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I'd just like to say that I'm pretty happy with my Definitive Tech Promonitor 1000s and ProCenter 2000. For small speakers they put out balanced sound. They're also available all over the place including at Best Buy. I know $200+ per speaker isn't exactly entry level but I think they represent a sweet spot between "micro" speakers [orb audio, mirage nanosat] and traditional boxes. I haven't heard the ProMonitor 800 system but it gets very good reviews as well.
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Feb 10, 2011 00:42
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TheChimney posted:How important is it to match a sub to the rest of your speaker system? I am lucky enough to be inheriting a pair of Polk LS50s and surrounds (I can't remember the model number on these), and I am thinking about adding a sub to help out the low end. Most subs are highly configurable and have controls for setting the frequency cutoff and phase. The only speakers that you really need to match are your fronts and center channel.
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Apr 3, 2011 17:19
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MMania posted:Is there a way to balance out the speakers without buying a sound meter or hiring professionals?
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May 24, 2011 19:58
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Chin Strap posted:What exactly does a 300 dollar sub get you over something cheaper? I don't quite understand differences in all them. Like what would I miss from getting something in the under 200 category?
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May 29, 2011 23:13
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Ron Burgundy posted:I'm not sure what the consensus here is, but I would personally suggest getting the centre speaker at the same time as the L&R. It makes movie dialog a lot more discernible to me. Yeah but if you don't have the money you don't have the money and you don't want to cheap out on the center. Just having the new L&R will sound better than anything cheap and receivers are designed to play well with any number of speakers.
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Aug 22, 2011 04:16
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Dolby Digital receivers are required to downmix everything to an arbitrary number of speakers as long as the receiver knows it's got left and right it shouldn't gently caress up anything you feed it. If you put on a surround track and it's trying to send audio to speakers that aren't there then you didn't set the thing up correctly.
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Aug 22, 2011 17:00
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GreenBuckanneer posted:What's the cheapest non-lovely subwoofer I can get, and how do I connect it to my reciever? That depends a lot on your definitions of "non-lovely" and "cheap" and on how big the room is. A lot of the internet direct boutique brands like Hsu or Elemental Designs have stuff under $400 that sounds pretty good. There should be an "LFE Out" jack on your receiver, connect an RCA cable to it.
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Oct 14, 2011 16:33
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eightysixed posted:Can someone please tell me why the Polk Audio CS1 Series II Center Channel Speaker has an MSRP of $199.99 and the Polk Audio CS2 Series II Center Channel Speaker has an MSRP of $299.99? Just 50 extra Watts of Peak Power is worth $100?
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Jan 10, 2012 21:40
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The closest thing I've seen design-wise would be the Definitive Tech Mythos series.
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Jul 11, 2012 18:22
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Something like this might work well, it has a sub out and a remote. Alternately if your TV has working variable line-out you could use pretty much any powered speakers.
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Aug 2, 2012 06:09
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Hob_Gadling posted:I'd also like to remind you that you really should get to a hi-fi shop and listen to what they have to offer. There are audible differences in the setups and finding out too late that you don't like your brand new $1500 home theater sucks. This is a very good point. I, for example, don't like Klipsch horn tweeters at all. At least try to get a sense for what kind of sound you like.
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Sep 5, 2012 16:51
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weaaddar posted:Does anyone know if Sony or someone else makes a system like the HT-IS100 which has the receiver component built into the sub woofer? I don't have a huge amount of space for receiver in my media center, and this seems like a great solution to the problem. I need something that is 3d capable and supports at least 3 hdmi inputs. Onkyo makes a 2.1 system like that but not surround.
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Sep 13, 2012 16:48
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redreader posted:Hob_Gadling: I bought the pioneer center and the polk front/rear by mistake. I thought I'd bought all polk. Will it make a terrible difference or can I just mix and match like that?
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Nov 29, 2012 17:14
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Since we're talking about cables, does anyone know of a good way to join speaker wire? I want to run one 4-conductor cable to behind my couch then split it to normal 2-conductor that goes to my speakers and I'd like to do something a little better quality than electrical tape.
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Dec 27, 2012 01:44
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Also keep in mind that adding more speakers might make it sound worse. If you have that "B" channel try playing some music through two sets of L and R at the same time and see if you actually like it.
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Jan 3, 2013 19:45
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Laserface posted:Thanks for the advice guys, bought a Marantz NR1402 that was a good deal from a reputable retailer. now to just get some speakers. It's actually pretty important to match your front and center speakers, do you have any particular reason for liking the P4 so much? There's literally hundreds of speakers in that general price vicinity. It's kind of weird they don't sell them as singles or in a 3-pack. qirex fucked around with this message at 21:36 on Jan 22, 2013 |
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Jan 22, 2013 21:32
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DizzyBum posted:Is it easy enough to upgrade from 2.1 to 3.1? Just get a good center speaker and plug it in?
