Thoughts on prospective home system

hawkfan · Post by **hawkfan** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 4:25 pm

I'm looking to build my first home audio system and want to get some other opinions. I want to be able to listen to CD's, FM radio, and I also want the ability to connect to my digital cable receiver whenever I watch videos or listen to the music channels. I want good sound quality but I also want to keep the cost reasonable. I had in mind the Onkyo 8522 receiver with 100x2 watts at 4 ohms, an Onkyo DVD/SACD player, and an MTM kit from Madisound or Partsexpress. Here are the links:

Speaker kits:
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl ... er=302-930
or:
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl ... er=302-940
or:
http://www.madisound.com/cgi-bin/index. ... 04&pid=523

Receiver:
http://www.onkyousa.com/model.cfm?m=TX- ... ceiver&p=i

DVD/SACD player:
http://www.onkyousa.com/model.cfm?m=DV- ... ss=DVD&p=i

Thoughts?

dcavaudio · Post by **dcavaudio** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 11:49 am

Are your thoughts is to have a stereo imaging only set up?

I would go with full range towers or keep your current choices and add a self-powered sub.

hawkfan · Post by **hawkfan** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 1:11 pm

dcavaudio wrote:Are your thoughts is to have a stereo imaging only set up?

I would go with full range towers or keep your current choices and add a self-powered sub.

Yes, I want stereo imaging. I'm not looking for surround sound here. I may add a sub later depending on whether I am satisified with the sound or not.

Post by **VW337** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 1:25 pm

If you are going for stereo imaging and using a powered sub look at this one-

http://www.madisound.com/cgi-bin/index. ... 04&pid=557

I also make this suggestion as well-

http://www.yamaha.com/yec/stereoreceive ... ID=5000600

hawkfan · Post by **hawkfan** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 4:34 pm

VW337 wrote:If you are going for stereo imaging and using a powered sub look at this one-

http://www.madisound.com/cgi-bin/index. ... 04&pid=557

I also make this suggestion as well-

http://www.yamaha.com/yec/stereoreceive ... ID=5000600

Won't the Vifa kit in my link provide good stereo sound? I liked the MTM setup. I hate to even say this, but the MTM's I listed fit the gaps in my entertainment console perfectly.

dcavaudio · Post by **dcavaudio** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 3:42 pm

Denon would be a good option.

Jamo, energy, Atlantic Technology are great book shelf speakers.

AAD has have a good speaker line as well.

You can always purchase the sub later. (I'm sure you will.)

goodluck in your purchase. Let me know if you need help in obtaining any of the brands above.

Hontzo_MD · Post by **Hontzo_MD** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 4:27 pm

B&W makes a killer sounding shelf speaker, stereo seperation and imaging is killer.

Post by **VW337** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 4:41 pm

hawkfan wrote:
VW337 wrote:If you are going for stereo imaging and using a powered sub look at this one-

http://www.madisound.com/cgi-bin/index. ... 04&pid=557

I also make this suggestion as well-

http://www.yamaha.com/yec/stereoreceive ... ID=5000600
Won't the Vifa kit in my link provide good stereo sound? I liked the MTM setup. I hate to even say this, but the MTM's I listed fit the gaps in my entertainment console perfectly.

The kit you listed has what I would consider a far lesser tweeter. The kit I listed comes with the witches tit dual consentrict ring tweeter which has phenomenal on axis response and directionality. The kit also includes a passive radiator which extends the low end response similar to a port but without the loading issues and possible vent noise. This is in fact the kit I will be going with when I personally upgrade from my current setup. Also Keep in mind this kit is designed for a studio application so it should have great near-field response.

Your MTM set would be better suited for A/V applications in a large room where the planar sound works better, also the low frequency is not so great until you step further away in most cases.

How big is the room that this application will be used in and how far will your listening area be from the speakers?

Post by **Francious70** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 4:55 pm

Notice how none of you asked what his budget is??

Mastiff · Post by **Mastiff** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 4:57 pm

Francious70 wrote:Notice how none of you asked what his budget is??

well maybe because we are all not poor like you are......oh wait i own a dub ...fuck now i'm poor.

Hontzo_MD · Post by **Hontzo_MD** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 5:54 pm

Mastiff wrote:
Francious70 wrote:Notice how none of you asked what his budget is??
well maybe because we are all not poor like you are......oh wait i own a dub ...fuck now i'm poor.

