Home Audio Component Selection Help

Nick_M

Hello all,

I am a newbie to this forum and this is my first post!

I have some basic home audio knowledge but this is my first home audio system that I am putting together from scratch and I am looking for some guidance on selections. Here is some background info, and then below that I listed the components I am considering using.

- Room: family room, 18'x18', 9' celings, hardwood floors, prewired for front/rear ceiling speakers
- System Type: 5.1 for home theater and also 2 channel stereo for outdoor patio speakers
- Usage: this will be in the main room where we will always be and mostly be used for home theater with some usage just for music.
- Speaker Types: front/rears in ceiling (already prewired), center & subwoofer stand alone. Also buying pair of outdoor speakers for a large patio

Ceiling Speakers:
- Budget ~$200
- Unless someone can convince me otherwise, it seems that the RC80i ceiling speakers are the logical choice for my fronts/rears.

Center Channel Speaker:
- Budget <$150
- Considering the following: CS1, CS2, CS10 & CS20. Newegg has the CS2 in cherry on sale right now for $80 w/free shipping which seems like a great deal. Is it worth the extra money to go from the CS1=>CS10 or CS2=>CS20?

Subwoofer:
- Budget <$200
- Considering the following: PSW10, PSW108, PSW110, PSWi225, PSW505. The PSW505 is currently on amazon for $200 and appears to be discontinued model. Seems like a good deal but it may be overkill and be too big.

Outdoor Speakers:
- Budget <$250
- Atrium 5 or 6.

Receiver:
- Budget <$400
- This is where I need the most help and some recommendations. Looking for a decent 2 zone receiver that will work well with my speaker selection above and good for my application.

Any guidance you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Nick

Nick_M

Can anyone offer any guidance?

cnh

Welcome to Club Polk!

Looks like you're putting together a nice budget system. I run an M-70/CS2/M-30 system myself.

As for your center. The CS2 and the CS20 are the best centers. They're pretty much similar so going with the CS2 at $80 is a good deal.

I would NOT use in ceiling speakers for fronts with a CS2 as the center. Rather I would try in WALL L/R speakers that are on the same plain as the CS2! Look at Polk's in walls for your fronts or perhaps actual bookshelves or towers that match your center?

The PSW 505 is the best of the subs in your list. Hard to do much better at $200. I'd jump on that!

Will have to look at the in walls for more info there?

AVR (receiver). It's a little tough to find a receiver that has pre-outs at your price unless you buy used or refurbed. What are Pre-outs. Those are RCA outputs that allow you to ADD a more powerful external multi-channel power amp in the future if you decide to get better speakers that need more POWER. It also helps with the resell value of your AVR. Those with pre-outs hold their value better because of that versatility.

Look at this site for cheaper refurb prices on Denon, Marantz and Onkyo:

http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/category/AVReceiver/Home-Audio/Home-Theater-Receivers/1.html

This may help you stretch you dollars.

The Denon AVR 3312 or higher, the Marantz 600X or higher, and the Onkyo TX-SR 70X or higher ALL have pre-outs and decent power for what you're running. Each has its own sound.

You can also add the Pioneer VSX 1122 or higher to that!

Good Luck!

cnh

vc69

Prettt much ditto what cnh says. I will add that the monitor series is a "voice match" for the cs2 and the TSi's are matched to the cs20. I would go with monitor series myself, I was very pleased when I was running a full monitor series with my inexpensive Onkyo for HT.

Also, in your price range, you can get a decent receiver from newegg. I prefer Onkyo, but the Pioneers sound pretty good as well. If you want the option of pre-outs, you are going to be moving on up into the $800 if I am not mistaken. It is highly recommended as it gives you some upgrade options that you will likely wish to pursue in the future.


Good luck and welcome to the club!

Nick_M

cnh/vc69 - thank you very much for your responses. I've read a lot on the importance of voice matching. If I stick with the RC80i's for the front/rear ceilings, is one of the centers/subs better voice matched to these speakers than the others? It looks like the Monitor and TSi series are both stand alone speakers which I do not intend on using.

