Large/Echoey open room with cathedral ceilings + on a BUDGET

OK, so here's the deal. My parents didn't/wouldn't listen to me regarding audio, and went out and bought some piece of crap $69/pair in-wall speakers at Menards to use in their HUGE living room. What is already installed is mostly my Home Theater gear (Yamaha RX-V1900 receiver, Acoustic Research AR2 5.1 setup, Sony BDP-S550 Blu-Ray Player), but I am moving soon. So I had them just test out these junk speakers by connecting them really quickly and just setting in the open (obviously not in the wall). I put in Saving Private Ryan, cranked it up, and though loud enough, they sounded like tin cans with no detail and no bass. Just like I said. Then I re-connected my speakers (the 8-year-old HC2's, not even close to the highest of end for sure), and they realized just how right I was.

The room is long -- 28 feet long (not including open kitchen behind), about 17 feet wide, and has a vaulted ceiling that is angled and goes from about 10 feet to around 18+ feet high. Also, the room behind opens to the kitchen, with the ceiling divider behind the couch about 10 feet high. There is stairs and a loft above it on the right, and open entryway to the right. So, basically, it is huge, echoes like crazy, and not very well suited to Home Theater. But that's what we have to work with. The walls are pre-wired. Oh, and they sit about 20 or so feet from the TV -- a 60" Sony KDS-A3000...

Now, they are cheapskates (obviously, by their choice of $69/pair in-walls), and don't want to spend much. After much debate, I FINALLY convinced them to NOT get in-walls, as they are woefully inadequate -- especially for a room this large. I told them it cost me $430 for my HC2 setup (which came with a subwoofer) back in 2001, so they assume they can get something just as good or better for around $500. I could PROBABLY stretch them to ~$700 for EVERYTHING shipped (5 speakers and a subwoofer).

By my own research on here and elsewhere, I would think front floor-standing surrounds would be best. The rears have to be mountable bookshelves and able to be pivoted to be fired towards us. The center I am not so sure about -- probably a horizontal bookshelf-style. They WANT the subwoofer to be smaller and not such a big obvious box so that they can hide it or stick it somewhere and not be noticed easily.

What I have found, this seems to be a good deal: http://www.wwstereo.com/#/ecommerce/..._84__0_0_0_-1/

That's just an idea -- give me any more you may have! I'm doing the buying FOR them, so mixing and matching speakers from different makes and stores/places is fine by me. I just want it to work for them.

They would need a subwoofer too, and I know all about the good deals for REGULAR ol' box subs, but not what THEY want (described above). I remember seeing the cylinder subs at SVS (http://www.svsound.com/products-sub-cyl-pc12_nsd.cfm), but that is WAY too much money. The total system needs to be no more than ~$700, with $~500 being more ideal.

Any and all suggestions will be taken into consideration! Thank you SO much for the help guys!

- Josh

Thank you for the reply! I appreciate it!

So far it seems that Energy package is the best thing as of right now. I still can't figure out the Sub part. No idea what to do there. Any other suggestions?

If I can TRY to convince them to go this route, would it be any better than the Energy system I linked to (taking the sub out of the equation)?: http://www.acousticsounddesign.com/c...pid=1540&sc=27

And yeah, it always ends up that way with giving my parents my "old" stuff. Right now, they will take my Yamaha RX-V861 receiver and Sony 1080p Upscaling DVD player when I move out. Hell, they still record with VCR's, as they refuse to get a DVR.

Yes, they do. Now... They didn't care about surround sound (they were content with the built-in speakers on the TV), until I hooked up MY 5.1 system and they realized what they were missing. My parents are very much Baby Boomers -- they don't want to "change it if it works fine as it is"... That is, until they experience it.


