I am trying to put together a new surround system and I think I have overloaded myself with info trying to figure out what to buy. You can only read so many reports and reviews before you pull your hair out, there is just so much out there. What really stink's is nobody near me carries anything I am interested in or the stuff is no longer available. I have only owned JBL speakers except for a pair of AR's and I think maybe I am a little afraid of being dissapointed.
I have been wanting to upgrade my stereo system to 5.1 for a while. Everything that I have owned up until now is two channel only. I knew that I needed an AV controller with 5.1 analog inputs for SACD/DVD audio playback, and I wanted Dolby digital, Pro logic and DTS decoding. It's hard to find something like this reasonably priced. Most people seem to to suggest just getting a receiver if you are on a tight budget like me. This week I think that I finally found the right combination of low cost and decent quality. I bought a secondhand Sherwood Newcastle AVP-9080R controller and and new Denon DVD-1920 combination disc player. The Sherwood is essentially one of those big AV receivers with the power amps missing. It also seems to have a bypass mode for the digital conversion when you are not using it, and a phono input. So maybe the two channel performance won't be too bad. I already have an Acurus 200X3 to amplify the new channels, and plenty of speakers to try out. So the total cost for the upgrade is just under 700.00 I'm still waiting for delivery on the controller. I'll try it out for a while, and if I don't like it, I'll just sell it again.
Hey Don, it really is tough I will still have my two channel system upstairs there is no way I can give that up my wife would have a fit ,we spend a lot of our casual time spinning old vinyl. We purchased a 65'' bigscreen for downstairs and the room is turning out very nice and just need to get some decent audio we don't want to spend a fortune but really not into THD either.my budget is around $2000.00 top's it is just hard to pull the trigger on equipment that you have not heard or seen.
I am using an HK AVR 635, with an HSU VTF-3 sub, and 5 JBL L36's right now, with very good results, MUCH better than I ever expected. At a budget of $2000, you have plenty of options, but it all has to do with the set-up of your room. If your room is suited for a speaker behind your head, I'd go with a 6.1 set-up. Whats MOST important is to timbre match your front speakers to your center, and if you go for a 6.1 setup, the center and single rear speakers should be exactly the same. I'd highly recommend the L100T's, or any from that series for home theater.
http://www.lansingheritage.org/html/...rs/1984-ti.htm
They are a bit large though, if you are looking for something a little sleaker, check out this site,
http://www.jbl.com/home/products/cat...aspx?CatId=HCS
I know nothing about these speakers at ALL, but I am sure someone here does.
Unfortunately I can't think of any "magic bullet" products to recommend, but as a general guideline, I'd suggest you buy a receiver in the $700-$1000 category and then since this appears to be a system that is geared toward surround for video, I'd suggest you buy the least expensive surround speakers you can bear to live with, L16s, L19s, 4301s? Don't buy a sub... the cost of a good sub will take away too much of your budget from your front speakers... maybe add one later and spend the bulk of your budget on three identical front speakers... If your room is small and you usually only have an audience of one or two, perhaps you can even live with a phantom center... I guess you can see my logic here. Spend it where your ears are... get the best front speakers you can. Do not get a pair of good L+Rs and crap center though... if you have a dedicated center it needs to be very similar to and ideally identical to the L+Rs.Originally Posted by rockecat
Good Luck,
Widget
Look for a used Yamaha DSP-A1. It may be 10 years past state of the art but it's still a pretty solid performer. They sold for about $2500 new but you should be able to find one for about $600. Some of the digital soundfield hallucinations are kinda hokey but the cinema soundfields are great.
The two biggest limitations are the lack of support for a rear center speaker and the S-VHS video outputs. At this point I'd rather have the audio part of my HT together than the video. Unless you're using a 6' video screen I would think S-VHS would be more than adequate, especially with decent cables like Monster video 2 or 3.
Thank's for the advice, I have decided to buy new or refurbished equipment.
and will concentrate on buying main's and a good reciever. I will keep you posted. waiting to hear back from JBL on some blowout stuff and would like to take advantage of the free shipping offer.
Well after several Pm's and e-mails to JBl I finally pulled the trigger. Originally I was going to purchase S-series but availability and price was more than I was willing to spend or wait on. I decided to purchase e- series for two reason's, price and availability. What is amazing is there is not ton's of info out there on these speakers. I know they are entry level but I am confident they will fill our need at a reasonable price.
If anybody is interested I can post pic's and review as soon as all the components arrive and are assembled.
What's the S series and e series?
Widget
Oh, the Studio Series and Northridge Series... thanks.
Widget
Whata matta with U you did not notice my trainee hat!
And..., I just happen to have one of these baby's sitting around in perfect condition. Cost $2,700. These are integrateds and do not have a tuner. Ahhh, but I have their top of the line tuner to go with it (cost me an additional $500). Have all the manuals, remote, and box too.
If you're interested, let me know.
(BTW, I replaced it with the Yamaha RX-Z9 at a cost of $4,500.)
Why not? They are part of the Lansing Heritage after all! Pics are always fun and it would be interesting to hear your opinions of them.If anybody is interested I can post pic's and review as soon as all the components arrive and are assembled.
Widget
Cool, I hope to get everything in by friday and I will start posting pic's.
Every component was purchased from JBL direct off of e-bay.
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