New Everything

[sadie]

I just went on spending spree yesterday and got all new

equipment. I haven't opened the boxes yet b/c I don't know

anything about electronics, and don't know if what I got is good.

If anyone can tell me if what I got will work out ok, or if I should

return something for something else, I would really appreciate

it! This is what I have:

Quintet III speaker system ($349)

Yamaha HTR-5990 Receiver ($799)

Klipsch Synergy Sub-12 Powered Subwoofer

Toshiba Up Conversion DVD player

40" Sony Bravia LCD Flat Panel (will be wall mounted) XBR

Also, signed up for Direct TV w/ HD DVR with TIVO

Let me know what you think...If maybe something won't work/or sound good with something else.

[ironwoods]

Bass ackwards to me, but looks good on screen. [8-|]

[sadie]

Any ideas??? Obviously, I have NO IDEA here. What is backwards? What would work better?

I have the budget. I've tried researching this stuff and I just

don't have any interest in it, therefore I cant seem to grasp any of

the concepts.

I'm a 27 year old professional (female) that travels most of the

time. When I come home, I want to come home to a kick a** HT.

Some ideas would be great. Maybe I should keep some of the things

I have, and maybe some of the stuff I need to return for something else.

Someone throw some knowlegde at me.

[t-man]

It appears as though you were frugal with your speakers choice considering your video choices. Your receiver is overkill for the speakers you chose. Are you space limited and are unable to accommodate floor standing speakers or decent bookshelves?

I love your display choice. I would very much like to have that monitor/HDTV.

[Steve_L]

What's back-asswards is the price you are paying for the receiver and speakers. Is it that you are in a small room and trying to save space with the Quintets?

You want to be paying $800 or more for your speakers.. (not counting sub) and $400 or less for your receiver. (Unless the size is an issue)

That's a nice receiver, but you don't need it. You can get a Pioneer VSX-1015TX-K, or a equivalent Yamaha for ~$400 at BB.

You can get a some Klipsch F-3s, for your front mains, and a C-3 and S-3s for prolly under $800 and you'll have a awesome system.

You just want to make sure your DVD player handles SACD, DVD-A, Dolby Digital and DTS. I'd prolly not sign up for any monthly services until you get much more familiar with your system.

(I'm not familiar with the TV) I've got the Sony 42' WEGA LCD and I love it.

You would have been better off coming here first, but now that your here, go back and tell Joe sales guy you want to spend more on speakers and less on electronics.

PS Keep the big sub! []

[Bill H.]

Sadie,

Welcome to the madness. I would suggest that you Quickly change your speakers to the F3, C3, S3 . (Though the Quintets are nice, you will soon finding yourself wanting to upgrade). If space is

get the B3 Bookshelf speakers.

To be able to afford this I would strongly suggest you get the Yamaha HTR 5860 (449.00).

The rest of your system is fine. If you have to scrimp on something right away- I would suggest

returning the Sub (for now).

[travisc]

Sadie,

Welcome to the madness. I would suggest that you Quickly change your speakers to the F3, C3, S3 . (Though the Quintets are nice, you will soon finding yourself wanting to upgrade). If space is

get the B3 Bookshelf speakers.

To be able to afford this I would strongly suggest you get the Yamaha HTR 5860 (449.00).

The rest of your system is fine. If you have to scrimp on something right away- I would suggest

returning the Sub (for now).

very sound advice, but keep the sub, the htr5860 is everything the 90 is and alot cheaper. put that towards the f3's and matching center and surrounds. and a$$ will be kicked on a nightly basis[]

[sadie]

I have to make the neighbors cry with envy! ... :-)

I went with the 5990 receiver to get the 2 HDMI Inputs and 1 HDMI

Output. None of the others had that. Am I too caught up in

the HDMI thing? I just thought with everything I'm gonna put up,

I will need both HDMI inputs...that's what Joe Salesperson told me.

By the way, my living room is only about 300sq ft and opens up to a

small dining area. (Overkill, huh?) I don't plan to stay here

forever, and was trying to get something that will work well here, and

in my new (bigger) place in a couple years.

Yall think I'm gonna be unhappy with the Quintets? I was trying to stay small, but with big sound.

[travisc]

think ya done pretty good with the choices, most of us here feel there is always room for improvement and often look at things in an upgrade state of mind.

for extensive reading this forums search function is a treasure trove of advise and opinions of people who have walked the path before us

[sadie]

OH, I almost forgot to mention...I'm trying to keep a clean, clutter

free look. Big speakers wont work with that. My TV will be

wall mounted, and all components will be in a closet hidden. I'm

getting them to run all the wires to the closet, and I'm gonna use the

Pronto Remote thingy. Gonna have some sort of RF thing to make

the remote work. Of course, I have someone coming to program the

remote for me.

