Home Audio Advice

Narong

Hello.
I've been wanting to set up a home audio system for my 21'x13' living room, but I do not know much about this subject. I want to use it mainly for movies and games, but I will be using it for music occasionally.

After looking at a lot of different brands, online and in stores, I've decided to go with Polk. I would like to have a pair of Monitor 70 for the front, CS2 for the center, and a pair of Monitor 60 for the rear, and the PSW505 for the sub. Is this a good set up?

I don't have a clue what receiver to get because I don't know what will be able support this system. I have an XBOX, PS3, Apple TV, cable box, and a BD player, so I'd like to have one with at least 5 HDMI inputs. 3D support is also a must. Are there any receivers that I can get for a relatively cheap price (sub $400) and work well with this system?

Also.. I don't know what the difference between wires are. What are some good wires for this set up?

Thanks in advance!

jbooker82

For the AVR look at www.accesories4less.com They sell referbished AVR's for a pretty good price. If you go with an Onkyo get at least a TX-NR7xx or higher. They have analog preouts so later on down the road if you want to add an external amplifer you can. The TX-NR717 or 818 is the current modle and the TX-NR709's is last years and the TX-NR708's are 2 years old now.

The TX-NR717 is $499 wich is above your budget but it would be a nice AVR. Onkyo is pretty hard to beat for how many features you get for your dollar in the lower end of the dollar scale.
http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/ONKTXNR717/Onkyo-TX-NR717-7.2-Ch-THX-Certified-Network-A/V-Receiver/1.html

It will have 8 HDMI inputs and supports 3d.

Narong

Thanks for your help. I didn't have a clue what to set my budget at for a receiver, but at $499, the refurbished NR717 is a viable choice. I've heard good things about Denon AVRs. On that same website, the Denon 3311 CI has the same price of $499. How do these two receivers compare? What are their major differences?

tonyb

http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/ele/3431955424.html

Don't know where your located, but this is a steal. Also saw a Pioneer SC61 for 600.

jbooker82

I couldnt tell you on the Denon.

As for the rear surrounds I wouldnt run a tower. Your AVR only has so much power and your just putting an extra load on it by having towers as surrounds. It would be better to run bookshelf surrounds and have the extra power avalable to the front 3 speakers.

BlueFox

Earlene99 wrote: »

Thank you,It is very good idea for home audio.

Say bye bye spammer.

dhart86

The polk speaker set is an ideal grouping for home theatre audio, game and music. I had that same set-up at one time. Cant be it for sound/value ratio. Check out blue jeans cable for wires/cables and signal cable.com also has great cables and speaker wires
Good luck!

SugarmillMan

Narong wrote: »

Thanks for your help. I didn't have a clue what to set my budget at for a receiver, but at $499, the refurbished NR717 is a viable choice. I've heard good things about Denon AVRs. On that same website, the Denon 3311 CI has the same price of $499. How do these two receivers compare? What are their major differences?

I completely agree with the advice to go with Onkyo receivers. For the money, they are packed with features that you have to spend a lot more to get with other brands. I know Denon is a reliable brand but may not have all of the features of the Onkyo 717 series, which as previously stated, has pre-outs which you will want someday.

I don't know if I would choose that Polk sub. You may want to investigate a little more to see what's out there.

jeremymarcinko

Onkyo 717 brand new on newegg.com $489
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882120205

seabeerob213

go on ebay and search canare 4s11 for cables,

Narong

Does having towers for surround speakers have a negative effect on the audio quality? I just like the idea of not having to mount or get extra stands for the surround speakers. Would the NR717 have an issue with 4 towers? I'm nearly 100% sure I'll be getting that receiver since it seems to be a popular one with great features and reviews.

Why isn't the PSW505 a good choice? From the reviews I've read online, it seems to be a great performer. I originally wanted the PSW10, but upgrading to the PSW505 seems like it would make a huge difference. Well worth the extra bit of money, I'd imagine. I don't want anything too expensive, since I don't have that much to spend. Anything is better than my current set up: TV speakers!

tonyb

You'll be fine with M60'S in the back if thats what you want. Most opt for a dedicated surround speaker because they throw a wider soundfield than a direct firing speaker, but to each his own.

xftman

How about Harman Kardon 3600 on eBay and Newegg sell by World Wide Stereo for $449 new.

jbooker82

I just dont see a reason to put extra load on an AVR's amp section by running towers for surrounds. A Dipole BiPole surroud speaker would be best because of the the wider sound field like tonyb said, but I dont think there are any that are voice matched to the Monitor Series speakers.


As for the sub a lot of guys run it because it is really good for the money, but if you want to sink $100 more bucks in to a sub you could get the DSW Pro550WI for $299 (new egg weekend sale) or the DSW Pro 660WI for $329-359 (new egg weekend sale).

Also right now you can get a free PSW111 when you buy $499 or more in polk speakers. You also have the option to take the price of the PSW111 $299 and put it twards the cost of a better polk sub.

Dawgfish

Having owned both Onkyo and Denon recievers in the past I would go with the Denon all day long. I owned the previous version of the AVR 3311, the AVR 2809 and it was an outstanding reciever. It thouroughly smoked the Onkyo 806 I had before it. The 3311 also has pre-outs so you can add an external amp later.

SugarmillMan

Dawgfish wrote: »

Having owned both Onkyo and Denon recievers in the past I would go with the Denon all day long. I owned the previous version of the AVR 3311, the AVR 2809 and it was an outstanding reciever. It thouroughly smoked the Onkyo 806 I had before it. The 3311 also has pre-outs so you can add an external amp later.

Not really an apples to apples comparison. Your Onkyo 806 is a version at least 5 years old, if I recall. A better comparison would be an Onkyo 818 (current model) against the current model Denon 3313 AVR.
There must be a reason that Onkyo outsells Denon by at least two to one. Onkyo is the best selling receiver in the world. (Your Denon costs at least $300.00 more, by the way.)

bklynNupe

jbooker82 wrote: »

For the AVR look at www.accesories4less.com They sell referbished AVR's for a pretty good price. If you go with an Onkyo get at least a TX-NR7xx or higher. They have analog preouts so later on down the road if you want to add an external amplifer you can. The TX-NR717 or 818 is the current modle and the TX-NR709's is last years and the TX-NR708's are 2 years old now.

The TX-NR717 is $499 wich is above your budget but it would be a nice AVR. Onkyo is pretty hard to beat for how many features you get for your dollar in the lower end of the dollar scale.
http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/ONKTXNR717/Onkyo-TX-NR717-7.2-Ch-THX-Certified-Network-A/V-Receiver/1.html

It will have 8 HDMI inputs and supports 3d.

careful with Accessories 4 Less, for Denon they make you troubleshoot directly through Denon if you the unit arrives DOA. It took me about 7 days before I could receive authorization in order to ship a defective avr back. By the time my refund was issued, I received a new one from Amazon.

Dawgfish

SugarmillMan wrote: »

Not really an apples to apples comparison. Your Onkyo 806 is a version at least 5 years old, if I recall. A better comparison would be an Onkyo 818 (current model) against the current model Denon 3313 AVR.
There must be a reason that Onkyo outsells Denon by at least two to one. Onkyo is the best selling receiver in the world. (Your Denon costs at least $300.00 more, by the way.)

I'm just telling you what my actual comparison was. I owned both Denons and Onkyos. The Onkyo 806 was the current model to the Denon 2809 that I actually owned and there was no comparison. Sorry sales of products don't always equate to one being better than the other. There are other factors like price, marketing, and avialability that make a difference in sales. I'm not saying the Onkyo is bad, but in my experience the Denon was much better, and that comes from actual experience.

cnh

Dawgfish wrote: »

I'm just telling you what my actual comparison was. I owned both Denons and Onkyos. The Onkyo 806 was the current model to the Denon 2809 that I actually owned and there was no comparison. Sorry sales of products don't always equate to one being better than the other. There are other factors like price, marketing, and avialability that make a difference in sales. I'm not saying the Onkyo is bad, but in my experience the Denon was much better, and that comes from actual experience.

Could you elaborate on what aspects of the Denon you preferred, as I own an earlier AVR 2807 and an Onkyo TX-SR 805 (the difference between those two is almost 20 lbs. Admittedly, no 800 series that followed the 805 had quite the real world power of that model--now as to the sound, certainly Denons have a "warmer" sound than an Onkyo which is a bit more neutral). As for me, I like both of my receivers. But the Onkyo has far more POWER and hence is the better stand alone HT AVR.

cnh

Dawgfish

I know the 805 is a legend and I probably would have been much happier with it. The Denon 2809 just straight up sounded better than the 806 I had due to the warmer sound you mentioned. I also feel the 2809 was just as powerful, if not more than the 806. It was well documented that the amp section in the 805 was vastly superier to the 806 as you mentioned. In addition the 806 had a lot of annoying problems that I did not have with the 2809. The 806 had HDMI handshake issues. When switching from non-hdmi to hdmi sources I would often get loud popping noises with it. I was concerned with this causing some damage to the speakers. Also the blacks on the picture of 806 were not really black at all and often had purple spots throughout the background which was real annoying when watching darker scenes on tv and movies. I remember there being other issues to that I did not like. The quality of the Denon was just better overall.

I will say this. There was one area where I felt like the Onkyo 806 was superior to the 2809, setup and OSD. The Onkyo was a lot easier to setup then the Denon. It was worth the extra time to set up the Denon however as it ended up being a better product in the end.

After these two recievers I got out of HT all together and have hence focused my efforts on 2 channel. I have no doubt that Onkyo has probably addressed the nagging issues that I had and the current models are fine AVRs. Still though based on my experiences with the two, the Denon was a better built, higher quality unit. If I were to get into HT again I would not hesitate to look at the Denons over the Onkyos based on past experience. To be perfectly honest though knowing what I know now, I would probably look at something from Marantz, Nad, Rotell, etc. before I would look at either the Denon or Onkyo because my main emphasis is on music now.

cowtrimmer

Tx-NR709 from accessories4less @ 449.99 or ebay, a M-282 for the two fronts for $150, Moniter70's are usually on sale at new egg for $150 each, a CS2 $150,monitor 40's for the surrounds $140 a pair and monitor 30's for the front wides @ $80 a pair, a 505 is on sale at newegg right now for $190 and free shipping. It might not be the sub to end all subs, but for 190 bucks you will more than survive. So for 1500 bucks you have a 7.1 surround system that anyone would be hard pressed to beat for $1500. Personally I would spend another 190 and get two 505's for a really good even sounding 7.2 system.

Narong

I really appreciate all your inputs about receivers and I was really set on getting the TX-NR717, but my in-laws said they had an old Pioneer VSX-1019AH-K that they're not using and they would give it to me if I wanted it. Has anyone ever used one of these? Will it be able to support my speakers? I was searching for some info about it and the only "bad" thing I saw was that it only had 4 HDMI inputs, but that's not too big of an issue if it can work with my speaker set up.

They're currently using a Denon AVR-4310 and when they upgrade, we will get that from them. I don't know when they're planning to upgrade, though. If the Pioneer they have will work with my set up, I could use it until they upgrade their receiver and save myself some money.

jbooker82

I guess it depends on if your happy being behind the times with older equipment or if you want something that is current. The Tx-NR709 for $449 being last years model vs this years TX-NR717 for $499 it is deffinatly worth the extra $50 to get Audyssey XT32 alone.

tonyb

The Pioneer will work fine for the time being, take it and run.

Narong

There are some things that I must have the latest and greatest of, but home theater equipment isn't one of those things. (Fortunately?) Since the Pioneer will work for the time being, I'll use it and have that extra bit of money available for Christmas gifting. I am by no means a hardcore audiophile, so I'm sure this set up will last me until I get a bigger place.

Seabeerob213 suggested I look at the Canare 4S11 and they look fantastic. Are there any other brands of cables I should take a look at before pulling the trigger on these?

tonyb

Nope, not in that price range anyway.

bikezappa

tonyb wrote: »

The Pioneer will work fine for the time being, take it and run.

Keep it simple and have fun. Listen for a while before you spend big bucks.

Narong

Originally, I wanted M70s for main and M60s for surround with CS2, but I'm semi-convinced that I should use actual surround speakers. What do you guys think of M60s for main, CSI A4, and FXI A4 for surrounds? I'd be downgrading the main speakers, but it'll give me a bit more money for the A4 center and surrounds.

wkjeffers

go to the web site "bluejeans cable" they have qquality cable for reasonable prices. Don't pay more than this. Towers for rears are overkill, the frequency is limited on much surround info so bookshelves work fine. Pay between $600 and $1000 for a reciever and defer another expense - you won't regret it. the reciever wil be the heart of the system. go with all you can afford. Denon, Onkyo, Marantz are all nice. go to Best Buy and listen to the differences.

wkjeffers

also make sure all speakers match tonally. I am constantly amazed at how good surround systems sound with 5 small speakers all the same model with a subwoofer if set up correctly. at least make sure they all use similar drivers for highs and mids.

sponger

My Denon avr is full of bugs, but I can't imagine a receiver having better sound. I would rather adapt to working around the technical problems than be without the warm, crispy clear tones of this avr for the several weeks that woud likely pass as I wait for the warranty repairs to finish. There's still another 2.5 yrs left on the factory warranty anyway, so that's plenty of time for procrastination. I think the 3313 is bug-free, so that's where I'd put my money if I had that kind of money right now, which I don't.

Disclaimer: I have never owned or had a chance to audition any Onkyo products.