New System Advice

VitruvianMan

Hi guys,

Just want to leverage your collective experience and knowledge on surround sound systems. I'm looking to get a fairly high quality surround sound package (receiver/blue-ray player and 5.1+ speakers), hopefully in the $3,000 range (so no Bang & Olufsen recommendations please). I'd like front & center speakers that can be wall mounted. I will use the system for probably 70% listening to music / 30% TV/movies.

Any suggestions?

leevitalone

Start with a universal blue ray player!
oppo has 2 very highly rated and they are compared to players costing thousands. With the money you save you can invest in the remainder of your system.
Onkyo has terrific stuff, AVR receiver is what you want
then I see axiom speakers are rated high and not too costly.
also at www.newegg.com are martin logans and other good selctions. Be sure the receiver you choose is matched in power
with speakers, impedence also( ohms)
www.oppodigital.com

VitruvianMan

Thanks. I've heard from multiple sources to go with an Onkyo receiver.

Was also told to check out SVS and Emotiva speakers.

Bigloww

Onkyo/Integra and Denon are my 2 picks. I very much love Aperion Speakers, but not the best fit for wall mounting. They can be, but they are a bit large.

The Onkyo TX-NR809 for around $750 shipped is a great receiver at a great price IMO.. The Onkyo TX-NR5900 is top shelf for about $1700..

http://www.accessories4less.com/make...twork-R/1.html


If floor standers are out and you are looking for a nice compact 5.1 system that can be wall mounted, these Def Tech 800's have great sound for their compact design. Teamed up with the 809, you will have a very nice set up for under $2 G's...

http://www.amazon.com/Definitive-Tec...9412712&sr=1-7

Or theses KEF's may be a nice clean wall mount look and sound (especially if your TV is wall mounted).

http://www.amazon.com/KEF-T305-Home-...413101&sr=1-13

And Oppo for your BD player all the way.. The BDP-93 is around $500..

http://www.amazon.com/OPPO-BDP-93-Un...9413475&sr=1-1

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jkkyler

Considering wall mouts is a requirement I 2nd Bigglow's suggestoin of Defintive Technology Speakers and the TX-NR809 Receiver from Onkyo is a very nice receiver and a good value for your $$. I needed to have speakers off the ground( i.e. wall mount) due to dogs and wasn't thrilled about what I saw in traditional wall mounts so I built small shelves (out of stained wood planks and pewter brackets - looks nice IMO and passed the WAF) to place my speakers on which opened up the entire arena of 'bookshelf' speakers allowing me to audiotion Bowers and Wilkins 600 series as well as several other and what I eventually chose - Paradigms (I love my paradigms and wouldn't trade them for the world - they pretty much sold me -now I am a Paradigm guy for life)

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HT- Panasonic TH-50PZ800U 1080p plasma, Panasonic PT-AX200u LCD projector, Elite Vmax Electric 100' screen, Onkyo TX-NR905 AVR, Paradigm Titan Monitor v5 fronts, Paradigm CC-190 v6 center, Paradigm Atom Monitors v5 surrounds(x4), HSU research VTF-2 sub, xbox360+hd-dvd player ,Sony BDP-S550 blu-ray, D*tv H21 HD-DVR

Bedroom: Insignia NS-lcd26, Samsung BDP-1400 blu-ray
Den - Vizio 20" 1080p LCD + Samsung BD-p1600

Don't believe everything you read on the internet - Albert Einstein

oblioman

Just out of curiosity, what sold you on the Paradigm's over the B&W's? Had me 600's for a couple of years, love the sound, but as us geeks go we are always looking for different equipment. With that said, me eyes have been looking at some magnepans or possibly the Paradigms you speak so highly of. And what model Paradigms? Thank you kind sir.

