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Help this lady pick some speakers

post #1 of 27
11/28/12 at 9:08am
Thread Starter 
I currently have a Denon AVR-2112CI receiver, a Klipsch 10" 420W subwoofer, a Polk CS150 center speaker, and 2 small Polk floor speakers. I just recently bought the receiver, so I won't be replacing that. But I am wanting to get a new speaker set-up and have no idea what might be a nice set up that won't break the bank. I just purchased a new Panasonic 55GT50 plasma and want something nice to go along with that. Would appreciate any ideas any of you have to help out this lady!!!
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post #2 of 27
11/28/12 at 9:10am
What is the budget?
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post #3 of 27
11/28/12 at 9:25am
Thread Starter 
My budget would be about $500.
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post #4 of 27
11/28/12 at 9:42am
Quote:
Originally Posted by moonbeam13 View Post

My budget would be about $500.

If you can stretch/squeeze a little more - then look at HTD, they are nice
Level Two towers
http://www.htd.com/Products/level-two-speakers/Level-TWO-Tower-Speakers

Level Two center
http://www.htd.com/Products/level-two-speakers/Level-TWO-Center-Channel-Speaker
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post #5 of 27
11/28/12 at 9:48am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by zieglj01 View Post

If you can stretch/squeeze a little more - then look at HTD, they are nice
Level Two towers
http://www.htd.com/Products/level-two-speakers/Level-TWO-Tower-Speakers
Level Two center
http://www.htd.com/Products/level-two-speakers/Level-TWO-Center-Channel-Speaker


Those do look pretty nice. I can stretch my budget to $800-900. I've had my current speaker setup since 1993, and I want a change! Thanks for your thoughts on it.
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post #6 of 27
11/28/12 at 9:53am
I assume 500 for a new front stage? You can always use the Polks as surrounds while you reload the wallet!?
Infinity Primus P363s Tower speakers can be had for around 110/each from Fry's and the center was just under 250, last time I saw...
Polk M70s for 149.00, when on sale at New Egg...
A lot of people recommend the Pioneer Andrew Jones series speaker, but I was not favorable impressed with those...
If EMP runs another special (they had 45% off recently)...and offer one of the best speaker sets for the money, sale or not!
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post #7 of 27
11/28/12 at 9:58am
Please, edit your price numbers before you send her into sticker shock. biggrin.gif
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post #8 of 27
11/28/12 at 10:00am
Thread Starter 
Another question.....what do you all think of soundbars? Or would you just tie in the TV to the surround sound speaker set up? I've tweaked by new TV's audio, and actually it's not too bad, but it could be better.
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post #9 of 27
11/28/12 at 10:02am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by XStanleyX View Post

Please, edit your price numbers before you send her into sticker shock. biggrin.gif
:

biggrin.gif:D:D
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post #10 of 27
11/28/12 at 10:04am
zieglj01's recommendation is very good and will blow away the sound of a soundbar.
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post #11 of 27
11/28/12 at 10:05am
Quote:
Originally Posted by moonbeam13 View Post

Another question.....what do you all think of soundbars? Or would you just tie in the TV to the surround sound speaker set up? I've tweaked by new TV's audio, and actually it's not too bad, but it could be better.

For your budget you can do much better than a SoundBar -
HTD, Pioneer (which a lot of us really like), and Infinity - will be a whole
lot better.

If you want a smaller type system, then I can give a recommendation.
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post #12 of 27
11/28/12 at 10:48am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by zieglj01 View Post

For your budget you can do much better than a SoundBar -
HTD, Pioneer (which a lot of us really like), and Infinity - will be a whole
lot better.
If you want a smaller type system, then I can give a recommendation.

What might I be looking at in a Pioneer speaker system?
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post #13 of 27
11/28/12 at 11:04am
Quote:
Originally Posted by moonbeam13 View Post

Quote:
Originally Posted by zieglj01 View Post

For your budget you can do much better than a SoundBar -
HTD, Pioneer (which a lot of us really like), and Infinity - will be a whole
lot better.
If you want a smaller type system, then I can give a recommendation.

What might I be looking at in a Pioneer speaker system?


http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&keywords=pioneer%20sp-pk52fs&page=1&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Apioneer%20sp-pk52fs
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post #14 of 27
11/28/12 at 11:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by moonbeam13 View Post

What might I be looking at in a Pioneer speaker system?

