Speaker suggestions for new AV receiver + ST50

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sidefx

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Topic # 114669 27-Feb-2013 08:27
After much indecision I decided to get an AV receiver and look for speakers to go with my Pannie ST50. Ended up getting a Yamaha RXV373; not the flashest I know but a decent start I hope. The room they're going in is not huge. I currently just have some old Sony speakers from a cheapish mini system hooked up to it in the interim, but am looking for some real speakers... I'm happy to just start with a 2.0 setup and build on that but what is my best bet if I don't want to break the bank? I'm considering a pair of Diamond 9.1s to start - anybody have suggestions on what I should expect to pay and a good source - I see Paul Money has them for $388 but only in black and when the Mrs saw the photos of Rosewood ones she's pretty keen on them so would help the WAF. ;-) Am I better off looking for second hand? Any other speakers I should consider? Also what order should I look at buying if I ultimately want to go 5.1? Something like 2.0 -> 2.1 -> 3.1 -> 5.1?

srob

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Reply # 770886 27-Feb-2013 09:00
I've got a Yamaha RXV363 and started off with Diamond 9.1's but was a little disappointed so got some 9.5's off trade me. They sound much better. I moved the 9.1's to the rear.

sidefx

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Reply # 770898 27-Feb-2013 09:34
Thanks, good to know. Dissappointed in what way? As I say the room we have it in is not huge (I guess 5-6 metres in the direction we have the TV facing which is "across" the lounge) and we don't crank up the volume much - 3 small kids and neighbours fairly close on both sides of the house means we can't most of the time. I was thinking that might be a good path though - start with 9.1s as fronts and see how they go in 2.0 and then 2.1 configuration, then when I move to 5.1 look at the 9.5s. Or could\should I look at 9.5s as the first pair I get, even without a sub? EDIT: BTW how did you find YPAO worked with the combination of 9.5 and 9.1s?

srob

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Reply # 770912 27-Feb-2013 09:57
They just didn't seem to have enough base. I would definitely get the 9.5's first if you can. My lounge is only about 6 x 5M and I don't usually have them to loud but they just sound nicer. YPAO seemed to work quiet well except when I got a sub woofer where it said it was > 10 metres away which it wasn't. sidefx: Thanks, good to know. Dissappointed in what way? As I say the room we have it in is not huge (I guess 5-6 metres in the direction we have the TV facing which is "across" the lounge) and we don't crank up the volume much - 3 small kids and neighbours fairly close on both sides of the house means we can't most of the time. I was thinking that might be a good path though - start with 9.1s as fronts and see how they go in 2.0 and then 2.1 configuration, then when I move to 5.1 look at the 9.5s. Or could\should I look at 9.5s as the first pair I get, even without a sub? EDIT: BTW how did you find YPAO worked with the combination of 9.5 and 9.1s?

Dunnersfella

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Reply # 770943 27-Feb-2013 10:53
Some 'general stuff'. The 373 is well reviewed, but really, it's not bringing much power to the game. Fortunately your small room will mean you won't be asking too much from it. A good way to think about power is... A bath tub with taps filling it with water. The water is the power on hand. The speakers, well, they're plug holes. The bigger the plug hole, the quicker the water runs out, and the higher the likelihood that the amp clips / speakers are damaged. So what causes the water to drain faster than the taps can fill up the tub? 1: Volume. The louder we crank the system the bigger the plugholes become. 2: Number of speakers. If you're running a 5.0 setup, you have 5 plugholes, if you've chosen to run even amounts of volume to each speaker / large rear speakers, then the bath will drain very quickly. Unless you have a BIG tap (receiver) filling your bath. The RXV373 isn't capable of filling the bath as well as more expensive / powerful amps. So be careful. Especially if you move to a larger place / don't have noise restrictions. Aside from this, the Diamond's are 6ohms and relatively tricky to drive. A good way to get better performance is to look for a speaker with a higher sensitivity figure (88db is not particularly easy to drive) or a bigger amp. Seeing as your receiver is new and can't retro-fit a power amp... I'd go for the latter. Look for sensitivity 91db + if you can, or, by adding a subwoofer, you can increase the 'sensation' of volume if required.

sidefx

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Reply # 770971 27-Feb-2013 11:30
Thanks @Dunnersfella good to know. Any suggestions for alternatives I should look at?

