New To Ht / Ha - Starting Up New System

[huang]

Hi All!

This has been a great resource, and I've only been trolling for the last 2 months. I am quite familiar with forum etiquette, reading FAQs, searching resources, etc etc.

I've found some good interesting topics, and have read some good reviews. It has been particularly refreshing to read open minded responses from the majority of posters here with objective opinions on products without slandering others. It seems well that many would treat others opinions with as much respect as possible through the keyboard.

So in saying all that - here is my ask for your opinion.

Here's the story...

I wanted to get a surround sound system simply because I appreciate sound. What I did not realise was how hard this would be.

To cut parts of the story short (and to spare your boredom) I've been very lucky to have the Yamaha Rx-V1800 handed down to me from an uncle - good enough for what I need (I believe). the spanner in the works right now, is that I have no idea where to start with speakers. I was originally auditioned a couple of different setups then found my way to Yamaha 777s (mind you these are all 5.1 systems). In a HT set up, there was not much difference. But in an Audio setup (I will be using my set up 98% for music for the first year, and then getting a tv after that, at which time maybe closer to 70% Music 30% HT) suffice to say the 777's pretty much made me really smile, flattened mids, clear un-obtrusive top end ambient sounds and encased in a beautifully present piano gloss shell. I was SOLD.... or so I thought.

Research, research research.... and no one seems to use yamaha for their speakers. This must mean something right?!

I was so carried away with yamaha that I really didn't bother asking about other speakers.

So, right now, I''m wondering what the next step is.

I'm reading about all the entry level Jamo, Yamaha, Kef stuff, and then reading about mid range paradigm, krix, etc, and then reading about higher end B&W etc etc... and I'm confused what to do now.

My budget is 2-3k for the speakers. I'm primarily going to listen to music (and for the 1st year will probably solely be music listening).

I have 3 thoughts at this stage.

- Because I will primarily be listening to music, the importance lies in the Front staging and subwoofer, and not in the rear / centre speakers (rear & centre for when I want to watch a DVD). This says to me that I should look to package a custom speaker combo instead of purchasing something like a Yamaha 777 package. It says to me I should spend more on the front stage, and then bundle lesser quality rear / centre / woofer.

- For quality HT at a later stage, the centre speaker will have to be quite decent for the vocals, and the rear surround + woofer will fill the ambience.

- So, for my budget, what do I look to purchase?

- Poor man in a Rich Suburb? (a)

- Rich man in a poor Suburb? (b)

I'l explain what I mean here. Do I look for the best flagship models of a entry/mid level brand (a) or do I go for the entry speaker in a high end brand (b).

For example, a couple of different bundles I've been looking online for are

- rears

- front stage

- center

- sub woofer

Bundle 1 (Paradigm - $4646 rrp)

- Atom Monitor V.5 Bookshelf ($549)

- Monitor 11 V.5 Floorstander ($2399)

- CC290 V.5 Centre ($799)

- PDR 10 10" 120 watt RMS ($899)

Bundle 2 (Paradigm - $4647 rrp)

- Atom Monitor V.5 Bookshelf ($549)

- Studio 40 Loudspeaker ($2400)

- CC290 V.5 Centre ($799)

- PDR 10 10" 120 watt RMS ($899)

Bundle 3 (B&W - $4496)

- B&W 686 Bookshelf Speakers ($799)

- B&W 684 Floorstanding Speaker ($1999)

- B&W HTM62 Centre Speaker ($699)

- B&W ASW608 8" Active Subwoofer ($999)

These systems are possibly significantly more expensive than my budget would allow, but those are only rrp and are always movable (but I wonder by how much? yamaha seem moveable by up to 30% but these are more specified brands). Is there anything that i should be looking at around 2k-3k? The 777 pack is a relatively higher end Yamaha speaker falling short of the Soava series speakers, so these will sit higher in their market. Where as the paradigm / B&W bundles sit quite low on their food chain.

I understand that at the end of the day, I have to go audition these speakers myself and listen to my own ears.

nb:

- Aesthetically I prefer a streamline look, so that's why I want to buy all the same brand, and buy it together so they all have the same finish and age at the same rate.

- room is only 3400x3800, is not enclosed (2900 of wall missing - open plan). Timber floors.

Should I possibly forget the rears / centre at this stage, buy ridiculous good fronts / woofer and enjoy until I get serious about 5.1 HT?

Thanks for reading through this guys. Let me know any of your opinions and thoughts or other spanners?

Eric.

edited: studio 40's (in bundle). I wish studio 60's were that cheap! HA!