Me 2, and I saw the link for speaker kits and "assumed"

So.......um.....what kind of budget are you looking to spend?

hawkfan · Post by **hawkfan** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 7:23 pm

Hontzo_MD wrote:
Mastiff wrote:
Francious70 wrote:Notice how none of you asked what his budget is??
well maybe because we are all not poor like you are......oh wait i own a dub ...fuck now i'm poor.
Me 2, and I saw the link for speaker kits and "assumed"

So.......um.....what kind of budget are you looking to spend?

Man, this thread really picked up while I was away. Thanks for all of the responses. Well my budget is kinda flexible. Being that this is my first home audio system, I wanted to keep the cost reasonable and the setup simple. I considered finished speakers first, but the kits seemed to offer some quality parts for less. I can't see spending $1000 a tower or over a thousand for the DVD/CD/SACD and receiver combined(at this time). That's why I liked the Onkyo stuff. I still want good performance though and I feel the $1000-$2000 range should be more than enough to have a great home stereo system. I want it to be versatile and forgiving enough to play different genres of music though. I'm looking for a pretty standard 2-channel stereo setup here. I see that a lot of the hardcore stereophile stuff is waaayyyyyy out of my preferred price range, so I'm looking for a good compromise between performance and price.

hawkfan · Post by **hawkfan** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 7:43 pm

VW337 wrote:
hawkfan wrote:
VW337 wrote:If you are going for stereo imaging and using a powered sub look at this one-

http://www.madisound.com/cgi-bin/index. ... 04&pid=557

I also make this suggestion as well-

http://www.yamaha.com/yec/stereoreceive ... ID=5000600
Won't the Vifa kit in my link provide good stereo sound? I liked the MTM setup. I hate to even say this, but the MTM's I listed fit the gaps in my entertainment console perfectly.
The kit you listed has what I would consider a far lesser tweeter. The kit I listed comes with the witches tit dual consentrict ring tweeter which has phenomenal on axis response and directionality. The kit also includes a passive radiator which extends the low end response similar to a port but without the loading issues and possible vent noise. This is in fact the kit I will be going with when I personally upgrade from my current setup. Also Keep in mind this kit is designed for a studio application so it should have great near-field response.

Your MTM set would be better suited for A/V applications in a large room where the planar sound works better, also the low frequency is not so great until you step further away in most cases.

How big is the room that this application will be used in and how far will your listening area be from the speakers?

I guess I should have realized that the Vifa kit that I listed would be better for home theater. It is called the big A/V kit after all. I didn't even think about that when I linked to it. Man, I thought the fact that it had dual mids would have made the low frequency response better(car audio thought process). I didn't even notice that the kit you listed used a different tweeter, Lol! That shows how much I know about home audio right now. So you say the Vifa studio kit would be your choice? I guess the fact that it's called a studio kit indicates that it stays true to the source material? That's exactly what I'm looking for. It kinda looks like the D'Appolito system I saw in the Partsexpress catalog. The price is definitely right for what I'm trying to accomplish with this sytem. BTW, this is for a small-medium sized living room.

Post by **VW337** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 9:27 am

If you'll be within 5-8 feet of the speakers during typical listening then the near-field studio speakers are your best option.

hawkfan · Post by **hawkfan** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 9:41 am

Ok , I've narrowed my speaker choices down a little. Here they are:

http://www.partsexpress.com/projectshow ... /index.cfm

http://www.madisound.com/cgi-bin/index. ... 85&pid=557

http://www.madisound.com/cgi-bin/index. ... %%&pid=458

http://www.madisound.com/cgi-bin/index. ... %%&pid=464

http://www.madisound.com/cgi-bin/index. ... 85&pid=461

Obviously, the last two Seas MTM kits are there if I decide to splurge. If the price is justified, I could see grabbing a pair of these. But I would only be powering them with 100wrms per channel. I don't know if that's enough. I would also have to pay extra for shielded drivers. The TM kits are more reasonably priced and seem to be high quality. Let me know your opinions.

Post by **VW337** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 11:10 am

The Cygnet kit was my second option when I was debating I decided to use the kit I suggested previously it has the better tweeter and will be matched with a sub anyway so the minor gain on the low end is not needed.

thoraudio · Post by **thoraudio** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 11:14 am

I'd also check out the Exodus Audio kits from Kyle at Acoustic Visions.

http://www.acoustic-visions.com/~acoust ... lete_kits/