New 5.1 HT setup - seeking advice?

rp71284

Hello,

Been lurking the forums for a while, but deceided I need to actually ask my question to get some advice.

I just purchased an Onkyo RT-160 (basically the equivalent of the 607) and a BIC 12" sub.

I definitely want to do towers in the front, and bookshelves for surround, but the problem is I'm not sure which set of speakers to go with.

Newegg has the Monitor 60s on sale for $99 right now, and the Monitor 70s can be purchased for about $300-325 for a pair via Polk Direct on eBay. If I have a powerful enough sub, is the $100 difference really going to be noticeable in the sound quality, especially the base.

Also, for surrounds, I can't really tell what to do between the 30s & 40s. Is the $20 upgrade necessary, and does my choice of towers dictate which way I should go with surrounds?

Lastly, how do you guys usually choose between black & cherry. My room is white, with tan carpeting, so I can see how cherry would fit, but all my HT components are black.

Sorry for all the questions. At least I'm not pimping out cialis or something.

Pycroft

RP-

Welcome to the forum. I have heard Monitor 50's and Monitor 70's (Not 60's). I think you have to consider what you will be using them for and what your future plans are. If you are a, "I love to listen to movies and music and am happy with a great sound" then go with the 60's and 30's, and live life content. Like me, many hear what they have, and always look for better (Within reason). If that's the case, I think the 70's and 40's are better speakers. Whether it's worth the extra money is really a personal decision.

Regarding color, when all else fails, as the wife/girlfriend/significant other...never hurts to have them involved in that decision

rp71284

Yeah I think I'm gonna be using this mostly for movies/games, and less for actual music. Plus, being able to get 60/30/CS2/wires for the same price as 70/40 helps as well.

The CS2 paired with 60s isn't a bad idea right? I've read so much about the CS1 being really weak with spoken voice and I'd rather be safe than sorry with the center.

Thanks for the help though!

apphd

rp welcome to CP. Actually the answer to most of you questions is the same, personal preference. Some people like a "furniture" type appearance to their speakers and there is definitely a satisfying, and comforting effect from wood grain. Others, especially for HT use, like the speakers to disappear in low light and go with black. The sub should help remove some of the differences between the 60's and 70's, I can not speak from first hand knowledge of these but many owners here feel the 70's to be a pretty big improvement over the 60's for music. They are both pretty efficient and should not be a problem for something like the Onk to drive. I think if you do a forum search you should find lots more from those that have heard/owned both of these. Between the 30 and 40, how do you plan on setting them up? Stands, wall mount? I think the 30's have a built in keyhole mount that the 40's do not, so if you were planning a wall mount the 40's would have a little more cost to accomplish this. Myself I would spend the added $$ for the 40's simply due to the added driver. What you need to do is try and go listen to some to decide what you like the best.

Pycroft

Regarding the difference between the CS1 and CS2, I say DEFINETILY go with the CS2. I had a CS1 with Monitor 50's and 30's and felt it was underpowered. I think it would only get worse with 60's or 70's.

coolsax

yes, go with the CS 2, I wish i had... right now I have my receiver set up to increase the center channel by 3db so that the dialog is louder.

mrbofus

Cant really comment on the best speaker choice being faily new here. i can comment on the amount and quality of advise you will get. Excellent!. As far as color, I personally have the Cherry and am very pleased. I believe ot adds "warmth" to the room. Where it sounds like your space is light in color I think the cherry would blend in better.
As pycroft stated the opinion of the significant other is also good advise(if you have one). because coming from experience, which one you choose will be the wrong one if you dont ask. Maybe thats just me?
Good luck and welcome to the club

MrGlobe

Yup I own all the speakers you're lookin at. Although I don't have 30s I have T15s.

If youre going to have a good sub, it probably won't matter much between 60s and 70s up front. That being said, the 70s can hold their own without one, and are great in 2 channel. The 60s do awesome in movies, but I always wanted more when I would listen in 2 channel, especially without a sub.

The CS2 is an awesome center, and I would surely recommend you pick one up. The dialogue is very clear, and there is actually a pretty good amount of low frequency response from it as well. On the other hand, when I used the CS2 with 60s up front, there was a disparity in performance for sure. It sounded like the center was a couple feet closer to me, or turned up louder than the rest of the sound stage. Like coolsax said, you can adjust the center level though, so this is pretty unimportant.

In the surround department, The 40s are awesome. I have used them more than any other speaker as surrounds because of how impressed with them I am. The T15s (very similar to 30s) were great as surround too, but lacked the low end of the 40s. Like I said in another thread, I think the 40s have better low end than the 60s. It would be much harder to wall mount the 40s however, as they are much larger.


Just a thought though, have you looked into other BIC speakers?

http://www.amazon.com/BIC-America-Venturi-DV64-Speaker/dp/B00011KLOI

That is the DV-64, which is similar to a Monitor 70. If you google search the model number, you will find an impressive amount of reviews, as well as a large modding community that has turned them into pretty amazing speakers for the price. I have been tempted on more than one occasion to pick a pair up.

adabro

I had the Onkyo 503, Monitor 60's, CS2 and Monitor 40's for about 3 years and really liked the setup, plus I spent way more on the 60's....

Zeros

I just wanted to throw my 2 cents in if you don't mind. If you decide to go with the more expensive price range ($300-325) you should consider the Rti8's from Polk direct on eBay. They regularly go for $200 +$115 shipping. I would choose them over the monitor series.

JujuR6

as far as the towers go i owned a pair of 60's as my mains for awhile with the cs2 center and it was pretty good. but i agree with zeros, if your looking at the 70's you might as well go with the rti8's. I just got a pair and there is a world of a difference between the monitor 60's and the rti8's. also i always chose between cherry and black purely based on price. a lot of the time cherry speakers will be cheaper then there black counter parts.