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Want a New Home Theater ..need suggetions
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BTW, since this same question has already been mentioned before. It might help you.
I gots $500-600 to spend on a Home theater setup
so, is this a decent center or not? http://www.vanns.com/shop/serv...item/details/548249806 Think I'm going to buy piece by piece. I dont HAVE to get it all at the same time. I havent even had my HTIB hooked up since May so I can wait a while longer and get better stuff. Should I start with a center then sub, speakers and rec in that order?
purbeast0
No Lifer
well do you want to be able to use it as you are pieceing it together, or do you want to get all the pieces first THEN put it together?
if its the first one, then i would get the receiver + 2 main speakers first. Then either go w/the sub or center, depending if you want to watch movies more or use it for stereo sound (ie, music). then worry about the rears.
if you are going to wait to get all pieces THEN put it to use, it doesn't really matter what you get except that i would get the receiver last due to what the other guy said, that the speaker technology doesn't really move quick at all, but the receiver technology has been changing, and if you get that last you can get the most up to date type of receiver and have it ready for your speakers.
but if you are only going to wait about 2 months or so, i don't think technology will change that much in 2 months that if you buy the receiver now you would be okay.
Abe Froman
Golden Member
Not kidding at all. If you live in an apartment or condo, it is way more sound than you even need. But the sounds quality is exceptional if set up correctly.
purbeast0
No Lifer
while we are on this topic i have a general question.
when i purchased my center speaker, i could only afford the 2way speaker. i am thinking of upgrading to a 3way speaker in the near future.
how much of a difference will a 3way speaker make over a 2way speaker in terms of when its being used for watching movies? I just want to know the types of differences I would expect to hear from it over my 2way seaker, because right now my 2way sounds pretty good, but I know i'm missing something if there ar 3way speakers.
when i purchased my center speaker, i could only afford the 2way speaker. i am thinking of upgrading to a 3way speaker in the near future.
how much of a difference will a 3way speaker make over a 2way speaker in terms of when its being used for watching movies? I just want to know the types of differences I would expect to hear from it over my 2way seaker, because right now my 2way sounds pretty good, but I know i'm missing something if there ar 3way speakers.
knyghtbyte
Senior member
Bose are overpriced crap......like Sony.....sure they sound ok and have reasonable build quality, and obviously looks arnt bad (due to them spending lots of money on designer companies) but how many times do Bose or Sony win awards online or in magazines dedicated to these things.....very rarely! You are just paying for the name and nothing more!
If you read a wide enough spread of magazines so you can do away with the bias opinions of the writers (either due to underhand sponsorship or general personal preference) you will find that Denon & Yamaha are the main contenders in the budget level and medium level stakes (budget = £0-£1,500, medium level = £1,500-£3,000. this is per piece of equipment). For top range kit u need companies like Tag Maclaren, Musical Fidelity, ArCam, Linn, Mark Levinson, to name a few. These boys go from £3,000 to WAAAAY higher..lol.
Being honest, DD and DTS in their current forms are likely to remain the stock favourites for DVD films for the next 5 years. To dispel a mistake some people make, even though you see lots of speakers lining the walls in cinemas, they are still only using a 5.1 or 6.1 soundtrack, just hooking lots of speakers up to one channel. So getting your receiver now wont make much difference really. And if you spend more on the receiver your standard stereo reproduction will be better too....another reason to recommend Denon, at the price point they are good on normal CD stuff.
One thing i will say, if you can find a dealer in USA selling them, check out Monitor Audio speakers, they look very good and sound bewdiful......they have some cheaper range stuff, both satellite size and normal bookshelf/standmounter, as well as higher end floorstanders.
my own system took me 2 years to put together and sounds gorgeous both with music and films, Denon 3803 surround amp, a somewhat bigger brother to the 1804 mentioned earlier, DVD player im about to upgrade, currently using a cheapo one i won at work...lol, speakers are Monitor Audio Silver range, S6 floorstanders, SLCR centre, SFX bi/dipolar surrounds, REL Quake 100E subwoofer (which will get upgraded to their Strata 5 sometime in the new year). Total cost once i've done the DVD and subwoofer upgrades will be around £4,500 (US$7,500 give or take) BUT you guys get techno stuff cheaper than us Brits usually, so i would imagine you would be paying around US$5,000 at the most for all i've got/getting)
Final note, dont go cheap on the subwoofer, many cheap ones are just bassboxes, they dont hit subbass levels, u want it to go down to 25Hz, although the LFE .1 channel only hits 40hz itself, there is still low bass on a DVD in the form of music. This also means your CDs will play to their true potential, u'd be surprised how many artists use low bass you never realised existed, from classical to hip hop, rock to R&B. Also needs to run with an 8in woofer minimum & 100watts, also u need both high and low level connections (low level for LFE and high level for stereo sound)
scuse the length of my post, im at work and INSANELY bored....heh...typing passes the time..lol
If you read a wide enough spread of magazines so you can do away with the bias opinions of the writers (either due to underhand sponsorship or general personal preference) you will find that Denon & Yamaha are the main contenders in the budget level and medium level stakes (budget = £0-£1,500, medium level = £1,500-£3,000. this is per piece of equipment). For top range kit u need companies like Tag Maclaren, Musical Fidelity, ArCam, Linn, Mark Levinson, to name a few. These boys go from £3,000 to WAAAAY higher..lol.
