Help with my first 2.1 (or 5.1) speaker setup? - Page 2

They are very good, I found out about them from Steriophile's review on the SP-BS41-LR and thought $350 per pair sounded good and I remembered a new place near buy that sells them and he had to many 10.1's and 10.2's on hand so I walked out with the 10.2's for $275!

That is per pair, you can find the 10.1's for $300 and the 10.2's for $400.

 

You seem to be in a fairly large room and like your bass so for the 10.1's id get a sub but for the 10.2's it would be border line. I like 2 speakers vs 2.1 for strait music. I think you should go with a pair of floor standers as my Pioneer SP-FS51-LR's seem to put out quite a bit of bass, I don't have the sub just the 5.0 and I frequently annoy my mother and they have plenty of kick with movies, however I like the bass in music better on my 8" KRK monitors but the Pioneers are not bad its just 5.25" drivers vs an 8" monitor known for bass.

That is probably the greatest cheapest sub ever haha and it's only $84.99! (usually $99.99) but if you can spend $200 I would look at the Bic F12 or the one above that? Someone help me out here

 

After reading all of this IF I WERE YOU I would go with a nice pair of towers, I got my pair of  SP-FS51-LR's for $120 and the newer SP-BS52's are $125 a piece, they sound better but don't seem like as much of a bargain at that price (however you save about $100 or more with the 5.1 package) so for other towers I'd say the Polk TSI's or the Wharfedale 10.4's? Or what were the super cheap Energys that vanns had on sale? Tower speakers just get really expensive and you should get matching surrounds when you do so make sure you like how the towers sound, but if you wind up not liking them at least you found out before buying the whole 5.1 and only have to worry about selling the towers. It probably wont be a problem I'm just saying if you get the 10.X's for example and don't like them, your not going to want to go ahead and but the center and rears and make a 5.1 with it.

Edited by ScaryFatKidGT - 1/21/13 at 10:21pm

No sorry I was confused it's the 41 and 21(2) not the 4 and 5.

 

http://www.stereophile.com/content/pioneer-sp-bs41-lr-loudspeaker

 

What I am saying is that I would not personally use the 42's (or 10.1's but at least there 5") with out a sub and sense your main use is for music listening I would go with a full range 2.0 vs a 2.1 or 3.1 for movies and music, id spend the extra money from the sub on the speakers. So sense the FS51's are no longer available and the FS52's are double what I payed for the 51's, I would pick the older BS41's over the BS22's if I was using them in a 2.0 even though the 22's are newer and sound a little better they have a 4" driver instead of the 5 and 1/4" on the 41.

 

Same with the 10.1's id get the 10.2's for a 2.0 but I got a deal at a local place and probably wouldn't of spent $450 on them.

 

Where your stuff is at is literally in a box with no room on the right or left for towers? You could get the 10.1's and then move them to the rears when you get tower's but I would make sure you like the 10.1's when you get them because you will want to stick with Diamond towers and they wont have much bass on there own. You can go with the 10.1's or the BS22's and a sub, the only reason I'm advising otherwise is that your main use seems to be with music and movies sort of being an after thought.

 

Here's how I see, it for movies if you can't afford 5.1 or only a cheap 5.1, get better speakers and go 3.0 with big towers or 2.1 with bookshelves or 3.1 if you can afford it and then get towers or large bookshelves and move to a 5.0 if music listening is important with a sub last or a 5.1 if you had a sub, or want bookshelves front and rear if you mainly watch movies, but for music 2.0 with large bookshelves or towers is the best. I'm probably to picky and a sub would be fine but I see them as more fun than sound quality and musical unless they are purpose made for a 2.1 configuration for audiophile music like the Magnepan MMG and bass panel or the Pioneers and the SW-8 but I think its to small, I'm sure there are other examples I just can't think of any.

 

The thing with the Pioneer stuff is that it is sooooo good and soooooooooo cheap it's hard to compare to, they totally crush 2.0 computer speakers, even without a sub and small plastic speakers and little satellite package things don't have a chance either, not to mention the Pioneers have better build quality and real binding posts, and they sound just as good (personal preference comes into play) as Klipsch, Energy and Polk's cheaper offerings that are double what the pioneers are ($200 for bookshelf pair $400-$420 for tower pair) or more so you really have to get into something like the Diamond 10.1's or Paradigm Monitor bookshelvs or the Klipsch RF-52's etc. to find a better value.

