sub/sat questions for HT and Music HELP!

I just sold my house and all the AV gear went with it since it was written into the contract. :-( I had Phase Technology Teatro towers, center and surrounds, Harmon Kardon AV receiver and an inexpensive Philips DVD player. I *LOVED* the sound of the teatro 10's and to me they were like the Definitive techn ology BP2002s for half the price. So here's my dilemma, the new house I'm getting has a massive built in cabinet for proj TV and all the speakers but the catch it, they have to be small. As in, my wife does not want to see them. As in sub/sat. Fair enough, since I get to go buy new stuff now. It has been so long since I have shopped or listened to anything in the store and now I'm faced with the daunting task of audtioning several if not dozens of sub sat systems. Can anyone offer any recomendations of what ot check out or avoid (besides bose)? I'm budgeting 1000-1500 for sub, center, sats and surrounds.

Any advice is appreciated!

Thanks,
Rob

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Originally Posted by rligeti

I just sold my house and all the AV gear went with it since it was written into the contract. :-( I had Phase Technology Teatro towers, center and surrounds, Harmon Kardon AV receiver and an inexpensive Philips DVD player. I *LOVED* the sound of the teatro 10's and to me they were like the Definitive techn ology BP2002s for half the price. So here's my dilemma, the new house I'm getting has a massive built in cabinet for proj TV and all the speakers but the catch it, they have to be small. As in, my wife does not want to see them. As in sub/sat. Fair enough, since I get to go buy new stuff now. It has been so long since I have shopped or listened to anything in the store and now I'm faced with the daunting task of audtioning several if not dozens of sub sat systems. Can anyone offer any recomendations of what ot check out or avoid (besides bose)? I'm budgeting 1000-1500 for sub, center, sats and surrounds.

Any advice is appreciated!

Thanks,
Rob

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They make some pretty good systems. Go to HiFi.com.

I have the T500 mains, MC500 center, S300 mulitpole surround on stands, and IW300's set into the wall for the rears in a 7.1 system. I don't use a sub as the T500 can knock things off walls on the other side of the house! The system is a little over the range your looking at, but you can easily get away with a smaller main for HT. I would reccomend taking a look.

What's the priority? Decor-friendliness or audio performance?

You have the option of either going with a sub/sat system, or you can go with five fuller range bookshelf speakers. The bookshelf speakers will generally give you better performance and integrate better with a subwoofer, but they are larger in size. Sub/sat systems out there within your price range include options from Energy, Paradigm, Boston, Gallo Acoustics, Polk, Klipsch, KEF, JBL, and Infinity, among others. These options are very different in how they look and how they sound. You should give them a try if you're locked into a sub/sat system. Opening up your options to include bookshelf speakers gives you a much bigger range of choices and configurations. In general, if you can go with bookshelf models, you can also get a true subwoofer, which gives you far more substantial performance (sub/sat systems typically include bass units that cannot go into the lower octaves, and have to do double duty in the lower midrange because of deficiencies in what the satellite units can handle)

In general, I would advise against sticking speakers inside of any kind of enclosure like an entertainment center or alcove. Are there any options for the speaker, other than into a reverberant enclosure with the TV? Paradigm, B&W, Klipsch, and Vienna Acoustics, among others, make flat wall-mounted speakers that are designed to fit around a plasma screen. You might want to think about trying those out.