[Dolomiteclay]

New to the forum...lots of great reads here.


I have a few questions. I just bought a new house that has rather large room (20'x20') completely wired for speakers already. The pre-wiring consists of 6 different posts with two in the front, two on either side about 12' from the wall where the components would be, and two in the back of the room 20' or so from the components. I currently have a Sony str 4400 receiver pushing a set of Bose 301's and set of Bose 201's and a Bose center channel speaker and a Yamaha Subwoofer. I'm not unhappy with the 301 or 201 but I want to go a little smaller and would like to use the setup the new house has by mounting speakers to the mounts and using the wire they have. I have read a few reviews and think that a pair of Pro Monitor 800 speakers would work nicely and since I have not been pleased with the performance of the center channel, I was thinking that I might replace that with my center channel with Pro center 1000.


After that I'm kind of lost. Should I get a second set Pro Monitor 800's and run all 4 as my fronts in an A+B setup or get a set of smaller speakers and use them as my surround speakers? I really don't want to have 7 channels since I would like to have my zone 2 setting connected to a pair of outdoor speakers for listening to satellite radio and such outdoors.


Thanks in advance

Clay

 

[m_vanmeter]

do not double up speakers on a single set of output terminals or use the A+B setting (which does the same thing internally). The combination of two 8 ohm speakers drops the combined impedance load to 4 ohms. This would not be a problem in a small room with very limited volume range, but in your large room you will need to drive the volume harder to fill the space. Unless your receiver can specifically handle 4 ohm average loads, you could damage the amplifier at higher volume levels.


If you just want to run 5.1, then do so. Ignore the rear speakers, as "rears" are used in a 7.1 setup, sides (over the shoulder) are used in a Dolby 5.1 setup.
http://www.dolby.com/consumer/setup/...ide/index.html


I would not recommend smaller speakers for your large room. You will be quite disappointed with the results. I think you have already experienced that with your current speakers, even though the "indirect" nature of Bo$e speakers is also hurting your setup.


if you Sony STR 4400 is really an STR-DA4400ES, then you have a nice receiver which really "needs" better speakers to make it shine. It is just not getting the most out of your system to hang cheap speakers on a good a/v receiver.

 

[Dolomiteclay]

Thanks for the reply. That is the receiver I have. I really want to be able to hang the speaker. Do you have an idea of what kind of speaker I should be looking for?

 

[m_vanmeter]

do you want all 7 speakers to be hung "on-wall" ? Or, can the front 3 be stand alone with wall mounted surrounds ?

 

[Dolomiteclay]

I have done some more research and I think I would like to try a 5.1 system with two tower speakers in front and two on the wall. Get a new center channel and maybe a new sub as well since my sub is only 90 watts. Maybe go with the infinity fronts (p 362) and the infinity center channel. Not sure what surround speakers I would go with. On thing to not is that I won't use about half the length of the room. Since my couch will be about 12' from the TV. However I don't want weak sound either....

 

[m_vanmeter]

The Infinities will make a very nice "front 3" - do get all three, so you don't have to worry about a matching center later.


For surrounds the small P142's will work, or consider P152's on stands, placement will be better than on far removed walls. The stands can always be moved to the side when not in use on movie night.

 

[Dolomiteclay]

165 bucks a pretty good price for the 362s? Amazon has them at that price. I think I would go with the pc350 as my center.

 

[m_vanmeter]

yep, the PC350 is the recommended match for the P362


I don't see the price you mentioned on amazon.com and none of the P362's on sale there are actually sold by Amazon - but by their second tier dealers selling "thru" Amazon. Watch out for shipping costs.


B&H Photo has them, but with shipping they are slightly over $200 each

 

[afrogt]

The price on Amazon is $198 with free shipping.
http://www.amazon.com/Infinity-Primu...7036755&sr=8-1


sold thru Best Price Audio/Video.

 

[Dolomiteclay]

Is that a good price?

 

[Dolomiteclay]

This Harman company through amazon has them at 167.94...not sure about the shipping charges.

 

[Dolomiteclay]

I went with B&H photo since they had the best prices with shipping and such. Supposed to get here on Monday. Thanks for all of your help and suggestions.

 

[m_vanmeter]

please let us know how you like them when the arrive

 

[Dolomiteclay]

Those things rock man. I can't really maximize them since I live in an apartment at the time, but I won't for much longer. The center channel is a little bigger than I expected and it won't fit on my tv stand without hanging my TV on the edge a little more than I like. Is there a mount or something for that or should I just make one? Other than that they are a definite upgrade to the POS Bose seakers I had. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[afrogt]

If you have a local Fry's Electronics store in your area, the Infinity Primus P362 is on sale for $149 thru Thursday.

http://newspaperads.mercurynews.com/...28599479&type=

 

[Dolomiteclay]

already got them...oh well

 

[m_vanmeter]

Sanus 23" high speaker stands might work for your center. Depends on how high you console is http://www.amazon.com/SANUS-SYSTEMS-...7536842&sr=8-3


Sanus makes a bunch of different heights, 16" - 18" - etc. should have one that will fit.

 

[Dolomiteclay]

Anything out there that would extend the width of the top of my stand so I could put it in front of my TV?

 

[stevensctt]



Quote:
Originally Posted by afrogt /forum/post/18230919


If you have a local Fry's Electronics store in your area, the Infinity Primus P362 is on sale for $149 thru Thursday.

http://newspaperads.mercurynews.com/...28599479&type=

"The prices are valid Friday, Feburary 26, 2010 through Thursday, March 4, 2010. Unless otherwise indicated, ads are for Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW), Los Angeles/Orange County (LA), San Jose (SJ), Renton, Chicago, Austin, Las Vegas, and Sacramento areas."


Odd that the ad seems to be regional, locations in AZ, GA, IN, OR and WA are excluded.

 

[afrogt]

But if you walk into your local store, they might have it for the same price. Ya never know.