Best 5 speaker HT system for ~$300-$400

[MCF]

Looking to set up a second surround sound system in my bedroom for when I am too lazy to go downstairs and I just want to lay in bed and watch a movie. I have a JBL sub and a Denon reciever and a 42" plasma tv and am looking for four satellites and a center channel (I also have a JBL Center that could be used) for around $300. I am considering the Klipsh Quintet II system. Any other suggestions?

[Tarheel_]

Looking to set up a second surround sound system in my bedroom for when I am too lazy to go downstairs and I just want to lay in bed and watch a movie. I have a JBL sub and a Denon reciever and a 42" plasma tv and am looking for four satellites and a center channel (I also have a JBL Center that could be used) for around $300. I am considering the Klipsh Quintet II system. Any other suggestions?

I can recommend the Klipsh Quintet system. I setup my neighbor's HT and we choose those speakers. They fill a VERY large, open room and sound like a much larger speaker. The center is quite small but would be ideal in a bedroom. The built-in mounts are great and they play loud with little amp power. Overall, we were impressed and he still braggs about the sound (3 months later).

Do a search under my name and read more detail, if you wish.

Whatever you do, don't use your JBL as a center, get a matching speaker for proper timbre matching.

[MCF]

Read your review. Two of my friends have the Quintet in their living rooms and they sound pretty good. Did you get the Quintet II or Quintet? I looked at bestbuy.com and it appears they only carrie the Quintet....is there a big difference between Quintet II and Quintet series.

[Geoffcin]

Looking to set up a second surround sound system in my bedroom for when I am too lazy to go downstairs and I just want to lay in bed and watch a movie. I have a JBL sub and a Denon reciever and a 42" plasma tv and am looking for four satellites and a center channel (I also have a JBL Center that could be used) for around $300. I am considering the Klipsh Quintet II system. Any other suggestions?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1499&item=5764422953&rd=1

The S200 dipoles will be very useful for adding a sense of space to the rear soundfield, and avoid the problem of localizing the surrounds, especially if they are close to your bed. I use the S300 for my surrounds, and they work very well.

[hershon]

Best HT Speaker System $300- $400 is like saying bestlooking ugly woman, best Los Angeles Clippers basketball team, nicest serial killer, etc.





Looking to set up a second surround sound system in my bedroom for when I am too lazy to go downstairs and I just want to lay in bed and watch a movie. I have a JBL sub and a Denon reciever and a 42" plasma tv and am looking for four satellites and a center channel (I also have a JBL Center that could be used) for around $300. I am considering the Klipsh Quintet II system. Any other suggestions?

[Reggie Died]

Those are some pretty bad analogies. We dont' all have huge budgets for speakers and HT equipment. Especially those who don't even have jobs and attend college, such as myself. ;)

If you think these cheap HT systems are seriously that bad, you could have been a bit more constructive with your post and suggested he buy in pieces.

That's the route I took.............although a Paradigm Titan system is a very very small step up.

Espcially since i havn't been able to afford a subwoofer yet......i can still dream though. I can still dream.

[Tarheel_]

Read your review. Two of my friends have the Quintet in their living rooms and they sound pretty good. Did you get the Quintet II or Quintet? I looked at bestbuy.com and it appears they only carrie the Quintet....is there a big difference between Quintet II and Quintet series.

the set at bestbuy. So whichever they sell. I believe it was around $400-500, which may be too high for your budget. You may also want to search for a used set of Energy Take or Energy Take II system. They are wonderful speakers and sound superior to the Quintets. Try audiogon.com or ebay. Good luck and post your results after purchase and setup!

[MCF]

Best HT Speaker System $300- $400 is like saying bestlooking ugly woman, best Los Angeles Clippers basketball team, nicest serial killer, etc.

If you don't have anything useful to add, the keep you opinions to yourself...FYI...I have over $10K in my theatre package in my main room.....

[anamorphic96]

Best HT Speaker System $300- $400 is like saying bestlooking ugly woman, best Los Angeles Clippers basketball team, nicest serial killer, etc.

I find this kinda strange coming from you. Considering you have very little understanding of home theatre and audio equipment in general.

Try to be a little more constructive next time.

