Need your help. Speakers $800-$2000

So what does this budget need to cover? 5 speakers? 5 speakers + sub? 5 speakers + sub + receiver?

It looks like you live in an apt. Do you have volume restrictions you need to worry about?

Florida?

Hmmm...I will assume you have a DVD player, so you need 5 speakers (front left, front right, center, and two surrounds), a receiver, and a subwoofer. If it were my $, I'd put maybe 500 of it towards a receiver. Denon, Marantz, Yamaha, Onkyo, and Harmon Kardon all make great home theater receivers, I'm partial to Denon and Marantz, as the Denon receivers I've owned over the years have been very reliable - my folks still use a 2 channel Denon I purchased new in 1988. My other Denon home theater receiver was purchased new in 2001 and still works fine as well, though I've upgraded it to a Marantz receiver for increased functionality - it's been a great receiver so far. The other brands I mention are great as well, any one of them will serve you well.

So, for 500, I'd recommend these receivers:

http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Produ...TXS605B&tp=179
http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Produ...3AV1708&tp=179

The Onkyo seems to be a little richer feature wise. You don't necessarily need to buy from crutchfield, as you can probably get them locally for the same or less $. Crutchfield does have a pretty good site for browsing, and their learning center is pretty good also.

For a sub, I'd definitely go internet direct, you get a lot more bang for the buck. I'd suggest one of the following:

http://www.hsuresearch.com/products/vtf-2-mk3.html
http://www.svsound.com/products-sub-box-pb12nsd.cfm

Also check http://www.edesignaudio.com/index.php?cPath=2_41 - though they have a few months wait time from what I understand. Same for http://www.epiksubwoofers.com/Products.html

I'd say put 5-700 towards a sub. It'll be overkill for now, but it'll give you some 'growing room' down the road.

Now we're at say 1100 (500 for receiver, 600 for sub) add 100 or so for cables and you've got 800 or so left for speakers (yeah, I'm using all of your 2k budget )

I'd audition as much as I could locally, some brands to consider are:
Paradigm (the Titans for fronts with the matching center and smaller surrounds would be a nice setup)
Energy
Boston Acoustics
Polk Audio

However, again buying via internet direct will give you more bang for the buck. For 600 you can get this setup: http://www.svsound.com/products-spks-sbs01.cfm that would cover your front, center, and surrounds. The great thing about this setup (aside from the reviews, though I've not heard it personally), is that the fronts, center, and surrounds are all matched. For the most seamless theater experience, you want matched speakers (note: your sub does not need to match, and it's OK if your surrounds don't match the fronts either. It's important for the front L and R speakers to match the center however).

Hopefully this is enough info to get you started.

Salk Sound are the best speakers by far. buy the SongTowers and expand from that. Your tower speakers are the key to any home theater or 2 channel listening.

salksound.com

Salk speakers, while excellent, will bust the budget by a fair margin. The OP needs a complete 5.1 setup with a receiver for 800-2k, though getting the system piece by piece over time is an option. It's not necessary to have tower fronts though for a great setup.

Ascend Acoustics Sierra-1. Email dave as he is always willing to help.

Receiver: Onkyo 605 $400

www.monoprice.com for HDMI, banana plugs, speaker wires: $100ish.

Adding these speakers will make your budget under $2K.


BIC Acoustech
SVS
HSU Research
Elemental Design
AV123 X-series
Swans Diva 4.1

Check the owner's thread for these speakers.

Receiver - Onkyo TX-SR605 - $400
Fronts - X-Series x-mtm Encore Tower - $550
Center - X Series x-cs - $200
Rear Surrounds - X Series x-ls Encore Monitor - $300
Subwoofer - HSU VTF-2 MK - $500
Speaker Wire - 100 foot roll of 12 gauge wire - $24.70
Subwoofer Cable - 25 Foot Coax Subwoofer Cable - $6.14

Total: $1980.84

Good options, but I'd add

- receivers: Yammy 663, Marantz 4002/5002

when choosing receiver - do you need advanced codec decoding capability (or will it be in your future Blu-ray player) ; how many HDMI in do you need

- speakers: Axiom, Def Tech ProCinema


Just be careful. I started looking with a hypothetical budget of $2K for a fall purchase and I now think I will need at least $3K

Wow, that was a lot of effort. Nice work but I did find a sub cable for $6.12.

DOH!

