10-25k ht audio budget, looking for speaker ideas

For HT I would look at Seaton Sound and JTR. Both of them are now available with veneer finishes. If you want a little more traditional I would look at Atlantic Technology and Triad. For HT you need to look for high sensitivity and high power handling.

That is a very nice looking room. I would look very hard at Triad with custom veneers.

Also the usual suspects: B&W, Revel, Paradigm, PSB, KEF, Dali, etc... Go listen with music and have fun!

Ron

Well, you have a very nice room aesthetically if not acoustically. I like what you've mentioned with B&W, Revel, Vienna Acoustics and the JL sub. With a good price on the F113, you should have $12.5k left for your 7 channels. Personally, in a room like that, I'd go with 5.1. And I'd put 3/4 at least into the front 3 and only 1/4 into the rear channels. So $9k for the front 3 and $3k for the rears. I still think that's very generous.

I'd look at the B&W Diamonds, they would look fabulous in that room. And one of my favorite guys on this forum who's owned more speakers than I can name just settled on the 805Di's as his latest choice, so I know they're good.

EDIT: Tell us what you have room for, floor standers, bookshelves, etc...

I think you would be happy with Revel Untima II Studios (or Salons). I had Studios before my current setup and the sound was very clean and detailed.

They were typical audiophile grade and not capable of the dynamics I wanted for HT but in your situation they might be a good fit. I'm not seeing a lot of space for speakers in your photos of the room so perhaps some smaller form factor units would be in order.

I just bought Paradigm Signatures (S4s and Sub 25s), so I think it's worth considering, but that's me. You could get a nice Signature setup for the budget you mentioned.

And yes, if it's a dedicated HT setup, then audition it with a movie and pay a lot of attention to your center channel.

I am probably in the minority of listening with music, at least to narrow down choices. See Sean Olive's blog for good reference material. Surprisingly, Tracy Chapman, pop/rock, and (less surprisingly) full orchestra are really good, I like jazz & blues with both male & female voices but I guess science is against me there...

Ron

If the area is 15x15, I would suggest putting the TV on the wall opposite of the open air/stairs. If you put it on one of the side walls, acoustics will be uneven, with one speaker close to a side wall, and the other having a wide open space to one side. Having the TV on the middle wall would let the acoustics be symmetrical for both speakers.

And with neighbors, you might look into bass shakers to give the visceral bass feel without needing massive amounts of bass in the room.

With that much money, I'd also invest in some strategically placed room treatments and bass traps. Acoustics are probably going to be a little weird with that open area, but you could probably talk to GIK Acoustics or Real Traps (former's products are much cheaper) about your acoustics and what they recommend for the best sound. About half of what you hear is the speakers, and the other half is what the room/acoustics do to the sound between the speakers and your ears. The difference in sound between a "bad" room and that room properly treated is night and day.

Hello,
I am currently using a Martin Logan 5.1 setup consisting of the Vantages, Stage, Vista, and Depth. While setup took some time and Room Treatments really helped, I could not be happier with the result.

Here is a link to a recent Review from Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity of a similar albeit more expensive than my setup: http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/home-...html?showall=1

Martin Logans are not for everyone, but when well setup they really sound quite good. Highly recommend an audition.
Cheers,
AD

To add, putting the TV across from the open space would allow you to put the seating next to the railing, giving you more space between the speakers and the seating, and no wall behind the seating. Speakers need to be away from the wall at least 18-24", and if they're about 10' apart they should be about 10' each from the seating (although some speakers have other specific formulas). If you run the room the other way, you may have to put your seating next to or close to the wall, which gives very poor (boomy, bloated) bass response.

You really need to go out and listen to speakers. Each speaker has its own sonic characters that you will either love or not care for. Once you hear some different speakers it is much easier to narrow down your choices based on budget.

Just because Paradigm does not make uber high end gear does not mean that they do not make good speakers. I own Paradigms and love them. They know their market and they do a very good jog of catering to it. For around $9K you could get a full Signature setup with the S8's up front. This would be a very nice system that could compete with systems costing much more.

One recommendation is when you begin to audition speakers, i would recommend auditioning speakers throughout the companies entire line. Even if they are way below your budget. You seem new to the audio world, and its possible you could be very happy with a system costing half what you are planning on spending now. Just a thought, but i would take it into consideration.

For that budget you should be able to put something together that is downright awesome rivaling the best out there. Stick with solid products and don't get sucked into the overpriced audiophile vortex. Triad Seaton Jtr danley genelac etc

I agree. It's usually much easier to tell the difference between speakers with music than movies. When you find a pair of speakers you like, just make sure the center channel is good with dialog.

If you have a few go-to albums you're pretty familiar with, with minimal, acoustic instruments (or at least not a lot of fuzz/distortion) and clear vocals (assuming you listen to music like that), you can easily pick out differences in tonality, sound quality, etc.

Albums I use for critical listening are Norah Jones' first album "Come Away With Me", Sufjan Stevens' "Illinois", Fiona Apple's "Tidal," Kings of Convenience's "Riot on an Empty Street," and Cold War Kids' "Robbers and Cowards".

Why are you so settled on 7.1? There are very few discrete 7.1 soundtracks (6.1 is more common, though still rare), and 5.1 can still create a very solid center rear image. The sonic benefits of arranging the room that way would probably out-weigh the downside. Unless you treat the space in such a way that acoustically the side wall is transparent and it sounds like the open side...


If you're spending that much on a setup, bass is a major part of it. Bass shakers let you get the visceral feel of the low, low bass much easier, and without pissing off neighbors. Have you been in an HT setup with bass shakers or subs that literally vibrate the seating?


Good to know that's already planned. Wherever you go for treatments, get their take on the room layout issue.

A few good and sexy choices would be:

Paradigm signature setup
Focal electra be setup
Revel performa setup

Okay, the performas aren't as sexy as the other two, but they sound damn good.
The electra's would probably be the best bet as the towers are sleek and don't take up a lot of room.

Pairs first (L/R and surround pairs separately) multichannel after narrowing it down to finalists, and ultimately at home with a good return policy.

I didn't bother with movies, I understand why others would, but frankly don't know what you get outside of the LFE channel that a variety of music won't tell you faster.

Ron

What kind of music do you listen to?

The kind I listed usually has better recording quality, and modern pop/rock music can be very hit and miss.

If it was me in a room like that, I would just get a bunch of Ascend Sierra's in the Natural wood finish, and some Rythmik D15SE's or some Hsu ULS 15's in the Maple finish (those are on clearance right now in that finish, so get them while they last). Yeah, you would have money left over, but it would sound great and I wouldn't want to mess around with how fabulous the room looks as it is, which is what some big tower speakers is bound to do. If you need a tower, Salk Sound has gathered quite a following of admirers, I don't think you could go wrong there, plus they have towers that match the finish of that room.

I wouldn't go the road of JTR or Seaton, or some big cinema speakers, even in the finer finishes those aren't the most aesthetically pleasing speakers, and they wouldn't do much for you that Sierra's or Songtowers couldn't already do unless you like to listen to stuff at enormous volumes with lots of overhead.

If you really want to spend money, something that looks and sounds fabulous would be the Klipsch Palladium speakers, which would go great in that room, and you can find whole sets of that which aren't too much over your budget, if you look. I've seen 5 speaker sets of the Palladium for just over 20k on audiogon.