Large family room on a budget

For that space I would think getting towers would be the best thing. Since you are setting up the dedicated HT in the basement, I wouldn't think you would want/need to go all out for the family room, but you might so that is my opinion.

I'll go ahead and recommend a pair of the energy rc 70s at vanns for $480 each and the energy s10.3 sub at newegg for $200. That's $1160 total (under budget) and really good towers and sub, especially for the price.

With the rc70s you may not even need a sub though, or you could use the remaining funds and get a better sub to go along with the energy towers. Hsu subs are terrific, I have one and it is awesome. Just my two cents.

That's a MASSIVE area, for the sub. Your speakers only have to reach you at almost 11 ft, you most definitely can use smaller speakers.

I suggest this HSU Hybrid 15 3.1 package for now. That will be right at $1500 with shipping, you can add some surrounds later for cheap. Those speakers have good sensitivity, and will easily handle your seated distance. The sub is the best you're going to do short of dedicating your entire budget to a sub. You will have a chance at that big theater sound with a true high output sub. I love that Energy S10.3, but it will fall on its face in an area that large...

I know how you feel when it comes to deciding on selecting the right speakers. I had to post a similar thread a few weeks ago. It sounds like you have a family/great-room similar to mine. I have a large family room with vaulted ceiling that opens to a kitchen.

First I will say that I am a total newbi when it comes to HT, but I figured I would tell you what I did and what I wish I would have done. I know everyone has a certain brand of speakers they prefer and that one person will love one brand and another person will hate that brand. I am not posting to try and talk you into a certain brand. I am just trying to share what I chose to do with a similar setup. I am not familiar with the Ascend speakers you mentioned, so I can not give advice on those, but they do look nice. I went with Polk Audio for my first Budget HT build. Monitor 50 front, CS1 CC, OWM3 SS and DSW PRO550wi Sub. I know there are much better speakers, but on a budget I went with what I thought would give me the best sound setup for my budget. However, it does sound like you have a bigger budget than me so that should help you out. I also agree with your wife that although KEF speakers may sound nice, they are not visually appealing for Family room use IMO. I just recently added the surround speakers and man what a big difference going from a 3.1 to a 5.1 system. I chose the OWM3's because my wife would never allow bookshelf speakers to hang on the wall and I was worried satellites would not fill the back adequately. I get decent sound from the front and center speakers, but I have a feeling I will be upgrading to larger front and center speakers within a few years.

IMO check out audiophile liquidator, newegg, polk audio direct on ebay(if you like polk) you can find good deals there. In my case I am glad I made room in the budget for surrounds, but wish I could have went bigger in the front.

just my 2cents. Take from it what you will.

Yeah I thought the area could be a too much for the 10.3...and I keep forgetting that hsu makes speakers too. I don't think the OP could go wrong with that setup, especially the sub

If you up the budget a some or quite a bit depending on you tolerance the Ascend Acoustics packaged with the Rythmik FV15 would rock.

Going 3.1 would knock off $300. A better 3.1 than the HSU IMO and based on user reviews.

I might go for the Hsu Hybrid 15 3.1 to start with. You will want a powerful sub, and you will want controlled directivity speakers. The surround speakers don't matter as much. I would say add some inexpensive but capable speaker like these BIC DV62si bookshelf speakers. I think the distance between the speakers and listening position is still enough to call for something more than typical dome tweeters can deliver, especially if you like to turn it up at times.

One thing you might want to consider to going to two down-firing subs like a couple Hsu VTF2 subs. First of all, with young kids around, exposed drivers are at risk! Do you really want on of your kids getting curious at the soft cone and surround of your subwoofer (so big and soft), and also those exposed ports (what's in there anyway?). Down-firing protects the driver from curious kids. You can also use the dual subs as speaker stands for bookshelf speakers. Most book shelf speakers stands would be easy to tip over, but subwoofers are not easy to tip over. It also saves you money on mounts or stands. For the same reason you may want to avoid tower speakers, they may have drivers low to the floor which could be tempting to toy with for young children, and are also easy to knock over with rambunctious kids around.

Good deal -
KEF iQ30
http://www.kefdirect.com/iq30-booksh...udspeaker.html
KEF IQ60C
http://www.kefdirect.com/iq60c-center-channel.html
Surrounds, iQ10
http://www.kefdirect.com/iq10-booksh...udspeaker.html

Start with 1 HSU sub, or Outlaw - and save for another
http://www.outlawaudio.com/products/lfm1plus.html

The question is, are you going to be playing at mancave volume levels?

