Home Theater Speaker Selection?

Hello, I was looking for a speaker setup for my home theater system. i was looking at spending around 500. i have heard alot about the Onkyo SKS-HT540 7.1 Surround Signal Speaker System. i dont care if i have to buy them sepperate or what, i just want stylish speakers, dont care how huge they are, that signal fantastic. I need a 7.1 set up, the speakers wattage to handle around 120 and the sub around 230. Thanks A lot for the help-Mitch.

Answer by ROBERT P
Hi Mitch .KEF speakers are better sounding than Onkyo. They are British made and have a honestly neutral signal quality which is pleasing to the ear.Have a look at the link below.

http://www.amazon.com/KHT2005-2-Five-Speaker-Plus-Subwoofer/dp/B000CRVDR0/ref=sr_1_13/002-2562990-8000056?ie=UTF8&s=audio-video&qid=1188803609&sr=1-13

Answer by nano_amp
For $ 500, you may not get a fantastic speakers at the wattage you specified. There are ambiguous advertising and also brochures of the wattage. Here is a more right way. One way to specify is average power which is just specified as 20W or 30W. The second term is PMPO which is Peak Music Power Output and this is instantaneous peak could be 6 to 7 times more than the average power (delight see my grown-up answer to another question titled “PLease Guide me to buy a new woofer..?”).

7.1 is helpful only when the orginal Disc (mostly DVD) is recorded in 7.1. Otherwise you will get only what is in the disc usually stereo or 5.1.

So if you are concerned about quality buy a stereo or 5.1 with 20W per channel is reasonable enough.

Answer by vivekama
Onkyo is not a specialist when it comes speakers. Really I happened to listen to one or two of their systems, it was too much on the warmer side. I didn’t like it.

Check out this link

http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=dp_brlad_entry/102-8321221-0263349?ie=UTF8&node=3025451

Polk, Infinity Primus, Sony.

Klipsch
http://www.amazon.com/Klipsch-Synergy-Quintet-II-Theater/dp/B0007VZUGQ/ref=sr_1_5/102-8321221-0263349?ie=UTF8&s=audio-video&qid=1188809213&sr=1-5

Mirages are fantastic. You can get a sub woofer for $ 200
http://www.amazon.com/Mirage-NANOSAT-Theater-satellites-subwoofer/dp/B000FBPH2K/ref=sr_1_6/102-8321221-0263349?ie=UTF8&s=audio-video&qid=1188809213&sr=1-6

Add your own answer in the comments!

LSi25_CHRY


Image by Bungalow.Brian
The Polk LSi series has possibly the best mid and high frequency imaging I have heard from any speaker at any price. This is the LSi25 which would make a nice upgrade to my system (as would the LSi15)

I always bring my iPod speakers when I’m sunbathing in the park…


Image by Ed Yourdon
Note: this photo was in print in an undated (Jun 2010) Everyblock NYC blog, titled "1-52 block of E. 77th St."

****************************************

When the weather is nice on a holiday weekend, you can be reasonably sure that there will be lots of fascinating people to photograph in Inner Park. My predictable plot, on such photo expeditions, is to walk through and around numerous different parts of the park — in order to see different groups of people, and also to take advantage of different scenes and backdrops. But it means that I don’t spend very much time in any one house, and most of my shots end up being "ad hoc" in scenery, with nearly no plotting, schooling, framing, or composition.

On this Memorial Day weekend, I chose to restrict my wandering to just one area — the "Fantastic Lawn" that’s more-or-less in the center of the north-south expanse of the park. I walked around the sidewalk perimeter of the large grassy area, starting at the north end (because I had entered the park at 86th Street), heading down to the south end by the Delacorte Theater and the Belvedere Castle, and then back north again to my starting point.

I had a 70-300mm zoom lens on my camera while I was walking, and while that made it relatively simple to capture some fascinating scenes of people out in the middle of the lawn, it was nearly impossible to take a quick picture of someone just a couple feet away from me. Naturally, I would just shrug and mutter to for myself, "Well, that’s the way it goes" — and perhaps resolve that, next time, I would use the 18-200mm zoom lens that covers both a wider range between wide-angle and telephoto.

But in this case, I chose to change lenses after the first circumnavigation, and then make a second circle around the Fantastic Lawn with a 24-120mm zoom lens. (All of this involved full-frame lenses on the Nikon D700, rather than the half-frame DX 18-200 zoom lens on my grown-up Nikon D300.) So, on the second walk around the lawn, I all ears more on the people sitting on benches, walking past me, and stretched out on the grass near the sidewalk. It also gave me a chance to set the lens to its maximum wide-angle setting, and take advantage of quick, unfocused, wide-angle "hip shots" whenever there was something fascinating nearby that I had to shoot quickly.

When I got home, I chose to take a quick look at the Wikipedia article about the Fantastic Lawn, to see if there was anything special that I needed to mention in these notes. I didn’t expect to find much, because — as far as I knew — it had always been part of Inner Park, and had always been the same. To my bolt from the blue, I found that that was certainly not not the case. Indeed, now’s Fantastic Lawn is situated on a flat area that was occupied by the 35-acre "Lower Reservoir" that was constructed in 1842 to supply water to the residents of the city. After the Croton-Catskill reservoir system was completed, the Lower Reservoir became redundant — but biased battles ensued for numerous decades before the city finally settled on a plot for an oval lawn.

