JetService From United States of America, joined Feb 2000, 4798 posts, RR: 13 Posted (11 years 9 months 1 day 10 hours ago) and read 1158 times:
I'm preparing to buy a decent home-audio system. I am searching retailers' ads to get a feel for price, etc. I'm looking mainly for a tuner and CD player, plus I will need speakers. One thing I noticed is that a lot of systems have 'home theatre speaker' packages. These generally have 4-6 smaller shelf speakers and one large speaker (subwoofer?). Anyway, can anyone tell me if these home theatre speaker packages produce the same quality sound for purely audio listening as do the traditional larger floor speakers? I've never heard them before. (I'm trying to stay around $600-700). I didn't intend to use this for my TV/cable, but if I get them, I will hook them up for that also (but it isn't a priority). Thanks for any advice.
Superfly From Thailand, joined May 2000, 38596 posts, RR: 79 Reply 1, posted (11 years 9 months 1 day 10 hours ago) and read 1134 times:
You make to check out a high-end audio/video store. DO NOT go to Circut City or Best Buys.
Try these places.
Classic Stereo #
Ft. Wayne, IN 46805
(219) 483-0553
Audio Video
7107 W. Jefferson
Ft. Wayne, IN 46804
(219) 436-4669
Custom Sound Designs
Fort Wayne, IN 46805
(219) 471-1110
Make sure it's a place with knowlege of audio. A good way to measure that is if they sale turntables. Even if you aren't in the market for one, that shows that they are a store that knows there stuff when comes to audio.
Brands you may want to look for are Marantz (reciever/amps) and Tannoy (Speakers).
Good luck!
I am sure STYX - Grand Illusion will sound great on your system.
174thfwff From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 2, posted (11 years 9 months 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 1121 times:
http://www.audioreview.com Great Site.
I personaly bought 4 bookshelf speekers and a sub woofer. In my opinion it is much better then those home theater units, becuse my speekers are 20 inches tall, 30 lbs, and sound amazing! They are the Acoustic-Research 226 PS. The company is awesome, they are not too expensive, and the sound is awesome!!! Try to listen to a pair of Acoustic Research Speekers. They are stunning.
SUDDEN From Sweden, joined Jul 2001, 4127 posts, RR: 6 Reply 3, posted (11 years 9 months 17 hours ago) and read 1112 times:
Hi!
If you buy a sattelite package you chould also have a reciever with Dolby Prologic, DTS, or Dolby Digital to get the most out of it. Reason is that the centerspeaker chould only give out voices. It does give out some lower frequences, but if you connect this direct to your reciever, it will sound odd!
If you have a reciever with above mentioned coding, you get a much nicer surrounding sound of the music as well. Not only when looking at a movie.
You get the song from the centerspeaker, and the instruments from the 4 + 1 other speakers.
If you really want to go for Highend, you choose DTS or Dolby Digital. But then you need speakers who can handle the Dolby Digital or DTS coding. And it will cost some more ofcourse.
So what you chould have is a Dolby Prologic reciever with separate subwoofer connection. These you can get for a good price now cause of that DTS and Dolby Digital is what most of us "freaks" go for now.
Have fun!
Rickster From Austria, joined Dec 2000, 653 posts, RR: 4 Reply 4, posted (11 years 9 months 16 hours ago) and read 1109 times:
I´ve got the JVC CP-100 AL wich includes (www.jvc.com):
RX-E100R Home Cinema-Controllcenter
XV-E100 DVD Video-Player
SP-X100 Satellite-Speaker-System
(5 Speakers, 1 Center, 2 Front, 2 Rear)
SP-PW100 Active Subwoofer
wich satisfies very much. It allows to get sensorround effects watching analog AV programes. Together with a digital sat-receiver it was a very good investment.
