[KBoltz]

Howdy,


My name is Ken and I was referred here by a bud from ar15.com.


I am looking at finally upgrading my speakers for my home theater. I currently have some older JBL's (Northridge Series - center, bookshelf and surrounds) and I am looking to upgrade.


I have a Kenwood 8070 THX Select Certified receiver that will power the new speakers. I have heard some good things about Monitor Audio and I have been talking to Hamilton at Saturday Audio, he is looking to see if they have matching colored Bronze B2's and Bonze Center. The BFX surrounds can be black, as they are going to be wall mounted anyways.


Is this a really good performer for a room that is approximately 15x24 with marble floors? I have a decent sub (Paradigm 250w - about 8 years old but still in good shape) so I won't need their subwoofer.


I was also interested in the Boston Acoustics MCS130 setup. Same ballpark or are they inferior in every respect?


Thanks for any help.

 

[deneb]

Monitor audio makes some great speakers. The important thing to remember is that the 'best' speaker is the one that sounds best to you. If you like the sound of the Bostons better than the Monitors, then by all means go for those. Those marble floors are going to be problematic as far as reflections go, any way you can put down some carpet between you and the speakers?

 

[quadriverfalls]

With the marble floors you are going to get some pretty nasty reflections. I agree with the other poster that suggests rugs. Room treatments (or the lack there of) have the BIGGEST impact on how a system sounds. You might want to try some DIY room treatments and eliminate all those reflections first and see how your current JBL's sound. You may just find that they sound a lot better than you thought.


Aside from that, no one can really TELL you how a speaker is going to sound to YOU. We all hear things differently and have different likes and dislikes when it comes to what pleases us sonically. You REALLY need to try and audition as many different speakers in your price range that you can. Use some reference recordings that you are very familiar with and audition, audition, audition.


It will serve you well in the long run as you will end up with something that you are happy with for a long, long time. Too often people buy brand X because people here or other forums say it's the best thing since sliced bread.... only to find that they get the "upgrade" bug in a year and need to start all over again.

 

[KBoltz]

Thanks for the advice.


I went to a local sound/video place and took a listen to the lc1 and 810's that another poster just got. They sounded really crisp and clear to the music I brought (some 80's Metal and Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd)


As far as the reflections, the speakers are on the semi-custom entertainment center (ie. modified it to work with the Mitsi TV my wife bought me) and haven't really had any problems - they are at ear height when sitting down.


They are just getting tired - and my oldest son wants them for his room. He was the one who suggested to me that I upgrade.

Quote:
Dad, you know you have had those JBL speakers a long time. Shouldn't you be upgrading them by now?

How's that for trying to get my old set of speakers?

 

[deneb]



Quote:
Originally Posted by KBoltz /forum/post/12830724


Thanks for the advice.


I went to a local sound/video place and took a listen to the lc1 and 810's that another poster just got. They sounded really crisp and clear to the music I brought (some 80's Metal and Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd)


As far as the reflections, the speakers are on the semi-custom entertainment center (ie. modified it to work with the Mitsi TV my wife bought me) and haven't really had any problems - they are at ear height when sitting down.


They are just getting tired - and my oldest son wants them for his room. He was the one who suggested to me that I upgrade.




How's that for trying to get my old set of speakers?

How do you know you haven't had any problems? You'd be amazed at the improvement in sound when you treat early reflections off the walls, floor, and ceiling. A hard surface like a marble floor quite likely is giving you tons of early reflections, muddying the stereo image among other things. You might try putting down a good sized, heavy throw rug just to see how it does.

 

[quadriverfalls]



Quote:
Originally Posted by deneb /forum/post/12836064


How do you know you haven't had any problems? You'd be amazed at the improvement in sound when you treat early reflections off the walls, floor, and ceiling. A hard surface like a marble floor quite likely is giving you tons of early reflections, muddying the stereo image among other things. You might try putting down a good sized, heavy throw rug just to see how it does.

You may be "used" to the sound with all of the reflections and just assume that's how it's supposed to sound. Room treatments, properly placed, make a HUGE difference in the system's performance.


Even temporarily.... try things like a heavy quilt or bedspread. Same thing at the first reflection point along the walls. Big fluffy pillows can also be used as a stop gap. Bass traps in the corners help over all bass response immensely. I wouldn't worry too much about the ceiling, unless you have a very low ceiling.


Seriously.... you will gain as much or MORE of an improvement, for far less money, than replacing speakers. Although, upgrading speakers has the second biggest impact on your system's sound.

 

[KBoltz]

The room in question had been carpeted - the marble floors were underneath it all. Ripped out the carpet and voila, terrazzo marble floors. There is a slight difference in sound, mostly I had to move the subwoofer underneath the TV - directly in front of the viewing area..


Mostly, this will be for viewing blu-ray movies, with some music thrown in. That's not quite completely accurate , this is mostly for my oldest son so he can get my speakers, and play Call of Duty 4 and Rock Band on the big tv with the surround on.