Getting your first home audio system? Read this.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > Getting your first home audio system? Read this.

Crustashio: Jul 27, 2000; ruh roh

jonathan posted:

The speakers will be fine. They will go louder than what would be considered polite in an apartment. For a 3.1 setup, I would recommend the two floorstanding fronts, and the center speaker. For the sub, go with something front firing, not downfiring. This will put more bass into the room and less into the neighbours below.

Honestly with those speakers, you probably wont NEED a sub especially for music listening. I suggest getting the 3 speakers, a receiver and not getting a sub. If you feel that the music and movie tracks are lacking in the low frequency department, save up and get one of these: http://emotiva.com/ultra_sub10.shtm when you're ready.

I still recommend the Pioneer VSX-820-K receiver. It has auto calibration and room EQ, 4 hdmi ports, an ipod/usb port on the front, and for stereo or 3.0 listening, enough wattage to listen to those speakers louder than you would ever want in an apartment.

If he shares a wall with anyone, it's best to avoid getting a sub. My brand new 3.0 setup is plenty loud, but it doesn't have the low bass to really piss off a neighbour. I remember my old 5.1 kenwood system with a sub and the sound really traveled when you were at movie watching volume.

I have a Denon AVR-591 with 2x Polk Monitor 60s Towers + Polk CS1 Center. It cost me slightly under 1k canadian. Coming from a pair of altec lansing powered speakers the difference is huge. I can actually hear every instrument in a track instead of having them all muddled together.

# ¿ Feb 23, 2011 05:00

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Crustashio: Jul 27, 2000; ruh roh

BabyRyoga posted:

If you don't have a ps3 or just want to go an alternate route, these things seem to be pretty popular:

http://www.logitech.com/speakers-audio/wireless-music-systems/devices/5745

More cables, but small and convenient.

For that price I'd get a boxee or a popcorn hour (although the PCH interface sucks complete rear end). Then you've at least get a central unit for video/audio that stays on all the time and has a dedicated remote. I used my 360 to stream for about a week before I hooked up a computer with a wireless keyboard so I didn't have to constantly turn it on and off.

# ¿ Feb 24, 2011 04:21

Crustashio: Jul 27, 2000; ruh roh

The monitor 60s are really great speakers. Anything smaller and I'd probably want a sub, but the 60s have just enough bass to make me happy.

They are plenty loud too - once in awhile I throw some music on and just jam with my guitar, and they easily match the volume level where my amp starts to sound good.

When I bought them from newegg it was 530 (tax incl) for 2 60s + the CS1. In the other thread some people mentioned the 60s have been as low as 120 at newegg.

Crustashio fucked around with this message at 02:26 on Mar 5, 2011

# ¿ Mar 5, 2011 02:22

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > Getting your first home audio system? Read this.