After a long talk, I convinced them that they are the type to buy something and have it last for decades, so they really should spend a little more and be happier with a decent system than skimping now and regretting it. I have gotten them to seriously consider the BIC Acouste PL-89 package at $1200, and to do something like use the sub as a table in the corner, LOL! Would that system be good enough? It uses 8" woofers and 6-1/2" tweeters on the center and fronts! I hope that my "old" Yamaha RX-V861 they'll be using will power them sufficiently at "only" 105 watts/channel. But these speakers seem pretty efficient, so I'd think 105 watts each would be OK.

Any other ideas, or would this be the best for them? I mean, the SVS and Hsu systems don't seem like they'd be as good considering they are 100% bookshelf speakers. Am I right about this? Or is there some other direction I should be going with this whole thing? I know the H100 is a great sub, despite being recently replaced.

Thanks much guys.

No one else?

Looks like I convinced them to get that BIC PL-89 package. Instead of ordering off the site, I called them up, and the guy who answered was very friendly and helpful. He answered all our questions, put in the credit card number, said they'd ship by the end of the day, and even knocked off the shipping charge for us ($100)! So, in the end, the system cost them $1,099 shipped, and should be here by the end of the week!

Thanks to everyone who helped! And thank you to BIC Acoustech for being great so far! Now, hopefully the speakers perform just as well. I'll update here when we get them all hooked up with initial impressions. I know they'll need plenty of hours of break-in before they loosen up, but I'll have that in mind if they seem too "tight".

1. They wanted surround sound. They also rarely listen to music on the system. They aren't audiophiles, that's for sure -- so buying only an insanely overpriced pair of floorstanders only would have been a horrible waste of money in this case. Surround sound has a MUCH bigger/better/more obvious benefit to them. I doubt they could even tell much of a difference between 2 of the these Acoustech floorstanders and 2 Monitor Audio RS6's... And I really doubt the Acoustech's are "crappy" at all...

2. Where were you when I asked for help a week ago until now? How could they do "a lot better" for $1,100 shipped for a complete 5.1 setup with floorstanders??? These seem like a GREAT deal... The reviews are good, too.

Finally, someone who actually owns something close to these that chimed in! Thanks for the feedback! This helped ease my mind a tad, considering all the negatives I had gotten back in this thread... I'll surely post back with initial impressions.


Ah, I see what you mean now. Well, part of the reason I think horn speakers are better for them, is because they seem to like accentuating the highs and making them bright -- which to my "old person's ears" parents would most likely sound better. They are always complaining at how "muffled" my speakers and other things sound, so I figured brighter highs with more energy/impact (from the horns) would help them hear things clearer/better.

I understand the problem with the echoing, but I don't think it will be any better or worse with different speakers. I guess we'll find out on Tuesday when they are supposed to show up! I'll post back onto here when I can.

OK, so we installed the speakers and everything and ran the YPAO auto-setup with the sub set to 180-degree phase with a 80hz crossover and 5/10 power. We tried some clips from a few of my typical movie choices to show off the system (Saving Private Ryan, Terminator 3 SE, etc...). It didn't seem like the rear speakers were set loud enough, and the sub didn't seem nearly as loud/punchy or as powerful as I was expecting (though it was exceptionally clean, tight, and responsive -- no slop at all). But of course there is a lot of tweaking that still needs to be done.

Aside from that, the setup was NOT AT ALL "overly bright" like some say. This may be due to the fact that Yamaha receivers tend towards the warm side -- so it could have canceled out some of the horn brightness. It was clean/clear and VERY detailed. There seemed to be zero distortion when turned up very loudly -- though with the very high efficiency ratings compared to my HC5 setup, I was a little disappointed that I had to turn the volume up HIGHER than before to get the same loudness. But that isn't really a big deal.

Dialogue was much clearer and easier to understand than my HC5's. We watched "The Express" tonight, and it was a nice experience. The presence area of the audio spectrum was just plain good. I had a much greater sense of "theater sound". So far, we are very happy with these speakers. I can't wait to tweak the settings further and get them working to their full potential!