Dunnersfella

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Reply # 771227 27-Feb-2013 19:40
Klipsch (sp?) are very easy to drive, but the highly detailed sound may not be to your liking? But it's not a million miles from the Diamond 9's to be fair... especially for home theatre use. I'm struggling to think of other extraordinarily easy to drive speakers to be honest... anyone?

sidefx

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Reply # 771326 27-Feb-2013 21:58
Any thoughts on Klipsch HD Theater 500? Or perhaps KEF C7s + Sub (http://www.kef.com/html/us/showroom/hi-fi_series/c_series/fact_sheet/floorstanding/c7/index.html)

Dunnersfella

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Reply # 771377 27-Feb-2013 22:59
Two VERY different options! The KEF's will be great for music / movies. The Klipsch will offer full surround sound, but nowhere near the 'ooomph' or music presence as the KEF's. Having said that, I'd be confident to run a sub / satellite pack with your receiver, whereas the KEF's will eventually build into a full-grown home theatre system worthy of a more powerful receiver.

sidefx

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Reply # 771422 28-Feb-2013 08:09
Hmm.. ok, TBH I'm probably perfectly happy to stick with 2.0 or 2.1. Would the KEFs or Diamond 9.5s (or something else?) be OK with this receiver in that case? Are there other sub / satellite packs anybody would recommend?

Dunnersfella

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Reply # 771971 28-Feb-2013 22:26
The KEF's and a decent sub (Velodyne or similar) would be a good option. Efficient enough / combined with a musical sub and you'll be quite happy I'd say.

alasta

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Reply # 773592 2-Mar-2013 11:56
sidefx: Any thoughts on Klipsch HD Theater 500? Or perhaps KEF C7s + Sub (http://www.kef.com/html/us/showroom/hi-fi_series/c_series/fact_sheet/floorstanding/c7/index.html) What's the difference between the C series versus the Q series? I need a decent pair of music speakers for a small living room where I'm noise restricted, so I'm tossing up between Q100, Q300 and Q500.

tukapa1

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Reply # 773825 3-Mar-2013 10:20
I've got the Q900 for my HT room, teamed with the Q200 centre. I have no experiencxe with the C series, but I can tell you that if you are not looking for a full surround set-up and don't want to add a sub then the Q series pump out a good amount of bass from the floorstanders, so you shouldn't miss anything by going 2 channel. I think the Q series are a bargain which is why I ended up going fro them after doing my research. It came down to a choice between the Kef and the Mordaunt Short Aviano 8. Went with the Kef just because I knew a bit more about the Kef brand,

LennonNZ

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Reply # 773844 3-Mar-2013 11:53
I purchased a KEF 305B group of speakers a number of months ago (From Avalon) and I've been very happy with them. http://www.avalon.co.nz/subwoofer-speaker-sets/73-kef-t305b.html and as I didn't wall mount them I got a couple of pairs of stands for them http://www.avalon.co.nz/speaker-stands/272-kef-t-series-speaker-stands.html Yes they are flat panel and people may think the quality will not be very good but they are quite amazing in sound and quality. Maybe not everyone's budget but you can buy the speakers separately if needed or get the smaller speaker bundle (T105)

sidefx

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Reply # 774002 3-Mar-2013 21:24
Thanks guys, the KEFs + Sub I was looking at on trademe were withdrawn (seller put mobile number in comments and I think someone contacted the seller through that and bought them on the side) so I ended up just getting the Klipsch set on sale from Harvey Norman, so I guess I'm now one of those HTIB people :P Oh well, they will tide us over until I can get something better and they're certainly a major improvement on what I was using ;-) EDIT: BTW if I found some decent floor-standing speakers on trademe, could I in theory drop them in to replace the 2 front satellites from the klipsch set, or would that just not work well?

Dunnersfella

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Reply # 774197 4-Mar-2013 11:28
If you grabbed the HT500's you're not a HTIB guy :-) Just a HT guy! If you picked up some Klipsch front speakers you'd be going okay as they'd most likely be nicely timbre matched (seemless sound when panning across the front 3 speakers). However, the bigger issue would be that the centre may be monstered by the fronts... unless you bring the front levels down a bit and boost the centre / really concentrate on positioning.