Trickijedi From United States of America, joined May 2001, 3266 posts, RR: 5 Reply 8, posted (11 years 9 months 11 hours ago) and read 1095 times:
JetService,
I know that you live in Indiana from your profile but if there's any way you could make it out to Chicago I know of an excellent place that sells only high end, slightly used stereo eqipment at an affordable price. You won't find brands like Sony, Aiwa or JVC at this store (although those are all excellent brands) rather they only sell brands in the like of Denon, Harman Kardon, Infinity, Bose, Kenwood, etc. if those are the knids of brands that suit you. They are only open 3 days a week and they don't really sell packages. You would more than likely have to put together your own system but the selection and prices are great. It sounds like you're pretty acoustic savvy so putting together something that's compatible with your sound quality and room size probably wouldn't be all that difficult. Anyway, I can get you the'r name and phone number if you're interested, or you can email at trickijedi@yahoo.com.
tricki
Its better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air than be in the air wishing you were on the ground. Fly safe!
Trickijedi From United States of America, joined May 2001, 3266 posts, RR: 5 Reply 9, posted (11 years 9 months 11 hours ago) and read 1092 times:
By the way, if I were you I would buy the eqiopment (receiver, CD player, speakers) individually rather than buy an entire package. That way you can have more freedom in "upgrading" later on if you wish. For example, I have a Kenwood receiver that has a good amount of watts and input/output jacks in the back whereby I can practically hook everything up to it. In my case I have my CD player, equalizer, tape deck, VCR (which is connected to the cable box so I can still get that home theatre sound while I watch cable) and DVD player connected to the receiver. As the months went by, I started hooking up more and more stuff to it. And if I choose, I can hook up an amp to it and get more wattage in the event that I upgrade my speakers. But the size of my living room doesn't allow for that right now.
Anyway, if you do go for the package just make sure that you have enough jacks in the reciever in case you want to run everything through it. And also make sure that you have enough wattage so that it can everything you plug in there (speakers included). I always thought packages where just a way for the manufacturers to get you to buy as much of their brand as possible anyway. Since some brands specialize in certain types of eqipment, I never considered packages to be great deals.
tricki
Its better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air than be in the air wishing you were on the ground. Fly safe!
JetService From United States of America, joined Feb 2000, 4798 posts, RR: 13 Reply 10, posted (11 years 9 months 7 hours ago) and read 1086 times:
Trick, thanks for the info, bro. If I get scheduled to go to ORD soon, I will get the info from you! I was actually thinking about going with Kenwood. I bought a Kenwood pre-amp for my car years ago and fell in love with it. It was the second from the top of the line at the time. I believe it is the KRC-939. The big one was the KRC-999 with the spectrum analyzer. I actually still have it packed away in my garage. I stored it after getting tired of constantly cooking my amp (not the tuner's fault). Anyway, I do like Kenwood, by never owned a home system of theirs. So thanks for the tips! I'll let you know if I get up to Chi-town.
Superfly From Thailand, joined May 2000, 38596 posts, RR: 79 Reply 11, posted (11 years 9 months 6 hours ago) and read 1084 times:
Hey JetService:
Kenwood is the TWA of stereos. They have a great past and made some fantastic stereos in the past.
I still have a KR-9340 'quad' receiver (1972-77) and it is probably the best thing Kenwood ever made.
My mother bought a Kenwood 'rack system' in 1988. It was divided in to 7 separate components. It has all the cute lights to razzle & dazzle you. Kenwood has gone way down hill since.
You may want to consider Onkyo, Harmon Kardon, Marantz, Denon & Yamaha.
Make sure your receiver/amp has a phono input on it. Some have been eliminating this feature to cut production cost. I am sure you still have your old LPs. You need to bring them alive with this new system your gonna buy.
Eventually, me and Matt D will convince you into getting a reel to reel deck.
JetService From United States of America, joined Feb 2000, 4798 posts, RR: 13 Reply 12, posted (11 years 9 months 4 hours ago) and read 1080 times:
Superfly, when you said Kenwood was the TWA of stereos, I thought you were going to tell me every song would be delayed a half hour and all my CD covers would end up in St. Louis .
Anyway, thanks for the insight on Kenwood.
