[MoMann]

Hey everyone!

I just moved into a new house and I'm hoping to setup a new home theater. Ideally I'd like to just turn on the receiver and have the sound start playing through the setup. Below are the parts I'm thinking of getting:

Polk Audio Monitor 60 Series II ($150 for two)
Micca MB42X-C Center Channel Speaker ($70)
Polk Audio PSW10 sub woofer ($80)

This leaves me with about $200 left and I still need a receiver, the trick is it must be less than 5.5" tall so it'll fit in my TV stand. I'm considering the Sony STRDH130

Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

 

[cossix]

I'm excitedly saving up for the Pioneer 5.1 setup by Andrew Jones with floorstanding front L/R and bookshelf side speakers. It may be above budget but it's something to look into, you can find it on Amazon. Sorry if it doesn't fit your budget but I did a lot of research and it's one of the best entry level setups. Good luck!

 

[MoMann]

I'm excitedly saving up for the Pioneer 5.1 setup by Andrew Jones with floorstanding front L/R and bookshelf side speakers. It may be above budget but it's something to look into, you can find it on Amazon. Sorry if it doesn't fit your budget but I did a lot of research and it's one of the best entry level setups. Good luck!

Those are pretty nice however I dont need bookshelf speakers, what receiver do you plan on using with it?

 

[cossix]

Im getting the Denon AVR-S510BT. The thing I like about that series of speakers is that you can go on Amazon and pick & choose which components you want because they're sold individually. So perhaps only get the floorstanding L/R and a center, with the subwoofer. You don't have to get the extra 2 bookshelves. Should be $520 before receiver. I really like the floorstanding speakers so perhaps even just Frankenstein your setup and have the Pioneer L/R and whichever other center/sub you prefer. I just know the Pioneer floorstanding speakers are great price to performance

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Hey everyone!

I just moved into a new house and I'm hoping to setup a new home theater. Ideally I'd like to just turn on the receiver and have the sound start playing through the setup. Below are the parts I'm thinking of getting:

Polk Audio Monitor 60 Series II ($150 for two)
Micca MB42X-C Center Channel Speaker ($70)
Polk Audio PSW10 sub woofer ($80)

Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

1. Your mains and center speaker need to be voice matched, otherwise when the voices in a dialogue shift from center to mains the tone can be a little different. The easiest way to ensure that is to get a Center speaker from the same series, and the same size midwoofer variant, as your mains.

2. You need to use five speakers or just use two for now. Using three speakers will mean that if you use the 5.1 audio the surround channels won't have a speaker to play through, and if you use 2ch audio, then there's nothing going into the Center speaker.

This leaves me with about $200 left and I still need a receiver, the trick is it must be less than 5.5" tall so it'll fit in my TV stand. I'm considering the Sony STRDH130

Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

I'd go with the Marantz NR16xx compact series.

 

[MoMann]

1. Your mains and center speaker need to be voice matched, otherwise when the voices in a dialogue shift from center to mains the tone can be a little different. The easiest way to ensure that is to get a Center speaker from the same series, and the same size midwoofer variant, as your mains.

2. You need to use five speakers or just use two for now. Using three speakers will mean that if you use the 5.1 audio the surround channels won't have a speaker to play through, and if you use 2ch audio, then there's nothing going into the Center speaker.





I'd go with the Marantz NR16xx compact series.

Oh wow thanks! Ok then I'll just get the two floor speakers and that subwoofer since they match. That receiver is a tad bit expensive would that be overkill for my setup?

 

[cossix]

Oh wow thanks! Ok then I'll just get the two floor speakers and that subwoofer since they match. That receiver is a tad bit expensive would that be overkill for my setup?

I agree with the other suggestion, and if you're sticking with a 2.1 setup then definitely skip the 5.2 receiver I mentioned, unless you are planning to go 5.1 somewhat soon.

 

[Monsterzero]

1. Your mains and center speaker need to be voice matched, otherwise when the voices in a dialogue shift from center to mains the tone can be a little different. The easiest way to ensure that is to get a Center speaker from the same series, and the same size midwoofer variant, as your mains.

2. You need to use five speakers or just use two for now. Using three speakers will mean that if you use the 5.1 audio the surround channels won't have a speaker to play through, and if you use 2ch audio, then there's nothing going into the Center speaker.

+1.Mixing and matching different companies speakers is breaking all sorts of rules in home theater 101.

i use the Andrew Jones Pioneer bookshelf and sub for my desktop set-up,coupled with a Chord Mojo its a quite warm non fatiguing sound with lots of body...the highs are rolled off quite a bit,so if youre a detail freak these might not be the speakers for you.

I use a 1979 Kenwood Eleven GX(125 real vintage watts per channel!) to drive the Pioneers,which is a classic case of massive overkill,but I also use the Kenwood to drive my HE-6.

 

[MoMann]

I agree with the other suggestion, and if you're sticking with a 2.1 setup then definitely skip the 5.2 receiver I mentioned, unless you are planning to go 5.1 somewhat soon.

No I dont plan on going 5.1 anytime soon if ever, is there a 2.1 receiver you'd recommend?

+1.Mixing and matching different companies speakers is breaking all sorts of rules in home theater 101.

i use the Andrew Jones Pioneer bookshelf and sub for my desktop set-up,coupled with a Chord Mojo its a quite warm non fatiguing sound with lots of body...the highs are rolled off quite a bit,so if youre a detail freak these might not be the speakers for you.

I use a 1979 Kenwood Eleven GX(125 real vintage watts per channel!) to drive the Pioneers,which is a classic case of massive overkill,but I also use the Kenwood to drive my HE-6.

Ok that's good to know, I guess my size requirements for the receiver are making it tough for me to find something good.


