Request for suggestions

I have the Yamaha RX-A2010BL receiver for my home theater. Right now I have a single 5.1 speaker setup for it. Do you guys feel adding in another 5.1 speaker set of the same make/model to bring it up to 9.1 sound is really worth it? I can't turn it up really loud due to it being an apartment and I would have to either find stands or mount the speakers on the ceiling for the rear surround presence speakers.

Right now with what I have watched movie wise the 5.1 speaker setup does a great job and I am happy with it however I do tend to tinker and what not with my electronics.

Speakers are new enough that I wouldn't have to worry about any major sound quality differences between what I have and the addition of another set.

The speakers for reference are the Definitive Technology ProCinema 60 5.1CH Home Audio Speaker System. Nice compact system with actually decent sound.

I would love some real speakers but I am limited on space as it is an apartment. I used to have some old school floor speakers and I'll be honest I do miss them but for the good ones now I am looking at 300$+ per speaker.

Anyways any advice/suggestions is appreciated. Links for both current items are down below.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882325104
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882115341

I think that is a waste of money, pure and simple. You might be happy with just a 6.1 or 7.1 setup. Something behind you does add a noticeable impact, but the rest are subtle.

That is a bit if a mis-match you have there in terms of receiver and speakers. I think that receiver deserves much better speakers. Not saying those are horrible, but the receiver is definitely not home-theater-in-a-box class. Heck, at least get some towers on the front and a real sub.

Ok...just opinion here. I can't really support my claims...and I'm not saying those speakers are horrible (in fact, for HTIB speakers, they are probably very good). My point is get some real speakers before adding another set to go to 9.1.

I wonder if others will say I'm out to lunch on this?

HTH

I agree. You are much better off upgrading a set of speakers than you are adding another zone in the same room. Your receiver will not give you 9.1 sound anyway. You need a receiver that will give you front, front high, front wide, center, surround, back surround, and sub if you want a 9.1 sound.

Honestly, anything over 5.1 is an utter waste as there isn't a lot out there that can take advantage of 7.1 or 9.1 speakers movie wise.

If you do go the 7.1 route, many will tell you, and I agree, that you will have a better experience with doing front highs as opposed to rears. I added some ceiling speakers that are aimed at the listening position and it is awesome when there is PLZll content.

agent8 said:

If you do go the 7.1 route, many will tell you, and I agree, that you will have a better experience with doing front highs as opposed to rears. I added some ceiling speakers that are aimed at the listening position and it is awesome when there is PLZll content.

Click to expand...

I agree as well. Unless you have a dedicated room with a centered seating area, rear surrounds won't give much benefit. Front highs or wides will open up the sound stage.

Ok that is an idea. Yes the receiver is a 9.1 receiver btw. It also has the ability to bi-amp the front main speakers.

I do want better speakers but I am going to have to wait a bit on those as I am picky when it comes to floor stand speakers. I've seen some really nice ones on here though so I know there are nice ones out there.

I'll look at picking up a set of floor stand speakers to increase the system to 7.1 in the next few months.

Again thank you all for your suggestions and opinions.

Also, if you do go front highs,you don't have to timbre match/ voice match them with the others. Most of what goes on in those 2 channels is raindrops, falling debris, people cheering, ect, ect. Not sure about the size of your apartment but if it's to small, it may not be worth the effort.

Alright didn't know that. Yeah the 5.1 system does good for shows and movies. Not so well for music. IT isn't bad mind you but not what I am used to when it comes to music.

Music on blu-ray is wonderful on a 5.1 system (well, mine anyway). Check out a music blu-ray with a HD audiotrack. BLOW YOUR MIND. I agree that regular CDs aren't nearly as good....

Yeah, regular cds are mixed for 2 channels. When all 5 speakers are playing that signal, it tends to sound like crap. Most of the time, your center and rears have a limited frequency range so it's best to drive your 2 mains with everything since they usually have a full or full-er response to reproduce ur 20-20

Draugauth said:

I have the Yamaha RX-A2010BL receiver for my home theater. Right now I have a single 5.1 speaker setup for it. Do you guys feel adding in another 5.1 speaker set of the same make/model to bring it up to 9.1 sound is really worth it? I can't turn it up really loud due to it being an apartment and I would have to either find stands or mount the speakers on the ceiling for the rear surround presence speakers.

Right now with what I have watched movie wise the 5.1 speaker setup does a great job and I am happy with it however I do tend to tinker and what not with my electronics.

Speakers are new enough that I wouldn't have to worry about any major sound quality differences between what I have and the addition of another set.

The speakers for reference are the Definitive Technology ProCinema 60 5.1CH Home Audio Speaker System. Nice compact system with actually decent sound.

I would love some real speakers but I am limited on space as it is an apartment. I used to have some old school floor speakers and I'll be honest I do miss them but for the good ones now I am looking at 300$+ per speaker.

Anyways any advice/suggestions is appreciated. Links for both current items are down below.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882325104
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882115341

Click to expand...

