Need 5.1 speaker system ($3000 budget) in 18 x 18 x 18 room

Budget seems right, 1/3 electronics, 2/3 for the speakers.

Area rug will be a great idea to help tame those refelctions you are going to wexperience. You should also use room treatments on the walls at the primary reflection points once you have your sepakers positoned where you like them to be. Dipoles are great for surround but if you are planning on using mulit channel audio, direct radiators would be the better option. Any ideas of speaker companies your going to audition?

What I would do is to take a pad of paper with you, write down the make and
model of each speaker you audition and what you liked and disliked about the
speakers you were auditioning. Was the bass tight and deep or was it boomy and loose sounding? Were the mids life like or were they hollow or just too pronounced? Was the treble irritating and harsh or were they dark and not revealing or were they smooththat made you want to listen for more? How was the imaging?

Bring music with you that you are very familiar with and know quite well. To
make it easier to audition HT speaker systems, listen to the main speakers in 2
channel mode with music. Music is much harder to reproduce accurately then a movie soundtrack so if the speakers do well with music, then they will do well with HT. Speakers that do HT well may not do well with music. When auditioning the center channel of the same brand and series as the main speakers, pick a difficult source like an announcer that mumbles alot. If you can understand what the mumbling announcer is saying, then you have a good center channel.

I would go to speciality stores first and start auditioning speakers first
instead of going to the internet first. Once your likes are determined, you can
mention them here and fellow members can make internet brand recommendations based on your likes/dislikes. The specality stores are better setup acousticaly then the big box stores which will make auditioning a little easier. It will give you an idea of what you like in a speaker.

Keep track of what amp or receiver is powering the speakers you're auditioning. Try to get a receiver/amp that closest resembles what you have or want to get. It just reduces another variable when audtioning speakers.


One thing to keep note off. When auditioning speakers, make sure the volume
levels are matched between the diiferent speaker pairs because the louder
speaker pair will always sound better. Listen to levels that you think you
would listen to most of the time because thats how you are going to be using
them most of the time.

Swans Diva 6.1
http://www.ozhometheater.com/ozht_pr...ding_6.1bc.htm

Swans Diva C3
http://www.ozhometheater.com/ozht_pr...enter_c3bc.htm

Swans Diva R3
http://www.ozhometheater.com/ozht_pr...shelf_r3bc.htm

SVS PB12-Plus
http://www.svsound.com/products-sub-box-newpb12plus.cfm

X-Statically Fantastic Sale!
http://**********/component/page,shop...art/Itemid,37/

Being a huge fan of PSB products;

http://www.psbspeakers.com/Image-home-theater-systems , the Command Performance System. Maybe for go the sub in lieu of a sub from HSU, Outlaw or SVS.

The SubSeries 6i Subwoofer is a good performer at it's price point.

You will have acoustical problems with an 18' cube of a room since, when all the dimensions are identical, all the room modes will sum. I suggest that you seriously consider lots of bass traps or electronic EQ.

Check this site out
http://www.aperionaudio.com/home.aspx

You should check out the complete 5.1 systems offered by SVS. A friend of mine has the SBS-01 setup and he absolutely loves it. I have watched a few movies at his place and was very impressed also. He spent close to a $1,000 for that setup. For the amount you are looking to spend you could get the higher end setups consisting of the MBS-01 or MTS-01 speakers along with a PB13 Ultra subwoofer. (The MBS set is wall mountable also) I personally own a PB13 Ultra and have loved every ground shaking moment of it! Axiom is another company worth looking into. I run an Axiom speaker configuration consisting of M22ti fronts, the VP150 center and, QS4 surrounds. The only drawbacks to these systems is the fact that you cant go anywhere to demo the speakers since they are online only companies. You do however get trial periods so if you do not like them you simply pay for the shipping to send them back and get a refund. I personally believe you get more for your money from companies such as Axiom and SVS. Their business has been built on quality and word of mouth. No salesperson or storefront adding their markups to the price. Oh and their customer service is amazing too!

Axioms site has a forum that is very helpful and SVS is well recommended on this site as well. Or you could just look up reviews.

http://www.svsound.com/products-sys-mts01.cfm

http://www.axiomaudio.com/index2.html

Happy hunting for that perfect setup!

Whats about Definitive Technology Procinema 1000 sats , Procenter 2000 center and SVS PB10 sub with the new Onkyo 607.

Look into Totem Tribes for your on-wall needs.

