jeskibuff
01-20-2005, 12:33 PM
I'm in the process of selecting speakers and a receiver for my sister and her family. She's currently got a consumer-grade ("Best Buy/Circuit City") Sony receiver, 2 Sony stand-mounts for fronts and 2 small cube (KLH?) speakers for surrounds. There is currently no center channel. She will be in receipt of a new HSU VTF-2 subwoofer tomorrow.
I initially thought the new Magnepan MMGW and MMGC combination would be nice. They're certainly attractive, priced nicely and are unobtrusive. Negatives about them seem to be somewhat flimsy construction and the their natural frequency limitations which DEMAND that a subwoofer be employed. Also, one of the biggest negatives is the "sweet spot" problem, where you have to be ideally positioned in the soundfield to get the best out of them.
I'd like to get her some nice floorstanders for fronts and some nice unobtrusive surrounds to hang on her walls. A matching center is also in the plans.
Currently I'm leaning to the AR.com DIYs because of their outstanding bang for the buck. The EFE-modified BIC center would be the choice there. Aesthetically, the cabinets provided by Madisound look nicer than the ones previously available from SpeakerCity because of the rounded corners. Still, hanging them on the back/side walls would look somewhat atrocious and they're not available in white.
I'm wondering how a hybrid system might work. The AR.com DIY/BIC combination in front and a set of MMGWs doing rear duty. Any opinions or other suggestions? I don't think the difference in voicing is all that critical for movies, but for multi-channel music (DTS, SACD, etc.) it would be significant.
For power, I'd like to get her away from receivers into separates. I'm not too sure what's hot in the preamp/controller world right now, but it'd be nice to get a good quality one with 5.1 inputs and just the essentials in decoders (DTS, Dolby Digital, bass management).
For amplification, a nice 5-channel amp around 100w/ch would be sufficient. I would prefer everything to be solid-state. No tube equipment.
I've even toyed with the idea of decent receivers, but would rather avoid them. The Cambridge Azur 540r or one from the Onkyo line are tops on the list. Yamaha is also a good consideration, but I'd like some recommendations on their models. They seem to have too many. I don't like the compromises of receivers, but the cost factor is attractive. A good amp/controller combination is more than double the price.
Budget for speakers and receiver/amp is hovering around $2500.
So far, this combination has my persuasion:
AR.com DIY fronts: $390 (including double shipping, as once they're assembled at my house, I would ship them to my sister)
BIC center: $175
AR.com DIY rears $390
Cambridge Audio receiver: $650
Total $1605
With almost $900 of headroom in the budget, how would YOU spend my sister's money?
Also, for those who recently built the AR.com DIYs, would you recommend getting the package as-is from Madisound, or getting some parts (like the cabinet) elsewhere?
There are a lot of questions in this post. It's not necessary to address each point. If there's ONE area in which you think could be improved greatly, then let me know about it.
I initially thought the new Magnepan MMGW and MMGC combination would be nice. They're certainly attractive, priced nicely and are unobtrusive. Negatives about them seem to be somewhat flimsy construction and the their natural frequency limitations which DEMAND that a subwoofer be employed. Also, one of the biggest negatives is the "sweet spot" problem, where you have to be ideally positioned in the soundfield to get the best out of them.
I'd like to get her some nice floorstanders for fronts and some nice unobtrusive surrounds to hang on her walls. A matching center is also in the plans.
Currently I'm leaning to the AR.com DIYs because of their outstanding bang for the buck. The EFE-modified BIC center would be the choice there. Aesthetically, the cabinets provided by Madisound look nicer than the ones previously available from SpeakerCity because of the rounded corners. Still, hanging them on the back/side walls would look somewhat atrocious and they're not available in white.
I'm wondering how a hybrid system might work. The AR.com DIY/BIC combination in front and a set of MMGWs doing rear duty. Any opinions or other suggestions? I don't think the difference in voicing is all that critical for movies, but for multi-channel music (DTS, SACD, etc.) it would be significant.
For power, I'd like to get her away from receivers into separates. I'm not too sure what's hot in the preamp/controller world right now, but it'd be nice to get a good quality one with 5.1 inputs and just the essentials in decoders (DTS, Dolby Digital, bass management).
For amplification, a nice 5-channel amp around 100w/ch would be sufficient. I would prefer everything to be solid-state. No tube equipment.
I've even toyed with the idea of decent receivers, but would rather avoid them. The Cambridge Azur 540r or one from the Onkyo line are tops on the list. Yamaha is also a good consideration, but I'd like some recommendations on their models. They seem to have too many. I don't like the compromises of receivers, but the cost factor is attractive. A good amp/controller combination is more than double the price.
Budget for speakers and receiver/amp is hovering around $2500.
So far, this combination has my persuasion:
AR.com DIY fronts: $390 (including double shipping, as once they're assembled at my house, I would ship them to my sister)
BIC center: $175
AR.com DIY rears $390
Cambridge Audio receiver: $650
Total $1605
With almost $900 of headroom in the budget, how would YOU spend my sister's money?
Also, for those who recently built the AR.com DIYs, would you recommend getting the package as-is from Madisound, or getting some parts (like the cabinet) elsewhere?
There are a lot of questions in this post. It's not necessary to address each point. If there's ONE area in which you think could be improved greatly, then let me know about it.