 

http://www.stereophile.com/content/polk-audio-rtiii-a3-loudspeaker

http://www.stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/psb_image_b6_loudspeaker/index.html

 

For cables the only premium thing I can think of is Kimber SV4 or unterminated Audioquest Type-4, it's like half the price of the terminated stuff, but honestly I would just get some basic 14 or 16awg stuff and get some banana or spades so you only have to deal with stripping and not breaking off strands once, and a good wire stripper/crimper, or there's Bluejeans cable.

Edited by ScaryFatKidGT - 1/22/13 at 3:41am

I don't think you will be disapinted with them, I only realize that my 10.2's are better because I have both and I am comparing them to the 51's not the 52's.

 

Hooking them up to your TV wouldn't be a bad idea, TV speakers are awful.

 

I really don't know if I would go FS52's or 10.1's+sub in your position both will be good, for what you want I was actually going to suggest some active monitors but you already have a receiver so you should just get some speakers for it. Most of what drives my purchasing is that I got my Pioneer's half off and the Wharfedales on sale too.

This seems to be Stereophile claiming that the 10.1's are better than a $600+ pair of speakers? I don't quite get it though, I usually cross referance with other sites to make sure they hear something similar

http://www.stereophile.com/content/aperion-verus-grand-bookshelf-loudspeaker-page-2

 

Then this http://news.cnet.com/8301-13645_3-20064619-47.html

 

Heres what I would say, sense you haven't listened to them it will be hard to know but the Wharfs are better speakers. Are you looking more for a $6-700 5.1 system, depending on how much you spend on the sub? Or are you looking for something more around $1500 all together? Because while the 10.1's are a bargain the 10.4's and up to make a 5.1 are like $799 or more. You could get away with 10.2's in front but that's just something to consider.

Idk id go to a Bestbuy and try them both or buy both and take one back, a lot of people (including me) get the 5.0 pioneer set and forgo the sub due to it being small, 8" and only 50watts, althought it would have been nice to have for the $80 it was going for. My friend has the polk and its nice but again its only 50 watts RMS. For more powerer there is the Polk PSW505 and 110 and 125, also I know a lot of people suggest the bic F-12 or PL-200. But for $85 id say the Polk 10"er is pretty good.

Try looking at pioneer bs22 bookshelf, fs52 fronts, c22 center. For subwoofer either go dual 10 like Dayton sub100 or single 10-12 like Dayton sub100 or sub1200. But Dayton is cheap and effective. To put it into perspective, your next upgrade to the speakers would be something like Dayton rs722 or something in the 800-1000 range for just 2 speakers. I'm not saying you won't notice a difference unless you spend that much, I'm saying that upgrading tosomething lower priced wwon't be enough of a difference to make it worthwhile. I have the pioneer setup right now except not the bs22. I'm getting rs722 for fronts and using the floorstanders as rears. The rs722 will eventually be replaced with some really nice towers but not for quite a few years.

Didn't think of Dayton subs there good.

 

I agree with the price thing and said something similar earlier, but I will say that the wharfedales are better.

Edited by ScaryFatKidGT - 1/24/13 at 3:50am

Just to complicate your decision making process, the Definitive Technology StudioMonitor 350 are $179 at Newegg right now. You could buy four of those and a Dayton sub, and have room filling sound. Your receiver can run a "phantom center" and redirect the sound to the left/right. It would sound great.

Although to save money, I would recommend going with the Pioneer SW-8 sub which is $69 at Newegg (promo code EMCXWVV75). Plenty of output for a bedroom, and it will equal or exceed the Daytons in SQ.

And another way to go is to get the Energy Veritas V5.2c as 3.0 while they are on closeout at $179 at wstereo (promo code VER52WW). It can be used as an LCR speaker. Lots of discussion over at the AVS forum Energy Owners Thread. I have the smaller V5.1s and the matching Energy VS Surrounds, they do sound great. Add a sub later.

If it were me, I would go with the Energy V5.2cs, add the sub next, and then get the surrounds down the road. Although admittedly I haven't heard the FS52s (only the FS51s), and I'm biased as an Energy speaker owner (see my equipment in my profile).

Head-fi doesn't have as many home audio enthusiasts as AVS forum does. I would recommend going there to their speaker forum and create a post. Make sure to give your budget, your receiver, how you want to use everything, and the pictures of your room, and then options you are considering.