The iQ70's are $400 ea ($800 pair) - your choice. The bookshelves
are no wimps - the towers will do more, and can be more fun. It
depends overall, how much you want to invest.

This is just my opinion, but since music sound quality is a high priority, the Ascends are the best option listed so far. They're great for home theater, too--very dynamic.


Sitting relatively close definitely helps.


I use three 170 SEs up front in a room that has about 75% of the volume that yours does, and they hold up fine (crossed over to the sub at 80 Hz). As long as you're not sitting clear across the room the long way, the larger 340 SEs should hold up fine for you, I'd expect (unless you intend to listen at true reference levels, which the vast majority of people don't even approach).


It sure would, although substituting the HSU VTF-15H would save a couple of hundred bucks, if that would help. Or the OP could go with a smaller sub for now and save up for another, as others have suggested.


One could always use less expensive speakers for the surrounds (unless you're seriously into multichannel music)--it's a compromise, but then again so is everything, and in this case specifically I'd sooner recommend skimping on the surrounds and the sub than the front speakers (in other cases, I might recommend different tradeoffs).


Agreed--the HSU speakers have their strong points, but musically they're no match for the Ascends, in my opinion; neither is the KEF iQ series, for that matter. Just my opinion.

The only issue I have with the CMT-340 SE is that if the center is going to be oriented horizontally, then its MTM configuration is less than ideal for horizontal dispersion. However, as long as viewers sit within a 30-degree span (about 6' wide at this viewing distance--the width of a sofa), then the effects should not be all that noticeable; the same issue applies to the HSU HC-1 MK2, as well. This is where the iQ60c has an advantage, because even though it is also normally horizontally-oriented, its woofers are crossed over at a much lower frequency due to its three-way design.

Agreed about the Ascends. If OP is willing to go 2.1 to start, Ascend 340's up front, with a VTF-15 would be an awesome setup.

I would go with the Ascends of course. Ask them what the defects are that makes them B-stock, that should help determine if it's something that will bother you. The one time I bought B stock speakers it was for something minor with the finish not perfectly lining up, and I couldnt even tell anything was wrong.

Here we go again, my choice is KEF.

I think I would go with one of the KEF speakers. The MTM arrangement of the CMT340s can have a off-axis lobing effect when used vertically. If you were to go with some Ascends, I would go with CBM170s left and right with a horizontal CMT340 center.

Vertical lobbing of an MTM is well documented, and only an issue if you plan on being well above or below the speaker. I'm not sure I understand your argument when you also recommend a horizontal MTM center right after? The MTM center has serious issues when off axis viewers are too close, but usually the bad reputation is completely overblown for most people, and the OP is 11' back.

Plus not all MTM horizontal speakers are affected the same. None of the reviews or user reviews of the 340s made any mention of any "lobbing" issues.

Actually, it is the horizontal lobing of a horizontally-oriented MTM speaker that is a potential issue.


That's right, it depends on proximity and angle, both of which are acceptable in this case, in my opinion. I try to completely avoid such issues whenever possible, but for most situations, I'd agree that the issue is overblown.


You can hear a difference if you sit off-axis and listen critically, in that the midrange becomes slightly more recessed than it usually is, but the CMT-340 SE's midrange is so good to begin with and its exceptionally good tweeter (for this price class) handles enough of it that in practice people rarely notice (virtually all speakers sound somewhat different when off-axis anyway). Off-axis dialogue intelligibility is the main problem that affects horizontal MTM centers, but with the 340's relatively low tweeter-midwoofer crossover frequency and the steep 4th order low-pass filter used on the midwoofers in the crossover, it's not an issue within 15 degrees on either side (30 degrees total), conservatively. It may not have the 90+ degree window of the CBM-170 SE when the latter is oriented vertically, but for most situations it's enough.

I should also note that even the KEF iQ60c has lobing issues in the horizontal plane due to its horizontal configuration, only in the mid-bass instead of the midrange. While this should not affect dialogue intelligibility, it still affects how the speaker sounds when listening off-axis (voices may sound thinner or more nasal). The principle that vertically-oriented speakers (or ones that utilize concentric drivers exclusively) are more theoretically ideal for use as center speakers still applies. And at the same time the principle that the issue isn't a significant one in most cases also applies--it's just one factor that has to be considered amongst all of the other trade-offs being made. As the person who brought the issue up for the sake of completeness and full disclosure, I feel that I had to say this. I mean, for perspective, phantom centers are even worse in this regard than any center speaker could be, but I've occasionally recommended that people use a phantom center whenever that happens to be the best overall option; some people even swear by phantom centers because the lobing isn't noticed (it's there alright, just not a showstopper).

Nice post Robert