Then pick your favourite sub from SVS, eD, Epik, Outlaw, Hsu.

If you like the 'B&W' sound (I know I do) you should look at something like the 684 Theatre set up (minus their subwoofer).
If you want all bookshelves check out the 685 Theatre (again, minus subwoofer).

You have a pretty big space to fill with sound, so I'd want towers up front, personally.

I'd stick with direct radiators for surrounds. Dipoles, if you're going to be mounting them far away from the listening position, are just gonna be a mess.

For subs check out SVS and Hsu.

Another company to check out for speakers is Axiom. Good bang for the buck and great sounding speakers.
I'd check out the EGM 350 (w/ a GREAT center channel) OR the Epic 50.

Good luck.

I have had the 3808 for over a year. Running all hdmi to Denon 2500 blu-ray, Toshiba HD A35, X-Box 360 Elite, and DirectTV HD. One hdmi out to Plasma TV. No problems if you buy you should be satisfied. Running a 7 speaker Aperion surround setup with a SV PB13 Ultra.

Get a $1200 sub, an $800 receiver and spend the rest on speakers. At that price point, any recommended here will sound decent.

Also, you need to find a way to make a rectangle of your HT space. As mentioned above, a cube is terrible for acoustics.

True dat. You will have a huge 63 Hz bump, and another one at 126 Hz with which you will have to deal. A receiver with digital correction is probably a necessity.

Remember that the worst sounding room on Earth is a handball court; both in dimensional ratios and acoustics.

Maybe I'm just a pleb, but I have to think that at these prices diminishing returns would have long set in. I'm not sure what would sound like them--do you mean something just as or nearly as high in quality but less expensive, or something that is voiced like them? To me, most B&W speakers have a laid-back midrange and emphasized mid-bass and low-treble (sort of a "smile curve"), and are on the warm side overall. My opinion, based on limited experience (auditioning years ago in a store), is that B&W speakers that fall within your price range are a bit unclear in the midrange in comparison to those of other well-known brands. They might have improved the 600 series since then, but I wouldn't know.


Wouldn't having more than one subwoofer also help mitigate the room mode issues of such an extreme case?


Between the two, the Denon has the more sophisticated room correction system (which is important for your room in particular), and I've always favored the sound of Denon receivers--they have pretty solid amp sections. If you can get it for around $1000, then that would leave around $3000 for speakers.


Do you mean SVS? Their systems should be suitable for both movies and music. I only have experience with their less expensive series, having installed one such system for somebody else and listened to it quite a bit. The 5.0 Multi-channel SCS-01(M) speaker system with SBS-01 surrounds should do fine (and is easily wall-mountable with keyhole slots)--together with a PB13-Ultra to rock that big space, the cost would be about $2200, depending on options (e.g. +$130 for larger surrounds, +$100 for gloss black PB13-Ultra, -$200 for the PC13-Ultra instead).

The SVS MTS series is the next step up and may squeeze into your budget (bulging it a bit), but having never heard these speakers myself, I don't know whether they bring many improvements for HT use as opposed to critical music listening (others with personal experience can comment on that).

Another recommendation that may seem a bit unusual to some would be three vertically-oriented Ascend Acoustics CBM-170 SE bookshelf speakers mounted (using the B-Tech BT77) at the same height, just above your TV if it is mounted at eye-level, or below it if it is mounted higher. This should improve imaging over other solutions--personally, I hate when the front speakers are at different heights, but maybe that's just me. Other advantages of this system over most others is relatively high efficiency and power handling--some speakers in this price and size range (for wall-mounting) are just as efficient or can handle just as much power, but not usually both at the same time. This translates to improved dynamics, which is good for HT as well as music. You can use two more of these speakers for surrounds or the much smaller HTM-200 SE if that would look better in your room. Along with a PB13-Ultra subwoofer, this system will cost about $2400.

Since you have room left in your updated budget for the Sierra-1, obviously that's another option to consider. You'd give up some efficiency for even cleaner sound, although I'm not sure how much difference that would make for movies as opposed to music (and the CBM-170 SE is darn good at music, too). The speakers are voiced similarly--neutral in tone with flat frequency responses. The Sierra-1 does seem to have a more controlled vertical dispersion by design, which may help with your type of floor. If you're interested at all, you might want to contact Ascend Acoustics and ask them about these issues.

Yup but marginally. That will help for the length/width dimensions but, unless you elevate one of the subs, not with the height at all.

