[yourbuddypal]

I've lurked here a bit and now I need some advice. This is my first real post - please be kind/gentle!


I am soon to be assembling my first home surround system. Long story short, my uncle gave me the following:

2 Klipsch KG 1.2 speakers :

Front:

Back:

Definitive Pro Sub 60:
http://www.productwiki.com/definitiv...ogy-prosub-60/


I don't really know very much at ALL about audio. How good is any of this stuff? I realize the speakers are quite a bit older, but that doesn't mean that they are bad, right? I know Klipsch is generally supposed to be good.


Should I use the speakers? I was thinking of getting a center and 2 rear speakers to round out the 5.1. A friend who knows a bit more was saying that perhaps I should get cabinets and just use the sub.


I've been doing some research (and reading threads here), and I think I am going to get the HK 254 for my receiver.


Please advise, thanks. Feel free to ask for any more details.

 

[Knucklehead90]

So far you have 2 speakers and tentatively, a receiver. You will need surrounds and a center speaker.


Lets start at square 1, what is your total budget?


Listening habits?


Mine is 90/5/5 music/tv/movies.


What size room do you need to fill with sound?


The Klipsch would fill in as surrounds but I don't think they have enough for front main speakers unless you are very undemanding on your sound system.


Give us your budget constraints and we can go from there to fill out your system.

 

[yourbuddypal]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Knucklehead90 /forum/post/15489747


Lets start at square 1, what is your total budget?

Well, the receiver is going to run $400 it looks like. I would be alright with spending a few hundred for the rest of the system. If I had to give a range, I'd say around $300 with upper bound around $400.


I have a steady income with a good bank account for where I am in life, but I'm new to all of this and wouldn't consider myself an audiophile. I don't know how much I would necessarily be able to tell the difference between high end and lower end sound. Thats not to say I necessarily wouldn't either, but I just don't know - like I say, audio noob! Sorry that was long winded.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Knucklehead90 /forum/post/15489747


Listening habits?


Mine is 90/5/5 music/tv/movies.

At the present, I mostly listen to music in my room (on my logitech z-5500s ). When we have people over (which happens fairly often since I live with 2 dudes), it would be nice to be able to use this for music. That said, heres my estimated breakdown:


25% music, 50% video games, 25 % tv/movies.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Knucklehead90 /forum/post/15489747


What size room do you need to fill with sound?

The main room in our place is connected with the kitchen, so it is rather large. If I am reading my self made floor plan correctly (with a few estimates), the room is about 258" long x 130" w x 120" h. The seating area is probably more like 125" long.


The entire apt has wood floors.


If you're interested, heres the actual floor plan I made:



That also being said, my current place IS an apt, where I will be for at least 9 months longer but not necessarily after that.

 

[Knucklehead90]

With your budget I would recommend spending a bit less on the receiver. Take a look at the HK AVR 247 being sold by Harman Audio on ebay. I own the HK 247, but not the Infinity P362 towers, but they come highly recommended by those who have bought them. You can get them on ebay for cheap, and possibly at Frys.com for cheaper - depends on how high the auctions go.

As for the 247 sound, I could not tell you about that, I use mine as a preamp processor only. I've never connected the receiver to speakers.

http://search.stores.ebay.com/Harman...519532QQsofpZ0

http://search.stores.ebay.com/Harman...519532QQsofpZ0


These aren't currently on sale, so I would wait or try buying from Harman on ebay.

http://shop4.frys.com/product/522368...H:MAIN_RSLT_PG


Get the PC350 center from Harman, and a pair of the P142 or P152 bookshelfs for surrounds and you have a complete setup - minus a sub. I don't recommend a sub in an apartment unless you dislike your neighbors and wish to piss them off.


By the way, thats the most detailed floor plan I've seen anyone post on these forums.

 

[cjv998]

I'd go stop by some audio stores in your area and see what they have. Listen to as much as you can. This way, you can get a feel for what you do and don't like, and see whether or not you can tell the difference between high- and low-quality speakers. I figure, hey, if you can't tell the difference between cheap speakers and expensive ones (or if you don't care), why spend more? When it comes time to buy stuff though, I'd definitely go used in your case. I don't have a lot of experience here, so I'll let the others chime in.