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Aug 1, 2013 15:57
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I'm getting my 6th home audio system but this thread has more traffic than the general audio thread so I'm cross posting. I'm looking for for bookshelf-sized L, R and C speakers around $1200 total, maybe up to $1500. What would you guys do with that budget? current short list for mains [assume a matching center as well, I just don't want to look up all the model numbers]: quote:- B&W 685 or 686
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Mar 13, 2014 21:08
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MMD3 posted:Welp, if you were in Portland I would offer you my Intimus 5B's and 4C at a discount I won't have a place for them in the new house. How did you like them?
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Mar 14, 2014 17:06
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I went to a shop and listened to the KEF Q300 and the B&W 685 and they're both good but I preferred the Q300 slightly [and they're a little cheaper]. I think I'm going to go back and check out the Q100 vs. Q300 and the center channel and continue looking at internet options. I'm definitely getting the smaller center channel, the Q600c is gigantic.
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Mar 25, 2014 00:08
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GTO posted:I first trialled some Q Acoustics Concept 20s against Dali Zensor 5: This is one of the reasons I'm looking for something with over a 5" woofer, I've owned good satellites and at this point I can hear what's lacking in them even with a sub. For me it's low listening volume sounding "tinny". I think one of the shops near me carries Dali, I should see if they have the Zensor 3.
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Apr 7, 2014 22:57
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Since I'm a total Mac homer I figured I'd look at Airplay speakers but for some reason there's not a one that supports alarms natively. I'm really happy with my Play:1 stereo pair but if those things were $150 sooner I might have looked harder.
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Apr 24, 2014 05:31
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What's her budget? You could do a new pre/pro using Yamaha but it would be 6 grand. You should be able to look up the specs of the speakers online but most high-end [say $1-2kish] receivers should have amps good enough for those speakers [any idea of the model number?]. B&Ws are known for being fairly power-needy. Sony ES, Yamaha Aventage, X-series Denon, Pioneer Elite, Marantz SR or Interga [Onkyo's high-end label] would be good starting points. Also make sure she likes the remote since the Apple TV doesn't support HDMI-CEC so there will be manual input switching.
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May 14, 2014 20:20
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I'm pretty sure they don't bother recompressing it since if you're using a phone or tablet as a source it wouldn't want to be doing real-time re-encoding. When I play ALAC on my home system from my computer it sounds fine as well.
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Jul 16, 2014 22:49
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Hey if you guys are looking for some good cheapish speakers the new NHT super line is on sale on Amazon SuperZero [4.5" woofer]: $84.00 each SuperOne [6.5" woofer]: $134 each These are sealed so they don't have the deepest bass but they're also super accurate and easy to place. I haven't heard the new 2.1 models yet but I'm looking at the SuperOnes for my own system.
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Dec 4, 2014 15:47
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SteveMcQueen posted:My guess is the answer is yes but would you expect these to be a serious upgrade over the Pioneer speakers everyone recommends? I've just been waiting for a sale on those but would be willing to spend more if it was worth it. I haven't heard the Pioneers myself so I can't be definitive about that but if you poke around for reviews (most will be for older versions) they're always praised for their insane value for money. Of course the Pioneers are $100 a pair and that's always hard to beat. The SuperZeros are a lot smaller cabinetwise so I'd imagine the individual driver and tweeter are probably a fair bit nicer. As far as the SuperOnes given that they're over twice as expensive I'd expect them to sound noticeably better. I also like that because of the size and lack of port you can just buy 5 of the same speaker for surround sound. If you're not going to get a sub it's important to be aware that the SuperZeros roll off around 90hz. Somehow clicking around on Amazon I ended up here and thinking about my if-I-won-the-lottery system [these are what THX uses in their own studio]. Well my lottery winner HT system, I'd have a separate one for music...
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Dec 4, 2014 16:38
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I have 2 Play 1s, I like them a lot but I'd want more range if it was something other than my bedroom system like Play 3s or a connect and powered speakers.
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Dec 16, 2014 22:57
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88h88 posted:I've never liked the centre channel in home theatre setups, It just sounds a little toooooo distinct from the L/R channels (I'm aware that's the point, to project the vocal track in film). The centre is usually several magnitudes smaller leading to the actual speaker itself sounding off in comparison to a pair of floorstanders so I run with a phantom centre. That said if I was on a really limited budget I'd rather buy two good speakers than 3 OK ones.
