Looking for HT Advice

My family will be moving into a new home next month / early next year. In my old home, we had a Mirage 5.1 system with Omnisat wall mounted speakers for the tweeter / midrange duty. We are leaving those speakers and the sub behind for the new owners.

The TV room at the new home is a large combination dining and living room area, ~30ft x 12ft with 9ft ceilings, tile floor. The kitchen faces the TV area so there is no back wall directly behind the viewer.

I don't have a budget yet, but I have (prematurely?) told the wife about speaker bars and wanting to minimize/eliminate cable runs, so wireless systems are in play. I have an older Marantz SR7400 AV amp for driving speakers. I would say the listening will be roughly 70% music, 30% movies.

TIA.

Revision: I've decided a stereo setup with subwoofer and perhaps a center channel will be a better option, giving me better sound for the buck.

I don't plan on an amp for now as the receiver is advertised as having 105W / channel.

I guesstimate a budget of ~$500 - $700. Aesthetics may be a factor.

Any brands models I should be looking at or should not waste my time with? There is a local Best Buy that has a good selection of brands that I will start to hit up.

TIA.

My son purchased a stereo pair of Harmon Kardon Onyx 3 stereo bluetooth speakers and they sound very good to him and I. Sonos Play was considered and their soundbar appears to be all that !

The Velodyne Impact - 10 150w powered sub for $323 on ebay (new) from prosound09 in Pasadena, Cali , mebbe ?

The downfiring port is ideal for tv !

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_pg_1...T38,B00EPDMDZ8

Seems to be the best bang for the buck right now.

Andrew Jones (formely Kef and Pioneer) is working for Elac now and is creating speakers with coincident drivers with a low budget in mind.

Kelvin

https://www.musicdirect.com/Search?m...oducts&c2=grid

My choice would be Elac.

Those ELACs look like a fantastic recommendation!

Thanks subwoofery and Euphonic!

Plenty of rave reviews. Easily the best bang for the buck in most shows :D

Kelvin

The 5.1 system has it covered for you and very reasonably ! :thumbup:

9

Runner-Up, Best Overall: ELAC S10 Debut Series 200 Watt Powered Subwoofer

https://fthmb.tqn.com/ppZawtDsr--2en...461f1d0028.jpg
Courtesy of Amazon.comThe ELAC S10 Debut Series 200 Watt Powered Subwoofer with 10” bass driver renders amazing low frequencies with a stunning sense of realism. It includes a BASH amp that operates at 200 watts of power RMS and 400 watts of power at peak. Frequency response is 28-150Hz, and it features continuously adjustable crossover at 50-150Hz. The subwoofer provides automatic equalization to the room environment. ELAC has even capitalized on the mobile app revolution, allowing traditional analog controls to be controlled through a smartphone with the ELAC SUB control app.


Nice for around $275.00 0r less !

I'm now drooling over the UB5. That should be an easy sell to the wife. The upsell is an S10EQ sub with auto equalization using your smart phone.

If I'm lucky, my local Best Buy will have ELACs for demo.

If you get the ELAC UB5 make sure you don't get the 'green cone' version. These have known issues with the cone denting and also the crossover blocks coming detached from the enclosure. I ordered a set last summer and ran in to that. Sent them back.

AFAIK that was tied to an early run and the issues have since been corrected. But just letting you know...

^Thanks, I have read about that. Did you get new ones? If so how do you like them?

It was a time when they were hard to get and once I got my refund I didn't pursue buying another set.

Bummer. When and I listen and or buy, I'll provide my amachur listening impressions.

Apologies for the first-world problem discussion, but here it goes....

Went to the local BB with the wife to demo speakers, hopefully ELAC bookshelves. Unfortunately there was no such animal in the demo rooms. The guy we ended up spending time with had not even heard of the brand.

We brought our own demo material, Joan Osborne "Relish", Zep IV, and Adele's first. Started with JO "St. Teresa" which I like alot since its an interesting and dynamic song. The two brands of speakers they had were B&W and DefTech. A B&W bookshelf was first up, I don't recall the precise model, but we switched back and forth with a smaller B&W book shelf. It was obvious the bigger model had better midrange. Demo guy also threw in a sub every now and then, I think it was an 8" DefTech (200W?, demo guy did not know the crossover frequency). Even that made a huge difference so a sub is now on the shopping list.