Note how easily the budget can grow! Unfortunately most of us don't have wallets that grow at the same speed

#1. Get out there and listen to some speakers, let your ears lead the way. Onkyo, Yamaha, and Denon all have nice offerings around $500, for a receiver. I would recommend buying one of them, and upping your budget a little to get the Salk SongTowers Forget about the center, surrounds, and sub, for now. Focus on laying a good foundation that you can build on in the upcoming years. If you have a solid set of front speakers (like the SongTowers) you can literally build a HT system around them and have an extraordinary stereo listening experience as well. I would also suggest looking into offerings from Outlaw Audio, and SVS (someone else mentioned their SBS-01 speaker system, and I will second it even though I have never heard them, they consistently get great reviews from users and excel in the "bang for the buck" category. Beyond that, look for sales, or look into used stuff from Audiogon. If you want the easy out, see what bundles they are currently offering at FRY's (if they are even in FL). A couple of years ago they were offering a Onkyo/Polk Audio bundle that fit your budget and offered better sound than any other "home theater in a box" available at that time.

Good luck
-Funk

If you do decide to up your budget, I also recommend the Salk Song Tower's. They are incredible!

$800 to $2000 is quite a range for speakers. Here's a few options - use the cheaper options to get an A/V receiver if $2K is your total budget.

Option 1)
Front Left/Right: PSB Alpha Towers
Center: PSB Alpha C1
Surrounds: PSB Alpha B1
Sub: PSB Sub 5i
Total Cost: $1,150

Option 2)
Front Left/Right: PSB Image T45 Towers
Center: PSB Image C40
Surrounds: PSB Image B15
Sub: PSB Sub 6i
Total Cost: $1,500

Option 3)
Front Left/Right: PSB Image T65 Towers
Center: PSB Image C60
Surrounds: PSB Image B15
Sub: PSB Sub 8
Total Cost: $1,950

This is a modification of what I have that would fit into your budget and work better for a slightly larger room like yours.

Reciver: Refurb Onkyo 705 $499.00 +10% off Until 4/10

Prices Using 15% off Package Builder (You'd have to call to get discounts on stands and upgraded Amp.)

Fronts: A6-6T6 Towers $425
Center: A6-6T6 MTM $165.75
Surrounds: A6-5T5 MTM Pair $170
Sub: A5-350 $552.50 + $55.25 for Upgraded Amp.
Stands: Pair of 31" Stands $42.50
Speaker Wire: Monoprice 12AWG 100ft $24.70
Sub Cable: 12' Monoprice Digital Coax Cable $4.48
Bananna Plugs: 10x Monoprice Speaker Banana Plugs $15
HDMI Cables: 3' HDMI 1.3a CL2 $6.32 Plenty of length for me, you may want longer ones.

Total for Cables: ~$74 after shipping for all the cables you should ever need.

Grand Total: ~$1935 Give or take.

Wow this thread is EXACTLY what I was looking for! I have about $2000 budget and wanted to buy everything (receiver + speakers.)

After reading many threads on this board, I felt overwhelmed and discouraged because of the prices that were being thrown around. I had come to the conclusion that perhaps I should buy simply a decent receiver, and the front 3 speakers with my $2000, and buy a subwoofer and surrounds later (I somehow managed to convince my wife that would be ok.)

My only difference to OP is that I had my house wired for 7.1 when it was built, so I'd like to go with 4 surrounds in the ceiling.

I was sort of thinking about these in my plan of front now, rest later:
Rocket RS450 for L/R, RSC200 for center as I see they got really good reviews and look gorgeous.

I am by no means an audiophile, and don't understand half of what is said on these forums, but I would like to have some nice sounding gear. I listened to some stuff at Fry's, but honestly think I just keep picking out the loud stuff. I would mostly use this for TV, the occasional movie, and a bit of music now and then. I buy a decent amount of computer equipment and am getting a new tv to go with this, but the one thing I really didn't want to cheap out on much was the speakers, mainly b/c it was my understanding they can last a really long time and unlike the other stuff I buy it won't be outdated in 2 years.

So as a HT sound system newb, would I be just fine spending the $2000 on everything, or will I really notice a difference by putting it together bit by bit. The one thing I think I need to hold off on now are the surrounds, however. Since I really would like them in-ceiling (and I read the entire in-ceiling thread), I feel like they might cost a bit too much at this point AND (the big sticking point), I'd have to get them installed, which I think would seriously hamper my budget. (Not to mention I'd like to get all 4, for 7.1)

OP, apologies if this is a thread hijack, will make my own if you'd like (although I think our requirements are pretty close.)

Thanks for any help!
Matthew

Mathew, you get a yes and a yes to both questions, you most likely would be fine with buying all as the $2000 gets you some pretty good speakers and yes you would notice a difference going with the Rocket set up or any Floorstander in that price range compared to a full setup done for the $2000. I myself would go with just the 3 fronts and add to it in time. I never really liked the idea of in ceiling/wall speakers as they end up staying with the house if you ever move. I also find the to be not as satisfying a sound when it comes to surround effects, my Axiom QS8s are the best I have heard for that, much moe enveloping. The sounds are not as pinpointable, yet they still work great for multichannel music and they can be ceiling mounted if needed.

