Suggestions for floorstanding speakers & sub & receiver (purchased & photos inside)

you may be able to avoid the sub depending on what kind of speakers you pick up/your music taste

a few quick questions first:
-why the center channel? if this is just for music it will never be used
-again, why the sub? if you get a pair of speakers with larger woofers or a nice solid structure you may be able to avoid a sub; which will also give you a bigger budget for speakers, which will also giv eyou better sound
-what kind of music?

hmmmm... i myslef am not one to bash, but word of warning: BB can someitmes be a touchy subjest, and Bose is a VERY touchy subject on this forum. many people here pretty much shun Bose prducts. just a fair warning, grab some burn cream

now, to the fun part. if i were you.....
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1207352527510 $600/pr
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1192232615058 $400

the polks have the 3rd woofer, which should give you nice full sound, so unless you are an avid hip-hop/rap listener, you shouldnt need a sub. and im personally a Denon guy myself but i KNOW you can find a better bang-for-your-buck there. i would not hesitate to buy a receiver on clearance or an "open item". sounds like you just want a nice music system, so you really wont have to worry about HD and all that stuff with your receiver, so an outgoing model shouldnt make much of a difference. i really think if you be patient, you could find a helluva deal on a receiver there

let us know what you choose to get, and dont hesitate to ask any questions

didnt see the Infinity remark before. i personally have no experience with an Infinity products. sorry

as far as my understanding goes, and keep in mind i am no expert , there are three factors that will help determine your bass and overall "sound stage", which are speaker volume, woofer size and ported or not

good sound stage and good presence and such mean sthat if you close your eyes, you cant point and say "oh, the speaker is right there"

the volume of the speaker combined with the woofer will give you nice full sound. if you look around at a bunch of differnet bookshelf speakers, youll notice some of them are very deep. that is to make up for being so small. that is also why in towers, although the actual drivers are up top, the entire tower stays the same size. also, the larger the woofer, the more air it can move which can give you nice full sound, and "usually" handle higher watts and higher volumes

ported speakers, simply put, have holes in them, its the hole either in front or in back, "usually" either at the bottom or directly behind the speaker, which will let air out, which for whatever reason makes bass/and overlal sound improve (yes, there IS a real reason. physics just isnt my forte )

unfortunately, and this is one of the reasons people here my not favor best buy, is those stores are usually VERY open and sometime pretty noisy, which means your going to have a tough time truly hearing what the spekaer sounds like. lets face it, your living room isnt some giant warehouse of a store. but hopefully BB has a good return policy (KEEP RECEIPTS AND ORIGINAL BOXES), so if you do purchase, and dont care for the sound once they are in your actual living room, you can hopefully get your money back

so, although i didnt really answer any questions, hopefully you have a bit better understadning on what to look for. i would say that if you were to find a nice pair of towers that give nice full sound, a sub wont be needed. an done more thing...


WHAT TYPE OF MUSIC??

i have a very old pair of Sony floorstanders that have needed replacing for quite some time. my budget for new fronts is going to be betwwen $400-$700, which isn ttoo far off from yours. i am looking at...

JBL L830s
Jamo C607s or maybe the C609s
Paradigm Titan Monitors
Aperion 6Bs
and im always keeping my eyes open for the right used equip

unfortunately, none of those models are sold at BB, so i cant help you there. i will say that Aperion is said to have one heck of a return and upgrade policy

i am also looking into a Denon AVR-689 or maybe the 789. although BB does carry Denon, i am buying from a distributor used at my job who sells Denon at a discount. i should also point out the 689 and 789 are HT receivers

For a 2.1 music setup for $1000 I would suggest:

$600: 1 pair of Energy RC-30 in rosenut (from Audio Advisor's Amazon storefront for free shipping)

$225: Mirage Prestige S8 sub ($249 shipped from WWStereo ebay store - 10% cashback from live.com)

Spend your remaining $180-200 on a nice stereo receiver (a good bet is the Harman Kardon ebay store, they sell refurbished receivers with full mfgr's warranty. you can get the HK 3480 or 3485 for under $200 easy).

WARNING: once you hear your new setup, you will ditch the Bose for HT/games and want to upgrade the whole shebang

Maybe... you can get an HK 247 for around $200 or so from HK's ebay store if you want to leave your options open for future upgrades.


not sure, both are carried widely in Best Buy and Fry's so go listen for yourself and see if you like the sound. The Energy RC setup I proposed would blow away any Polk/Infinity entry level stuff you hear at Best Buy, however... they will be more similar to the neutral sound of the Infinity's vs. the harsher/brighter Polks, but the Energy's will be much smoother, more refined, and with WAAAY better build quality and fit & finish.

HAHA isnt that the truth! theres no doubt in my mind you cna get a good receiver at a goo dprice (if you wait around for a good deal) at best buy. unfortunately there are SO many speaker choices, it would be impossible for one specific store to carry everything

we all have our favorite audio stores, but anyone that refuses to buy anywhere other than their favorite local store is missing the point IMHO. yes, service and attention is important. but you are buying a product for you to use in your own home at your convenience for YEARS. get what YOU want, not what one store sells

sorry about that rant, it kind of came out of nowhere. ill get off my soapbox now

Axiom M50 Millennia tower speakers and Sherwood Newcastle RX-770 Stereo Receiver, total 1079.00 free shipping and free 30 day in home trial.
http://www.axiomaudio.com/m50.html
http://www.axiomaudio.com/sherwood_rx770.html

I have trouble understanding why so many people list a low budget and specify that they want floorstanders. What makes you think floorstanders are the better choice?
Personally I'd never buy a floorstander below $1500 a pair because the cabinet cost vs driver/crossover cost ratio is just not optimal, imho.

good thing restaurants have menus, isn't it funny how we all have different needs, desires, and budgets! maybe he just likes the way they look?

in my humble opinion, nothing else need be said!

i can +1 our friend CADO. other than the Jamo's (which have a MSRP out of my price range, but amazon is willing to hook me up ), all im looking at are bookshelfs. im in a rather small apartment though, my family/dining/everything but bedroom and kitchen area is about 12' X 19', so i really dont need speakers all that big. yes, i am replacing floor standers, so it may seem... out of place when i get the bookshelfs, but i realized that i would MUCH prefer quality over quantity

how about some JBL L880 or L890???

for what its worth, i have an old HTIB receiver that im using right now, and its.... almost 8 years old. still works like the day we got it. and ive always thought JBL subs give a lot of boom-for-the-buck

cant vouch for Polk, but they seem to have quite a following

congrats on the purchase!

How far apart are the speakers in conjunction to how far away you sit from them?

Nice looking setup.

the speaker positioning is definitely funny. it's possible the spacing is OK, as we can't tell how far away you sit when listening to music, but there are at least two major problems:

1. the right speaker is jammed into a corner!!

2. both speakers are backed up against the wall

room positioning / acoustics has a major effect on the sound. If you are going to use those as a dedicated 2-ch music setup, you owe it to yourself to at least try and maximize the positioning.

My prescription:

1. swap the CD towers and speakers to get them a little less spaced out and to get that right speaker out of the corner

2. pull the speakers out from the wall a foot or two, as much as you can stand

3. toe the speakers in slightly

Other than that, looks great! My friend has the same ikea stand I would say that you should hide the wires better going up to those bose cubes, but I have a feeling you may just take them down once you get used to some real speakers