Being honest, DD and DTS in their current forms are likely to remain the stock favourites for DVD films for the next 5 years. To dispel a mistake some people make, even though you see lots of speakers lining the walls in cinemas, they are still only using a 5.1 or 6.1 soundtrack, just hooking lots of speakers up to one channel. So getting your receiver now wont make much difference really. And if you spend more on the receiver your standard stereo reproduction will be better too....another reason to recommend Denon, at the price point they are good on normal CD stuff.
One thing i will say, if you can find a dealer in USA selling them, check out Monitor Audio speakers, they look very good and sound bewdiful......they have some cheaper range stuff, both satellite size and normal bookshelf/standmounter, as well as higher end floorstanders.
my own system took me 2 years to put together and sounds gorgeous both with music and films, Denon 3803 surround amp, a somewhat bigger brother to the 1804 mentioned earlier, DVD player im about to upgrade, currently using a cheapo one i won at work...lol, speakers are Monitor Audio Silver range, S6 floorstanders, SLCR centre, SFX bi/dipolar surrounds, REL Quake 100E subwoofer (which will get upgraded to their Strata 5 sometime in the new year). Total cost once i've done the DVD and subwoofer upgrades will be around £4,500 (US$7,500 give or take) BUT you guys get techno stuff cheaper than us Brits usually, so i would imagine you would be paying around US$5,000 at the most for all i've got/getting)
Final note, dont go cheap on the subwoofer, many cheap ones are just bassboxes, they dont hit subbass levels, u want it to go down to 25Hz, although the LFE .1 channel only hits 40hz itself, there is still low bass on a DVD in the form of music. This also means your CDs will play to their true potential, u'd be surprised how many artists use low bass you never realised existed, from classical to hip hop, rock to R&B. Also needs to run with an 8in woofer minimum & 100watts, also u need both high and low level connections (low level for LFE and high level for stereo sound)
scuse the length of my post, im at work and INSANELY bored....heh...typing passes the time..lol
knyghtbyte
Senior member
two way speaker = 1 tweeter and 1 mid/bass driver
three way = 1 tweeter, 1 mid range and 1 bass driver
or do u mean a centre with a central tweeter and two mid/bass drivers (one each side of the tweeter)?
if u mean twin mid/bass each side of tweeter then yes i heartily recommend it over single tweeter and single mid/bass designs........
if u mean an actual full blown 3 way centre speaker, well, being honest i've only ever seen two and they are in the £1,500 price bracket and really only sensible for auditorium style use (school hall or suchlike)
certainly not something you wanna balance on top of your telly or under it on a rack...lol
it depends on your surround amp, but usually the lowest freqs u send to a centre are 60hz, mine does hit down to i think 45hz so i set it to 40hz, i dont lose it as i have my subwoofer high level wired to the centre as well as the main stereo pair. Its only if filling a very large room that the extra bass driver in a full 3-way speaker has an advantage, in a small room it will sound a bit overblown and not so good.
purbeast0
No Lifer
my speaker when I bought it was a 2way speaker. I never looked at the 3way one however.
But i'm like 99% syre my speaker has a tweeter in the center with 2 other speakers on each side of it. However, I was assuming that the 2 on the sides of the tweeter were the mid/bass speakers all in one.
I was assuming the 3way had tweeter, mid, bass all in one speaker, and my 2way has tweeter and mids (but 2 mid speakers, 1 on each side of the tweeter). I do not remember the model # on them right now and I can't check the speaker because I am at home, but im like 99% sure that it is the way i described it.
if this is the case, would a true 3 way speaker make a big difference?
purbeast0
No Lifer
okay I just found the speaker I have
speaker
that is for my center channel. now you can see what i mean by 2 way. would a 3 way speaker make a huge difference when watching movies over that 2way one I have right there?
EDIT:
here is the 3way one by JBL.
speaker
that is for my center channel. now you can see what i mean by 2 way. would a 3 way speaker make a huge difference when watching movies over that 2way one I have right there?
EDIT:
here is the 3way one by JBL.
