What did you pay for your speakers?

I utilized Ebay

I paid roughly $1100 shipped for three of these brand new for mains:
http://www.definitivetech.com/products/uiw-rls-ii

I paid about $405 shipped for two of these (remanufactured, but were brand new) for side surrounds:
http://www.definitivetech.com/products/uiw-rss-iii

I paid $240 shipped for a pair of these used (but in great shape, not a scratch on them) for rear speakers:
http://www.definitivetech.com/products/bp2x

And then I paid about $1000 shipped for one of these subwoofers:
http://www.hsuresearch.com/products/vtf-15h.html

I definitely plan on buying a second VTF-15H subwoofer at some point in 2013. But so far, I have spent about $2700 on speakers (not including the receiver). Very happy with everything. I would like to upgrade to Triad speakers down the road, but would be looking at about $7K in speakers alone.

$1700 for 3x 4pi DIY speakers with JBL woofer and B&C CD
$900 for 6 surround speakers (4 Athena WS100's, 2 Athena WS60's)
$1400 for 4x 18" IB sub setup with EP4000 amp
$300 for DIY 15" separate sub

$4300 total - and worth every penny!

Panels on


Panels off.
IB Sub woofers two on each side and 15" based 4pi's below for LCR's


Only see the screen during a movie

Edited by GoCaboNow - 10/19/12 at 10:54am

Jeff if you told us the specific speakers and your quote we could comment on the appropriateness of the bid and what equal quality alternatives might cost. For the record I haven't bought a commercial speaker since 1969. since then I've been rolling my own. Currently I have three 4pi DIY speakers for front duty which ran about $2000 total.

Factory floor photos

Triad is a good brand, I would not consider a 7 ceiling speaker design appropriate for a Home Theater. But then we know nothing about your design.

alternative subs: http://www.epiksubwoofers.com/dualempire.html


Edit, OK you are the guy with the stone wall and floor. I can appreciate locating the surrounds up high in a small space but not familiar with the logic behind putting the fronts up high.
Edited by BIGmouthinDC - 10/19/12 at 4:00pm

I assume we are talking about these:

LCR set of JTR Triple 8's 2010's used for $1100

As nice as I'm sure the Triads are, to me they are way overpriced (a lot of dealer markup built in).

Not as much as you may think. Higher end ones sure, but Bronze, not much.

Wrong forum!
Edited by lovinthehd - 10/20/12 at 8:52am

$20K for the LCR's
$9K for the Surrounds
$10K for just the subwoofer drivers, cabinets were extra.
Amps not included.

How do you like the Definitive Tech in walls? I haven't found anyone else with them but they are what I plan to use.

The room that I plan on building a theater room is small so I plan on doing in-wall speakers. I wonder how good are these in-wall speakers. I don't see any reviews on them.

If memory serves me I spent about (9 years ago)

$2600 for LCR M&K S150-THXs (USED)
$450 for the M&K SS150 surrounds for the sides (USED)
$350 for another set of SS150's for rear surrounds (USED)

and purchased new when they came out (4-5? years ago)

$1300 SVS PC13- ULTRA sub

Hows it sound in my 12x21 theater? AWESOME!

Expecially after adding the 300 watt per channel power amp....

I'm very happy with mine that I've used for the surround channels (BP/A and BPZ/A).

To the OP - note that this question is similar to "how much did you pay for your car". There are good performing inexpensive cars, and some folks also get a great deal on a 911 Turbo that had a scratch on the leather... While there's certainly a price/value curve for speakers, there's also a big swath of personal preference that will come into play.

Jeff

There are several folks here at AVS that own them. I am using them behind an acoustically transparent screen and they are the best speakers I have owned, including some that cost considerably more. That said, if you can up your budget, Triad and RBH both make superior in-wall speakers, but you will also pay considerably more.

I demoed lots of in-wall speakers before buying and the Deftech speakers, to me, offered the best bang for the buck for strictly home theater. They actually have good bass for an in-wall speaker (I have measured their effectiveness down to about 40hz). They are also pretty sensitive (92db) and are rated 8ohm, so it does not take much power to drive them, and they do play clean with little to no distortion, even at very loud levels.