Thanks for the advice! I started my own thread here so as not to hijack this thread:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1016683

Even though I had the ceiling wired, I'm sort of turned off by the whole sound quality, cost, installation part of it (and leaving it in the house really sucks if you put any money into it.)

So I'm thinking of getting the Rocket surrounds as well.

Anyway, it's in that thread, so any help would be great.

Thanks!

Wow...Lots of great choices.

One thing i would totally recommend for saving money is buying all your cabling at www.monoprice.com rediculously cheap cables and they work great. Don't spend tons of money at best buy for cabling.

Everyone did a fairly nice job on receivers. But you should be able to get some decent receiver for under $400. Check out this authorized dealer site on some refurbs that come with warranties and a solid reputation: http://www.accessories4less.com/
The Marantz refurb's are especially nice.

As far as speakers go. If you are looking for some excellent sounding speakers with world class build quality then here is another choice: www.aperionaudio.com

Full 30 day in home trial, free shipping both ways (in the event you want to return them) 1 full year 100% upgrade policy, in case you want to go bigger they will give you 100% credit for your orginals to upgrade.

Personally, I love the way they sound.

Bottom line, it's up to you and your ears and i agree there is a lot of different choices out there. And a lot of these companys make good stuff. You are doing the right thing by researching, but ultimately let your own ears choose.

Best of luck to you!
Dan.

Interesting.

In case you wanted the budget to cover more than a pair of speakers, I'd go with the SVS SBS-01/PB10-NSD 5.1 suite along with a capable HDMI receiver like the Onkyo 605 or Yamaha 663.

http://www.svsound.com/products-sys-sbs_black.cfm

Grab cables from Monoprice, spending more is goofy.

In your price range:

Option 1: Behringer 2030p. $130/pair. I've yet to hear a pair, but they measure obscenely well, and my "audio guru" highly recommends them. Plus, Guitar Center may well have them on demo.

Option 2: Paradigm Atoms. I really like these speakers - they're cheap, they're small, and they sound quite good. $600 should get you two pair of Atoms and amatching center channel.

Option 3: DIY. For $800, you could build 5 Modula MTs, Cryolites, or many other popular HT designs. If there's a high-end speaker you like - say, the Linkwitz Orions or B&W 805s - there's likely a way to build a similar-sounding speaker for a fraction of the price.

Once you start setting up your system stop by your neighbors and let them know you have a new system and are testing it out. Let them know if they hear anything too loud to please stop by and let you know.
This will help avoid problems since most folks don't want to be the cranky stick in the mud neighbor, but also may have kids or work early. By reaching out first you should afford yourself greater understanding down the road.

Order the Onkyo HT-S894 (refurb) from ClubOnkyo for $529.
(I paid $500 for it brand new at Fry's)
You get the HT-R640 receiver with model 404 DVD player.
and you can sell off the speakers/sub that come with it.

Then get Infinity Beta 40s ($360), Infinity Beta 20s ($220), C360 ($200)
Thats $1309.
You could spend another $250 to $500 for a subwoofer.
So now you've spent $1509 to $1809, minus whatever you were able to sell off the Onkyo speakers for ($150-$200).

This will be the same setup I will have in a week.

I'm going to disagree with this suggestion a bit, maybe. Let me first say that I am personally still planning to order the song towers and center in another month or two when my house is closer to being finished, to use in my HT/listening room. However, that doesn't mean it's the best choice for everyone.

If he plans to use his room for 99% HT, and his budget is strictly $2000 (as he's stated) then I think this would be a bad choice. I currently have crapola Bose front 3 (bookshelf and center, not cubes) with 2 JBL in ceilings for surrounds. My receiver is at least 5 years old and wasn't even top of the line then, and my sub is a 10" velodyne. I enjoy my system for movies quite a bit, regardless of the fact that I'm not getting the 'best' sound from the speakers. I get the surround sound effect and the rumble from the sub. So, it's still plenty good for what it does, even though music sounds terrible on it.

If however, the OP is a music lover and would like to use his system for music as much as HT, then perhaps your suggestion isn't a bad one. Even still, your only leaving him $200 for a receiver and cabling, which just won't get the job done IMO.

My suggestion would mirror many of those already posted (probably because my opinions came from these very forums, haha!). Spend $400-$500 for a decent receiver, another $500 or so on a decent sub, and then the last $1k on a speaker set. Lot's of good suggestions for those already posted. That will get you a system that's quite a bit better than my current one, and I enjoy my current one thoroughly for movies as it is. Down the road, if you get more into music listening and/or start looking for audiophile grade home theater sound, you should then consider replacing your parts with higher grade stuff, such as the song towers.