I hope yall can understand what I'm trying to say. I'm really stupid when it comes to this kind of stuff.

[travisc]

post a pic when you get it all set up, again congrats!!

[ironwoods]

Now that I can see where yer coming from, I got the big picture thing going on. T-man, Steve and Bill have elaborated well enough on my comment.

Get yer stuff all wired up, and enjoy. [D][ip][~]

[JeffDurbin]

I went with the 5990 receiver to get the 2 HDMI Inputs and 1 HDMI Output. None of the others had that. Am I too caught up in the HDMI thing? I just thought with everything I'm gonna put up, I will need both HDMI inputs...that's what Joe Salesperson told me.

I tend to agree with you on that. I have one HDMI in my InFocus 61md10 but I have DVI with my DVD player and my HTPC (when I finish updating it) also has DVI. Right now I am using a DVI-HDMI cable for the DVD player and avoiding thinking about how I'm going to connect the HTPC (probably component).

Check onecall.com and see what they have with decent video switching. They've got good brands and they did have the Onkyos on closeout. I don't know if that is still true. If you can trim a couple hundred off the receiver price and redirect that into speakers you would do well.

Also, spend some time at audioholics.com and avsforum.com looking into room acoustics. You would be amazed at the impact your room has on your equipment. You can do some DIY bass traps for much less than $100 and that might have a big impact.

[Steve_L]

Sadie, I don't know much about the Quintets, but I don't think they are going to "knock your socks off" or "rock your world". Might be an okay place to start, but if there were any way to add a few bucks to the plan, I'd be looking at moving up the food chain on the speakers a bit.

There are lots of great bookshelf speakers on the market. How about the Klipsch Reference RB-25s?

On the other hand, everyone has to start someplace, it's just that with the new movies and music all being Surround Sound, and all the audio is just every bit as important as the video. Ask us, we'll tell you. LOL!!

Enjoy whatever you do. If you don't do the bigger speakers now, you can when you move to your new place down the road.

[colterphoto1]

Youve got a pretty well balanced setup there, for someone who admittedly doens't know too much. Don't worry, the sales guys didn't jerk you around (it's gotta be tough being a woman in a stereo store) It's a pretty good start, but I'm with those who say that if you want to ROCK, those teensy quintets arent' going to do it. My brother has that setup with the older KSW12. It is lame. Keep the SUB12 though, it will definietely blow the hair off all the cats in the neighborhood!

Sorry to say, but if you want to rock out, it's gonna take some speakers that are visible. Now please don't take it all back and get Bose, cause that won't do it either. But there are a few switches that could be made, such as the suggestion for the RB series bookshelf speakers. They aren't that big, but much better sound than the Quintets. You should see what most of us have in our living rooms- You 'd laugh!

Michael

[westcott]

I just went on spending spree yesterday and got all new equipment. I haven't opened the boxes yet b/c I don't know anything about electronics, and don't know if what I got is good. If anyone can tell me if what I got will work out ok, or if I should return something for something else, I would really appreciate it! This is what I have:

Quintet III speaker system ($349)

Yamaha HTR-5990 Receiver ($799)

Klipsch Synergy Sub-12 Powered Subwoofer

Toshiba Up Conversion DVD player

40" Sony Bravia LCD Flat Panel (will be wall mounted) XBR

Also, signed up for Direct TV w/ HD DVR with TIVO

Let me know what you think...If maybe something won't work/or sound good with something else.

Dear Sadie,

Welcome to the group.

Yes, we are Klipsch fans and we do love our audio (some of us are possessed) but you will find that your speakers will stay with you for a long time. Long after you have replaced the tv, the receiver, the dvd player, etc. So, investing more now will make it a much more sound investment over the long run.

Otherwise, I think your salesperson did a respectable job providing a solution for your application.

The only other component I think you could have done a little better on with the same amount of funds is the DVD player. I would suggest the Oppo Digital or the Panasonic 77 or 97 model instead. Their performance rivals or even exceeds the performance of players costing thousands more.

I am glad to hear that you are using HDMI equipment. This is where everything is heading and I think this will help you future proof your system.

Good Luck and we would all love to see your pictures of your setup. As alluded to before, speaker placement is as important as speaker selection and there are a few of us around here that can help you with that if we can see your layout.

Happy Holidays!