New fronts (upgrade from R15s)

Nemesis

Hey all. First time poster... and judging by the community I'm glad I went Polk for my intial "new" speakers. Now I just need more.

Recently decided to put together a nice HT for my room. I had to becareful with money as I am only a senior in high school:o. I got a great deal on a Harman Kardon AVR 235 online (370, after shipping) and love it, even while using the hold overs from my previous HT in a box. <I'll detail all of the trials and tribulations of this in a future thread. It's worth a laugh, really:cool:>. Still needed, and still need for that matter, some new speakers.

I discovered Circuit City had Polk R15s at a cool $100 a pair. I listened to them and was amazed by the speaker's natural and clear sound. They quite simply the best bookshelf speakers in the store; heck, they were the only ones I didn't think were muffled. Had I had more $ with me I would have seriously considered a 2nd pair.

Currently they are hooked up as my fronts. I need more speakers for either 5.1 or 7.1 and need advise on what I should do. I was thinking about using my current 15's for rear or surrond duties, but any suggestion would be most appreciated. My room is only 12x12 so I can't really use big speakers, so I think i'm going to stay with bookshelves. I already have a center my friend gave to me that I have no intention of replacing. I watch movies far more often than listen to music, for the record.

I know my room isn't exactly ideal for the best HT stuff, but I love what I have so far. I just know I still have a ways to go.

Hopefully I won't have to spend so much money that it would be actually cheaper to digitalize myself directly into the movie:D :rolleyes:

halo

R15s are nice speakers. I'm using them for mains & surrounds in my HT setup. You could make an entire system out of them - just look for sale prices. Fry's (outpost.com) just wrapped up a sale for $49 for a PAIR! They usually repeat these sales so if you missed it this time around just be patient...there will probably be another one soon.

Check out: outpost.com, pcmall.com, & ecost.com for starters. good luck & welcome aboard!

Cheers

Dennis Gardner

I would match the brand (Polk or not) that your center is to get similar sounds across the front stage since you claim mostly movies in your future.

dorokusai

Nemesis - Hey, if they work for you, get another pair. That deal was so good I picked up a pair just out of general principle and will pass them on to a buddy.

I have always liked the R series for their price bracket and their performance in that bracket, it's a decent speaker period....it's a shame that the associated center channel is so terrible. The rest of the line, while "basic" and affordable can instantly be diminished in an HT enviroment by that pathetic attempt at a center channel.

Perhaps not everyone needs an animal for a CC, but the fact that it is the most important link in the HT chain, makes me wonder why they sacrificed cheap over application.

Hey, I'm no product engineer or marketing guru, but the CSi20 just sucks Donkey parts.

Nemesis

Thanks guys.

My friend gave me the center channel: it's a monolith of a three way that I think was specifcally designed for something other than HT. No brandname on it, so their is no real way to match it up. Needs a new paint job for teh shell (spring project) and a replacement woofer (one is dead and we are sure its not the wires, to be replaced near future). Sound out of it is unbeleieveable though. I'm satisfied with it, though I may need to seriously to soundproof my room so parents and neighbors don't get offened when I'm watching a Quentin Tarantino movie;). The center really pumps out dialog.

I'm glad the R15s are getting thumbs up. I could end up buying another pair (or 2... 7.1...). More shopping around (thanx peersool for other sites beside Outpost).

Would anyone know of other models taht might make good fronts?

stereo55

Hey Nemesis , WELCOME to the club .

Glad to see you enjoying your R15's . I know your looking into more bookshelf speakers , but how about some R30's floorstanders for the front (two models up from R15's) ? Fry's/Outpost.com is having a sale on the R30's for $49 each (cherry colored ones only)
LINKY .
The R30's will not take up anymore room then a typical R15 on speaker stands . Something to think about . I too have a small 12X12 bedroom for my HT setup , and just replaced my front RTi6's bookshelves (on stands) with a pair of Monitor 60's (T90e) floorstanders without loosing any additional room space .
The R30's would be a perfect front speaker for ya (room permitting) with the R15's as rears ; and not to mention the nice sale price going on at the moment .

Nemesis

Thanks stereo55

Nice price indeed, but I'm going to see if that at least cherry matches the room. GULP. I would be a bit leery about having to repaint more speakers beside my monolith center, but that performance+price is tempting. I could get better performance and cost less (like I did with my receiver ).

And I live on Cherry St (no lie):D.

VR3

Truck bed spray works wonders if you need to repaint anything...

But I would get a scrap piece of wood first to make sure u like it...

And you can do wonders in a small bedroom, it just takes compromise and a drive.

My room is 10.5x10.5x8

Nemesis

I actually decided to take a tap measure to my room last night: 13x~14.5. So it's somewhat bigger than I originally thought.

Still haven't made a decision, as the R15s are back on sale locally. I could get those with having to resort to truck bed liner or spray paint:p. Yet:o .

stereo55

Originally posted by Nemesis
I actually decided to take a tap measure to my room last night: 13x~14.5. So it's somewhat bigger than I originally thought.

Still haven't made a decision, as the R15s are back on sale locally. I could get those with having to resort to truck bed liner or spray paint:p. Yet:o .

Hey again Nemesis ,

CircuitCity has the R30 BLACK onsale this week for $140 pair (no paint needed ) LINKY .

That means too , that you can do a speaker upgrade through CC in a years time without loosing a dime .

Nemesis

I had found the sale through research actually.

I have decided against purchasing new speakers right now, regardless of great deals. My friend has suggested that in the near future we build speakers. It would allow me to learn how to put this stuff together and ultimately make me a more knowlegeable HT enthusiast. Long term that just seems better as I would spend similar money, even if somewaht more; I'd get more bang for the buck.

Thank you for all of your help (I'll need more soon enough).