[blahblah6]

Well, the thread subject pretty much covers it. I'm looking to finally upgrade my home theater - I've currently got an old Onkyo HT-760 HTIB and it's well past time to upgrade. Pretty much any speaker in this range will be a heck of an upgrade at this point, so I'll probably be happy regardless. $650 is a pretty 'hard' limit, I'd prefer to be under that. I don't much care if I get a sub right now, I can limp by on the old one for awhile and be OK with it. I MAY be able to stretch a bit higher IF a sub is in the equation, but I'd probably have to beg the wife for it

In any event, I'm looking for a 5-speaker set primarily for home theater use. I've been lurking in the forums off and on for awhile, and I've got a few ideas, but I'm wondering if anybody has any solid suggestions. Movies are probably going to be 70% of the use, gaming 25%, and 5% music. I'm inclined to lean toward towers for the for the fronts, but good bookshelf speakers with stands would be fine (so long as the stands fit in the budget too) and I'm willing to entertain very small setups as well. Room isn't all that big, 12'x15'x9' but it's a bit of an mess in that it's got a big 'archway' opening in the middle of one wall to the right of the main listening position.


The wife likes clear highs which sometimes causes her to like speakers I consider fatiguing or annoying. Most of the Klipsch models I've heard are too bright for me, but she likes the high-frequency clarity. She's also really liked the Polks we've heard, but she's already pleased because everything we've checked out sounds better than the old HTIB.


Myself, I tend to concern myself with clear vocals in both music and movies. I tend to find myself very interested in the center channel, instantly dismissing a system that doesn't have a strong center when demoing.


Unfortunately, I haven't had much luck demoing things locally (small state, small town) so I'm forced to rely on my opinion of speakers I've heard in the past from the brands, which isn't exactly safe - so I figured there's no harm in bouncing ideas off the AVS Minds.


So far, I've been giving a good hard look to the following:

Jamo S606 System (bit of a wildcard to me - pretty good reputation but I don't like the comments about 'butched up' voices)

Infinity Primus P363*2, P153*2, PC351 (center impressed me with sheer size, surrounds would be a bit bigger than ideal, seemed like they had good clarity in general as well, liked the brand in the past)

BIC DV64*2, DV62si*2, DV62CLRS (I've heard one of their subs and was impressed and I've heard good 'bang for the buck' comments)

Polk Monitor70*2, Monitor40*2, CS2 (have heard these, liked them but worried they might annoy me over long listening periods, center seemed a little iffy too)

Mirage Nanosats (small enough I don't need stands, really worried about the center, intrigued by the 'reflected sound' idea)

Energy Takes (small enough I don't need stands, heard good things about clarity, good price)


I'm leaning towards the Primus set right now, but open to ideas.


Thanks for reading

 

[shadyJ]

This is a no-brainer to me, go with the Primus speakers. They may be a bit large, but you can not go wrong with them. I don't think the other speakers would be bad, but why risk it when the Primus does everything well? Their only drawback is they take up a bit more space. If you needed smaller surround speakers, go with the p143 bookshelf speakers, you would only be losing a bit of bass.

 

[5seonds]

I say go with the Jamos, and put the remaining $250 towards a sub. If you can add another $150, the eD A2-300 would finish off a great system.

 

[afrogt]

I would go with the Jamo and a nice sub too.

Quote:
Jamo S606 System (bit of a wildcard to me - pretty good reputation but I don't like the comments about 'butched up' voices)

I've had the Jamo S60 center for two years now. I don't get "butched up dialog". If I did I would have switched out the center by now.

 

[schan1269]

In what you've chosen, the Infinity Primus or the BIC DV.


The BIC DV62 traces itself back to the V62. What is the difference between the V62 and DV62? American made VS imported from China. If you consider the DV/V62 the "same speaker"(which it technically is), it is the 6th longest running speaker in the audio world...(the V62/DV62 also has the dubious distinction of being the only speaker made on three different continents over its life...Europe, North America and Asia)


Behind...


Klipschorn

Various incarnations of the LS3/5A (this is the defacto "longest running" period, will probably NEVER go away)

Magnepan MMG


The other two are variations of the LS3/5A that can't be called LS3/5A.


The point of that is, the DV62(the entire DV line) should be on everybody's list when it comes to "bargain speakers". You can't argue with a speaker line that has been around since the late 70's. There must be something "right" about it.

 

[jonnythan]

I haven't heard anything but given how positive people have been about that Infinity line it's hard to say no.


