Center & Rear Speaker Recommendation

PolkNoobie

Hello to all,

Hope you guys can help me out.
I just moved into my new apartment.

My brother was nice enought to give me his old A/V setup.
It consist of a 27" Sony TV, a Sony DVD player, a STR-DE595 Sony receiver (I believe its a 5.1), a pair of Polk R30's, and a Polk PSW250 sub. Its not the best, but it will do. I'm not sure if my receiver can even handle the R30's.

So right now I'm looking for a center and rear speakers (Prefarably Polks) to compliment my current setup. My budget is around $300-$400.

The room is 14' x 14' and I plan to mainly watch movies on the system. What speakers would you guys recommend that will best match my current setup? This is the first time I'm setting up a HT.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Shizelbs

I would get the CSi20, if you can find it, and a pair of R15s or another pair of R30s for surround duty. Or, you could get a pair of R50s for front mains, and move the R30s to the rear. That shouldn't cost you too much at all. Fry's frequently has good deals on the R series speakers.

Here is the other part of it, for the price, the R series are very good entry level speakers, especially for home theater. Thats my opinion, and I think others will echo it as well. It is a setup that has its limitations too, however, and it should for that price.

So, for less than $200 you can fill out the rest of your system. I would save the rest of that $100-$200 you have budgeted and save it for later. Once you get hooked you are going to be eyeing a whole lot more gear to upgrade to.

Welcome to the forum.

aaharvel

easy. in a 14x14 room there's no point in having tower surrounds-especially if you already have a sub in such a small room and having a sony receiver to drive all of those speakers in the first place.
Since finding a used csi20 can be difficult and time consuming I recommend the Monitor cs1 center and monitor 30's. This is a brand new line replacing the R speakers- and although the cs1 won't voicematch your r30 fronts perfectly- they should be more than sufficient together on your Sony receiver. If you decide to upgrade your front R30's later, and you probably will- then you would have a much easier upgrade path for perfect timbral balance on a brand new speakerline.
Circuit City has the 30's on sale for $170/pair. and the Cs1 for $160. That's for a brand new speaker that's a brand new model line and is within your budget.
Good luck to you!
(edit) - welcome to the forum.

Front- Rti-4
Center- Csi-3
Sides- f/x300i (dipole)
Rears- f/x300i (bipole)
Sub- Velodyne Cht-10

Ron Temple

R15s - $50/pair @ Frys or Outpost (when on sale). Inexpensive yet timbre matched to the R30s. You've gotten advice on the center. I'm looking myself for a matching center for 50s & 15s.

aaharvel

"R15s - $50/pair @ Frys or Outpost (when on sale)."



for a measly $50 then take Ron's advice. I prob. would- i'm almost tempted to buy some right now for amount of cash and i have absolutely no use for them. HA!

Front- rti-4
center- csi-3
side- f/x300i
rear- f/x300i
sub- Velodyne Cht-10