[bkm669]

Would greatly appreciate any and all ideas to start my surround system.

Looking to spend $500-$1000 bucks. I would like to get a decent 5.1 Setup and nice A/V Amp. Kinda partial to Onkyo and Energy stuff (but open to all ideas). Currently have a Sony Bravia LCD, Sony Bluray BDP and an Oppo DVD player that needs connecting. This setup is in a townhouse basement bedroom with one couch and then a bed and lazy-boy in front of the TV, where the setup will be. And this listening area will be 22'x15'. The floor is carpeted and there are 3 doors and a closet

 

[phantom52]

Onkyo 707 and the Energy speakers should work out just fine. Rather large room for speakers that size though. May want to check out some of the Polk Monitor series Floorstanders from Polk's E-Bay store.

 

[Selden Ball]

To paraphrase phantom52's suggestions: to get an acceptable volume in a large room you need efficient speakers. A sensitivity rating greater than 93 db is desirable. Trying to compensate for inefficient speakers by using a more powerful amp usually doesn't work well. You have to double the amp's power to increase the volume by 3db.

 

[bkm669]

Selden Ball... So do you have any suggestions and or combinations that come to mind?

 

[Selden Ball]

Sorry, I can't provide a recommendation based on personal experience: I have relatively small rooms and inefficient speakers.


My understanding is that Klipsch speakers tend to be quite efficient. They also tend to be somewhat "bright", though, meaning that their upper frequency range tends to be very slightly louder than some people like. On the other hand, this may be less of a problem if you get a modern receiver with builtin equalization software like Audyssey MultEQ.


I'd recommend visiting a local A/V store (not BestBuy!) and auditioning speakers. A local store usually provides after-sale services not available from internet resellers (like loaners when something breaks) but for a somewhat higher initial price.