Help setting up a small living room

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Weaksauce
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Jul 27, 2014
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Hi guys. Not particularly an audiophile, but I do have a question and I was wondering if you could help me navigate these waters. I don't know the first thing about audio or equipment, so these are fairly basic troubles.

I just moved in to a house that has 4 ceiling speakers in the ceiling of the living room. That same living room also has my Samsung Smart TV on the wall.

My plan is to buy two floor standing speakers to put beside the TV and hook up the four speakers in the ceiling to get a "fuller" sound, if there is such a thing.

I'd also like the receiver to have Bluetooth so that we can connect our phones to it and stream music from Spotify and such.

I'm not really interested in multi room features as I just want audio on that living room and, hopefully, the audio will extend to the dining room which is connected to with (without a wall in the middle).

How can I go about this? What specs do I need on the receiver?

Amazon has the Onkyo TX-NR626 7.2-Channel Network Audio/Video Receiver for $300 today, but I suspect it might be overkill for what I need.

Besides recommendations on the receiver, any recommendations on the floor standing speakers?

Thanks!
 
That onkyo is a good receiver and will go a long way.

As for speakers, if you are looking for floorstanding speakers that aren't expensive the Pioneer SP-FS52-LR are very good.

They sell them at brick and mortar stores so you can demo them if needed.

One thing you may want to check is the brand of the ceiling speakers. You want to match speaker timbre as close as possible to get a good soundstage.
 
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I would not consider that overkill, given the number of speakers you'd need 6.1 at the very least to include a subwoofer. 95 watts per channel on that receiver is sufficient, but many floorstanding speakers really shine upwards of 150. Unless you plan to buy separate amps for them, I would not go lower.

As for speakers, my personal recommendations are the Pioneer SP-FS52 (<100 each), BIC FT-6T (<150 each), Klipsch F-30 (<200 each), and the BIC PL-89 (~300 each). You can go much higher depending on how itchy your pocket is, but diminishing returns really sink in around the 200 mark.

Note that many of these have recessed-horn tweeters; if your existing speakers are dome you may want to consider the Pioneers or some Polk Audio instead.
 
Onkyo receivers are a waste of money IMHO. Cheap components that will break on you sooner than later. If you're going to get an Onkyo you better give it really good cooling.
 
The wife and I have been wanting to upgrade the sound we have for our HTPC -- currently just a set old Logitech 5.1s, the work, but as a musician the sound is... well, flat. I have been doing research and you all backed up the Pioneer gear being a great bang for the buck. I had the Pioneer SP-FS52's in my 'wish list', along with some Polks's that I liked.

Yesterday Amazon had the Pioneer loudspeakers for damn near half off. The Pioneer SP-FS52's were $60.00! Well, this was a good time as any - The entire Pioneer loudspeaker set up was $230.00. I pulled the trigger on:
Pair of SP-FS52 for the mains
Center SP-C22
Surrounds SP-BS22-LR
Sub - SW-8MK2

The Pioneer VSX-824 was $250 - so I snagged it as well as it has had great reviews and 99% of the features I have been looking for. We don't have a huge living room and this will provide us with great sound for the space we have. Music will be much much better too :) I was a little worried bout the 8" sub, but the research and reviews that I found calmed my fears about needing at least a 12".

We hadn't planned to upgrade until early next year, but the prices were fantastic and we had the funds saved up enough to get it all, plus wiring and stands for the surrounds. Pretty spiffy.

Thanks for the confirmation on the Pioneer gear!
 
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