I have no idea what I'm doing, please assist with my audio build

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Hyper_Psycho

2[H]4U
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Mar 26, 2002
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Hey everyone,

I have been using these ancient cambridge soundworks speakers for the past 7 years. Today, the subwoofer died and I'm ready to upgrade.

I live in a condo, so I have to be respective of my neighbors, and therefore I don't need anything super bassy for my setup.

I have my computer hooked up to the TV and I Hulu/NetFlix/Prime all of my movies/shows. I do listen to my music and stuff on Spotify. If I am trying to keep my budget under $1000, what would be a good setup. Would it make sense to get a good receiver, and then upgrade the speakers when I move out? Should I do the opposite and invest in good speakers and a so-so receiver?

I was thinking of the following setup:

ONKYO TX-NR509 5.1-Channel Network A/V Receiver
Item #: N82E16882120176 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882120176

Polk Audio PSW Series PSW505 12" Powered Subwoofer Each
Item #: N82E16882290130 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882290130

Polk Audio Monitor70 Series II Floorstanding Loudspeaker (Black) Each
Item #: N82E16882290208 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882290208

Polk Audio CS1 Series II Center Channel Speaker (Black) Each
Item #: N82E16882290210 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882290210

As of 8/8 it came to: $934.95

I also understand that I need different cables to the subwoofer and the speakers? Any gold plated monster wannabe stuff to look out there for, or should I just go with whatever Amazon is selling like hotcakes?
 
Search on avsforum.com, and post there - you'll get a lot more responses.
 
Hyper_Psycho said:
I live in a condo, so I have to be respective of my neighbors, and therefore I don't need anything super bassy for my setup.
Click to expand...


Might as well leave the subwoofer off. You won't be able to turn it on without annoying everybody connected to your building.
 
Verge said:
Might as well leave the subwoofer off. You won't be able to turn it on without annoying everybody connected to your building.
Click to expand...

:confused:

That is the case with a lesser sub that exhibits a peaky response and high THD, but a good sub with fairly linear response and proper tuning is going to provide clean sound at even low volumes.

For the price, the PSW505 is considered pretty good, but I'd invest in something like this

http://www.amazon.com/Auralex-Subwo...0OZ0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1312905618&sr=8-1

to reduce structural vibration.

You could even scale back to Monitor 60s and invest in a higher quality sub if you were so inclined. The Monitor 70s make quite a bit of sound themselves.

There is a $42 promo code on the 60s, too.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882290207
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Receiver technology changes every year these days. Speakers, meanwhile, can sound great for many years and even decades if taken care of. Definitely put most of the money into speakers if you are planning to upgrade down the line. Speakers also make the greatest difference in sound quality.

As for the speakers you have chosen, Polks are almost always great for the price, especially the Monitor line. Another option that caught my eye recently ($400 sans subwoofer): http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/item/accessories/544012176

For cabling, you want to use a 75Ohm RCA cable for the subwoofer and 12 gauge speaker wire for the LCR and surrounds. (Generally speaking, you should be fine with 12/14 gauge for the LCR and 14/16 gauge for the surrounds, but if you have long runs of cable, 10s of feet, etc., then I would go for the 12 gauge all around, and I usually use reasonably priced 12 gauge for everything regardless.)

The brand of the cable doesn't really matter so long as it is well made. Two good places for well made, well shielded (including for in-wall use), cables are monoprice and blue jeans cable.

Definitely get a subwoofer isolation pad if your subwoofer does not have floor spikes. This, coupled with keeping the subwoofer away from walls and especially corners, will lessen the impact on your neighbors.

Some other thoughts on subwoofers in condos:

Subwoofers not only improve the quantity of bass, but they also greatly improve the quality of the bass, even at relatively low volumes. (High tech wizardry aside, larger cones move more air with less movement than required by smaller cones to create the same bass, decreasing distortion.)

So even if you have the subwoofer set to a relatively low volume, you will still hear benefits in the bass response.

Another benefit of having a subwoofer is that you can control the volume of the low frequencies independently of the mid and high frequencies. This is done by setting a crossover for the subwoofer via your receiver such that frequencies below, say, 80Hz, are sent to the subwoofer and not the LCR or surround speakers.

The sound will not have the same impact with the subwoofer on low and the other speakers set at a higher volume, but at least you will be able to hear dialogue and detail which you might miss out on by having the whole system set to a low volume. (Your towers may not be able to go down to 30Hz, but they can still quite easily annoy the heck out of your neighbors at night; not sending low frequencies to the towers will lessen this.) You may also then increase the subwoofers volume during afternoon hours, etc..
 