Regarding the receiver, I see there is not much I can get new under 400 that has 2 zone capability. For example, the cheapest Yamaha is the RX-V573 and RX-V671, which go for $500 on amazon. So my question is this. My understanding is that a receiver that has 2 zone capability can basically play audio through each zone independently (i.e., watch movie inside the house and listen to music outside). Not sure how much I will need this independent capability. Thus, is there a method using a single zone receiver that would only give me audio in one or the other zones and not both? If so, what receiver(s) would you recommend in this scenario.

One separate question is, how can I tell if a component is "b-stock" and is there any other drawbacks other than warranty?

B Run

I'd spend $99 on some atrium 4's as your outdoor speakers, and use the extra $150 you budgeted for outdoor towards a better receiver personally. Welcome to the forum!

cnh

Neither of those Yammies have pre-outs, but if I had to pick one. Of course, I'd pick the higher heavier 671-more power!

Don't understand why you insist on ceiling fronts. That's just not going to sound as good as having 3 in wall speakers that directly FACE you! Sound from the ceiling is OK for surround effects, but it's going to get a bit smeared if its coming from "above" for stereo and L/C/R?

I'd look at some in walls by Polk for the front.

Now as far as powering remote speakers. If an AVR is equipped with that, yes it will run another source in addition to what you're running in the main HT room. However, some AVRs have some limitations there, like older Onkyos do NOT allow you to run a Digital source (connection) to the Remote but only analog? That's something one can usually find in the manual?

cnh

tonyb

To run inside and outside speakers from one zone, you need a speaker selector box sold at any Bestbuy, Walmart, Radioshack. Though you wouldn't be able to play both outside and inside seperately with different sources, you could just hit a switch and play music outside.

Also a cheap receiver off of craigslist for 50 bucks can power your outsides too.

vc69

Nick,

I can't stress enough the importance of paying attention to what cnh is saying regarding the in-ceiling speakers as fronts. If the importance of voice matching the front three (L/C/R) matters to you, in-ceiling speakers will not do the job. If you insist on in-ceiling types up front, voice matching will be impossible. Have you taken a look at Polk's in-wall series of speakers?

http://www.polkaudio.com/products/home-theater/inwall

tonyb

I have a feeling since everything is pre wired, the OP would like to keep it that way. If so, and in ceiling front speakers are your honey, then at least make sure the ones you do get have a tweeter that rotates so you can point it towards your listening position instead of straight down.

Nick_M

Again, I really appreciate the additional responses in this thread.

Let me address the front ceiling speakers issue. I completely agree that it is not ideal. However, at this point, that is the route I have to go with for a few reasons: 1) this was a new construction home and I prewired the front ceiling speakers and already have the wires hanging from the ceiling through holes for both the fronts and backs. 2) the bigger reason is that I had to compromise with my wife and she wouldn't go for the in-wall speakers in our new house but could live with the in ceiling speakers as they are "less noticeable". I did even prewire a center front ceiling speaker but I did not pull the wire through as I was able to convince my wife that I could "hide" the center channel speaker in the media center cabinet that we still need to buy that will be below the TV. Well, I did at least win out on the TV as I will be getting a 65" or 70" TV (most likely the Sharp LC-70C8470U).

Regarding the ceiling speakers and dealing with the non-ideal situation I have at hand, should I still stick with the RC80i's for both? I have seen some ceiling speakers where not only the tweeter tilts but the whole speaker is on an angle (an inexpensive one that seems to be getting a lot of good reviews is the 4929 from monoprice). These are typically deeper speakers but I have plenty of room in that ceiling. I wonder if this would be better for the fronts to help aim the sound better?

Regarding the receiver, again I need to make some concessions to keep things within my budget. So pre-outs is most likely not going to happen and is also not that important to me. Another 2 zone receiver that I just came across that seems to be a good deal is the Onkyo TX-NR616, which is currently $349 on newegg & amazon (normally $700). However, I'm concerned that the reviews have not been very favorable of this receiver. Anyone have any knowledge or experience with this receiver or one similar to it? Let me know what you think about this option.

Nick_M

Does anyone have any additional guidance based on the information I provided in my previous post?