O

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jkkyler

Oblio- good to see you posting again! It has been a few years but here is my best recollection: I live in one city and work in another so I had visited 2 'high end boutique' HT stores, one in each city (unfortunately the economy has closed one since then). Neither had both B+W and Paradigm so a direcxt A/B side by side wasn't done - I listened at one store all AM and then went and spent the afternoon at another store. A colleague of mine had a full B+W nautilus setup I listened to frequently so I was very interested in Bowers wilkins and paradigm due to Loves2watch (RIP) reccomendation. Altogether I listened to Focal, Def Tech, Boston, Klipsch, Aperion, Paradigm, Martin Logan and a few other esoteric brands. Wanting bookshelf size I narrowed to B+W and Paradigm as stated. My recollections are that both were very close : Bowers & Wilkins 600 series was better in the bass and lows while Paradigm was IMO better through the mid-range and highs (B+W very close at the very high end as well) I also recall the sound stages as being different - Bowers Wilkins was a fuller/wider soundstage while Paradigms while not as wide seemed more precise in regard to instrument placement/definition.) Note - Paradigms were auditioned on an integra AVR while Bowers and wilkins was using Anthem pre-pro and amp. It was very close to a toss-up but the paradigms cost 3/5 of what the B+w cost which mattered to me being a newcomer to 'high end audio' at that point (Value was very important) I am also really a big fan of clear vibrant mid-range (especially with a lot of bluegrass listening and jam bands don't always have a lot of deep bass and I have a HSU VTF-2 12" sub to really kick out the lows). Another factor (but could have been dealer blowing smoke out his ass) was that one of the dealers told me that since B+W had recently moved the 600 plant to china (which was true) that he felt the build quality had suffered (The ones I auditioned were English factory built and did indeed have a better build quality than the paradigms I auditioned although the Paradigm Reference line had higher build qualities). After considering it all I went with Paradigm (cost was probably a big factor at the time). After getting them home and hetting them broken in I have never doubted my decision I have been thrilled. For the money (and maybe even for more) I couldn't be happierand have been thrilled with my system every day. I have Ttitan Monitors (originally titans were in the performance line but the name was popular so they dropped the titan name from the performance line and moved it to the monitor line - same 'name' but not the same speaker redubbed Titan monitors - they are huge for bookshelf with a 6 1/2 in woofer and so didn't sell as well as the next size down the mini-monitor with 5 in woofer that was more traditionally sized so the Titan monitor has been d/c as the innards were essentially the same as their floorstanders only in a more compact mdf and veneered cabinet). There have been a few changes to the Paradigm line-up and today I would look at the Paradigm SE edition which is essentially a hybrid of the Paradigm monitor and Paradigm Reference line with a little nicer cabinetry and smoothed out lines vs sharp corners. The Paradigm SE line isn't quite as efficient as the monitor lines version5 and version6 IIRC 95db vs 92 but still very good efficiency. All Paradigm lines are timbre matched to each other btw. Cinema,monitor,SE (special edition),studio,millenia, etc. I go back and listen to the new ones as they come in. I would reccomend giving SE a listen- I think you would like them. As far as magnepan - talk to Stew he has a set of magnepan planars.

my brother in law the following year did a 7.1 B+W set-up all in wall and spent waaaaaay to much IMO

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HT- Panasonic TH-50PZ800U 1080p plasma, Panasonic PT-AX200u LCD projector, Elite Vmax Electric 100' screen, Onkyo TX-NR905 AVR, Paradigm Titan Monitor v5 fronts, Paradigm CC-190 v6 center, Paradigm Atom Monitors v5 surrounds(x4), HSU research VTF-2 sub, xbox360+hd-dvd player ,Sony BDP-S550 blu-ray, D*tv H21 HD-DVR

Bedroom: Insignia NS-lcd26, Samsung BDP-1400 blu-ray
Den - Vizio 20" 1080p LCD + Samsung BD-p1600

Don't believe everything you read on the internet - Albert Einstein

maleaco

Hows a third source sound for you lol. Where are you getting it from?