[shokhead]

Not going to get much for 300 bucks so i'd look used. Hershon,your getting a bad rap. Back off abit guys. He's learning.

[MCF]

All I am looking for is four little speakers and a center...small like the Klipsh Quintet II...I have a Denon Receiver and a JBL powered sub. If there aren't any others that can compete with the Quintet II five speaker system, I am happy getting those since two of my friends have them in their living room...but was just curious.

[shokhead]

You heard them and liked them then its a good way to go.

[cam]

Best HT Speaker System $300- $400 is like saying bestlooking ugly woman, best Los Angeles Clippers basketball team, nicest serial killer, etc.
Hershon,Hershon,Hershon, You have givin many people crap for not being constructive to your post and even went as far as to tell Markw that he was officially banned from all your posts. And now you are doing it, so you are now officially banned from MCF's threads. Just kidding Hershon.

Hey MCF, competition for those Klipsch Quintets would be the Paradigm Cinema Series. Both packages would sound good but the cinemas should be had for probably cheaper.

[MCF]

Thanks...I will check out the Paradigm...

[Reggie Died]

Hershon,Hershon,Hershon, You have givin many people crap for not being constructive to your post and even went as far as to tell Markw that he was officially banned from all your posts. And now you are doing it, so you are now officially banned from MCF's threads. Just kidding Hershon.

Hey MCF, competition for those Klipsch Quintets would be the Paradigm Cinema Series. Both packages would sound good but the cinemas should be had for probably cheaper.

Cam,

I live in BC (north vancouver) and my local dealer (North Shore Audio Video) just recently stopped carrying the performance and monitor line by Paradigm. The good part about that is that i got their last pair of Titans for $150 bucks. The bad is that i can no longer audition speakers through them.

I've been to Audio Video Unlimited and Sound Room AV (both on Broadway) but neither of them had any Mini's available for auditioning.

Just wondering if there was a Paradigm dealer in Surrey that had a big selection of Paradigm speakers on display.

All three of the aformentioned stores can order the speakers for me, but I want to audition, and therefore anystore that lets me audition will get the sale.

Cheers,


(PS i tried the Dealer Locator through Paradigm, and even emailed them, but they only gave me those 3 stores ) :(

[cam]

Cam,

I live in BC (north vancouver) and my local dealer (North Shore Audio Video) just recently stopped carrying the performance and monitor line by Paradigm. The good part about that is that i got their last pair of Titans for $150 bucks. The bad is that i can no longer audition speakers through them.

I've been to Audio Video Unlimited and Sound Room AV (both on Broadway) but neither of them had any Mini's available for auditioning.

Just wondering if there was a Paradigm dealer in Surrey that had a big selection of Paradigm speakers on display.

All three of the aformentioned stores can order the speakers for me, but I want to audition, and therefore anystore that lets me audition will get the sale.

Cheers,


(PS i tried the Dealer Locator through Paradigm, and even emailed them, but they only gave me those 3 stores ) :(
I have bought all my Paradigm speakers from the Audio/Video Unlimited in Guilford mall. The last time I was in there, about 5 months ago, they still had every monitor line on display except the 90P's. The performance line, they had the atoms, titans, and the Phantoms. This Audio/Video is a fairly small store yet I was happy to see that they had a good choice on display to audition. Like I said though, it has been about 5 months since I have been in there so things may have change. The head office for Audio/Video is on United Boulavard in Coquitlam. That is one of the roads between Hwy 1 and Lougheed. It is a bigger store and a little closer to you and the selection may be bigger.

[Reggie Died]

[QUOTE=cam]info[QUOTE]

Cam,

Thanks for the quick reply. I wans't too happy with the sales person i dealt with at the AVU on broadway, but maybe i'll try some other stores. From looking at their webpage, they have quite a few.

Cheers,

Reggie

[ericl]

MCF -

Check out athena loudspeakers packages on ebay. They come up quite cheap, and always get excellent reviews (never heard them myself).

-Eric

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Best HT Speaker System $300- $400 is like saying bestlooking ugly woman, best Los Angeles Clippers basketball team, nicest serial killer, etc.

WAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA(gotta pee gotta pee)HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH.........this is good.......WHAHAHAAAAHHAH....