Thanks on the replies guys. I've learned some darn good stuff here.

One quick question, is there an inexpensive receiver that does not have any fancy features, but just allows me to plug my computer to 5.1 surround and has an HDMI cable to the TV. Something really simple as I don't need networking, pandora, app support or any of that sort of thing.

Thanks!
 
You could try checking out some of the lower-end Denon offerings. I had a bad experience with my old Onkyo SR-606 (HDMI switching like everyone else with that receiver...), so when I couldn't take it anymore, I ended up going with a Denon AVR-791, which is basically a 1911. You can see the comparisons and some feature info on avsforum here. The 3-digit models are essentially the same as the 4-digit models, except for a few very minor things that the majority of people won't take advantage of. You can just look at whichever is cheaper.

It looks like the 591 is ~$300 now, the 791 is ~$325. They also have a lower model (the 391) that can be had for around $200, but is extremely basic, and may or may not be what you're looking for. Read through the first couple posts on that thread and it should answer your questions on that.

As for the sub/speakers thing, I have one of the Klipsch 10" 400w subs. In my last apartment, I didn't have neighbors, so I actually could use it. I'm now in a townhome...I have the gain on the sub set to notch 3 of 25, and it's turned to -10db on the receiver. If you share a wall, save your money.

The Polk monitor series are excellent entry-level speakers. I currently have two monitor 60s in my 2.1 setup. I've been very happy with them. For $107 each after promo code (linked by LeninGHOLA), they're a steal.
 
I have a setup of:

(cherry color)
2x Polk Monitor 60 (Left/Right)
1x Polk CS2 (Center)
2x Polk Monitor 40 (Surround Left/Surround Right, they come in pairs)
1x Onkyo HTIB subwoofer (it's 10" I believe offhand)
Onkyo HT-R340 receiver (from the same HTIB, it's roughly equivalent internally to an Onkyo 504)

I ran some monoprice audio cable cut to length and manually stripped to all of the speakers, and frankly, the audio is REALLY good. I did a lot of reading both pre-and-post purchase to try to find out if the Monitor 70's would have been worth the extra cash, and found many tests came to the conclusion that the 60's + a sub are better than the 70's + a sub due to having more mid-range (3 woofers on the 60's vs. 2 on the 70's). I have the cross-over set to 80hz and have owned the setup for ~3.5 years now.

You may be wondering how this relates to your purchasing interest.... well, let me tie it all together.

A) The receiver is not as critical as the speakers by a long shot.
B) You'll get a better value out of the 60's + a sub, cs2 center (the channel has better lows than the cs1, timbre matches), and something like monitor 40's (they're sold as pairs) for your surrounds.
C) You don't need to invest as much in your surrounds as your left/right and sub... they really don't, for virtually all content, provide essential effects and you'll have better overall quality by far putting extra money into the fronts/etc. than going all-out on every channel equally.
D) Your sub doesn't have to be amazing... get something like a PSW10 or around the $100-150 range from other manufacturers, and forget about it.
E) I paid $540 for my Polk components. The receiver and sub were carried over from an Onkyo HTIB that cost me around $150. Until you're driving higher-end stuff, you really won't need to invest more than $200-230 into a receiver, and 100-130 into a sub (and even that's probably pushing it). In short you won't need to spend $900+ on your setup to get great sound.

As far as my own audio experiences, I have listened to and auditioned many price ranges in controlled settings with proper source material including familiar music and blu's at local HT shops and a few sets in my own home. Pricing on ones I have tried included $200 htib's, a few sets around $1k total (negligible difference if any, from my current one at home), $3-4k sets, and finally I ended up getting an audition for a set of $20k/pair speakers (which sounded indescribably pure).

Long and the short of it is... you're going to get 90% of the quality for 1/5-1/7 of the price going with a setup like mine or even what you're looking at. Still, you wouldn't sacrifice much quality at all going for my suggestions, even though you'd save a good bit of cash. Yes, multi-thousand dollar setups ARE indeed superior, however, I knew most of what to listen for (not an audiophile but I've read up as well as had guidance by a friend in the past who is) and really couldn't tell for the most part.

Bottom line, unless you are well beyond a discerning listener, you aren't going to benefit from a high-end setup (which also typically requires a good volume level to really bring out the tones). I'd describe myself as a "discerning" listener, and despite having the capability to get a higher-end set, I just don't see it as worth it. For an average listener without gifted hearing, you're not even going to notice the differences past around $1k.

Anyway, I just wanted to qualify my recommendations. That ended up a little bit longer than I meant for it to, but hopefully it's a good enough read ;)!
 
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