Well, one thought is that even a used pair of 803D's (tower speakers) takes you roughly $2k over your new budget of $4k. Also, even for towers, aren't the 803D's fairly large? (i.e. width and depth, since I'd think that the height is a non issue.)

Since you seem to have interest (and money) for a higher end setup, but keeping in mind your aove mention of $4k, here are some ideas (in no particular order):

Let the sub go till last. (or subs (2) since that has some merit over one, provided that 2 small ones with fit in the room)

IMO, buy bass traps, do not screw around with electronic correction; for room treatment my own 1st choice (I'm a customer and have *zero* connection with them) is www.realtraps.com

But room treatment traps that actually work are not cheap. All I'm saying that that's where my vote goes, forget the electronic processing bass correction stuff!

re getting started with speakers for HT, IMO you'd want to start with L/R and center.

Given that I've seen really knowledgeable people say more than once that the center speaker is most important for HT; although I'll have to add that that might have been meant within the context of having at least 5 speakers (front L/R, center, and rear L/R).

Then too, are you going to go with towers for the front L/R? Will tower fronts really work OK in your room?

I'd buy all of the speakers used from Audiogon and personally think that Revel is the best current used bang for the buck deal. Search both full and monitor at their search listings: http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/srch...rell&&formsrch

Both the 2nd gen Revel speakers and the 1st gen, have been widely reviewed and gotten hugely favorable reviews.

Also see: http://www.revelspeakers.com/

For tower fronts consider (all still current, ascending price): Revel Concerta F12 ($1.5k new) or Performa F32 or Performa F52 (I paid $3.1k for my used pair 2 or 3 months ago). The older (discontinued) 1st gen Revel speakers generally end with "0" such as the Performa F30.

For monitor fronts (I've no Revel monitor experience, nor would I recommend my somewhat large center (Revel Performa C52)) my own 1st vote goes for the Performa M22, but there are more choices here (short of going to the expensive Ultima lineup, or one of Revel's 1st gen monitor choices, and also there are front are rear monitor choices).

Cheers and good luck

Maybe yes, but then again maybe no.

Depends on if you're prone to the upgrade itch.

Also, you need real experience doing real business before you start to trust an audio dealer in any serious way.

Cheers

In-walls can be OK but unless you HAVE to have in-walls, I'd stick with box speakers.
I'm of the mind that you have to spend considerably more $ to get the same performance you'd get from a box speaker.

I agree with OtherSongs. Don't go trusting this guy just yet.
I mean, he might be giving you great advice and really looking out for you. OR he could be trying to unload some in-walls he hasn't been able to sell to anyone else.

This is good advice. The only thing that I would add would be to think about inexpensive amplification like Emotiva or Outlaw in 6 months or a year to bring those speakers to life. Perhaps look at something that can handle more power...

roman707:

I have a similar-sized space (18x9) and I just got KEF iQ30s with a iQ60c center and Emotiva XPA-3 and I'm blown away by the range and detail. If you did this with 2 HSU subs (placed near field for more impact) and filled things out with either iQ70 floor standing L/Rs or iQ10 surrounds: bliss. Same for B&W CM series: maybe 3 CM7s for the front and CM 1s around... I think that you would need to find some great prices to do it right for $3,000 but that's half of the fun

If you are really serious, why not install a ceiling? Or, you experts out there, is this a dumb idea?

I understand that the looks of the thing might be a deal breaker as well.

I really like Axiom audio great speakers, that system would be good for that room I would upgrade the M22's to the floor standing M60's IMO, but the m22 are awesome speakers or upgrade the ep500 to the ep600. yeah the 4308 or onkyo 805,806,905 ect... will push those really good.

you ain't kidding...

i'd set at least $1k of that budget aside for room treatment... plus use eq...

"theoretically speaking", in the case of that room, $1000 of treatments and $1000 of speaker will probably sound a lot better than $2000 of speaker...

ymmv... there's any number of speakers (and any number of pieces of electronics to drive them) in your budget... but i'd shop a heckuva lot more than at just one shop, and i'd really educate my ears before i jumped on any recommendations from here...

Big 8Wx6H DIY 4" partitions (maybe with masking to reflect the highest frequencies across the room to separate @ 12 feet back might work. Even with room treatments he is going to have some fun nulls and treatements/EQ will have little impact on them. If he cares about this though, he should go over the the Home Theater Construction forum and ask the Acuostical treamtment experts there like Terry, Ethan and a couple of others.