First (non-internal) TV speakers. I am buying for a 32x40ft room with a $1000 budget for movies.

Can you give a detailed description of the room? That is a HUGE volume to fill and my initial thought is that you would need to radically increase your budget.

What receiver or processor/amp combo are you planning to use?
Edited by PeterK - 7/10/12 at 5:17am

does the budget include speaker wire, amplifier, receiver, etc?

Are you looking for towers or bookshelf? Sub or no sub? are you looking for 2 surround, 2 front, and a center?

are you looking to upgrade it in a year or two? or do you want something that will good for like 5 years?

you could get something like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-Bookshelf-Speakers-Black/dp/B000V2OQK2
get 2 pairs for front and for surround (wait till they are like 320.00, the price fluctuates frequently,
or you could use these for surround http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-Bookshelf-Speakers-Black/dp/B000V2UBS8/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1341936888&sr=1-1&keywords=rti+a1 and the rti a3 for fronts as surrounds dont matter that much.

and get this matching center:
http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-Center-Channel-Speaker/dp/B000V2SEYQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1341936663&sr=1-1&keywords=rti+a6
note it is very big, or this smaller center that is not quite as good but its cheaper and smaller http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-Center-Channel-Speaker/dp/B000V2QVEQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1341936821&sr=1-1&keywords=rti+a4

and then get something like a yamaha rx-v671http://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-RX-V671-7-1-Channel-Network-Receiver/dp/B004QR56SE/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1341936706&sr=1-1&keywords=rxv671great features great price and good quality.

a good priced sub is this http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-12-Inch-Powered-Subwoofer/dp/B000092TT0/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1341936745&sr=1-1&keywords=psw505

these 6 speakers and receiver will run you probably closer to 1500 depending on how much you pay for them, but in my opinion this set-up can not be matched in sound quality or features at this price point.

I have not heard the difference, but from what I understand the difference between the rti a4 and rti a6 is huge and worth the price as long as you have room for the rti a6, it is very large.

What, uh, I don't even....

All speakers will easily last 10 or 20 years. Bookshelf speakers for fronts in a 32 x 40 ft room is a bad idea, music would be terrible, movies would be weak and unimpressive at best. That polk sub is also not sufficient for a room that size.

I would recommend, ideally, that you use floorstanding speakers for the fronts, center, and surrounds, but a sub that can fill that room is going to eat a lot of your budget.

Something like one of these HSU packages would be a much better investment. You could buy the 3.1 package for now, then save up and get two floorstanding speakers for the fronts and move the bookshelf speakers to your surrounds.

Hopefully people with more experience with larger rooms will jump in and help to sort out a setup for you.

Agreed. That PSW505 won't cut it in a big room like that. The HSU Hybrid package is a good suggestion. For a more budget approach for a sub for that size space, look at the Premier Acoustics PA-150 (which can generally be had from Acoustic Sound Design for between $300-350 if you make them a bid).

For a receiver, consider the Denon 1612. Excellent review (http://www.hometheater.com/content/denon-avr-1612-av-receiver) and unlike the Yamaha, the Audyssey MultiEQ built into the Denon will also EQ the subwoofer (subs benefit greatly from EQ).

That would leave you around $750 for the speakers. There are a lot of choices in your budget. For instance, check out Newegg.com for specials on the Polk Monitor series (register with their email list to get promo codes). If you can wait a little on the surrounds and go with 3.1 to start, Ascend Acoustics CBM-170s and a CMT-340 SE center would be good choices across the front in your budget. With that setup, if you decided you wanted a little more speaker in the front, you could always upgrade the fronts to the CMT-340 SEs and move the CMB-170s to surround six months or a year from now.

Honestly, unless you can do near-field placement with the subwoofer (as in endtable style placement), you might just forget having a sub altogether on that budget. That room will eat the sub alive, and you will likely be sitting in a big bass null. I would just get some towers with some decent extension. Concentrate the majority of your budget on the front three speakers, and make sure they have high efficiency. You might think about some BIC Acoustech PL-89s and a PL-28 center. You might also look at Klipsch Synergy F20s with a c-20 center. For the surrounds, get something inexpensive, like these BIC DV62si bookshelf speakers.

On the other hand, if you can do near-field placement, go for this Hsu Hybrid 2 3.1 package. If you need everything new, check out this Denon 1612 AVR, but I would urge you to look at used AVRs, for something with a more beefy amp. Something else to consider, if you want a better system in the long run, is get this Hybrid 3 2.1 for now, with the intention of using the two bookshelf speakers as rears when you upgrade the front stage. The VTF3 make for a killer near-field subwoofer, either next to your seat or behind it, due to its side-firing woofer. If you want good good bass but you can not accommodate a near-field subwoofer, check out a Hybrid 15 2.1, it might have enough power to give you some decent bass at your listening position, but you are in a huge room. You would need a sub of at least that kind of power, or maybe more, to have some decent bass.

There is definitely better options then mine if you don't need to buy them all now with the $1500 budget. Or if you buy used of course.

Placement will be more critical than what sub you buy, or how many you buy. You will want to buy whatever has the maximum air displacement. The problem is, the subwoofer has to pressurize your whole space. If it's not able to do that, the areas left unpressurized will carry very little audible sound, these areas are called bass nulls or 'dead zones'. The will occur in the center of the room, and the less ability your sub has to pressurize the room, the larger the bass null will be. A way of getting around this is placing the sub close to the listening position, so its energy will be heard and felt before it dissipates into the room. Many subs will work but some of my favs for these 'end table' subs are the Outlaw Audio LFM-1 Plus and EX, and the Hsu VTF2 and VTF3.

If you can't place a sub near your listening position, than you will have to buy the most powerful sub you can afford to have a chance at hearing anything. Some powerful subs you might be able to fit in your budget are the Epik Empire and Hsu VTF15h. There is a new company called Power Sound Audio that might also be worth looking at for you.

In my opinion, for $1300 or $1500 or $1650, you'll be the best off with just a pair of decent speakers. Some towers with good sensitivity so they can do something about filling that large space.

It doesn't sound as appealing as a surround setup, but I would argue that in the long run it's a better option to start with a good set of speakers, then slowly add to them as budget allows (buying a good sub, then a center speaker, then surrounds).

I'd be thinking something like the Klipsch RF-82s would be a great place to start, and would sound better than whatever bookshelves and underpowered sub $1500 would get you. Then, when you add to them, you'll have a real system going.

Then I would think about the HSU Hybrid 3 - 3.1 setup to start, and look at this
Denon receiver.
http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/DENAVR2311CI/DENON-AVR-2311CI-7.2-3D-Home-Theater-Receiver/1.html
Or, the Denon 891
http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/DENAVR891/DENON-AVR-891-7.1-Channel-105W-A/V-1.4-3D-Ready-Receiver/1.html#!more
Edited by zieglj01 - 7/10/12 at 8:38pm

Not trying to threadcrap, but I am building a budget 3.0 setup with Polk M60s with a CS1 center and I'm looking for a receiver. The Denon 891 seems to be a great fit, and the price at accessories4less is amazing for what you get. My question to you is about the reliability of refurbs from A4L. I know you linked to them, but are you recommending buying refurbs from accessories4less or was the link just meant for general product information? I have not bought refurb A/V equipment before, so I'm curious if it's a worthwhile investment.

Thanks