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Feb 3, 2015 16:11
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I've been looking at sealed or front-ported speakers and some that look interesting: The NHT SuperOne [on sale backordered at $125/ea] or Absolute Zero [$219/ea] Kef Q100 [$399/pr at ac4l.com] Definitive ProMonitor 1000 [~$220/ea, I own these, they're not bad] Overall though you're going to get a bit of boominess with any speakers on a wall but you can dial down the bass to match
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Feb 7, 2015 17:02
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jonathan posted:The Polk 505, the Klipsch 12" and the high power less than $300 subs are one level, then you have a bunch of $800 sub's which aren't really any better, and then you have the $1300 sub's which are better. Rythmik, SVS, HSU, Epik all make subs in that price range that are very very good. I'd disagree with this, there's plenty well-made stuff in the $400-700 range from internet direct companies like NHT, Aperion, or the low-end of HSU and SVS.
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Feb 15, 2015 20:39
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Focal is a well regarded speaker brand that's made in France so it might not be marked up as much. e: these are €300 for a pair http://www.darty.com/nav/achat/hifi_video/enceinte_hi-fi/enceinte_compacte/focal_chorus_705v_wen_x2.html
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Mar 30, 2015 05:49
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You have a lot of options at that price point, it's where a lot of the high end companies position their "entry level" lines. If you have actual hifi stores around I'd suggest you go talk to them, even though they sell stuff we make fun of here they're also usually happy to do a demo for you. The brands you mentioned are all well-considered, maybe add Dali, NHT, B&W, Focal, Cambridge Audio, Wharfedale or Monitor Audio to your comparison list if you have local dealers that you can listen to. Most receivers have something like Audessy to do auto-setup but in my experience they still need a little tuning.
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Apr 9, 2015 23:53
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Mr. Gibbycrumbles posted:Ok, I know literally nothing about home audio.... If it's just for one party maybe look at renting a sound system. The bad news about bass is that the amount of ball vibration you'll receive is inversely proportional to the volume in which you'd like balls to vibrate. For a barn $700 is probably not sufficient to buy speakers. Look at PA stuff, you might be able to get a pair of 12 or 15" powered speakers for that much but you'll need subwoofers if you want real bass.
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Apr 14, 2015 23:13
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nine16thsdago posted:now, a follow-up. thanks for impedance chat & banana plug advice.
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May 1, 2015 22:13
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Mindfish posted:My 20 year old Sony sound system is dying on me, so I'm looking for something better now I finally have a full-time job. But I don't actually have much experience picking a sound system setup. Dali is a well regarded Danish speaker company, I'm considering the Zensor 3 as my next speaker. They have towers in that range as well but I've not heard them. I have no clue what stuff costs in Denmark but I'll assume a lot more than the US. Your best bet is usually to find a good shop or two and start listening to speakers/systems.
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May 13, 2015 16:57
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Martytoof posted:Followup to this advice. I picked up a S:3 and holy poo poo I am in love with this system.  Then you'll want the sub, Sonos is crack. That said I wish they made a smaller [and definitely cheaper] sub, $700 seems like a bit of a piss take.
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May 14, 2015 00:00
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Wireless rear speakers are still crap and will probably remain so until WISA equipment comes out.
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May 16, 2015 02:15
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A lot of it depends on how good you need it to sound, I'm way into my Play 1 stereo pair in my bedroom but I don't think I'd need more than one in my kitchen. The living room is kind of the odd man out, depending on how big it is and how many speakers you want. Also, literally everyone is annoyed that the connect is so drat expensive. The good news is that resale value on Sonos gear has been really stable so maybe start with the Play 1 2-pack just to check them out?
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May 21, 2015 20:46
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KillHour posted:Why would you ever want your pre integrated into a bluray player? They market them as high-end CD player/DACs as well. I had an Oppo 970 which was a good all-region DVD player but the remote was garbage. They decided it was better to go high-end though, probably sparked by the fact that other companies were buying their players and re-badging them for thousands of dollars.
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Jul 7, 2015 16:31
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mulls posted:I got it brand new yesterday from Amazon. It worked great yesterday. Today I got home from work, and it wouldn't turn on. The standby light and LCD don't turn on. It makes a clicking sound when I press the power button as though something is turning on, but a few moments later it clicks again as though it turned itself off. I looked in the user manual, and none of the troubleshooting suggestions seemed to match my situation. I've already tried unplugging and replugging everything.
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Aug 6, 2015 20:26
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