Putting together a new HT system

Sansfear

I probably should have asked for input *before* I placed my order, but I was over-analyzing/researching so much that I went ahead and pulled the trigger (why is it that you always have such strong buyer's remorse after you click the 'submit' button even before everything is delivered!)

Like many others, I'm taking advantage of the great deals on Newegg and Amazon to put together an entire new HT system.

The room it is going into is somewhat small (12x16), so I am planning to go with a smaller sub and center, at least for the time being.

What I'm getting initially:

Front: Monitor 60s
Surround: Monitor 50s
Center: CS10
Sub: PSW10

AVR: Pioneer VSX-1120-K
TV: Mitsubishi WD-60738

I was initially going to go with Monitor 40s for surround, but I realized that I could buy the 50s for about the same price as the 40s+mounts/stands.

And while I wanted the CS20 and PSW505 (and 70s!), my budget wouldn't let me get all of those and still get the receiver I wanted. I'm a bit concerned that I didn't proportion my budget properly (i.e. too much on AVR, not enough on speakers)

The Pioneer is probably overkill, but I wanted the AVR to be as future-proof as possible and it had every featured I needed (with possible exception of a 2nd sub output). I will upgrade the speakers long before I need to upgrade the AVR.

Will I be underwhelmed by the PSW10? Or will the small size of the room hide its deficiencies (compared to the PSW505 at least).

I've also read some concerns that some consider the CS10 weak as well.

I also have an issue on how/where to mount the CS10. My TV stand is not deep enough to place the speaker in front of the TV and too short to be able to place the speaker on the ground (would block the doors).

That leaves wall-mounting about the only option. My concern is that the front of the TV is ~22" inches from the wall and the CS10 is only 10" deep. I could move the TV slightly closer to the wall, but not much if I still want to be able to easily access the rear panels.

I assume that the speaker needs to be flush with the front of the TV or else the TV would dampen the sound from the speaker, is that correct?

I'm just worried about the torque on a mount from having to place a heavy speaker that far out from the wall. In the reviews of many of the mounts I looked at(like the BT15 brackets), people had issues with 'slumping' due to heavy loads.

The Omnimount 'top shelf' speaker mounts look interesting, but I'm not sure they will work with my TV due to the steep slope of the back. I'd hate to have them fall and damage the TV as well.

Any mount/shelves suggestions (or other alternate mounting ideas) would be welcome.

I'm definitely looking forward to getting everything hooked up!

I'm upgrading from a Logitech Z5500 HTIB (hey, stop laughing!), so I expect that I will be happily astonished regardless.

Knucklehead

Welcome to Club Polk!
Good choices on your equipment. Ill try to answer your questions in order. Im sure others will chime in.

As far as the sub output on your AVR, if you want to run 2 subs just use a "Y" adapter and youll be fine, thats what ive done in the past.
Ive had 2 PSW10's, its not a bad little sub at all, I will say this, once you hear a better sub, that will be your first upgrade.
As far as the center goes, it dosent have to be flush with your tv, above or below is fine, check out the system showcase link to get ideas of what others have done. The CS10 is actually a match for the TSi series speakers, you may want to consider upgrading to the CS2 in the future. The center can be one of the most important speakers in a HT set-up.
And yes, this is a huge improvement over what youve had. enjoy the journey and prepare to go broke! David

Lietuvis91

You may reconsider getting floorstanders for the surrounds... especially in a small room. Bookshelves are much easier to position, you can adjust the position, angle, hight. Floor speakers just dont have this flexibility, especially in a small room. 4 floorstanders can also clutter/dwarf a small room very easily.

Maybe get your front 3, then try to position them as surrounds and make your desicion then... you don't want to be stuck with something that doesn't really fit.

Anyway... just food for thought!

Sansfear

Thanks for the responses.

I didn't realize that the CS10 was for a different line. And, talk about great timing, I just got an email from Newegg showing the CS2 on sale for only $100 (paid $80 for the CS10). Guess I should order that and return the CS10!

I have a feeling that I am going to need to hide my credit card after reading this forums (or it may already be too late)

Lietuvis91

if you're here doing "research", it's already too late. You better cancel your interenet service, that might work better ;-)

Sansfear

I went ahead and returned the CS10 and purchased the CS2.

Is there any issue with it having the 6.5" vs the 5.25" speakers of my M60s? (Other than the obligatory desire to get the M70s).

I've also found what appears to be a great mounting solution to put it above my TV, the Peerless PS200. The reviews and specs seem great, but I'm curious as to whether anyone here has used it.

EndersShadow

No issues with M60's and a CS2. Thats the setup I run and its quite nice let me tell you. I also ran floorstanding speakers as surrounds for a bit. They were R50's so not as nice as the Monitor 50's but they worked great.

You have the start of a great setup and you should really enjoy it. Welcome to Club Polk where we help you spend your cash like its a fire sale:biggrin: