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Small Room, Small Budget


HarryPluta

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Hi all,

I am looking to put together a starter HT system. I already own a Yamaha RX-V1400 receiver (a gift), and would now like to assemble a 7.1 speaker system to go with it. In 4 years my youngest will be going off to college and I will get a nice sized home theater room, until then I have a little 13x14 room that servers as our library, our music room, and the HT room.

What would you folks recommend as a good intro system for a limited budget? I do suffer from a bit of a high frequency hearing loss so a bright set of speakers is a good thing.

Thanks,

-Harry

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Doug,

I really don't even know what a small budget is in HT. It would be great to keep it under $500.00, without the sub-woofer, but I don't know if that is reasonable. I would have no problems going with all/partial used components to get started, however I do not know what would work together well in such a small space.

Thanks,

-harry

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well by being in this forum i'm assuming you're looking for klipsch? if so i think this may be a good start to home theater:

1 Klipsch SC.5 Center Speaker $128

2 Pairs of Klipsch SB-1 Bookshelf Speakers $188(per pair)

@ http://www.hookedontronics.com

so for the speakers w/o a subwoofer thats, add about $20 for a 50' spool of speaker cable at www.partsexpress.com and we're talking $524

if you dont have a dvd player and digital cable to hook up to the receiver, something like:

Samsung DVD-P231 $66 @ www.bestbuy.com

6' AcousticResearch Coaxial Cable $13 @ www.bestbuy.com

all together that would be about $603 with the DVD player and cables(if i did my math correctly). and right now i don't think it would be practical or within budget to go with a 7.1 system.

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Thanks for all the suggestions so far. I definitly want to stay with Klipsch, I have listened to quite a few different brands so far and these seemed the clearest and cleanest to me.

Now for the questions. I noticed no one mentioned the Quintets are the bookselves that much better? If I did move up to the KG series would the SC center still be best? If I stretch the budget a bit, would a pair of SS.5's make sense for the rear channels?

I had heard the Yamaha at my daughter and her boyfriends house and was really taken by the full effect of the receiver (which is why the suprised me with one). He has some audiophile speakers that fill most of the room and which I have never heard of, sounded great, but my guess is they cost a fortune! He suggested that I listen to as many different brands as I could and then build a system around the ones I like, unfortunatly he doesn't know much about Klipsch.

Again I appreciate all the help so far,

-harry

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IMHO, the Quintets are, for whatever reason, not very well regarded with most of the folks on the forum. I have seen many questions about them go unanswered...

Anyway, I have them, and I actually like them. They do a fine job at their intended role: A small unobtrusive, great looking, good sounding speaker, much better than the competiton at almost half the price.

That said, I just don't think its possible for a "satellite" speaker to aproach the reproduction quality of a larger speaker. Bookshelves will definately give you better sound.

I think the big problem with small satellites (just from the ones I have heard) are the reproduction of frequencies between the 80-120 Hz range. Set your crossover too high to let the sub produce that area the satellites lack, and you can "localize" the sub, which if its not relatively close to your display, is a bad thing.

Set the cross-over to low to prevent sub localization, and you are left with a "hole" in the frequency response.

I love my Quintets, and they are perfect for my needs, but unless you have to have the smallest possible speaker, you can do better.

-Alan

P.S. The only real complaint I have, is the center channel seems "weak" for somereason, but I haven't calibrated yet, as I am STILL waiting for my SVS.

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On 2/11/2004 9:47:33 AM HarryPluta wrote:

Now for the questions. I noticed no one mentioned the Quintets are the bookselves that much better? If I did move up to the KG series would the SC center still be best? If I stretch the budget a bit, would a pair of SS.5's make sense for the rear channels?

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1) Yes, bookshelves are much better than the Quintets. I've set up several Quintet systems, and while they sound pretty decent, I've heard much better systems based on bookshelf speakers.

2) I agree with the assertion about the KG center. Do a matched set of KG's and skip the Synergy stuff. Synergy is not very good bang for the buck - simply because BB is the only seller, and they take full advantage of that fact.

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I've KSB1.1 and Quintet...... both are synergy series and the KSB 1.1 is bookshelf speakers. The KSB are little bit more expensive(I got my pair @ 150 with wall mount....... altho i don't use them). However it's just much better than the quintet. Always if there's possible, go with bookshelf speakers than the satallites

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I would whole heartily recomend the synergy line. But they are hard to find now besides best buy. They are more than the reference prices online. I bought mine before best buy and my dealer and i talked about moving up to reference and we both agreed that it wasn't moving up. When a speaker is right for a room it just is. Just because it's more money and bigger doesn't mean it is better for your room. The room probally is the most important factor in sound. I probally would go with the reference bookshelfs of your choice. Mayby the rb-15's. That way you can adjust the height with some stands and get a great soundstage effect. Later ad a sub and this setup should sound good in most rooms anyways.

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On 2/11/2004 10:45:06 PM ccsakura wrote:

I've KSB1.1 and Quintet...... both are synergy series and the KSB 1.1 is bookshelf speakers. The KSB are little bit more expensive(I got my pair @ 150 with wall mount....... altho i don't use them). However it's just much better than the quintet. Always if there's possible, go with bookshelf speakers than the satallites

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Would quintets do OK as rear L/R and rear center? Or should I bite the bullet and get a pair of RBs or RSs?

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On 2/14/2004 4:20:53 PM jephdood wrote:

Would quintets do OK as rear L/R and rear center? Or should I bite the bullet and get a pair of RBs or RSs?

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Quintets work quite well as the surround. It's not really too good by comparing to the RC3II or KSB 1.1 that I have for my mains and center, but they still do their job on their dispersing sound. The only complain is they are too insensitive that I had to turn up them to meet rest of my speakers.

However as the budget they are great(90bucks for a new pair, don't expect ref lines' quality on them 9.gif )

However, if you can squeeze into the ref line, always do so 9.gif . As the surround L/R I'd stick with the RS but not RB. That's why I placed the quintet into the surround L/R(Getting replacement for the main and the KSB's gonna be the back surround 9.gif )

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