Can anyone recommend a good screen cleaner? Hershon!! Dang it I spit ma coke on my monitor man!

[hershon]

"We dont' all have huge budgets for speakers and HT equipment. Especially those who don't even have jobs and attend college, such as myself. ;) "

My sarcasm aside is, just from my personal experience with a cheap Koss Home Theater Set Up, I would have been better off with nothing & saving my money and gotten a relatively decent system for around $1,000 or so give or take, then buying something cheap, as there are total night and day differences & all you are doing is using good money to chase bad.

[Reggie Died]

"We dont' all have huge budgets for speakers and HT equipment. Especially those who don't even have jobs and attend college, such as myself. ;) "

My sarcasm aside is, just from my personal experience with a cheap Koss Home Theater Set Up, I would have been better off with nothing & saving my money and gotten a relatively decent system for around $1,000 or so give or take, then buying something cheap, as there are total night and day differences & all you are doing is using good money to chase bad.


You could have made that a bit more clear than with those really ****ty analogies.

And the names from a band called Reggie and the Full Effect.

[ssrp]

newbie question - Is Klipsch Quintet II better than JBL SCS 200.7 system? The price of both systems are approx same, but the JBL speakers have the hard outer case making them more child proof. As I have a little one in my house who keeps playing with everything around - I thought JBL would be a good choice.

But would the seniors recommend Klipsch better than JBL, worth taking a risk?

Also, I am planning to buy a 6.1 receiver - is there any way I can buy an additional speaker of Klipsch Quintet II?


I can recommend the Klipsh Quintet system. I setup my neighbor's HT and we choose those speakers. They fill a VERY large, open room and sound like a much larger speaker. The center is quite small but would be ideal in a bedroom. The built-in mounts are great and they play loud with little amp power. Overall, we were impressed and he still braggs about the sound (3 months later).

Do a search under my name and read more detail, if you wish.

Whatever you do, don't use your JBL as a center, get a matching speaker for proper timbre matching.

[hershon]

And the names from a band called Reggie and the Full Effect.[/QUOTE]


Of course, how stupid of me not to have realised that. My bad!

[plextor guy]

The name won't win you bragging rights but check out the Z5500's or Z680's (the 5500's predecessor) from Logitech. I have the 5500's in a small room and use them with a computer based system. They are shockingly good. Very clean and dynamic. The control panel has toslink, coax and analog inputs. It does DD, DTS, DPL2, 4 speaker stereo, is THX certified, level controls and a sub that will make you wonder why standalone subs cost as much as they do. Pushed to the limits it will fart but only at ear splitting levels. Given the choice, I'd try to find the 680's though. The 680's are marginally more satisfying in the midrange. Amazon has the 5500's for 269.00 at the moment. This is far less than you'll find them in retail outlets. Every major retail outlet in my area that I checked has them for 399 + tax. A friend is using the 680's in a 4.1 configuration in a large room with a projector based hometheater system. When I first heard them I was amazed at how smooth and capable they were of filling a large room. I have Legacy Classics, a Legacy Silver screen center and Paradigm ADP 350's in a larger room. The 5500's and 680's aren't in the same league but the the difference wasn't as dramatic as you might imagine. Bottom line is that the 680's or 5500's are an amazing bargain. Factor in that they come with amplification, a pre-amp in the form of a control module and you'll have a budget system that won't disappoint. If you buy them from Amazon, return them if you don't like them. I should add that for a mostly music based system, there are better choices. For a mostly hometheater based system however, the 5500's and 680's will amaze.

[Eric Z]

Remember, everyone has different needs and budgets. For example, my brother wanted an inexpensive system that will be better than his TV and crappy old Technics speakers, so he opted for an Onkyo HTIB for under $400- it's not that bad. Now, if you compare it to buying a separate receiver and speakers for at least $300 for the receiver and $500 for speakers, the latter will sound better, but you're also putting more money into it. It's all about what you want. Remember, everyone isn't the same by requiring a $4K-$15K system.

[shokhead]

Budgets are different but if you have one it must mean you are able to save so for me its always save a little more for a little longer and get what i wanted so i dont want more after a few months. A/V needs to be bought as an investment that your going to keep awhile,imo of course. :cool: