Home Theater System Sound (upgradable)

I am working on building a home theater but I am doing it incrementally. I bought a 48" Samsung 1080p TV a few months ago to begin this project.

Now I want to add some good sound so i don't have to use the stock TV speakers. In the future I plan on having 5.1 or a 7.1 system but at this point that just is not in the budget.

What I want to do now is to just start with a 2.1 or maybe just a 2.0 system to begin with. I don't have a receiver or anything so that is going to be the big expense. I want to use this system not only for my TV, but for my record player and music system as well.

As for what I watch, i watch a lot of sci-fi and westerns (odd combination, haha) and for music I listen to post-rock and punk mostly but I do use vinyl a lot.

I don't really know where to start. I know I will need a receiver and the two speakers (maybe a subwoofer too). I don't need something that packs a loud punch as I live in an apartment in NYC so I can't really shake the house. I am looking for quality sound over loudness. I saw some Denon receivers as Best Buy and they looked nice but I didn't really know what I was looking at. What I do want is upgradablity in the future to go up to 5.1 or 7.1 later as I get money and add speakers. I also want to be able to connect it to an HTPC and my music system.

Where do i start and what should i be looking for? My budget is about $300 but that doesn't seem like that much. The receiver might be just that much so I don't know if this is feasible.

I'd suggest grabbing some bookshelfs if you are on a budget and then use them as your rears when you get the money.

Maybe grab some: http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-Bo...UBS8/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1304867585&sr=8-8

Just make sure your receiver handles all the new codecs, TRUEHD, DTS Master Audio...something like this... http://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-TX-SR60...FOL8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1304871371&sr=8-1


Normally you want all of your speakers to be timbre matched, IE same family of speakers, with as big a center channel as you have room for. And yes nice bookshelfs can turn into rears, when you can buy your towers up front, or you can do all books, if you put more money into subwoofers. I run two subwoofers nearfield myself, a 15 in a corner and an 18 midwall. They really kick it up a notch.

Subwoofers do not have to match is the exception. Spending most of your money on subs will gain you the best sound in the end. Mine will go down to true subsonic about 14 hz in room, flapping your pants legs low.

Go back and read again, NYC apartment.

Personally I'd rather have a higher quality 2.0 system for the same money as a chintzy 2.1 setup. You can get decent 6.5" based bookshelf speakers that will go low enough for most tastes. Another option worth looking at are the frequent sales on Polk floorstanders. Right now they have the Monitor 70 Series 2 for $170 each on Newegg. Tough to do better for the money unless you build your own, and even then....

For a receiver, the Yamaha RX-V567 should be given a good hard look. Yeah, it's about 300 bucks, but if you go much lower you'll be giving up features and sacrificing too much quality.

edit: Here ya go, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882290203 Monitor 40 Series 2 for $120 for the pair. Then, as suggested above, when you can afford floorstanders for the front, move these to the back.

Total $420, a bit above your budget, but you wouldn't really be compromising anything this way.

I would agree with a good 2.1 setup, but if you are set on 7.1, have a look for refurb Onkyos. There is a great store online that is an aurthorized retailer. You are looking at $300 for the receiver, so I would recommend saving your money till you can buy the receiver and 3 front speakers. You can also look at speaker flat packs, just need basic hand tools to put them together.

ratbuddy said:

Go back and read again, NYC apartment.

Personally I'd rather have a higher quality 2.0 system for the same money as a chintzy 2.1 setup. You can get decent 6.5" based bookshelf speakers that will go low enough for most tastes. Another option worth looking at are the frequent sales on Polk floorstanders. Right now they have the Monitor 70 Series 2 for $170 each on Newegg. Tough to do better for the money unless you build your own, and even then....

For a receiver, the Yamaha RX-V567 should be given a good hard look. Yeah, it's about 300 bucks, but if you go much lower you'll be giving up features and sacrificing too much quality.

edit: Here ya go, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882290203 Monitor 40 Series 2 for $120 for the pair. Then, as suggested above, when you can afford floorstanders for the front, move these to the back.

Total $420, a bit above your budget, but you wouldn't really be compromising anything this way.

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Ah nyc apt....nevermind.. just get headphones.

theELVISCERATOR said:

Ah nyc apt....nevermind.. just get headphones.

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Well it isn't that much of an issue. I live in a four story brownstone building on the top floor so i have no neighbors above me. The building faces south and there are rows of houses going west to east. On my west wall in the apartment, there are no neighbors because the next door building is only two stories. On the east wall, the neighbor is between the staircase/hallway in my building (approximately 6 feet wide) and then an 18inch solid brick wall that is shared between the two buildings so the neighbors on my east wall probably wouldn't heave much. The only issue is the guy living below me as he would be the only one that could complain so I have it pretty good in that sense, especially having about 750 sq ft in Manhattan to myself. What i forgot to mention is that the electricals haven't been upgraded in this apartment yet and won't be in the winter so I only have 15 amps for the whole apartment at this point. I haven't tripped the breaker yet but i assume by July i might if i have an AC unit and the microwave on at the same time.

I like the idea of just starting off with good quality 2.0 speakers and then later moving them to the rear. It seems to work perfectly with my future upgrade plans. The real dealbreaker at this point is the receiver as I would need it to connect the speakers to the TV.

Ratbuddy, those polk speakers look really nice. I might get them in black to go with my furniture because $120 for the pair seems like an awesome price. That leave me with roughly $200 for a receiver though which might be a bit low. This receiver you mentioned is $300 on newegg so if i buy both I would be about $100 over budget but it might be all right. I would still need to buy cables as well but that isn't much of an expense compared with the other stuff.

What I am curious about is how future-proof is this. I am probably going to be living in this apartment for at least the next 3 years assuming I don't get a better job that pays better in another place. When I do move I plan on upgrading to a projector in a bigger room. Would i be able to keep the same receiver and speaker set-up (since I will be adding speakers slowly) or will the receiver become obsolete? I don't really know much about receivers.

The receiver is rather nice, it launched at (IIRC) $480 about a year ago. It supports modern protocols and also includes a microphone for the automatic room correction system. I'd call it the entry level for an acceptable receiver, anything cheaper is going to be basically throwaway. The speakers are a great deal, but I think it expires in a day or two, might wanna jump on it.

Don't sweat cables - any electronics you buy in this price range aren't going to sound much different no matter what you hook it up with. Even if you do splurge on $2/foot stuff you won't be spending much overall at all.

Those mointor 40s are looking niiice.

Polks sound good considering their price I have mon 70s in front RT4s for rears and the cs2 I think for a center along wit the two 600 watt RMS subwoofers. I don't know about the laws in NYC, but here you cannot get a noise complaint till after 10pm or if it can be heard from the STREET.

theELVISCERATOR said:

I don't know about the laws in NYC, but here you cannot get a noise complaint till after 10pm or if it can be heard from the STREET.

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For some of us though, it's more about not being a jerk. Yeah, the law might say you can blast music as loud as you want, but it's still rude and obnoxious.

ratbuddy said:

For some of us though, it's more about not being a jerk. Yeah, the law might say you can blast music as loud as you want, but it's still rude and obnoxious.

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Exactly. I may only have one neighbor that could actually hear me but i prefer to stay on good terms with him.

Otherwise, i want to take a look at some more options for speakers/receivers before i bite the bullet. Why do you guys suggest what you suggest? What should i be looking for? Why are those recommendations good? I would like to really understand why what I am buying is quality before i buy it. Maybe there is something else out there that fits my needs better that I don't know about. If i can understand what to look for, maybe i can find it.

Yamaha makes some good receivers, I have had HK and have an Onkyo now. The reason I have an Onkyo is beacuse it has the only receiver rated for 4 ohms in my price range. I use a pair of Infinity RS III for my front channels, the reason for this is because other then movies, the receiver is set for stereo. I listen to alot of music on this system and don't care for what it does to the music when it tries to create 5.1 channels from just 2. I still say get a decent receiver and a good pair of speakers to start, you can always get the rest later. The only speakers that have to match are the mains, it's nice if the center matchs the mains but it is not critical.

So what did you end up doing?

Apartment?

Headphones is the only real answer. You won't get good quality sound without bothering the neighbors with speakers. In order to get your speaker setup to a room filling sound there's just too much extra noise going out of your apartment.

My suggestion is mid-level headphones or in ear monitors. IEMs will give you the bass you crave for watching movies with explosions, etc. Regular headphones can attempt this, but it often doesn't sound as good.

I would go with either universal IEMs or get a entry tier custom such as this. Which is pretty close to your budget, actually.

Actually I haven't purchased anything yet because i just bogged down these past few weeks. Fortunately i was bogged down with overtime work which means a much much higher paycheck then usual so my budget has increased for this project.

So with the extra money, i would like to get a better receiver. As for speakers, i'll probably wait until July 4th and get some deal on those Polk speakers and maybe add the center speaker.

What exactly should i be looking for in a receiver? I plan on attaching my TV, an HTPC, AM/FM radio, HDTV Antenna, 5.1 speakers, and possibly a game console.

Unless you have really well insulated wall your best bet is headphones/iem. You could look for high efficiency/sensitivity speakers, I find they are in their "sweet spot" at lower volume levels. Still have to be concerned with bass traveling through the walls. I have a pair of Grado 225 for when I don't want to disturb the whole house. I also use a pair of Earjax iem with my iPhone. The bass is very surprising and are very comfy. As for receivers, pick your speakers first. That way you have an idea of how much power you are going to need. Being in an apartment I would you will not need more then 80 watts rms. Watch for them quoting peak watts, not as useful as rms. I always stay a gen or two behind current models.

You can use sound dampening foam under the speakers and sub to mitigate the sound travel through the floor of the apt.

What is your budget? I got B&W 600 series for my 2.1 setup

Rafjr00 said:

Unless you have really well insulated wall your best bet is headphones/iem. You could look for high efficiency/sensitivity speakers, I find they are in their "sweet spot" at lower volume levels. Still have to be concerned with bass traveling through the walls. I have a pair of Grado 225 for when I don't want to disturb the whole house. I also use a pair of Earjax iem with my iPhone. The bass is very surprising and are very comfy. As for receivers, pick your speakers first. That way you have an idea of how much power you are going to need. Being in an apartment I would you will not need more then 80 watts rms. Watch for them quoting peak watts, not as useful as rms. I always stay a gen or two behind current models.

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What are the 125s like?