 

[yourbuddypal]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Knucklehead90 /forum/post/15490215


With your budget I would recommend spending a bit less on the receiver. Take a look at the HK AVR 247 being sold by Harman Audio on ebay. I own the HK 247, but not the Infinity P362 towers, but they come highly recommended by those who have bought them. You can get them on ebay for cheap, and possibly at Frys.com for cheaper - depends on how high the auctions go.

As for the 247 sound, I could not tell you about that, I use mine as a preamp processor only. I've never connected the receiver to speakers.

http://search.stores.ebay.com/Harman...519532QQsofpZ0

http://search.stores.ebay.com/Harman...519532QQsofpZ0


These aren't currently on sale, so I would wait or try buying from Harman on ebay.

http://shop4.frys.com/product/522368...H:MAIN_RSLT_PG


Get the PC350 center from Harman, and a pair of the P142 or P152 bookshelfs for surrounds and you have a complete setup - minus a sub. I don't recommend a sub in an apartment unless you dislike your neighbors and wish to piss them off.


By the way, thats the most detailed floor plan I've seen anyone post on these forums.

Well, as far as the receiver is concerned, I am comfortable with spending the $400, as I would like to go for the more future proofed option.


Otherwise, my uncle did give me a sub too (linked in the OP), and its price makes me think that its pretty decent.


Before I was gifted these parts, I was thinking of just buying something like this .


Thanks for the posts btw.

 

[Knucklehead90]



Quote:
Originally Posted by yourbuddypal /forum/post/15490778


Well, as far as the receiver is concerned, I am comfortable with spending the $400, as I would like to go for the more future proofed option.


Otherwise, my uncle did give me a sub too (linked in the OP), and its price makes me think that its pretty decent.


Before I was gifted these parts, I was thinking of just buying something like

this .


Thanks for the posts btw.

*

OK. The recommendation for the Infinity P362 still stands. They are a well crafted speaker and for the prices they go for simply because they are being moved to make room for the next model doesn't make them any less of a bargain. And you won't have to make excuses for how they sound.


One just sold on ebay for $135 plus shipping. Not too bad a deal. Harman gives the buyers the full new speaker warranty on each refurbished speaker they sell.


Don't use MSRP prices as a gage of what something is capable of. That 150 watt sub in an apartment won't disturb the neighbors too badly unless played late at night. Low frequencies travel farther than higher frequency sound. Solid structure tends to help the transmission of sound.


As you gather more knowledge in this hobby you will be looking for a larger sub and better speakers if you persist. Who knows, maybe separate amps and pre/pros will be in your future. There is no future proofing in this hobby.


As for 'future proofing' your AVR selections, don't be fooled. A few years ago some guy just like you bought a new AVR thinking it 'future proofed' him. He was in good company, hin and many like him are on the forums today looking for the next upgrade. New sound formats such as SACD, TrueHD, etc have wiped any thoughts of future proofing unless you are happy with what you have, and for some time to come.


Like computers, home theater advancements are being compressed more and more time wise. When I started in this hobby tubes were not all the rage, they were the standard. Solid state had yet to make its mark. It took a few more years to see SS come to market. Other than the fad of quadraphonic sound, there were few breakthroughs in sound until the 90s when true 5.1 sound started to become the standard along with DD and DTS. It didn't take long to implement 6.1 and 7.1. How long from that to TrueHD, SACD etc? Everything is being compressed. Keep up or get left in the past.

 

[yourbuddypal]

So you advocate just assembling a set of Harman speakers and not even bothering with the Klipsch speakers?

 

[smellyhash]

I own the 254 and its great Just do the upgrade on it and you are good.


On to the speakers.


#1 http://www.wwstereo.com/#/ecommerce/...rs/33/144559//


#2 http://cgi.ebay.com/Energy-Speakers-...Theater-System


The first is actually rather hard to beat for the price and for 399.00 it will be rather east on the wallet for a 5.0(apartment thing and all for the no sub might be a good thing).

The latter of the two is cheap cheap but not to shabby at all and will make a great bedroom set in the future. I should know its in mine.

Now that said you in your audio store excursion might want to take a listen to some 2.0 systems. You can go with something like this http://www.edesignaudio.com/product_...products_id=96 its 500 out the door with the free shipping. and a GREAT base for starting a "nicer" poor mans audio system. Then the matching center is

 

[Raymond Leggs]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Knucklehead90 /forum/post/15490215


,

sub. I don't recommend a sub in an apartment unless you dislike your neighbors and wish to piss them off.