Edited November 17, 2008 by huang

[Gutty]

for 98% music, i'd spend the entire budget on 2 fronts. Once you get into the $3k range just for fronts, you'll be surprise how well they image, and you'll find the centre not so important. Your music will sound better for having spent the extra, and you can buy a centre, sub and rears later when finances permit. Unltimately ending up with a better system. That's just my opinion though...

I've got a matching centre for my mains(Focal 826V's) but haven't used it since early this year due to not having a place to put it until i make a bracket for my TV. But to be honest, i'm not missing it all that much. I listen to probably 80% music, 20% Blu-ray(for Tv i'm not too bothered).

Of the packs you've listed i'd personally go with bundle 2. The Studio 60's are lovely speakers for their price bracket... again, just my opinion.

[POV]

Hi Mate,

Agree with above opinion on spending the entire budget on a pair of mains, certainly not going to get you into "ridiculously good" mains as you put it but certainly starting to get into some decent territory. It's probably worth noting that the RRP on all paradigm speakers has gone up around 20% on those prices you have listed. Moniter 11 are now $2799 for example. I would suggest staying away from mixing moniter series and studio series Paradigms across the front three as well.(LCR) Moniter series are very nice but without doubt audibly outclassed by Studios

For my 2 cents here are some speakers that i really like in your price bracket.(in no particular oeder)

Paradigm Moniter 11

Focal Chorus 826

Sonique SAV 5SE

Monitor Audio RS8

Whatmough P32

Then of course you can consider Standmounts as well:

Paradigm Studio 40

Moniter Audio GS10

Legend Acoustics Kurre 5

and my personal favourite Sonique Diamond 550SE (these are absolutely awsome imo)

This list could go on and on...............Find some good specialist stores, take some music that you are familiar with and happy listening. Also try if possible to audition speakers on the yamaha avr you'll be using, even consider taking it into the stores with you if they don't have it.

Best of Luck,

Drew

[huang]

Those are actually good opinions - as I was not considering only buying fronts. I initially wanted a full package (possibly larger discount, streamline set up etc), but these are fair opinions.

If I was to start out stereo, what are the next components in order of importance?

fronts, sub, rears, centre?

fronts, sub, centre, rears?

fronts, centre, sub, rear?

Cheers guys.

[Aspect]

Hi Huang,

I agree with the other guys - spend your budget on the front pair.

Another speaker to throw into the mix (which I heard last night and was blown away by) is Osborne.

By buying any of these "Specialist" brands, you can be assured of matching the speakers later on down the track.

I'm more into HT than music, so my opinion is weighted that way, and I have Krix speakers. I don't know how well the Neuphonix hold up in 2 channel circles, but I quite like them. I wouldn't have bought them if I didn't! My humble opinion though. As mentioned in a previous post, the Whatmough P32's are a stunning speaker too!

Look for aproximately 20% discount off RRP. Build up a rapport with a specialist retailer that you will happily return too to buy your additional components later on.

Hope some of that helps.

Cheers,

Chris

[Jeffie1503561482]

3k will get you some really, really good standmounts. Add a nice sub to that and you have a nice setup.

PS I think you would also need to budget a bit more for the sub than you have put in your original bundles. A $1000 sub will be letting the team down with 2-3k mains, especially the studios...

[suparockin]

You could build a very decent system around Krix speakers for that kind of money.

The Harmonix floorstanders + Seismix 3

?

[Mitcon1503562253]

Maybe have a look at what Adelaide Speakers have to offer as you could get a very nice set-up for that kind of budget, they also do some great subs for not alot of money. Great Value, though I think he's a little busy as they have been getting alot of orders from people on this forums. There's also DIY, which they could also help you out with if you want to save some money. Do a search on here of Google for Adelaide Speakers and have a look.

[huang]

"baby did a bad bad thing..... and I feel like crying....." Chris Isaak.

[Guest obee]

So........what did she/he do ??

[Mitcon1503562253]

A bad thing ? The only thing thats bad is when you buy something and then don't enjoy it. It doesn;t matter in the end what you get so long as YOU are happy and YOU enjoy it.

[Jliang70]

If I am in your situation Huang, I would seriously considering the Monitor Audio GS20 and centre speakers that is currently offered for $3500. They are absolute bargain at that price.

[huang]

baby went to eastwood hifi again

auditioned a couple of speakers but were mainly looking at the Studio 40's. Once I auditioned them with my cd (by no means an audiophile testing cd, but rather an array of the songs I like to listen to) there was no real point in comparing them with a lower range speaker. Instead I asked for Kevins opinion on a comparable speaker in which case we set up the KEF xq30 (relatively same price-point, a tad higher). He suggested there no reason to compare to monitor series as the studios were far better**.

