Please help with Speaker suggestions

[smokeyjoe]

I just moved into a new loft apartment and am looking for some speakers. The new place is completely open with a loft/bedroom upstairs.

Some details:
Receiver: Denon 1911
Room size: 14.5 x 18 x ~16 high cathedral ceilings
Budget: ~$300

Some concerns:
- filling the room with sound for relatively cheap
- neighbors below and to the side, so probably no sub at this point (maybe)

These are 2 systems that I have been looking at (can't post links yet) -
Fluance AVHTB+ Surround Sound Home Theater 5 Speaker System
Energy 5.1 Take Classic Home Theater System

Some questions:
- Anyone have experience with these 2 speaker systems? Do you think they will be enough to fill the room?
- Should I just go with 2 fronts and a center? If so, any suggestions?

Thanks for your time and any suggestions!

 

[gar655]

Just go for 2 fronts. Polk Monitor 50, 60, 70s seem to be popular in that price range.

Add additional speakers later. Movies still sound good with just 2 fronts. I'm using a 2.1 right now because my center and surrounds broke and/or were junk to begin with.

Movies actually sound better now without the crappy center I was using.

 

[s44]

In a big space, the Take Classics will get killed. Get the Fluance if you're that budget-strapped.

 

[mshan]

Hsu HB-1 mk. 2 in two speaker configuration to start.

You can add sub and fill out centers and surrounds later.

And they don't sound awfully bass deficient run full range without a sub until you get more funds.

 

[kornphlake]

I would also suggest a pair of decent speakers to start instead of a set of 5 mediocre speakers. Polks are pretty good budget speakers, there are others that compete in the same price range.

People don't often understand the difference between elevated sound levels from good speakers compared to bad speakers. Both are loud enough to be heard, but good quality speakers will play loud enough to be heard without distortion and often have higher sensitivity so they don't demand as much power from the amp which means more headroom for increased dynamic range. It's one of those things that has to be heard to understand.