help please..newbie with high hopes!!

i work as a cable tech, so i do know a little bit..i just purchased a marantz sr6001 home
theater receiver. got it for a good deal from my boss, want to now match it with a good 7.1 speaker set up, don't want to blow a fortune, but would like to do the receiver justice!!..any tips or recommendations on a good 7.1 set up for this receiver, it is 100w per channel. thanks..any advice appreciated.
paul h.

What's your budget? There are many brands of speakers that would pair well with Marantz, such as Monitor Audio, B&W & Paradigm....

Hi Paul,

Ajani is right. There are so many choices that it's very hard to nail down an answer without a budget. Even then, what we like may not be what you like. We can throw out a bunch of names once we have your budget, but you'll still have to get out to a few stores and hear them for yourself to make a good choice.

He got the receiver on the cheap so I'd assume he'd like it if he could get the speakers on the cheap too. For value in home home theater speaker systems, I've heard others here recommend products from Energy.

my budget is 1000$-1500$, want to hear a good surround sound for the 7.1 capabilities,
and ill worry about a sub later, unless it comes with a 7.1 kit. thanks guys...help appreciated in making my decision!!

I could recommend a couple of good local Australian brands, such as VAF or Krix, but that probably doesn't help much if you are in the US (paul doesn't state his location). I heard somewhere that Krix are selling their speakers in the US, but don't know for sure if that is true. I'm running VAF speakers from a Marantz receiver, by the way.

Have a look at the Axiom website. They will ship free and you can try them for 30 days !
I have em and really enjoy them:21:

The receiver is rated at 100W, but that may just be with two channels driven (I haven't looked up the exact specs, so correct me if I'm wrong). Anyhow, you may want to stay with more sensitive speakers. AudioAdvisor is having some amazing sales on Energy and Athena speakers and you could probably find something well within your price range. Athena isn't often mentioned because of their low prices, but you'd be hard pressed to find a better value for money - and they don't look too shabby either.

Go 5.1 and save your money. I have yet to hear a 7.1 set up that sounds better than a 5.1. I'd rather have better speakers for 5.1 than lesser speakers for a 7.1.

Consider B&W 685's for the front speakers (about $650pr), 686's for the rear (about $450pr) and then the corresponding B&W center.

Others to look at would be the NHT Classic 3's for fronts ($650pr), the Classic 2's ($450-500pr) or Zero's or Super Zero's ($250-300pr) for rears and then an NHT center.

If you want to go cheaper, Audio Advisor is running a great Sale on Energy speakers.

Energy RC-30 towers ($600pr) or C-300 towers ($260pr) for front channels and the C-100 ($149pr) or C-50 ($69) for rear and
the CC-100 for the center channel (($175)

This would allow you to buy a good sub.

Cheer's!

I would give this company a shot. AV123. A good bang for the buck company. I love the speakers I got from them. http://av123.com/content/view/158/161/