I've suggested that one should spend half their equipment budget on speakers, but that opinion was based on a stereo setup, not a 5+ channel theater system with a display or projector. Looking at my own theater, though, and excluding the projection system, I kinda stuck to my own advice:

Let's see...very small room, two rows of seating required, not enough depth for an AT screen. Center channel under the screen means no direct sound to the second row, mismatched timbre between l/r and center. In wall speakers are totally out of the question if you want any sound isolation at all. If you haven't heard, experimented with, or tested those specific speakers it would be a good idea to refrain from positive/negative statements until you have. The original design concept for those speakers came from either Tony Grimani or Keith Yates (I forget which of the two made this request to Triad).

Logic. Sound decays at roughly 6dB for every doubling of the distance between the speaker and the ears. To maintain reasonably equal loudness between two (or more) rows of seats, you want to increase the distance of the rows from the speakers to provide reasonable equivalent SPL in each row. In small rooms, one commonly used techique is to raise speaker height to reduce the speaker distance delta between rows while, at the same time, allowing each row of seats to have an unobstructed line of sight to those speakers (for many reasons, direct line of sight from all seats to all speakers is critical ... none of this below the screen krap for multiple row theaters). Between the ventriloquist effect and our lower directional accuity above ear level, we're good with higher mounted speakers.

Example.pdf 22k .pdf file
Edited by Dennis Erskine - 10/21/12 at 3:59am

So they are really in-soffit not in-ceiling. Looks like a good plan. I was thinking that maybe quality inwall speakers with backer boxes behind a SeymourAV or SMX screen woven screen might work, but in this room the first row is at around 9 ft from the screen and you might be able to see the weave at that distance.

I also happen to like that angled baffle design Triad speaker and when I built my theater I copied the concept for my DIY rear surrounds because I didn't have a rear wall.

$3546 for L/C/R (JBL 3722N)
$648 for 6 surrounds (great deals on craigslist. JBL 8340)
$1400 for 2 CHT VS18.1

I also still have an Epik Empire I bought last year new for $948.

LCR $3600
Surrounds $7200
Sub drivers only $5300

1300.00 Subs - 2 Triad Gold In-Room Power Subs (Used)
1000.00 Surrounds - 4 Triad In-wall Silver surrounds (Used)
1700.00 LCR - 4 Triad In-Room Silver LCR's (New)

Total: 4k

L+R = $3500
C = $2000
Surrounds = stuff I had lying around
Subs ~$500 for drivers, wood and supplies, amp was free, miniDSP $120

I'll build new LCR and surrounds at some point and move my B&W's to the living room.

Sweet, another mines bigger than yours thread.

I'll take cheap speakers in a well setup room over expensive speakers in a poorly setup room.

What relevance does asking what people spent on there speakers have anything to do with the ones you're looking at? So if I spent 100k on my speakers, than you feel more justified in paying more than you originally intended on your speakers?

Did you read the original post?

Not sure where you get the "mines bigger than yours thread". The OP received a quote for a very capable speaker system and was a little taken aback at the price tag attached. The question was asked as a reference of what others paid for their speaker system so that the OP could see if his quote was in line. Not all speakers are created equal....that for sure.

I think I agree with you comment regarding cheap speakers -vs- poorly setup room provided the speakers are up to the demands of a home theater.

LCR $2,800 JTR Triple 8's (from fellow AVS member)
sides $ 900 Triad Silver/4 InWalls (from fellow AVS member)
rears $ 443 Triad Silver/4 InWalls (Videogon)
sub $1,262 Danley DTS-10 (new kit)
subs $ 360 Triad Bronze/4 InWalls (Craigslist)

All speakers are in excellent condition despite most having seen previous service in somebodys theater. Not sure what the MSRP's are but I think I have made some pretty good purchases and the system is pretty capable! Guess you could say it is bigger than some .

Some friendly advice: Get your plan/design together BEFORE you start purchasing equipment. I have $2,182 wrapped up in (7) eD bookshelves W6-6TC's and a A5-350 that I will NOT be using in my theater.

Good luck jefftr!

My speaker budget reflects my motto of patience and careful shopping. All of my speakers have been purchased at closeouts, floor sales, woot-offs and craigslist as follows:

Mains: Klipsch KG4: $300 at Listen Up Denver warehouse sale.
Center: Klipsch KG3: $170 at same sale the next year.
Surrounds: Klipsch RS-35? $250 From Vanns closeout webpage
Sub: Velodyne SR-12: $300 from craigslist.

Total cost $1020, but it took from 1993 until 2007 to get there. Plus there is another 'almost as good' system in the family room of the hand me downs.

my polk rm6880s were free i got them as a gift in 2009