Small Room - 5.1 Home Theater...

[TommyC]

Hey guys. My stepdaughter has her first place of her own and would like to set up a decent Home Theater. The room she has available is 11x14x8 and she only plans to have one piece of furnature, a Loveseat. Her starting point is a Pioneer DV-578A DVD player her mom and I bought her and she needs to aquire everything else. Anything we should keep in mind while deciding what to buy? None of us have any HT experience so feel free to make suggestions based on that fact.

Her budget is still a bit in flux, but she plans to do this a little at a time anyway. She would rather save a bit longer for good equipment than go for instant gratification, so that is good. Her first purchase is going to be a flat screen TV of some sort. I will know more about her budget at that point. Thanks for any guidence you might provide!

[BobbyT]

I would start with the best Ref series towers she can afford and build on it from there. That way she can enjoy CDs and good sound on DVDs and piece the rest of it together as she can.

[michael hurd]

How about the new Rsx-5 bookshelf speakers, with the Rcx-4 center channel and a small subwoofer?

The next step up from that would be a RB 10 bookshelf system, then the RB 15 bookshelves.

If used is a better fit in the budget, look for a used subwoofer, buying larger bookshelves to start will give you better bass from the main l/r speakers. The subwoofer is to fill in where the main speakers taper off.

Check the local buy/sell ads, and the newspaper, often you can find a good deal on used equiment.

[Frzninvt]

The Cinema 6 or 8 system is pretty nice and certainly reasonably priced.

[Cal Blacksmith]

I echo the Cinema series.

[DrWho]

I would start with the best Ref series towers she

can afford and build on it from there. That way she can enjoy CDs and

good sound on DVDs and piece the rest of it together as she can.

ditto that - surround sound isn't very important for movies; more of a

bells and whistle kind of thing (until you get a really nice setup

happening).

That said, keep in mind that you can always go with some bookshelves

for mains and then later down the road you can bump them back to

surround speakers (when the purchase of real floorstanding mains is in

order). So if you were to stay in the klipsch lineup, I would suggest

getting a pair of RB-75's or smaller depending on the budget (RB-35's

would be fine too). Then in the short term you should plan to purchase

a subwoofer (something like the RSW-15 that will be capable when she

upgrades her mains). In the long term plan to purchase RF-7's and move

the RB-75's to rear surrounds. Then a little further down the road get

an RC-7 and she'll be left with one killer setup. Again, if budget is a

bit tighter, then I'm sure she will be more than satisfied with R-35

series. However I wouldn't suggest getting anything smaller than the

RSW-15 (though there are certainly other options available from other

companies that will give you better bang for the buck if you can't

afford it).

You can do the exact same thing with the new synergy line (which I

might add sounds very amazing for the price). Start with some B3's, get

the Sub-12, get F3's and move the B3's to surrounds and then get the C3

center channel. This setup would have about 90% the quality of the

reference setup for half the price.

Btw, how picky is she about her sound? I bet 95% of people would be more than satisfied with the synergy lineup.

[Tom Adams]

Another thing she might consider which would kill two birds with one stone and free up some room, would be the combining of her HT needs with her computer needs. For instance, why have a separate DVD player when a computer's DVD would suffice (and probably be better). Her computer monitor could double as her TV. Speakers could also do double duty. Have you ever listened to the Klipsch ProMedia 5.1's. They rock!!

Tom

[DrWho]

Another thing she might consider which would kill two birds with one stone and free up some room, would be the combining of her HT needs with her computer needs. For instance, why have a separate DVD player when a computer's DVD would suffice (and probably be better). Her computer monitor could double as her TV. Speakers could also do double duty. Have you ever listened to the Klipsch ProMedia 5.1's. They rock!!

Tom

That's what I'm doing right now in my new apartment...Chorus II mains, SC1 center (only shielded speaker I own), and heresy surrounds built around my PC (Audigy 2ZS for the sound). The only problem with it though is the fact that the 21" monitor isn't big enough to sit more than a few feet away. I have another friend nearby who uses his pc with the ProMedias and his system rocks hardcore....but he's got his pc wired to his 32" TV, which is something I'm going to do once I get myself a TV. Despite the better sound in my system, it's more fun to watch movies at his place.

It's not very hard to connect a TV to the computer (it just requires the right sound card and the right adapters). So don't hesitate to ask if you're interested in this route and need some help (It can be quite a headache until you get it figured out).

[TommyC]

Computers I have No problem with, but she is not interested in that route. She found a Cinema 6 system complete for $945 (new) locally. Good deal? Her first choice was "5 speakers like your's" (Heresies!), but when she checked on cost she decided against that option! lol

[TommyC]

Ahhhh... The patience of the young! She pulled the trigger on the Cinema 6's. "Sweet talked the guy into $1000 even with tax included." When I talked to her on the phone she said she was "doing the happy dance with them all spread out on the floor!" I am about to head over to loan her my old Pioneer VSX-452 Receiver so she can listen to them untill she saves some cash to buy something of her own. Anything special to keep in mind as to speaker placement? I am just planning to move them around till they sound right for now.

[thxsubwoofers]

Since you have a small room, I would go with the Cinema 8. The subwoofer box is not that big I think.