The big mistake was asking to hear towers. We switched between two 600 series B&W's, the 684 (1" AL tweeter and 2 5" woofer) and the 682 (which has a 1" double-dome AL tweeter, 2 6.5" woofers, and a 6" midrange). Well, I'm sure you know where this is going. :doh: My plan A of bookshelves has gone out the door given the harshness and shallowness of the bookshelves versus the towers. Fuller and more balanced is how I would describe the difference. I had my phone with an RTA app, but it didn't dawn on me to use it. I will next time. The rest of the time was spent listing to "When the Levee Breaks" and "Stairway to Heaven". It was a blast.

My wife is totally onboard with towers, but I am hesitant to only go with B&W. I don't doubt they are great speakers, and the demo guys speil provided great background, but I know there are so many other options out there. Budget can't be crazy. There also are not many retailers in my area where I can sit down and listen. I may have to drive up to Orlando where there is certain to be a wider selection.

https://www.chanemusiccinema.com/lou...e-loudspeakers

Does have rave reviews. Never heard those so I can't comment.

Maybe you can order some and send them back if you don't like it.

Kelvin

https://www.kefdirect.com/speakers/h.../q-series.html

Its getting worse..... http://www.salksound.com/model.php?model=Song3. Apparently, they look at least as good as they sound too.

Let me help you :nana:
http://www.hometheatershack.com/foru...t-results.html

Kelvin

Oh, hell yeah to some towers ! What will room be like . . . Live or dead ?

https://www.musicdirect.com/speakers...s-714-rosewood

Thanks for the links, guys!

To answer your question, Hic, the room is live I would say. Tile floors with a couple rugs and nothing yet on the walls. The speakers will be facing an L-shaped sectional sofa.

So these are what I'll be going with, Salk Song3s, they should be amazing, http://www.salksound.com/model.php?model=song3. They will come with an upgraded mid, an Accuton C90-6-079. The woofer is the Satori 7.5” MW19P-8. The tweeter is the RAAL 64-10.

The veneer is curly maple with a silver gray / pure finish. I'm a little excited.

Sweet !

Quote:

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Originally Posted by astrochex

So these are what I'll be going with, Salk Song3s, they should be amazing, http://www.salksound.com/model.php?model=song3. They will come with an upgraded mid, an Accuton C90-6-079. The woofer is the Satori 7.5” MW19P-8. The tweeter is the RAAL 64-10.

The veneer is curly maple with a silver gray / pure finish. I'm a little excited.

---

What was your budget again? :rolleyes:

Kelvin

Quote:

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Originally Posted by subwoofery

What was your budget again? :rolleyes:

Kelvin

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Budget was greatly increased by having an understanding, music loving wife.

I did warn her that once we went away from bookshelves, we would be spending more. Now it's an audio investment.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by astrochex

Budget was greatly increased by having an understanding, music loving wife.

I did warn her that once we went away from bookshelves, we would be spending more. Now it's an audio investment.

---

If you're happy with the purchase, then it's all that matters :thumbsup:

Update with a review :)

Kelvin

Sounds like you have an awesome partner in crime, bro!

If you deaden the rear wall ( drape/blanket/et cetera ) and play with toe-in to minimize side reflections , should be extremely happy :nod:

Major kudos to the missus !!!

Any listening time yet ?

Don't have them yet. Salk has a tracking website that tends to be behind the build.

It currently shows a final topcoat is needed then assembly, testing, inspection, shiipping and home. It's an excrutiating wait.

OK

Thanks !

Aaaaaaaargh!!!

I have pics of the finished speakers, but I can't upload them here. :daniel:

Chrome and Firefox on a Mac are letting me down.

Bummer , anywhere else you can upload or have pics uploaded for you ?

Glad you finally got pix

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4006/...60bce62b_z.jpg

Looks like ported mid for bass reflex and a smaller midrange plus ribbon tweeter .

Nice !

Thanks! I get them tomorrow, short day at work doncha know.

Sweet !!!