Need Help Choosing Proper Speakers!

[flyguy23]

I am try to choose the correct size speakers for home theater.Room size is 25x15 with 12ft vaulted ceiling,home is open floor.Kitchen and dining room comes off this area with no doors separating the three! Klipsch Reference RF-52 II on shortest wall where kitchen and dining come off,Klipsch Reference RS-42 II on longest side where seating is with 11ft allowing!Klipsch Reference RC-42 II.Your take on this would be appreciated.Thank you in advance.

[cornfedksboy]

Welcome to the forum! That would be a very nice set-up. You will need a sub at some point to fill in the lower end, and I would highly recommend that you get the matching RC-52 II with those fronts. Of course, bigger is better all the way around!

[flyguy23]

Thanks cornfed.I thought their would be alot more responce to this thread.Need all the info I can get.Im new to home theater and not sure that I was on the right path!As for the sub I was looking at EQ-Max 12 by Velodyne!Still undecided on av receiver but leaning towards pioneer for video quality.This will be used primarily for movies but do want a clean sound for music.

[skally]

To be honest there is no right or wrong, it boils down to "trial and error"... or at least thats my take on it. Within the last year I have been updating my HT as I have it to where I like it now BUT... I do realize its always a work in progess. Confused yet?? LOL I guess the best advise I can give would be buy the set up within your budget/means at the present time because you more than likley will upgrade in the future.

I have somewhat a same floor plan as you have mentioned as its hard to fill such a large area. My HT area is 15x25 but opens up to the kitchen and entraceway + office in the back portion. So if you can imagine this, the HT area is 15x25, Kitchen is 15 x 22 and entrance with office (one wall) is about 16 x 20.

Heres what I would do if I were you (... just a suggestion thou )

Provide yourself a firm budget ( you can alwys upgrade later, this "hobby can get very expensive real fast ) lol

Look for larger mains & center ( L/C&R) as it will give a much better HT soundstage

As far as surrounds go if you have room you can go towers as well but using smaller bookshelfs and such will be fine as most of the main concern is up front.

* Remeber this; usally bigger is better

You can always look into used as I found a pair of KG 5.5's off CL pretty cheap ( love them btw)

* I will have to check back in later sorry.... as I have to head out to work.

Jeff

[JasonJCarney]

FWIW I didn't like the rc52ii at all. The rc62 however, different story

[cornfedksboy]

With being new to this, here are my suggestions:

Set a reasonable budget, but be flexible. You might find that for $1000.00 (front speakers only) you can have a nice system, but for $1200.00, you can have a great system. If $1200.00 is still within reason, you will find yourself much happier with your purchase.

Listen to several different speakers. While I personally don't believe there are any better HT speakers available for the price than Klipsch Reference, you might hear things differently. If you have the opportunity, listen to brands like KEF, Energy, Paradigm, and Mirage. Listen at low levels and at higher volume. Listen with a variety of receivers/amps. Also, understand that when listening at a big box store, the set-up won't be quite right and that with some calibration/tweaking, speakers will sound much better. Once you've zeroed in on a speaker system, get the 5-channel matching set (or at a minimum, the same front three). Also, shop around for a good price. Often times on-line stores like Vans and newegg have great weekend sales. Before you purchase, make sure you are still within your budget and then shop for receiver and sub.

For a sub, consider brands like Velodyne, Paradigm, SVS, HSU, and Epic. Get one that goes below 25 Hz, has at least a 10" driver, and has at least a 300 watt amp.

For a reciever, consider brands like Onkyo/Integra, Denon/Marantz, Harmon Kardon, Pioneer Elite, and Yamaha. A couple of good rules of thumb are to get one with around 100 watts per channel and at least 7 channels. I also always recommend getting a receiver with pre-outs in case you want to add more power later. If you don't get pre-outs you can't add a seperate amp. If you get a receiver with the above recommended specs, it will have fantastic picture quality, plenty of HDMI connections, and probably be network ready. If you need WiFi, consider that as well. From personal experience, Denon/Marantz and HK are better receivers for listening to 2-channel music (if that's important to you). For HT, Audyssey Auto-Calibration is the best. Same with the speakers, once you've zeroed in on what you want, shop on-line for the best price.

You'll need a BRD player too and those can get pretty interesting depending on wants, needs, features. Budget between $100.00 and $500.00 there.

Lasty, you'll need some speaker wire, a digital Coax, and some HDMI interconnects. Go to monoprice.com and save yourself hundredes of dollars.

If you find your appetite bigger than your budget, look used. Speakers last a LONG time and can be had at a fraction of the cost. Also, a two year old AVR can be top notch and quite cheap. Lastly, I think you should consider the RF-62/RC-62 combo. IMO, there is a significant increase in sound quality over the 52s versus the difference in price.

[flyguy23]

Okay guys here is what I decided on RF-82 II,RC-62 II,RS-52 II,SVS PB12-Plus 800 watts,Onkyo TX-NR616.Do you think this sub is overkill for my space or would the PB12-NSD suffice?

[cornfedksboy]

That sounds excellent! I would not back down on the sub.

[wizop]

I have a preference for staying within a line for speakers and would have gone witha reference sub but if one speaker is going to be different I suppose the sub is the one least likely to cause a problem. I have synergy myself and when I asked the guys at Klipsch about using a reference set for front highs they suggested I stay within the synergy line even though the references are a higher quality line. staying matched apparently matters more than you might think.

I used to be a big Onkyo fan but have moved on to Yamaha. I was wiring our remodeled rec room and decided to buy a 2 channel Onkyo just for the outside speakers rather than upgraded my old Onkyo. well on the same day my old Onkyo decided to stop playing the rear surrounds and the new one was DOA. I sent the new one back and ordered a last year's Yamaha at half the price of this year's model and it's been great. I looked at Pioneer which I loved back in the day but they refuse to warrant their premium stuff if you buy it online.