Best Speakers for Watching movies

$7000 with no sub Holy hell man.......I don't know but with 7000 I WOULD get another sub!!!!!!!!!!!!

You have the receiver and sub and are looking to spend 7K on speakers?

Hmmm Not sure If I would make a choice of Those B&W's for HT.....

They are pretty well liked around here for 2 channel stereo listening, but $7K? does that include funds for a center channel and surround speakers... ?

Warp

In that price range, and for predominantly movie viewing, I would recommend the Klipsch THX Ultra2 speaker system. It will match up very nicely with the SVS sub. It can acheive full reference level without compression. It is a very powerful and dynamic sounding system. The only drawback is that it's not the most aesthetically attractive system out there. If you want good looking speakers that sound great also, the Klipsch Reference line sounds excellent with movies. Of course, these are my opinions and you should listen for yourself. Some people don't care for the sound of Klipsch speakers.

Craig

Logitec Z5500 ($299) best for watching movies No need to spend more for that purpose

Personally, I wouldn't spend that much on speakers "for movie watching" only.

You can spend half that(or less), save some money, and get some really good speakers "for movie watching" only.

How big is your theater?

Unless you are just dead set on spending the $7000, you CAN do this for less.




Have you heard the THX Ultra2 system? LINK

Monitor Audio GS-60's, C, and GSFX would be my call. I don't think you can do better for 7K. You also might look into the Revel Performa line (50 or 52), C, and surrounds as well. B&W 703's won't come close to that kind of performance.

Dynaudio Contour S 3.4 $5000

Dynaudio Contour SC 2-way center speaker $1900

Dynaudio Contour S1.4 2-way mini-monitor $2800

Oops $9700 Whats a few thousand over.

Are you looking for Asthetics here or sound or both... Or are you just that familiar and happy with B&W... Have you tried audiotioning other brands...?

P.S. Great choice on the sub... I love my Plus/2...

Triad LCR monitors, NHT M6s, maybe the Aerial LCRs.

If it was me with the $7k I would get Vandersteen VCC-5, a pair of 3A signature, and a pair of VSM signature. Or for 7 channel drop the fronts to 2Ce and get another pair of VSMs. That's assuming the Denon can handle 4 ohm, didn't look it up...

4 Paradigm Sig 2 speakers and a C-5 Center........Yeah Baby!

I've heard the Vandersteens but not the B&Ws... so sorry no direct comparison.

Go with either the kef kht 3005 most likely the most underated sub regardless of price entire system for 1500

or

orb mod2 with nice sub for around 1100 n the remaining of the 7k bank it


if you listen to music this isnt bad either

but if you want to spend serious cash go with mark levinson amp an preamp an
b an w or martin login or magnapan

myself i have a used pair of ban w 9001 mark levinson amp an premap an still cost me 40k

7000 dollars for some people is not alot of money.........At all.

"I Personally" compared the Paradigm Studios to the B&W 703's and I liked the Paradigm's better in sound, but not looks, I felt that the sound quality offered with the Paradigm Studio's better compared with the more full sound of the 803 & 804 series B&W, with the best point going toward B&W on this one.. but note that these comparisons were made with 2 channel stereo listening only... I did not compare both setup's with HT....

I felt the B&W's to be more of a laid back/smoother sounding speaker, and the Paradigm Studio's very clean had more punch and the tightness and forward type speaker. Now this is what I like, and if your into Movies, maybe this is what you like as well.

Now Maybe as asthetics is what your after, then maybe the Paradigm Signatures might be better suited to you liking. I seriously agree with Russdawg in his suggestion, but I would go larger with the Main's S4, C-5 center, and S2's for rears. (I did not listen to the SIG's) I just loved the way they looked, and If I liked the Studio's which were more in my price range, I knew I would like the sound of the SIG's, no-one has them in my area, which is probably a good thing...

But realize that there are also good looking speakers out there, these are just a couple of the speakers in LOOKING at and LISTENING to, that I could get at.

Maybe see if there are some DALI Speakers in your area... they are beautiful and get good reviews.

I have both seen and heard Vandersteens, and although they are great sounding, but I thought they were not very pretty.

I agree with Asthetics, but I had to compromise on budget !!!! Maybe you don't...

I hope I could be of some help to you.....

Warp

daxhughes,

Can you tell us a bit more about your video display and seating arrangement?

Just from the room dimensions alone, I would go with high quality monitors on stands for your front mains, an excellent center, non-dipole surrounds, and a single high quality sub.

I have a 3A Signature-based Vandersteen setup which serves double duty as 2-channel, and they require a lot of space for proper placement, which will constrain your front wall viewing and seating arrangement. If you do consider Vandersteens, I would audition the 2CE Signature MkII or used 2CE Sig, plus VCC-2 or VCC-5.

With a room that size, budgeting for acoustic treatments will also give you another notch up in audio quality.

I'm surprised av123's lineup wasn't plugged more... you could go used or new with very good results.

- Steve O.

For that kind of money, you owe it to yourself to demo Revel Performa speakers.

Anthony Gallo reference speakers would also be worth an audition.

That being said, I'm sure you would be also very happy with the B&W's.

In that price range you should look at Tyler Acoustics Linbrook line

http://www.tyleracoustics.com/linbrook.html

These are great for both music and HT..

ps they also have used speakers.


Regards,
Jose

What have you heard? What did you like about the B&Ws vs the others? That helps a lot when giving someone ideas.

You have a decent budget for speakers and there are a lot of good speakers out there in your budget. I will just give you two pieces of advice:

1. If I were you, I'd get the identical bookshelf speaker all around and a second sub. That, in my opinion, will give you the best overall sound for movies and for music in surround format. I don't get the impression that you are a 2.0 channel fanatic who feels the need for front floorstanders just because that is how most music used to be listened to in the past.

2. You need to listen to as many speakers as you can, both in and outside your price range so you know what you are getting/giving up with your final choice. When demoing speakers, do so with music you know, not movies. If a speaker does well with music, it should do well with movies (though the reverse is not always true). Bring a movie or two along too to check how the center reproduces dialogue, but pick them carefully: find ones where you have the most trouble hearing the dialogue or where the dialogue is much quieter than the other noises so you check the center speaker in a worst-case scenario. Also make sure you turn the sub off when demoing speakers as you will otherwise base your movie sound impression mostly on the sub (which you will not be buying).

I totally disagree that speakers are music speakers, and not good for movies. I think that sometimes it can go in reverse, and flaws in a speaker come out in music listening that might go unnoticed in movie watching. This was very true for me. I have owned several speakers that are known to be good "movie speakers" (M&K being one of them). It wasn't until I went with speakers that I really enjoyed for music, that I was blown away in my movie watching.

If you like B&Ws for music, chances are they are going to be great movie speakers for you. If you have not heard a lot for comparisons, be sure to do that though.

I agree with you whole heartedly, you should listen and cover all your bases, Music and Movies. But in my auditions I mainly used extremely good quality stereo recordings to find the flaws/shortfalls or what I perceived with my taste as not to my liking. I always loved using Dianna Krall - Temptation, (Ray Charles Duets - Here we go again w/Norah Jones, Fever w/Natalie Cole) just to mention some of the material I brought along...

I really loved the B&W's but only when I got to the 804/803 range and better.
the 700's didn't cut it for me, and couldn't afford more then those.

Oh and See if you can try out those Ariel Acoustics, as I have read that once you hear those, you never look back... I haven't heard them thank god....