By the way, thats the most detailed floor plan I've seen anyone post on these forums.

Its fun to annoy neighbors, I used to sit speakers out the window and blast Cheesy EuroDance music, or even better old one-hit wonder teen pop, you should have seen the odd looks people going down the street have on thier face, while my face light up in glee at thier strange reacations.


The girl across the street would walk by with her fingers in her ears, and at school she would give me weird looks.

I once had an old bicycle mount police siren I would blast out the window and the dudes standing on the corner would run like hell.

 

[mayhem13]



Quote:
Originally Posted by yourbuddypal /forum/post/15490778


Well, as far as the receiver is concerned, I am comfortable with spending the $400, as I would like to go for the more future proofed option.


Otherwise, my uncle did give me a sub too (linked in the OP), and its price makes me think that its pretty decent.


Before I was gifted these parts, I was thinking of just buying something like this .


Thanks for the posts btw.

For $400, there's quite a few future proof receivers with better features than the HK IMO. I'd look at the Pioneer VSX-1018 or the Onkyo 606 before purchasing the HK.


I'd use the Klipsch speakers gifted to you as surrounds and purchase new front left,right and center speakers. $400 will get you there. Once you finalize the receiver choice if you haven't already, look for opinions from people here who actually live with speakers in your price range. That'll narrow the field for you to not waste too much time listening to too many speakers which will only confuse you. Be aware that auditions are not always productive, for the speakers WILL sound different in your room.

 

[yourbuddypal]



Quote:
Originally Posted by mayhem13 /forum/post/15492855


For $400, there's quite a few future proof receivers with better features than the HK IMO. I'd look at the Pioneer VSX-1018 or the Onkyo 606 before purchasing the HK.

May I ask what makes you say that? What is the HK lacking?

 

[yourbuddypal]

Any more opinions for me?

 

[vili]

Unfortunately I haven't gotten to demo any of the receivers as the only place that has them is BB and they aren't set up. I had my choices to the Pioner 1018, HK 254, Denon 1909. I listened to the 1909 and was happy although I didn't compare it to anything so I couldn't tell you if it's better/worse that anything else out there.

 

[Varrius]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Knucklehead90 /forum/post/15490215


By the way, thats the most detailed floor plan I've seen anyone post on these forums.

Haha, really! He's probably either an engineer or already had the floorplan from his apartments.

 

[yourbuddypal]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Varrius /forum/post/15499983


Haha, really! He's probably either an engineer or already had the floorplan from his apartments.

Haha, I like how that is drawing so much focus! I'm flattered. I'll give the backstory: when my room mates and I were looking at our apartment, we requested a floor plan before we moved in so that we could plan for the furniture that we would need (as we are all recent college graduates). The leasing agent said that she could provide us with one, but failed.


Therefore, I took it upon myself to make my own. I have the master bedroom, so I used it to spacially arrange my furniture beforehand and see what I could work with.


Oh, and yes, I am an engineer. Got my major in Computer Science from the engineering department

 

[Clem272]



Quote:
Originally Posted by yourbuddypal /forum/post/15499492


Any more opinions for me?

Emotiva

I would wait and get the UMC-1 and an UPA-7 or XPA-5 with some of there speakers for a sweet setup. Yes it cost more but not really all that much more and as far future proofing, Emotiva gives you a coupon for 40% off when you decide it's time for the next upgrade.


I myself will be getting the UPA-7 and when the UMC-1 is released I will be replacing my Yamaha receiver with it. It's cheaper and down right better than any all in one receiver for the same amount of money. (UPA-7 $550/ UMC-1 shows it will be $699)


Take your time and forget BB or CC, look at your total cost and what your upgrade cost will be in the future because you most likely will once you tire of mismacthed speakers and so-so low end equipment. If you decide to get a Dennon, Yamaha or what ever make sure it has preouts to hook up to an AMP in the future.


You should check out the speakers they make as well and compare them to what ever you find. Emotiva gives you a 30 day in house trial so if you do not like them you can return them. Don't think the price has anything to do with the quality of them. Don't sell yourself short and throw good money to the wind only to have spend even more in the future.


I recently discovered Emotiva and wish I found them sooner. You can find info about the UMC-1 in the news section of there website.


Remember to buy all your cables from Monoprice or Jeans Cable as well.