SUDDEN From Sweden, joined Jul 2001, 4127 posts, RR: 6 Reply 14, posted (11 years 8 months 4 weeks 1 day 20 hours ago) and read 1073 times:
Jetservice....
When it comes to choose the "right" label, it's getting a little "dangerous."
What I meen by this is that it is your ears that chould make the choice. Not cause of what the label says. Take Tannoy for ex. Sure, it's a respected label, but I can't say I would pay there prices just get Tannoy.
Kenwood is ok and does sound good. And they also have rather good prices.
When I buy these things, I listen, not looking at speakers!
You get my point?
I also read a lot about tests and perfomance of, lets say the reciever I have been listening to at a shop.
Well, ofcourse there is some labels that sucks. That I must admit. But even if it sucks for, doesn't have to meen that it sucks for you.
But let your ears decide.
Superfly From Thailand, joined May 2000, 38596 posts, RR: 79 Reply 15, posted (11 years 8 months 4 weeks 1 day 20 hours ago) and read 1072 times:
SUDDEN:
I think JetService has passed 30, so I don't think his ears can really judge.
Sorry JetService but once we hit 30, we can't really pick up those high frequencies.
Jetfixer From United States of America, joined Oct 2000, 94 posts, RR: 0 Reply 17, posted (11 years 8 months 4 weeks 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 1069 times:
I have an Onkyo Receiver and its the best receiver I've ever owned. Model TX-DS747. I've had it almost 3 years and had no problems with it. Well worth the money and sounds great.
I think Polk Audio has excellent speakers for their price. I have a pair that I use for my "B" speakers in a separate room. I'd go with Polk if you want great sound with out breaking the bank. As for my mains, center and surround speakers, I'm using paradigm for all channels. Both Subs are Polk.
JetService From United States of America, joined Feb 2000, 4798 posts, RR: 13 Reply 19, posted (11 years 8 months 3 weeks 5 days 11 hours ago) and read 1052 times:
OK gang. I went out and did it last night. Matt D and Superfly, you guys are pros on this stuff, so forgive me if I made a bad choice. I went with the Yamaha HTR-5440 AV Receiver and the Sony CDP-CE275 CD-Player. The speaker set is the CLS-150 Yamaha theatre package (5 bookshelfs and a giant sub). I haven't hooked up the TV yet (still enjoying the tunes). It has all that stuff SUDDEN said I should consider (Dolby Prologic/DTS/Dolby Digital/Surround Sound). One thing I got blindsided by was the cost of the cables. DAMN!!!!!!! Hey Superfly!! I thought of you when I ran across a Kenwood turntable!!
Anyway, any comments on my choices? Don't worry, I can take it! Thanks for all your help.
Superfly From Thailand, joined May 2000, 38596 posts, RR: 79 Reply 20, posted (11 years 8 months 3 weeks 4 days 18 hours ago) and read 1049 times:
SUCKER ! ! ! ! ! ! !
Just Kidding!
You made a good choice.
Yamaha, you can't go wrong. Sony CD players are ok. I have one and it would be pointless to spend lots of $$$ on a high-end CD player. Analog is whare the true high-end sound is anyway.
Those cables can set you back. Were they Monster Cables?
May your new system bring you many years of happiness.
So are you going to host the next Superbowl Party?
JetService From United States of America, joined Feb 2000, 4798 posts, RR: 13 Reply 21, posted (11 years 8 months 3 weeks 4 days 11 hours ago) and read 1042 times:
Superfly, thanks! LOL! Your first line scared me!!
They were all monster cable. But one thing you say about analog...I bought fiber-optic for the CD player and used the digital DVD connection on the tuner. Is this not good (or no difference)?
While I have you here, I have a couple questions:
The back of the sub has a 'High Cut' dial. What is that? Where should it be set?
Also, is surround sound possible from TV when I only have one set of RCAs coming from it to the tuner?
BTW, Superfly. I found out something about my neighbor I never knew. He isn't a big Styx fan.
Maybe he might like AC/DC.
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