So here is the updated setup:

Polk Audio Monitor 60 Series II ($150 for two)
Polk Audio PSW10 sub woofer ($80)
Receiver? (~$150)

 

[Monsterzero]

If I were you I'd look for a small vintage receiver,something in the 25-40wpc range. It wont offer Dolby Digital or any of the home cinema bells and whistles of modern AVRs,but since youre only going to run 2.1 you wouldnt be able to enjoy those anyways.

Id have a look in your local Craigslist,or on eBay for a receiver in your price range.

They also make excellent HP amps BTW..........

 

[Guidostrunk]

Absolutely, this post!

If I were you I'd look for a small vintage receiver,something in the 25-40wpc range. It wont offer Dolby Digital or any of the home cinema bells and whistles of modern AVRs,but since youre only going to run 2.1 you wouldnt be able to enjoy those anyways.

Id have a look in your local Craigslist,or on eBay for a receiver in your price range.

They also make excellent HP amps BTW..........

 

[MoMann]

If I were you I'd look for a small vintage receiver,something in the 25-40wpc range. It wont offer Dolby Digital or any of the home cinema bells and whistles of modern AVRs,but since youre only going to run 2.1 you wouldnt be able to enjoy those anyways.

Id have a look in your local Craigslist,or on eBay for a receiver in your price range.

They also make excellent HP amps BTW..........

Good idea, I guess now I'm a little suck with just finding the right receiver, mainly since I'd like to be able to control it with my Harmony 650. I found a few but need to do some research.

 

[Monsterzero]

Pioneer,Marantz,Kenwood,Sansui,Kenwood,Yamaha,etc....

Heck,look at my signature,i have three listed there that would be perfect for you...the other two are big monsters and out of your budget.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Oh wow thanks! Ok then I'll just get the two floor speakers and that subwoofer since they match.

I'm not sure how the floorstandeers and subwoofer "match" like that since the subs are usually labelled a different series, since as far as the sub is concerned they'll match based on the crossover setting you set on the HT receiver anyway.

In any case, you can get two pairs of the standmounts and buy the center from that series. Although yeah, I'd prefer floorstanders too. But make sure the floorstanders you buy have a center in the same series otherwise you'd have a problem getting the center channel later.

Actually, you might as well get the mains, center and surrounds all at the same time, since it can happen that the series gets discontinued while you're saving up.

That receiver is a tad bit expensive would that be overkill for my setup?

The Marantz NR15xx and NR16xx are consistently rated well, sometimes even over fullsize receivers. You won't get overkill of power but you'd get cleaner power. Other brands have improved amplification quality but Marantz and Denon are still a little bit ahead.

No I dont plan on going 5.1 anytime soon if ever, is there a 2.1 receiver you'd recommend?

There aren't really 2.1 receivers save for some more expensive 2.0 receivers that come with a mono preamp output for the subwoofer. These can cost around $400 for the Onkyo network receiver to $600 for the NAD D3020.

What sources are you going to use? If you'll use a BluRay player with analogue output you don't plan on going 5.1 at all you might as well run stereo equipment and put some more money to the speakers, preferably towers. Get a used NAD or Rotel, then maybe get a sub that has high level inputs.

You can get quality towers now and decide later if you still want a sub since some of these can go down to 35hz, and if you can't shake the house with a sub anyway, there's not much for it to do but simply fill in the rest of the way to 20hz (5hz if you use a 15in sub for watching The Conjuring and Annabelle).

...I guess my size requirements for the receiver are making it tough for me to find something good.

So here is the updated setup:

Polk Audio Monitor 60 Series II ($150 for two)
Polk Audio PSW10 sub woofer ($80)
Receiver? (~$150)

Or try these - depending on what sources you use and how you want everything hooked up you'll at least get a lot of clean enough power out of this amp, and you get floorstanders for not a lot of money:
https://www.parts-express.com/tower-speaker-pair-t652-and-dta-120-stereo-amp-bundle--300-6530

 

[MoMann]

I'm not sure how the floorstandeers and subwoofer "match" like that since the subs are usually labelled a different series, since as far as the sub is concerned they'll match based on the crossover setting you set on the HT receiver anyway.

In any case, you can get two pairs of the standmounts and buy the center from that series. Although yeah, I'd prefer floorstanders too. But make sure the floorstanders you buy have a center in the same series otherwise you'd have a problem getting the center channel later.

Actually, you might as well get the mains, center and surrounds all at the same time, since it can happen that the series gets discontinued while you're saving up.




The Marantz NR15xx and NR16xx are consistently rated well, sometimes even over fullsize receivers. You won't get overkill of power but you'd get cleaner power. Other brands have improved amplification quality but Marantz and Denon are still a little bit ahead.

I dont think I can get away with buying all the extras along with the expensive receiver :/

What sources are you going to use? If you'll use a BluRay player with analogue output you don't plan on going 5.1 at all you might as well run stereo equipment and put some more money to the speakers, preferably towers. Get a used NAD or Rotel, then maybe get a sub that has high level inputs.

You can get quality towers now and decide later if you still want a sub since some of these can go down to 35hz, and if you can't shake the house with a sub anyway, there's not much for it to do but simply fill in the rest of the way to 20hz (5hz if you use a 15in sub for watching The Conjuring and Annabelle).

Or try these - depending on what sources you use and how you want everything hooked up you'll at least get a lot of clean enough power out of this amp, and you get floorstanders for not a lot of money:
https://www.parts-express.com/tower-speaker-pair-t652-and-dta-120-stereo-amp-bundle--300-6530

As long as I can control it with my Logitech Harmony 650 I'll be satisfied, as for my sources it'll just be from my TV, which has my consoles and Chromecast.

I like the bundle above but I think I'd like to be able to add a sub just in case in the future.