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Small room - $2000 budget - recommendations?

post #1 of 10
5/15/12 at 11:18am
Thread Starter 
OK, so I have a rather small theater area that I'd like to improve. The theater area itself is 12x15 but there is a dining area behind the seating which expands this a bit.

A photo to illustrate

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a29/dark1x/Main.jpg

I actually have a larger center and Polk Monitor 70 speakers up front now, but I've found a buyer that interested the three fronts and the sub.

Looking around online there seem to be plenty of higher quality speaker options than those Polks available and I'm interested in suggestions for my room size. The Monitor 70 towers aren't bad, but I've heard much better even in smaller rooms and I'm looking to achieve this.

At the moment, I'm running a Marantz sr5006 receiver in 7.1 channel configuration. I'm not using any secondary amplifier as the current speakers do not demand it. I mainly use the setup for home theater applications but do enjoy using it for music as well.

Any recommendations?
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post #2 of 10
5/15/12 at 12:11pm
So you're looking for just the 3 front channels and a sub?
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post #3 of 10
5/15/12 at 12:45pm
One setup I would look at is a Ascend Sierra. For the sub, I might look at a SVS SB12 or maybe that Rumba 12, since it doesn't look like you would want a big sub in there. That would put you right at $2k shipped, and I think that would sound very good. Were the room larger I would say get some high sensitivity fronts, but you are not sitting very far from the speakers. If you can handle a large sub and want some serious bass, I would check out a Hsu Research VTF3 mk4, it will outperform those sealed 12" subs by a large margin, in a room like that, its deep bass extension and dynamic response will be insane.
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post #4 of 10
5/15/12 at 1:13pm
Since you said mainly for HT, I would take a look at:
Klipsch RF-82 mains http://www.klipsch.com/rf-82-ii-floorstanding-speaker
Klipsch RC-62 center http://www.klipsch.com/rc-62-ii-center-speaker
SVS PB-12 NSD sub http://www.svsound.com/subwoofers/ported-box/pb12-nsd
Or Klipsch SW-115 http://www.klipsch.com/sw-115
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post #5 of 10
5/15/12 at 1:38pm
Ascend Acoustics CMT-340SE across the front. 2 pairs of the the HTM-200s for the surrounds and backs for $1268, leaves just over $700 for a sub or about $1000 if you go for 5.1.
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post #6 of 10
5/15/12 at 2:14pm
a suggestion

pair of energy rc-50 for fronts $800
rclcr center $250
pair of rc-10 for rear $300
outlaw lfm-1ex sub $650
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post #7 of 10
5/16/12 at 5:59am
Thread Starter 
Excellent, some good suggestions all around. I'm going to take a look at each one of them! Thanks!

Quote:


So you're looking for just the 3 front channels and a sub?

Yeah.

Here's an older shot showing the rear channels.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a29...x/IMG_1779.jpg

They are also Polks, but I'm mainly concerned about matching the fronts at the moment as the rears fit so nicely as they are. I have four of them mounted up there. Most of the other options I checked out just didn't fit as well in that space.
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post #8 of 10
5/16/12 at 6:29am
is the energy rc50 and the klipsch rf 82 better than the wharfedale evo2?
the wharfedale evo2 is $2,000 but is on closeout for $799.
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post #9 of 10
5/16/12 at 2:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dark1x View Post

OK, so I have a rather small theater area that I'd like to improve. The theater area itself is 12x15 but there is a dining area behind the seating which expands this a bit.

A photo to illustrate

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a29/dark1x/Main.jpg

I actually have a larger center and Polk Monitor 70 speakers up front now, but I've found a buyer that interested the three fronts and the sub.

Looking around online there seem to be plenty of higher quality speaker options than those Polks available and I'm interested in suggestions for my room size. The Monitor 70 towers aren't bad, but I've heard much better even in smaller rooms and I'm looking to achieve this.

At the moment, I'm running a Marantz sr5006 receiver in 7.1 channel configuration. I'm not using any secondary amplifier as the current speakers do not demand it. I mainly use the setup for home theater applications but do enjoy using it for music as well.

Any recommendations?

Paradigm Monitor 9 or 11 fronts (floorstander) and C3 center. And either SVS or HSU sub.
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post #10 of 10
5/16/12 at 3:13pm
take a look at the HSU packages.
the Hybrid 3 5.1 set would be 1588 (satin black) and the 7.1 at 1864.

I went from a Polk set up, including M70's, M50's, and a CS2 to a full HSU 5.2, albiet I have the older mk3's. Very different animals, but I couldn't go back. Not faulting the Polks, as there was never a specific 'problem' or even anything I didn't like about them, but I was bitten by the upgrade bug.....
The Polks have a more 'in your face' presence (not good or bad, just depends on what you want / prefer) , with a touch of 'brightness' or emphasis in the high mids and treble, whereas the HSU's are just so more accurate and even across the board... can you emphasize subtlety?
The Ascends and the HSU's were my short list, but I was already so impressed with my HSU sub, I pulled the trigger.
btw, my basement den / HT is only 12 x 14, with a 4 x 9 hallway, open stairway to a much larger space, and no way to close it all off.
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