It's also hard to say no to the Polks. I just upgraded to the CS2 and really love it. A pair of Monitor 70s will be showing up soon.

 

[Knucklehead90]

Looks like Harman is 'dumping' their Primus 5 speaker home theater speakers on ebay. A quick search shows these set going for less than $150 a set - that leaves lots of dollars for a good sub. I use a set of Infinity TSS-800 speakers driven by an old Denon 589. The TSS series use the same tweeter as the Primus - VERY good for a budget speaker as those who've heard them know.


I have a larger system for HT use - also Infinity - driven by a 7 channel amp and Integra preamp processor. The Primus tweeter give up very little to the larger Interlude speakers. With 4" mids coupled with a good sub you'll have a fine sounding system.

 

[blahblah6]

That Primus setup on ebay looks to be a heck of a deal. I'd really prefer to have stronger fronts, though, so if I were to get those I'd probably end up using the satellites to do a 7.1 setup - but then again, I'm of the opinion that 7.1 is of marginal/null value in a room this size. Looking at the stats, I assume the satellites are P143s and would be a more palatable size for the surrounds. The frequency range of the 143 worries me a bit, however - especially for fronts. I'd considered them as surrounds for a Primus setup originally as well.


Right up until the pricing I saw on the black Jamo 606s spiked up from 449 to 999, I was leaning that way...but it seems like the Primus set has the majority opinion so far. I've got some PMs that I'll need to digest tonight with some ideas that I hadn't yet considered, too. Thanks, everybody.


To everybody who mentioned subs: I was actually trying to minimize talk of subs right now. I do appreciate the input, and in fact quite likely will put some of the money saved on the other speakers into a sub, eventually. But there is a wrinkle - the wife doesn't like subs. In our current system I often have to disable the sub entirely for the sake of domestic tranquility. Now, the current sub is terribly boomy and she MIGHT be more accepting of a better sub. That being said, she hasn't liked any sub she's ever heard. Again, I haven't had a chance to demo much really good stuff, but she's heard some DefTech towers with subs and the BIC F12 (which I thought was very good for the cash) and still didn't like 'em. I'm not likely to put big money into a sub because I probably won't be allowed to use it very often, especially not at anywhere near peak power on the big boys. Yes, I'm aware this is home theater heresy

I was going to not even bring that up because, frankly, I'm used to going without a sub on massively worse speakers, even though the performance suffers. I figured what I'd do is get a good 5-channel setup, run with the crappy sub for awhile, upgrade to a decent-but-still-low-end sub (BIC F12 and Lava 10 were on the short list) and see if she actually noticed/appreciated the difference and would get behind a further upgrade later. Hoping for a "See how much less this one sucks? I might be able to find one you don't hate at all for a little more..." conversation

 

[donutfan]

I would also go with the Primus series.

 

[Knucklehead90]

A good sub will go unnoticed if it is set up right and blends into the background. I'm speaking acoustically of course - a good sub will stick out even in a large room - cosmetics/aesthetics aren't the strong suit of good subs.

 

[zieglj01]

The Primus

 

[cbrett]

BIC is an excellent choice.

 

[blahblah6]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Knucklehead90 A good sub will go unnoticed if it is set up right and blends into the background.

I agree. The subs I've liked have always 'blended in' - an unpopular position in high school, BTW

Personally, I thought the subs in the DefTech 8040 towers we heard (hooked up to an Integra 70.2 receiver and run through Audyssey setup) blended quite well, but she was talking about getting a headache if she had to listen to that all the time during a relatively low-bass scene.

 

[blahblah6]

Should I be considering the Pioneer FS51/BS21/C21 as well?

 

[schan1269]

The problem with the FS51...


lack of efficiency for a speaker that "isn't great"


87db is forgivable in an electrostat or a pair of OHM. Unforgivable in a

 

[[email protected]]



Quote:
Originally Posted by blahblah6 /forum/post/0


Right up until the pricing I saw on the black Jamo 606s spiked up from 449 to 999, I was leaning that way..."

Where did you see them for 999? Vanns still has the black set priced at 449, and the dark apple at 399. I bet you could easily get them to do 399 on the black set.

http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/it..._c=site_search

 

[afrogt]

Trust me Vanns jacked up the price to $999 on 8/12. I posted it and the price stayed there for a week.


They just moved the price back down to $449 again. I don't see how they could have sold any at $999.


And yes you can probably get them for $399 if you call since they have listed them at that price before.

 

[[email protected]]

Weird, I sure hope no one bought them for that price