I have a dedicated HT that I'm building right now in my basement which will be roughly 14' wide x 23-1/2' long x 8-1/2' tall.

The theater usage will be: 99% movies, 1% music.

I'm looking to put together a nice package from av123 and have the following decisions made:

RSC200 Center Channel
RSS300 Side Surrounds
MFW-15 Subs (x2)

My question is: what should I use for front and rear speakers?

The salesperson suggested RS850's for the front, but the RS760's sound better-suited to movies from the description on their website. My salesperson also suggested RS450's for the rear speakers but, again, the RS760 seems like the better option.

Time to play "Spend my money"!

-- Which speakers should I buy for the front and rear to build a surround sound system that will alienate the neighbors and make all my friends jealous?!!

-- Are the RS450's good enough for the rear or is there an advantage to upgrading to the RS760's?

My options (within my set budget) are:
1) RS850 Front and RS450 Rear
2) RS760 Front and RS760 Rear
3) RS760 Front and RS450 Rear
4) RS450 Front and RS450 Rear

I want to firmly fill the room with sound, but would prefer the sound stay IN the room as well.

Thanks in advance for your advice!
Rick

Considering the price point they are at right now ... 760s have my vote!

TheMonk

I would go for the 850's up front and something smaller for the rear channels, the 450's or even 250's. 760's seem like overkill, to me, for the rears. Given the relative price of the 450's, that would be my choice.

- john

I have heard all of the speakers in question at one point or another so I have a bit of experience with this...IMO the 850's are the best Rocket speaker available as they do a fantastic job with both music and HT. The mid on these speakers really provides an additional level of clarity that the other two don't have. I have had the 850's for two years and have been 100% happy with their performance for both HT and music.

As far as the rears go you may be close on the pricing of 760's vs 450 by the time you add the risers to the 450's...depending on your seating area you most likely will need the risers in order to get the tweeter up to ear level.

Good luck with your decision!

See post #247 in this thread:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=12210414#post12210414

Craig

I would personally either go 760's front and back or 850's front with 450's as the surrounds.

Either way, you are going to end up with a KILLER system that you will more than likely enjoy for years and years to come.

Based on the info alone, I went with the 850 front and 450 for rear. Won't be getting mine until late December.

You better make up your mind quick because that Rocket sale is about to end soon. I believe it will last till the end of this month.

What are you going with for LFE?

Based on the info alone, I went with the 850 front and 450 for rear. Won't be getting mine until late December.

You better make up your mind quick because that Rocket sale is about to end soon. I believe it will last till the end of this month.

same deal with me. I've got an order in for 850's up front, a bigfoot, and 450's for the rear. I'm looking to get a pair of 300's for the side surrounds at some point...debating whether or not to call and go ahead and add them to my order at their current price.

The 850's sound truly remarkable.

850 Sig's up front, 450's in the rear. The 850's are a wicked speaker for the price.

850s/450s = Visceral overload!

Seems like most everyone agreed with the salesman...so that's what I went with:

Just ordered:

RS850 front channels
RSC200 center channel
RSS300 side surround channels
RS450 rear surrounds
MFW-15 (x2) subwoofers
MU-C center speaker stand

Now I just need to get my BenQ W9000 projector, Carada Criterion 100" 1.78:1 Brilliant White screen, and Pioneer Elite VSX-82TXS receiver and I'm all set!

Thanks for all the advice, everyone!
Rick

very nice.

I'll be running the same speaker setup except I've got an eD a5-350 instead of the two MFW-15's (though, at this rate, it's only a matter of time before the call of the MFW is too strong and I'll have one of those puppies downstairs, too).

Seems like most everyone agreed with the salesman...so that's what I went with:

Just ordered:

RS850 front channels
RSC200 center channel
RSS300 side surround channels
RS450 rear surrounds
MFW-15 (x2) subwoofers
MU-C center speaker stand

Now I just need to get my BenQ W9000 projector, Carada Criterion 100" 1.78:1 Brilliant White screen, and Pioneer Elite VSX-82TXS receiver and I'm all set!

Thanks for all the advice, everyone!
Rick

Congrats! that will be an awesome system! May I suggest that you look at the Pio Elite 92 or 94 receiever instead of the 82 so that you get HDMI 1.3 and all the latest high resolution audio formats.

That will be a terrific system. Hope you're as happy with yours as I am with mine. :)