$1,200 budget for my front 3 speakers

I think NHT Classic Three x 3 @ $400 each.

Look at the Focal Chorus speakers here -
new in the box
http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/brand/focal/results/1.html

The suggested Focal sound real nice and are a great bargain at that site. Check out www.emptek.com. I'm currently running their large towers and large center and they're phenomenal for the price. And they offer a thirty day trial so you can send them back at no cost to you if you don't like them. Also, they do have a few sales during the year. And when that happens, the speakers are really a steal!

fwiw, take a look at the ascend acoustic cmt 340 se's mini towers and matching center $904 delivered and maybe put the rest towards a new sub or another sub for that size room just a suggestion

If your looking at the Ascends mentioned above you may as well add the stands for the front L/R for another 178 bucks, they match nicely.

I agree with two suggestions above;
EMPtek large towers with center. Great looking and sounding speaker (but not small) and really a great speaker for the money. I own the smaller towers (e5ti)...very good for music, excellent for HT!
Have a friend who gas the ascend acoust cmt340 and those are excellent. Never really like the look much, but most important, they are a crisp, balanced and efficient speaker.
Both the EMP and the ascends need a good sub for HT!

What are your thoughts on the Ascends? I know you've only got the smaller towers, but I always see great comments about the Ascends and would think the EMP's could hold their own (especially the e55ti's). Both well balanced speakers...one just has a whole helluva lot more cone area lol

I would recommend some older Klipsch speakers. Both on Audiogon.com , a pair of Klipsch KLF30's and the matching center channel- Klipsch KLF C-7. Very dynamic, efficient and great sounding speakers.

I think maybe the Ascend CMt340 hits the lows alittle better. But I love the midrange/highs in the EMP (the Ascend is no slouch in that area). my set up is a med-small room-16x20 with 8 foot celing...so in that room, my mini towers are perfect, with my Klipsch sub and SLS q line sats as surrounds.
When I finish my theater room in the basement (18 x 30), I will likely upgrade to either the EMPe 55tis or the Ascend. I have a set of Polk m40s, but might as well just sell those as I don't see myself being satisfied with those again!

So does the midrange and treble sound more defined, brighter, more dynamic or what? My other choices were the Ascends and HTD's, but I think I made the right choice for sure. They've been very solid so far

Definitely pick up some the e55ti's when you get that chance. The 30-day trial doesn't hurt, but if you like the e5ti's then the e55's will surely make you grin just a little bit more

Some good recommendations already. Others in your price range would be HTD level three towers and center. PSB Image T5 towers and the C4 or C5 center. Boston Acoustics A360 towers and matching center. Polk makes a number of products in your price range.

Having not listened to these directly, I can't recommend one over the other. I do know a forum member here who really loves his Emptek 55 towers for his hometheater room, FWIW. I like that the Emptek Center is robust.

I don't think you can do better than these for your budget. They have a very open, lively, exciting sound with superb build quality.

Wow...you've heard everything suggested on this page AND you have the same ears as the OP?


That's convenient

First, I have never done an A/B with the Ascend and the EMPs, so EMPs in my room, CMT340 in my freind Rays room...and in this case, Ray spent more on one speaker than I spent on my pair (E5tis), so this is not really a fair fight!

Definately, the Ascends hit the low end better and really have some punch, even with out a sub! Ray will sometime shut his sub off and then just listen to the CMT340 in 2 channel for music. From a stand point of a better balanced speaker (hits lows, mids and high all really well), the Ascends win. If I was buying speakers to upgrade my music set up (currently 2.1 with Def Tech SM450s)...this would be my choice!

For HT, I would NOT trade my EMPs for the Ascend, although that is NOT saying the EMP e5tis are better...just that it is close enough that for the money, I like what I got! I would call the EMPs as more dynamic in the mid and clear and crisp at the highs, The Ascend maybe a little brighter, but not in a bad way.

Anyway, the big issue is Ray lives in an old farm house with 10 foot ceiling, my house is in town with 8 foot ceiling (so really hard to do a comparison considering the room differences). That make the performance of his ascends as even more impressive, as he has alot of "room" to fill and they do so very well

The center does not match the left and rights you are proposing, I would not go for that, it will not be timbre matched and won't sound right. Use the correct speakers for that center which would be from the Impression series. Also running a monoprice sub with a Klipsch sub is a bad idea, the monoprice sub will not be able to keep up at all and will only contribute distortion to the sound, especially if the Klipsch we are talking about here is the RW-12d or the SW-112. If you go with multiple subs, either keep them identical subs or subs that have roughly the same performance.

So you're wanting in-wall's or bookshelves? I'm with ShadyJ. If you can, return the monoprice sub (what Klipsch sub is it?).

You are going to pair a $100 bottom, budget level sub with nice towers like the Emp Teks? The Monoprice is probably only going to have usable output down to around 40hz, so not much better than your towers. Eventually you'll want a sub with better SQ, a more linear response, and deeper extension.