Comparing to the very tight sound of the kefs was interesting - as I actually found both quite good - but different. They both handled all the music i had brought in very well (from screamer emo, indie rock, pop rock, acoustic vocal, rnb). I found the KEFs to have a tighter sound and quite flat across the range (as i like it, i don't like buldging mids, or highs). The sound stage was quite narrow with vocals opening up quite a lot. The Studios however had a WIDE sound stage, and I could hear and pick the instruments all over the room.^^

For this reason, I chose the Studios, as most often than not I will probably be listening to a lot of indie rock which are heavily guitar line driven, and with the narrow sound stage, fatigue would actually become a factor as the guitar lines would become slightly more whiney. I found with the wider sound stage from the Studios, the instruments were much more spread out and pleasant to listen to.

Actually, I didn't even audition any sub, as the 2.0 set up was more than adequate for my liking. That being said, i packaged a yamaha sw515 in the end, just for that extra bottom end.

** in hindsight, i should probably not have simply accepted his word, and should have auditioned as many speakers as I could to get a better idea, and also see what my ears like. that being said, the studios were very nice.

^^It was hard to imagine that just 2 speakers were making that music. I had to literally get up and put my ears to all the speakers in the room to make sure that only the Studios were switched on, and that no other speakers were secretly on.

I like my sound relatively flat across the range, no mid or high range humps, and not low end happy. Now I found the KEFs to be more flat across the range, but as previously mentioned the narrow sound stage caused some fatigue to my ears. Although the Studios were slightly more forward / in your face, the wideness of the sound dispersed that feeling.

In all honesty though, aesthetics, and pre-expectations did have a number to play in my final decision. My listening room will be quite small - 13sqm. I got past the idea of having huge floor standing speakers, and in terms of shape, finish, and presence of the speakers, the studios really stood out. They are decently sized bookshelves, yet are not huge WHAM-BAM floorstanders. I did go in thinking that Studios were for me even before listening to them - but I'm super glad they did sound great.

The guys at eastwood hifi were superb in terms of patience and customer service. Even with the price rise of Paradigms, I think I still got a good price. I will definitely be going back to grab the rears and centre when i finally grab myself a TV and want to enjoy the 5.1 experience. But for now, 2.1 will do just perfect.

So... this will all mate up to (most likely) a Yamaha RX-V1900. If not, it will be a hand me down Yammie amp of some sort - in which case i wont complain for now.

thanks dtv for your advices and help. Thanks Eastwood / Kevin for your help and service.

~ please flame me if you think that I jumped on this too quick and did not give other speakers a chance before picking up the studios. I know there were a couple of other speakers I was interested in in the same price bracket such as focal lab profile 908, B&W 683, etc but when it came down to size and aesthetics (and no matter how wanky that is to the elitist audiophile) I just loved the Studios. Only thing is I wish they had the Rosenut finish in stock. I'm stuck with black lol.

cheers!

Eric.

[Gutty]

Good for you Eric. A lovely speaker the Studio series IMO. Hope they bring you many hours of musical happiness.

[Guest obee]

Great review Eric.

I'm sure you will be happy with the choice and just make sure you DON'T think of the what ifs

[huang]

Good for you Eric. A lovely speaker the Studio series IMO. Hope they bring you many hours of musical happiness.

its been about 3 weeks now...

AND EVERYTHING IS STILL IN BOXES!!!!!

I refrained from opening anything because I was scheduled to move house, but settlement is just getting delayed week by week - and the urge to open and set up stuff, and to REMIND MYSELF WHY I SPENT SO MUCH is gnawing at my ankles. argh!!!!!!

In the meanwhile I keep reading up on other things - when i haven't even opened my own stuff up.

Here's what I have now

- Paradigm Studio 40 v4 (on Paradigm S-22 stands)

- Yamaha YST-SW515 subwoofer

- Yamaha rx-v1900b

- Yamaha dvd-s663

- Kordz Master 2.2 Interconnects

- Belkin Pure AV 7way Surge Protecter

and they are all just sitting there - boxes havent even been opened yet - they are still taped UP!!!!

haha, just wanted to share...

blah.

Eric.

[suparockin]

Um...what are you waiting for?

I opened the boxes of my gear th eminute they arrived, knowing full well the installers weren't coming out for another 2 weeks!

[huang]

Um...what are you waiting for?

I opened the boxes of my gear th eminute they arrived, knowing full well the installers weren't coming out for another 2 weeks!

lol Im waiting to move. I don't want to unpack the goods, and then have to dodgy pack them up risking damaging them in transport to the new house.

Might as well be safe knowing its packaged properly currently.