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$400 speaker set up

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dizolit

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 13, 2010
Messages
222
Right now I am currently using:

Logitech z-560 speakers
Grado sr125 headphones
EVGA P55 FTW onboard sound

I've been considering moving up to big boy speakers. What is a good set up (receiver + speakers) for $400? I've also got an onkyo sr600 (http://www.onkyousa.com/model.cfm?class=Systems&m=HT-SR600&p=i) in the living room right now. Should I consider moving my living room speaker system to my computer and getting a better system for the living room?
 
I would get a decent receiver with DTS-Master/Dolby Digital HD. The "real" entry level ones use spring clips for surrounds/zone B (yes, even today)...terrible, make sure you ones with banana plugs all around.

I would look to put in a good chunk into the receiver and start off with used speakers...there are some great deals. For example:

http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_tr...ston+acoustics+cr67&_sacat=See-All-Categories

Throw an offer for the Boston Acoustics CR67...they were discontinued in 2005 when BA went for more wife-friendly speakers, but go to any major AV forum and they will rave about the kortec tweeter--detail of metal tweeter while still maintaining the smoothness of soft-domes. Asside from the VR series...the CR67 is probably the best BA ever made and certainly better than anything you can find today at $400/pr or less...I love my Ascend CBM-170SEs ($328/pr) but I know they don't compare to the CR67s...

I say go used because...it's hard to get decent speakers + receiver for $400...in 2005 maybe...but nominal prices have gone up like 40% since then lol...money isn't worth what it used to be...I would recommend WAF-1 bookshelf speakers but they run $230 new; hard to squeeze in a decent receiver as well.
 
astrallite said:
I would get a decent receiver with DTS-Master/Dolby Digital HD. The "real" entry level ones use spring clips for surrounds/zone B (yes, even today)...terrible, make sure you ones with banana plugs all around.

I would look to put in a good chunk into the receiver and start off with used speakers...there are some great deals. For example:

http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_tr...ston+acoustics+cr67&_sacat=See-All-Categories

Throw an offer for the Boston Acoustics CR67...they were discontinued in 2005 when BA went for more wife-friendly speakers, but go to any major AV forum and they will rave about the kortec tweeter--detail of metal tweeter while still maintaining the smoothness of soft-domes. Asside from the VR series...the CR67 is probably the best BA ever made and certainly better than anything you can find today at $400/pr or less...I love my Ascend CBM-170SEs ($328/pr) but I know they don't compare to the CR67s...

I say go used because...it's hard to get decent speakers + receiver for $400...in 2005 maybe...but nominal prices have gone up like 40% since then lol...money isn't worth what it used to be...I would recommend WAF-1 bookshelf speakers but they run $230 new; hard to squeeze in a decent receiver as well.
Click to expand...

Hmm I see your point. Seems like all the decent receivers would eat up most of the $400, nevermind the speakers/sub.

How about the Logitech z-5500? Would that be a decent upgrade from the z-560s? I don't really want to just build up slowly from 2 bookshelf speakers because a) I don't have room for them, eyefinity pretty much takes up all of my desk space and b) I prefer to listen to music with my Grados. Tigerdirect has the z-5500 for 280 + ~25ish for shipping right now. Weirdly, when you sign in to bing cashback the price jumps up to 380.

I'm really just looking for a better surround sound set up over my current 4.1 for gaming and the digital input to the "receiver" so that the headphones don't suffer all the interference from inside the case. I have the headphones hooked up to the front headphone jack of my case right now so I imagine there is quite a lot, since I notice a slight hiss depending on the volume.

What is your opinion on moving the sr600 htib system from my living room to my computer. That way I will make use of spdif from the mobo to the receiver and hopefully have much less interference, relative to using the front headphone jack on my case. Though I don't know if that will be true considering it is a pretty cheap receiver. Also, I will be upgrading to a 5.1 from a 4.1 if I go this route. I'd be a little more inclined to put more money into a better living room set up than a computer set up where I use headphones most of the time.

My computer is hooked up to my living room set up from my room via a very long hdmi and digital coaxial cable BTW. I switch between my eyefinity set up and living room set up by walking outside and changing the TV input, then using a wireless keyboard and mouse I keep next to the TV to change audio settings/put on the movie/etc. I also don't watch movies that often in the living room.

Lastly, these popped up on craigslist yesterday http://slo.craigslist.org/ele/1732955246.html . No model number or anything, just that they are Sony and look they would be pretty sweet in my living room. Anyone recognize them or know if they're a good deal?
 
Go on eBay and bid a decent speaker along with a receiver.

For 400 bucks you will get a LOT more than those Logitechs.
 
The drivers on the Z-560s and the Z-5500s are the same...it's just the satellites are worse on the Z-5500s; the enclosure was made to look cooler but ended up being a lot more sonically compromised.
 
dizolit said:
How about this? http://www.shoponkyo.com/detail.cfm?productid=TX-SR507&modelid=45&group_id=1&detail=1&ext_war=1 I can get it for ~$214ish shipped after club onkyo points. They also offer a 2-year warranty for $40.



Any suggestions for specific models on 5.1 speakers/sub so I can look them up on ebay?
Click to expand...

For your budget, you can start with new speakers at thespeakercompany.com
I haven't used them but alot of people here suggest them.

nvm looks like they're out of business, check craigslist locally for decent names, paradigm, jbl, energy(some decent speakers out of them for the price. I'm sure someone will be able to drop a few more brands.
I'd probably start with an upgraded set of fronts, then get a matching center. use your existing sats for rears for now, until you can afford something better.

Ooooooh, great thing for you to look at, thespeakercompany is liquidating on ebay =p
http://shop.ebay.com/matthewnj/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p4340
 
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