around for under $300... OneCall has the 591 for $348 if you want HDMI 1.4.
 
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V

velillen

Platinum Member
Jul 12, 2006
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hmm i just got Boston Acoustics VR1's and must say i love them. Got them for ~350. Something like 50&#37; off. They are discontinued though if that matters to you. Could also jump up to the VR2 or VR3 which from what ive seen sound even better than my VR1's (but twice as expensive too at ~600). Just another option for ya to consider.

Receiver wise....im happy with my onkyo 607. It has the audyssy thing for room correction. A4Less has refurbs for $270 or you can get a 508 which has hdmi 1.4 for a bit cheaper but lose up conversion. Again just another option
 
jlee

jlee

Lifer
Sep 12, 2001
48,512
220
106
velillen said:
hmm i just got Boston Acoustics VR1's and must say i love them. Got them for ~350. Something like 50% off. They are discontinued though if that matters to you. Could also jump up to the VR2 or VR3 which from what ive seen sound even better than my VR1's (but twice as expensive too at ~600). Just another option for ya to consider.

Receiver wise....im happy with my onkyo 607. It has the audyssy thing for room correction. A4Less has refurbs for $270 or you can get a 508 which has hdmi 1.4 for a bit cheaper but lose up conversion. Again just another option
Click to expand...

They're at $350 shipped / pair from Amazon right now...hmm.
 
V

velillen

Platinum Member
Jul 12, 2006
2,120
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jlee said:
They're at $350 shipped / pair from Amazon right now...hmm.
Click to expand...

yeah onecall is a amazon partner or whatever so you go through amazon but its actually onecall shipping and stuff.

I listened to the PolkTsi400's at best buy before i made my choice (and some other brands but i wouldnt recommend them) and the Polks were a bit smaller in size and i feel sound marginally worse than the VR1's. The VR1's seem to handle lower volume better which was important for me at night. Im not an audiophile or anything so dont know the terminology but the VR1's just sounded better and i felt had a bit better bass to them. Bass could have been the receiver at best buy though and not true TSI400's.

My recommendation would be to go to a best buy and listen to the polks. if you like them then i would definitely consider the VR1's instead. if you dont like the polks then VR1's might not be for you.

here is the avs thread i had with a few other recommendations you can look into as well.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=19169060&posted=1#post19169060
 
jlee

jlee

Lifer
Sep 12, 2001
48,512
220
106
I have a hard time auditioning stuff at Best Buy - mine doesn't have a room set up for HT stuff (it's all in the aisle in the main portion of the store). :(
 
V

velillen

Platinum Member
Jul 12, 2006
2,120
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81
Ah lame. The one by me doesnt have a HT room or anything but off in the back aisle of the TV section they have an aisle with like 4 5.1 setups. basically Tv with center and floor stands then the other side of the aisle has the surrounds. Not the best but its actually pretty quiet back there, just have to stand in the middle of the aisle and can play around with settings a bit.

For the 300-400 price range for speakers i wouldnt worry to much about listening before you buy, recommendations from people are probably just fine. Now if you were looking for more expensive speakers i would definitely be trying to listen before i buy. Sadly polk doesnt seem to have any dealers with the TSi series in NH except for Best Buy too.

Not sure what onecall/amazon's policy would be on returns if you didnt like them but i do see on the onecall site that any returns (besides defective items) you would have ot pay shipping. If i remember right the pair of VR1's was like 80 pounds.
 
S

s44

Diamond Member
Oct 13, 2006
9,427
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81
Boston makes a nice speaker, but I don't know why you'd pick that (or Polk) over the 362 except for WAF reasons.
 
jlee

jlee

Lifer
Sep 12, 2001
48,512
220
106
Polk Monitor II 40's and a PSW10 sub are now available at Newegg for $209 combined / shipped. $109 w/o the sub (sub has lackluster reviews at avs).

That's cheap enough I could bite now and if I don't really like them long-term, could easily CL 'em and upgrade later....
 
sdifox

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
95,097
15,196
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jlee said:
Polk Monitor II 40's and a PSW10 sub are now available at Newegg for $209 combined / shipped. $109 w/o the sub (sub has lackluster reviews at avs).

That's cheap enough I could bite now and if I don't really like them long-term, could easily CL 'em and upgrade later....
Click to expand...

or use them as surrounds later on.
 
jlee

jlee

Lifer
Sep 12, 2001
48,512
220
106
sdifox said:
or use them as surrounds later on.
Click to expand...

Yep. I'm now thinking a pair of the 40's with the 8" Dayton sub that yoyo recommended to me..now to find an affordable receiver with Audyssey. Hmm.
 
YOyoYOhowsDAjello

YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
Aug 6, 2001
31,203
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jlee said:
Yep. I'm now thinking a pair of the 40's with the 8" Dayton sub that yoyo recommended to me..now to find an affordable receiver with Audyssey. Hmm.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it kind of sounds like this is a temporary situation. Perhaps on the low budget, getting something affordable that you can either use for a different purpose or less later without taking much of a hit would be strategic.

I drank the Audyssey kool-aid, so I'm a big supporter of that. Should help somewhat with room acoustic issues and help bring out the best in cheaper speakers.

Unfortunately, a receiver is the piece of equipment that gets out of date the fastest. Getting one with a good auto-equalization system on a budget can be tricky too.
 
sdifox

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
95,097
15,196
126
jlee said:
Yep. I'm now thinking a pair of the 40's with the 8" Dayton sub that yoyo recommended to me..now to find an affordable receiver with Audyssey. Hmm.
Click to expand...

You can skimp on Audyssey if you are willing to spend a little time to set the audio up by ear. It's not really all that hard. Or if you can find someone nearby with the spl metre near you.
 
S

s44

Diamond Member
Oct 13, 2006
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sdifox said:
You can skimp on Audyssey if you are willing to spend a little time to set the audio up by ear.
Click to expand...
No, Audyssey does a *lot* more than level matching.

As I said, the Denon 1610 (last year) and 591 (this year) are the cheapest models with MultEQ processing. Low-end Onkyo only has 2EQ or worse.

You can compare the flavors of Audyssey at the bottom of the page here. Note that there's an even more advanced flavor of MultEQ XT (MultEQ XT32) now, but last I checked there were some issues in the initial models' implementation of it. But that's a discussion for a higher-end thread...
 
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