^^^^ From that Amazon link, the Pioneer series that end with the number (2)
The sub can be a starter sub, to augment the bass. However, for a smaller type
sub, I would prefer to look at something different.
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post #15 of 27
11/28/12 at 11:23am
Sorry, for some reason my $s got converted into 4s...
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post #16 of 27
11/28/12 at 11:28am
Soundbars are a way to improve the speakers built-in to your TV (and are a significant step up from that); they are not a real replacement for discrete speakers.

I agree that you are really looking at replacing your front soundstage and moving your existing polks to the rear.

Personally, except in large spaces (where your front two speakers are at least 12' apart), I do not prefer the sound of a center channel. I run "phantom mode" on my receiver to send the center signal to my front pair. I am not alone in this position, but I don't believe I'm in the majority either. Try it for yourself with your existing setup as it will have a considerable impact on how high-end a speaker set you can get.

I do second the Primus recommendation. I have a pair of P360's and was very impressed with their sound at their price. With center, that will hit you $500 mark, and without center that can be done for <$250. There may be some comparable sets (people will mention Pioneer and Polk for sure, and those are good choices), but I do not believe there will be a clearly superior set near that price range.

If you end up liking a phantom center, then $800 for two front speakers opens up a whole new selection of options... unfortunately, it's a price range where I'm not as familiar with the players as I would like; but I've no doubt many here are.
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post #17 of 27
11/28/12 at 12:58pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by zieglj01 View Post

^^^^ From that Amazon link, the Pioneer series that end with the number (2)
The sub can be a starter sub, to augment the bass. However, for a smaller type
sub, I would prefer to look at something different.

I read about the Pioneer FS52 tower speakers. Those look kind of nice. I'm not replacing my Klipsch subwoofer, so I'm not looking into any replacement for that, The Pioneer center C22 is going to be too high to fit in my unit. The Polk center I have now is about 6" in height and fits snugly on the shelf right under the TV. So there's no way I would fit the Pioneer C22 at 7" in there. I may just keep the Polk center speaker and just go with 2 new tower speakers. I'm not opposed to going up to $200-300 each for a set of side speakers. Thanks for everyone's input so far. Keep giving me ideas!!!!
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post #18 of 27
11/28/12 at 1:12pm
Polk has an ebay store with heavily discounted speakers...they are refurbished though. But from what I've heard they are in almost brand new condition. If I hadn't found a 40% off deal on newegg, I would have purchased my RTiA5s from there.
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post #19 of 27
11/28/12 at 2:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by moonbeam13 View Post

I read about the Pioneer FS52 tower speakers. Those look kind of nice. I'm not replacing my Klipsch subwoofer, so I'm not looking into any replacement for that, The Pioneer center C22 is going to be too high to fit in my unit. The Polk center I have now is about 6" in height and fits snugly on the shelf right under the TV. So there's no way I would fit the Pioneer C22 at 7" in there. I may just keep the Polk center speaker and just go with 2 new tower speakers. I'm not opposed to going up to $200-300 each for a set of side speakers. Thanks for everyone's input so far. Keep giving me ideas!!!!

I would rather you look at another brand - I do not recommend mixing the center and fronts.
Things will balance and sound better with timbre (voice) match, front channel speakers.

If you can really stretch/squeeze past $500, then look at Cambridge Audio
S70 Towers
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_779S70B/Cambridge-Audio-S70-Black.html

S50 Center
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_779S50B/Cambridge-Audio-S50-Black.html?tp=189
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post #20 of 27
11/29/12 at 6:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by moonbeam13 View Post

Another question.....what do you all think of soundbars? Or would you just tie in the TV to the surround sound speaker set up? I've tweaked by new TV's audio, and actually it's not too bad, but it could be better.

Just to make sure, you wouldn't be using your tv speakers in conjunction with your new speakers, right?
Quote:
Originally Posted by zieglj01 View Post

- I do not recommend mixing the center and fronts.
Things will balance and sound better with timbre (voice) match, front channel speakers.