SearchMaster
Diamond Member
I had the Onkyo HTIB (model # was something in the 600s, a couple of years ago) that was about $600 I think. It sounded pretty good for home theatre purposes, but was very noticeably lacking for music. I ended up taking it back to Circuit City and getting a killer deal on a Harmon Kardon 525 receiver and a Polk Audio HT speaker set. Because of the deal I got on the receiver (I think they charged me the price for a 325) it was only about $200 more, but the difference in quality was incredible.
http://www.ecost.com/ecost/shop/detail.asp?dpno=502544
here is a decent price on denon avr485s. Anyone dealt with ecost? how are they on returns and stuff since this is a refurb?
here is a decent price on denon avr485s. Anyone dealt with ecost? how are they on returns and stuff since this is a refurb?
dr150
Diamond Member
I'm an audiophile and know the really great stuff that isn't available at your local B&M.
ROCKET TYKES w/Receiver
Tykes w/ FREE Xbox/PS2/or GC
ASK Questions Here
The link above is BY FAR the best bang for buck in the industry for under $500. It ends 1/7/04. You get a $400 digital receiver (that beats receivers over $1k) for $100 and a system that blows away any B&M HTIB package. For $500 it's a literal STEAL!!! The company above makes amazing stuff thousands of dollars off retail since they manufacture in China. They have a huge loyal following among many enthusiasts and audiophiles.
------------------------------
HSU VT-12
The VT-12 system above is also great and can compete with the Tykes. One magazine gave them the same 9/10 rating. The VT-12 system is an AMAZING value and raved by many audiophiles. The subs HSU makes are some of teh very best in the industry for several hundred less.
------------------
...............Both the Hsu and Tyke systems will wipe the floor with ANY Bose $2000+ system--EASILY! Anything aside of these $500 systems and you'll be selling yourself short.....Waaaaay short! 😉
ROCKET TYKES w/Receiver
Tykes w/ FREE Xbox/PS2/or GC
ASK Questions Here
The link above is BY FAR the best bang for buck in the industry for under $500. It ends 1/7/04. You get a $400 digital receiver (that beats receivers over $1k) for $100 and a system that blows away any B&M HTIB package. For $500 it's a literal STEAL!!! The company above makes amazing stuff thousands of dollars off retail since they manufacture in China. They have a huge loyal following among many enthusiasts and audiophiles.
------------------------------
HSU VT-12
The VT-12 system above is also great and can compete with the Tykes. One magazine gave them the same 9/10 rating. The VT-12 system is an AMAZING value and raved by many audiophiles. The subs HSU makes are some of teh very best in the industry for several hundred less.
------------------
...............Both the Hsu and Tyke systems will wipe the floor with ANY Bose $2000+ system--EASILY! Anything aside of these $500 systems and you'll be selling yourself short.....Waaaaay short! 😉
Agree with dr150.
If you already have a receiver and only want the TYKES system.
read this link, and get it for $300 after rebate.
If you already have a receiver and only want the TYKES system.
read this link, and get it for $300 after rebate.
knyghtbyte
Senior member
i checked the pdf manuals on those speakers, there is absolutely no point in buying that 3 way over what you already have unless its the same price and they will do a straight swap....lol
the frequency on it only goes 5hz lower, that is literally totally pointless!
ideally on a 3 way speaker, the tweeter does its stuff, then the mid range driver (can be mid/bass like my Monitor Audio's) goes down to around the 80hz mark, then the Bass only driver takes over from there down to wherever (mine hit 38hz which is lower than most subwoofers in a all in a box package do, but some top notch gear hit as low as 30hz which is stupendous). Or the 2nd driver is mid range only and stops around the 200hz mark and the Bass driver takes over there down to wherever.
If you want a centre speaker with some punch behind it, make sure it goes down to 50 or 60hz, then you get some meat from it......oh and look into alloy drivers (metal), they have a fantastically true sound, specially with movies that deal with a lot of metallic effects like gunshots and cars smashing, only downside to them is you need to give them a good 10 minutes to warm up first before they sound at their best.
(just to make clear btw, the reason u want your centre speaker to have lower frequency ability is simple but not something people are made aware of, the subwoofer in a 5.1 system, especially all in one box jobs, is mainly only designed to deal with the .1 LFE channel.......thing is, there are plenty of sounds in a film for the centre channel that are not part of the LFE channel but do hit lower than 80hz (the top roll off for the LFE). You usually can set your receiver to consider your speakers as 'small' and it send those extra normal channel low freqs to the sub, but that just takes away some of the imaging, hence a lot of sub/satellite systems just dont quite cut the mustard as it were......but if your centre has a depth of 50-60hz lowest, and drivers around 5inches or bigger then you can tell your surround amp to consider it a 'large' speaker and it gets all the signals.......and if you have a kickass subwoofer u can high level connect the centre speaker to the sub so u dont lose any signals at all 🙂
hope that made sense...hehe, im a hifi/AV nut in a big way......but i get caught up in it sometimes..lol
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