No, I think 9.1, 11.2 etc is a waste of time unless you are in gigantic room with low quality speakers. If I were you I'd go back to getting those good floor standers, speakers need to be big. You can get good floor standers for $300 a pair, look into Polk Monitors or Fluance or Pioneer SP series

agent8 said:

Yeah, regular cds are mixed for 2 channels. When all 5 speakers are playing that signal, it tends to sound like crap. Most of the time, your center and rears have a limited frequency range so it's best to drive your 2 mains with everything since they usually have a full or full-er response to reproduce ur 20-20

Click to expand...

I agree. Unless you have a center and surrounds that go down below 80 Hz (say 50-60 Hz range) you'll get a lot of high, harsh sound at high volumes on "all channel stereo". Good "LARGE" centers and surrounds are usually expensive, but give you a rich full sound when playing "all channel stereo".

I use the two tower speakers and sub when sitting and listening to music, but I use "all channel stereo" when I am in the other room or outside. It fills the whole house with music. My center and surrounds have 6.5" drivers with 1" silk dome tweeters so they hit fairly low (-3dB is 55 Hz on both). I have them set to 55 Hz crossover in the AVR.

When I listed to 5.1 channel music, the difference is awe inspiring. Blu-ray or DVD music (uncompressed PCM) is a definite auditory experience on a good system.

If I am casually listening to music while I am doing something, I keep one of my subs on in zone 1 and turn my ceiling speakers on to take care of the mids and highs. If I am out side, I have porch speakers and I turn on the other sub that is closer and even though it is inside, it is still very effective for the low end.
If you do go for ceiling speakers, make sure that they are adjustable/aim-able or at least set at some angle towards your listening position. Since they will be doing your higher end sounds and humans can detect the direction of higher frequencies better, you don't want them just firing down.

(for 7.1 and music)
Yeah I think my next investment in it will be the floor speakers.


(If I go 9.1)
If I do mount the speakers on the ceiling it would be right over the couch but I am not sure how to keep the wires from looking fugly.

Any good suggestions on the floor speakers? Trying to keep the price for a pair to under 1,000$ if possible. Also they would have to come in black to work with my decor.

Also looking to put some fans on the TV stand to help keep the components cool. Any suggestions on controllers? I plan on using PC Fans to create the look I want.

Draugauth said:

Also looking to put some fans on the TV stand to help keep the components cool. Any suggestions on controllers? I plan on using PC Fans to create the look I want.

Click to expand...

Coolerguys have a great programmable LED thermal controller that has four 3-pin fan plugs. You can get it and the AC-DC converter that plugs right in. Here are some links:

Coolerguys Programmable Thermal Fan Controller with LED Display

AC to DC Power Supply Molex Converter/Adapter (5000mA)

They have complete kits as well. I liked the dual 120mm a lot. Here's some picks of mine installed and a link to it as well:

Coolerguys Cabcool 1202-M - Remember to add the LED controller in the drop down option. Total price is 92 bucks.

I also installed an excellent piece of gear from Cooler Guys. They make a dual 120mm fan with an LED thermal controller that you can customize the on and off temps.

Very cool thank you for the links!

climber07 said:

I agree. Unless you have a center and surrounds that go down below 80 Hz (say 50-60 Hz range) you'll get a lot of high, harsh sound at high volumes on "all channel stereo". Good "LARGE" centers and surrounds are usually expensive, but give you a rich full sound when playing "all channel stereo".

Click to expand...

His receiver should let him set the center to small and you won't have that problem. I have a lower end RX-V667 and I can set the main, center, presence, and rear channel speaker size independantly. If he ran YPAO, most likely it set all of his speakers to small anyways....due to the inability of a 3.5" driver to get down low...

If is he is not getting "full" sound it's because the receiver is set to sub= no

I use 6x Yamaha NS-6490s along with 2X YST-SW215 and 1 NS-C125 and it sounds great for the price that I paid.

Here is the specs for the range on the speakers.

Center Speaker: 60 Hz – 30 kHz

Surround Speaker: 70 Hz – 30 kHz

Subwoofer: 23 Hz – 150 Hz

As others have mentioned, work on improving the 5.1 that you have then worry about adding into a 7.1/9.1 setup.

Timbre matching is key and if you are going to get new fronts you will also need a new center, your rears are not that important to timbre match but I still recommend it. I have heard of that setup that you have and youre right, its not bad at all and is surprising good for the size. However its still no match for big book shelfs or good towers.

If you have a grand to spend and you need the front three speakers replaced I always recommend Polk they sound fantastic and can be had for a lot less than other big box brands. If you want mid to higher end, I personally Love PSB (Image series) and Paradigm (monitor series). There are many others but the series I mentioned are their budget series but what you get is ONE helluva speaker. I have gone up to the Imagine series on PSB and SIgnature on the Paradigm. A lot of cash but well worth it.

TL/DR
Improve your fronts and center, check out Polk to keep price low and you will be thrilled you upgraded to great sound instead of adding more decent sound..

Good Luck

EDIT:
Check NewEgg for the Polk, they always have good deals going on. You can get Monitor 60s for like $150 a piece right now! With your 1k you could build out almost a whole new system and it would BLOW what you have out of the water!!!

Alright I'll start working on getting myself some Polk speakers.

The receivers YPAO should be able to balance the sound out for me automatically right? So I could get say 2 Polk Audio Monitor70 Series II Floorstanding Loudspeaker (Black) Each, bi-amp them and have the system balance them out with my current speakers until I can replace all of them correct?