Great advice
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post #21 of 27
11/29/12 at 9:16am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by zieglj01 View Post

I would rather you look at another brand - I do not recommend mixing the center and fronts.
Things will balance and sound better with timbre (voice) match, front channel speakers.
If you can really stretch/squeeze past $500, then look at Cambridge Audio
S70 Towers
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_779S70B/Cambridge-Audio-S70-Black.html
S50 Center
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_779S50B/Cambridge-Audio-S50-Black.html?tp=189

Those S70's look really nice. Do you think they are a good match with my Denon 2112CI receiver? Thanks for the advice on the center. I do pretty good with my choices, but I'm sure not an expert on this! That's why I like to ask others their opinions. The speaker system I now have is from 1993 and I just don't know what's out there that's quality and decent priced. The price range of the S70's and the S50 I can manage.
I might seriously look into those. Do you think the Cambridge are nicer than the Pioneer SF52's I was thinking about?? Would there be anything else I might consider??? Thank you so much for your input...it really helps:)
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post #22 of 27
11/29/12 at 9:24am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Geoff4RFC View Post

Just to make sure, you wouldn't be using your tv speakers in conjunction with your new speakers, right?
Great advice

I want to eventually connect my speaker system to the TV and not use the TV speakers at all. When I was researching my TV purchase, I went to Best Buy and looked at a few TV's I was interested in. They all had sound bars hooked in. It made the TV's sound so much better. That's why I was asking about sound bars. But I actually would just rather hook into my speaker system and use that for everyday watching and forget the sound bar.
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post #23 of 27
11/29/12 at 9:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by moonbeam13 View Post

I want to eventually connect my speaker system to the TV and not use the TV speakers at all. When I was researching my TV purchase, I went to Best Buy and looked at a few TV's I was interested in. They all had sound bars hooked in. It made the TV's sound so much better. That's why I was asking about sound bars. But I actually would just rather hook into my speaker system and use that for everyday watching and forget the sound bar.

I agree soundbars are a good step up from TV speakers. A bonified 5 or 7.1 just can't be beat.

Why not just use what you have for now until you get your new speakers? Is your TV speaker better than the Polks that you have? Unless your TV speaker is front firing, I'd just go with what you've got hooked up to your Denon. All the flat panels I've owned have had down firing speakers, and it was that reason alone that got me into this rabbit hole.

In three short years, I went from buying my first flat panel to upgrading the TV three times, three different sets of speakers, two different BR players, one AVR, two amplifiers and two upgrades on subs.

I believe I have a set up to last me for quite some time now but of course, there's still some improvements to be made biggrin.gif
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post #24 of 27
11/29/12 at 9:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by moonbeam13 View Post

The price range of the S70's and the S50 I can manage.
I might seriously look into those. Do you think the Cambridge are nicer than the Pioneer SF52's I was thinking about?? Would there be anything else I might consider??? Thank you so much for your input...it really helps:)

Cambridge is my #1 choice for budget systems > and I much prefer their sound over
the Pioneers - and the Pioneers are still nice.

I still prefer the Cambridge - however, the other option is the HTD Level Two towers,
and use theis Flat Panel speaker as a center channel.
http://www.htd.com/Products/flat-panel-speakers/flat-panel-speaker#
Edited by zieglj01 - 11/29/12 at 9:56am
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post #25 of 27
11/29/12 at 10:15am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by zieglj01 View Post

Cambridge is my #1 choice for budget systems > and I much prefer their sound over
the Pioneers - and the Pioneers are still nice.
I still prefer the Cambridge - however, the other option is the HTD Level Two towers,
and use theis Flat Panel speaker as a center channel.
http://www.htd.com/Products/flat-panel-speakers/flat-panel-speaker#

Are either the Cambridge or HTD Level Two a good match with my Denon 2112CI receiver?
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post #26 of 27
11/29/12 at 10:20am
Quote:
Originally Posted by moonbeam13 View Post

Are either the Cambridge or HTD Level Two a good match with my Denon 2112CI receiver?
The answer is Yes - it will work.
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post #27 of 27
12/5/12 at 6:39am
Thread Starter 
My Polk set up I've had since 1993....Polk CS150 center channel, and 2 Polk S8's. Were these entry-level speakers?? I think there are better sounding speakers out there! And I'm still not sure that I might go with a really nice soundbar, since the thought of not having all the wires and clutter is appealing.....if I knew the soundbar could give me a pretty close experience like my 5.1 setup. Right now my speaker setup is not ideal......my TV sits in a corner of the family next to a fireplace. The speakers are next to the TV , of course, but one of them is really cramped and has to stick out more in the room because of the hearth. And my subwoofer is behind the TV. There is nowhere else in the room to put all of this. That's one reason I was thinking a nice soundbar, hooked in with my subwoofer, would work better.
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