That plot basically fell apart because of the Depression, and the open area was filled with a "Hooverville" of improvised shacks for quite some time. Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia finally brought in the legendary Robert Moses (the visionary force behind so many other parks around New York City and the rest of the state) to implement the plot — and it was essentially finished in 1934.

And there’s more to the description, too, but I’ll let you read that on your own if you’re attracted. (You might be attracted to know, for example, that in 1995, Pope John Paul II held an open-air mass for 125,000 on the Fantastic Lawn. Yes, it is that huge!)

In any case, I finished my second loop around the park, went home and uploaded numerous hundred photos, which I’ve winnowed down to the ones you’ll find in this set…

Re-asking due to mistakes in previous question.

I want to invest about $ 750 into a speaker system, done some research and still doing research but want some other opinions on the matter. I do not need a receiver right now although opinions on that will be helpful for future buys.

I prefer a 5.1 system that is clear and crisp, nice bass and no distortion. I want the best I can get for $ 750 +/- $ 100. I have researched Bose, Jamo, Polk, B&W, Klipsch, etc.

Just speakers with future receiver opinions needed, I already have a TV in mind:

http://www.circuitcity.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6052504&CatId=5989

Answer by bbt91945
Forget the Bose speakers, they are over priced and they don’t integrate with other system. I recommend you demo the following speakers are at a local retail store. JBL, Infinity, Definitive Technology, Klipsch, Energy and Polk Audio. I would favor the Klipsch 500 which is a 5.1 set up and it is in the price range you want to spend. They are available at Best Buy. Polk Audio is not as excellent and B & W will be more expensive same with Jamo. Hope this will help you out.

Answer by Ginga
well for the most part, you are going to get what you pay for. anything by a name brand is going to be excellent. i always like to go with sony, because i have alot of electronic items by sony and they always work fantastic. although the answer above me has a excellent point about bose, they are over priced…

here is some excellent stuff to look at: http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=5.1+signal+system#q=home+theater+system+sony&hl=en&sa=X&biw=981&bih=441&tbs=shop:1,price:1,ppr_min:300,ppr_max:600,p_ord:r&fp=a9f29339130ebba7

but i would really recommend building your own system, that way its simpler and cheaper to upgrade and its usually cheaper to start with.

here is what you would buy

1. main head receiver unit: http://www.pcrush.com/product/Home-Theater-Receivers/597124/Sony-STR-DH810-A-V-Receiver?refid=1238

2. speakers, you can get any brand you want, but something like this: http://cgi.ebay.com/1-SAMSUNG-SATTALITE-HOME-THEATER-SPEAKER-Z320-CABLE-/260683416315?pt=Speakers_Subwoofers&hash=item3cb1f142fb

3 a subwoofer, (a self powered subwoofer with a receiver home theater system will beat any box home theater system guaranteed.) you can either buy one pre made, or make your own like i did , (like it) by car audio subs and mono amps here is a excellent example of one you would buy at a store: http://cgi.ebay.com/AudioSource-10-Home-Theater-Powered-Subwoofer-/370280003456?pt=Speakers_Subwoofers&hash=item5636687780

and here is what i did for my home subs

i bought 2 of these, then build boxes for them. : http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-SUB-WOOFER-SPEAKER-PREMIUM-18-DJ-CAR-HOME-AUDIO-/130394434548?pt=Speakers_Subwoofers&hash=item1e5c1d2bf4

then bought this and it powers them nice: http://cgi.ebay.com/New-3300W-2-Channel-Home-Theater-Pro-Audio-Power-Amp-NR-/380303768724?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item588bdefc94

Answer by Lance
A lot depends on the size of your room and speaker house as to what will signal excellent for you generally speaking Jamo and B & W are excellent choices..I didn’t know you could get a set of B & W for less than $ 1500.00 ??? Wow if you can I would get those …if you get Polk stick with the LSi or TSi series , I reckon the TSi series has been discontinued but some models may still be available at close out prices…. another brand to consider is Boston Acoustics… They have various models and offer close outs on grown-up models all the time through various dealers on the net… Also Energy has sets for less vital rooms for less than $ 500 that get really fantastic reviews……receivers take a look at the Denon AVR 591 also the Onkyo HT RC 260 even though it is 7.2 you can still use it as a 5.1

Answer by mark_hensley@sbcglobal.net
I reckon B&W is your best bet. The B&W Zepplin is a portable two speaker system at $ 600. While it may not be a 5.1 system it is worthy of your consideration. The Bose Sounddock 10 is another unit that provides stellar signal qualities. It is in orbit with B&W’s Zepplin. Stereo separation is not its strong suite, but the signal is robust and loud. It is simply the best of Bose by all standards. Wharfedale Diamond 8.2 self powered studio monitor speakers are an brilliant choice. Tannoy Reveal Speakers http://www.zzounds.com/item–TNYREVEAL These suggestions are overachieving speakers that will make most listeners full of appreciation.

A fantastic 5.1 system to consider would be Henry Kloss’s Cambridge Soundworks. This brand is quality, high value and really excellent signal. http://store.cambridgesoundworks.com/content/Home_Theater.htm

Best.

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!