First Time Surround Sound - Looking for Recommendations

The Marantz SR-6006 is a pretty good receiver, but I would not buy it based on its phono input. You will get much better LP sound if you buy a decent dedicated phono preamp anyway, like the Musical Fidelity V-LPS, which is under $200. The phono preamps that receivers do have as a built-ins are usually of marginal quality; not likely to satisfy most LP listeners.

The KEF iQ30 speakers are a great deal now, at only $399/pair, and that is a nice price on some good speakers. You can also get the iQ10 for $300/pair and the Q200c center channel for $449 at KEF Direct. That will be a great speaker system for a bit over $1000.

The Rythmic FV12 is a very good subwoofer for $549, and the Polk PSW505 is fairly good for $280.
Edited by commsysman - 6/10/12 at 6:44am

the onkyo 717 / 709 all have phono inputs, the 717 is the current model, but to save on budgeting you can look at www.accessories4less.com they have units that are refurbs, but they carry warranties and are very reputable on all HT based forums. Buying the 709 refurb $420 will leave more for the speakers and sub. Sub Id suggest that you look at the Hsu VTF-2 MK4 $549 www.hsuresearch.com

Onkyo 709 $420
Hsu VTF2.4 $549
Energy Veritas V5.2C speakers as the front 3 speakers, $299 each @ vanns.com, get the V5.1 bookshelfs for your surrounds $358/pr also at www.vanns.com

Look at the Hybrid packages, from HSU
http://www.hsuresearch.com/products/hybrid3pkg.html
http://www.hsuresearch.com/products/hybrid15pkg.html

I used to own energys, but I've moved on. I found energy very enjoyable to listen to.

Just a heads up... the FV12 is out of production, and the replacement model won't be available until the end of this year.

Basements; why bookshelf speakers? Given the size of your room towers would be a better alternative.

I have not owned the HSU package - however the different reports and reviews,
make it a good option to check into.

Strange, I just went to their website and it says it's in stock and ready for shipping.

You sure it was the FV12? It's been listed as out of stock for weeks.

Still is

FV12 ported sub black oak with 300WRMS amp (out of stock)

FV12 ported sub black matte with 300WRMS amp (out of stock)

I don't know your typical listening levels but IMO you're probably gonna need some really large bookshelfs for that room! Something with at least a 6.5" woofer, but to me even that's pushing it. In other words you really need something larger, either dual 6.5 inchers or a single 8", which is not easy to find these days in bookshelf form.*

Make sure you go out & do some speaker auditions in person. Several of the brands mentioned in this thread sound very different from each other and I'll guarantee you'll like one more than the others (my personal favorite pizza very likely won't be your personal favorite). And I highly recommend bringing along music you know well, because usually the salespeople willeither use some in-store CD that you have no idea of its quality, or much worse, a receiver's FM tuner. Not that the FM format itself is inherently bad, but because most radio stations add all kinds of sonic processing to the music, usually to make it sound good via a noisy car's substandard audio system.

BTW as a regular vinyl listener, I used my Pioneer and JVC receiver's built-in phono preamps for years and liked them.

FYI: that Marantz includes the ability to stream literally thousands of internet radio stations - those stations, particularly the listener supported/non-commercial ones**, have exposed me to crazy amounts of new and just plain great music. Not to mention news and other useful info. From all over the U.S. and the rest of the world. You can spend literally hours scanning through all the stations that are available.



* they do exist though, though at wildly different price points - for example: Sony SS-B3000 with 8" woofer (IMO pleasant warmish sound & quite good for their @$100/pair street price); the MTX Monitor 60i with dual 6.5" woofers (most MTXs I've heard had punchy bass and slightly bright highs); then just a tad pricier :toothygrin:, the Spendor SP2/3R²

** many commercial stations used to be like this, before huge profits (what happened to reasonable profits?) became king and the music itself became a secondary priority at so many of them; now focus groups and soulless spreadsheets can decide what gets played :shakeshead: And so many of those stations wonder why their ratings are so low.......
Edited by donutfan - 6/10/12 at 11:16am

donutfan is right, that room is the size of my home, so towers would be best, but that is also why I recommended the LCR speakers with 2 woofers to gain the extra output. Monitor Audio has 8" woofers on the RX2 speaker, but you might need to spend closer to $3k for that setup.

A few potential options...

• Crystal Acoustics THX-CT-BLA, TX-B1-BLA, THX-D-PB
• Ascend Acoustics CMT-340 {at all 5 positions}
• Emotiva XRC-6.2, XRM-6.1
• HSU 5.0 Package
• XTZ 95.33, 95.24

But the room size could be a problem for these too.

Anything could "work". Heck someone suggest Sony B3000s. However I wouldnt buy either polks or sonys(actually I did buy those sonys they were terrible).


IF I were you Id look at PSB B6, Energy V5.2C, Energy RC-LCR, Monitor Audio BX2, Monitor Audio RX2, and others that have been provided above.

^ I'd rather have the Sonys than the Polks, even ones priced 2X or 3X more, because as far as most of the Polks sold at Busted Buy and back to Circuit City times are concerned, to my ears they have produced piercing/fatiguing highs that are only good for movie soundtracks. Music? No way.

This has now been added to my mental list of desirable speakers used as satellites (when paired with a subwoofer) for larger rooms and that should be able to easily handle an 80Hz xover point in a sat+sub system (in any size of room).

Polk RTi
Somewhat harsh and edgy, and lacking in midrange detail - and somewhat colored sounding.

I know what you mean, I actually bought the F5000, CN5000 and bookshelfs over the Polk Monitors, however the Sony quickly left and were replaced with Energys that were 110 times better.

I use Dynaudio Excites X16s and X22, they operate at a 40 hz and 60 hz respectively, they sound great. The X16s have a 7.1" driver.

They are LCR center channels, which means they are meant to be used as Left, Center, Right speakers.... look at this person gallery and you will see what I mean.

http://www.blu-ray.com/community/gallery.php?member=Bluray_ne1

Something like Marantz or Denon will be fine.
Some refurbs here
http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/category/AVReceiver/Home-Audio/Home-Theater-Receivers/1.html