New 3.1 to turn into a 5.1 (1 Viewer)

[Rnoodles]

Hey all, I'm starting to put together a home theater system that will be used about for about 40% music and 30% gaming and 30% movies. I've been doing a lot of research and debating with my self over exactly what I want and figured it would be best for me to go ahead and get started on a 3.1 and add 2 more speakers in the future. I'm open to suggestions or changes but this is what I've put put together after lurking these forums for a couple days and doing other research, but I really just needed some help narrowing down my choices. I'll mostly be using a my xbox and htpc.


Receiver: Onkyo 508


Sub: Either the BIC V1220 or BIC F12

I really havent been able to figure out any major differences aside from the front vs down firing. So any input would help.


The speakers is where I've been having the most trouble narrowing things down because I've been looking at everything from getting 2 bookshelfs and moving them to the rear in the future after getting 2 new fronts and a center. Or going and getting 2 floor standing and a center now. I've narrowed it down to 2 brands but I'm open to anything you guys might think would be a better direction to head in.


Polk: Center- CS 10 or CS20

Fronts/Rears- Monitor 40, Monitor 50, Tsi 100 or R150


Sony: Center- SS-CN5000

Front/Rears- SS-F6000 or SS-F7000 and SS-B3000


BIC: Center- DV62CLRS

Front/Rears- Venturi DV64 or DV62si


Any help between these choices or any new suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Jim Mcc]

You should decide on what type of speakers you want for the fronts, and keep them there. Do you want bookshelf or floor standing? I wouldn't buy the fronts and plan on moving them to the rear down the road.


I doubt anyone here will recommend Sony speakers.


I have the F12 sub and I love it. I've never heard the V1220.


What is your budget?

 

[Rnoodles]

To originally start I'm looking to be around $500 and figured I could phase in other pieces in the next few months. I've been doing more and more research and I'm leaning towards the BIC's but I haven't seen anyone on here recommend them as far as speakers so I didn't know how well regarded they were.

Now that I'm breaking down numbers I was thinking about maybe getting the 508 (~$200) and the DV64(~$240) now and running a 2.0 system for a while before picking up the F12 (~$180) and DV62CLRS (~$110) and then grabbing the DV62si last. For around $850 after wires and all is there anything else I'm missing or you would advise me of? This is my first system at all so I'm really looking forward to moving beyond tv speakers.

 

[Frank A]

It looks like you will be pretty evenly divided in what you listen to/watch. My personal take on things. If you want to listen to music, such as cd's or ipods, etc, most of those are put out in two channel, so most suggest to listen to them with only left/front main speakers (I agree and do, most of the time). Therefore, you would want very good sounding main speakers.


If you want to watch movies, then I strongly suggest you get a very good center channel and sub woofer. That would be my first recommendation for that setup as most all the talking is from the center channel and most newer movies do produce a lot of good bass, seems like. This, in affect, makes your left/right main speakers become "affects" speakers, similar to rear surrounds (used mostly for sound affects). To me, this does not make them quite as important as if you were using your mains to only play music (others will disagree with my thinking, I am sure).


g. luck in your searching/choosing of speakers (I have no knowledge of any of the ones you listed).

 

[Rnoodles]

Thanks for the advice. What you said is pretty much what I had put together from what I've read. That being said I did want to put more emphasis on the mains and sub. From online reviews and having seen multiple people recommend the F12 I think I'm pretty set in that department, but I was looking for more opinions on two mains and.or the receiver.


I believe floor standing would be better for me but is there any benefit to bookshelf aside from the reduced size? While I know I'm on the low end and price constrictions hold me back are there any other brands with solid bookshelf or tower mains I should look into?


I've seen the Onkyo 508 recommended a lot for entry level systems and are there any pros/cons versus other brands. I know about Audyssey, but aside from that what should I be looking for? Do I need to worry about any compatibility issues with speakers? I looked into the 608 but I don't need the upconversion/scaling but I just saw the 509 should be out soon and I might end up waiting on that with the ethernet and pc connectivity.

Also, as far as surrounds go and for my uses is it worthwhile to put the money into a decent pair of bookshelfs or can I skimp there a little bit and just use speakers labeled as surrounds?


Thanks again for all the help. I know I'm throwing a lot of questions around but I wanted to do my HW before getting started on all this.

 

[gene c]

The biggest advantage to bookshelves over towers is the lower cost. Much lower, sometimes. The cabinet is the most expensive part for most speakers. You also have a little more placement flexability with bookshelves. But most people seem to like towers better. While most feel bookshelves make more sense when used with a subwoofer I think towers can perform a little better in the 80-120 hz range with their larger cabinet size and (sometimes) multiple drivers. But the money can often times be better spent elsewhere.


The Onkyo 508 will have just about everthing you need. The Denon 1611 is another option as is the Yamaha 467 and Pioneer 920 but the 508 or 1611 are the two favorites in this price range. as for compatability with speakers, just make sure the speakers are 8 ohms and not 4 ohm.


Spend your money on the front three. They do most of the work. But I would buy the surrounds from the same brand as the fronts/center, but they don't have to be as large. Just set the crossover accordingly.


And if you haven't run accross it yet, there's no need to buy name brand, expensive wires and cables. Get the wires in bulk at your local home improvement store or at Monoprice.com and Bluejeancables.com like the rest of us. Partsexpress.com has a lot of junk...excuse me, neat stuff, as well.

 

[Al.Anderson]

Much of the time bookshelfs sound identical to their tower sibling; meaning if they both have the same number of speakers they usually sound identical. That means you are paying for the cabinet. If you like the styling and have the money then go for the towers. In some cases the tower version will have more speakers than the bookshelf; then, if it's a good speaker it wil lsound better. And as Gene mentioned, the added mass of the cabinet will sometimes improves the low-mid response; but in my opinion this is a 3rd tier effect and unless you have very good ears you won't notice it. To your question, the two advantages of bookshelfs are price and flexibility. The flexibility is you can place bookshelfs in more locations. Using quality stands, you can place them in the same space you would have placed a tower, using hardware mounts you can place them on the wall, high if you wish (although this is not recommneded), or you can even put them on a bookshelf.


The Onkyos are recommend so often due to thie price/bells&whistles ratio; they are roughly 20% cheaper than all the other top tier consumer brands. Bells and whistles is difference than audio performance. In that reguard they are similar, but not always better than the other brands (Pioneer, Denon, Yamaha, Harman/Kardon, Marantz), sometimes they fall below those brands. Again, most of us won't notice the difference at this performance level, so we go for the price (I have two Onkyos). But if money is not a driving factor, audition those others for the best mix of features, performance, and styling.