Help?

[chad.SQ 0]

I have been reading, but still don't understand. Is there a difference between home subwoofers and car subwoofers? Would i have a problem hooking up a Fi Q to a plate amp? And the speakers. Is it not possible to hook up lets say some JL ZR650-CSi speakers to a receiver. Would this not work?

[johnecon2001 82]

As long as the impedance is within the receivers operating range, there's no reason they won't work in a HT application.

Are their better drivers more suited to home use? Yes, but those will work fine.

[JimJ 11]

Is it not possible to hook up lets say some JL ZR650-CSi speakers to a receiver. Would this not work?

It'd be helpful to know the T/S parameters of those speakers, however, so you could build cabinets that would work with them, instead of just randomly throwing them into whatever size box fits.

Would i have a problem hooking up a Fi Q to a plate amp?

Not at all.

[Robert_J 0]

And the speakers. Is it not possible to hook up lets say some JL ZR650-CSi speakers to a receiver. Would this not work?

As mentioned earlier, the sub is the easy part. Most plate amps are rated into 4 ohms. That is not the case for receivers though. Where 8 ohm speakers are the norm, some of the higher end receivers will drive a 6 ohm and even a 4 ohm load. Some will list that in their specs but it is usually found out via trial and error. So I will answer with a "Maybe".

Will it sound good, probably not. Car speakers are designed to play in doors and most of the time you are not on-axis with the tweeters. A properly set up home theater will have the tweeters exactly at ear level (mine are). This will make your car speakers sound overly harsh. A good home theater speaker crossover is built around the enclosure as well as the speakers. Since car audio mids are usually mounted in the door, the crossover is tweaked for that mounting arrangement. In a tower speaker, the mids will be weak. Couple that with harsh tweeters and that doesn't make a good combination.

-Robert

[chad.SQ 0]

Okay, that makes sense. The JL speakers I was looking at were 4 ohms, when many receivers I have seen are at 8. Then subwoofer wise, I think I understand. Ive read some people being satisfied with a Dayton 1000 watt plate amp, so I went to the Dayton site and there it was, does anyone have a negative towards that amp? And for the receiver, I am lost. I currently have a Sony powering my home system, but I do know that Sony may be a P.O.S. compared to some of the brands this forum may know. I'de like to keep it under 300 if possible. 5.1 too, I dont need 7 speakers... And for the speakers, the only audio that I have any idea about whats good is car audio. Home audio I am LOST. Can anyone direct me to any home audio speakers that they have good luck with? I listen to both alternative and rap.

[///M5 2,833]

It will all start with your budget.

I'd add one other thing, the crossovers that come with car audio gear are typically way underbuilt. A good set of home speakers will regularly have as much money in crossover components as the drivers themselves.

[chad.SQ 0]

It will all start with your budget.

I'd add one other thing, the crossovers that come with car audio gear are typically way underbuilt. A good set of home speakers will regularly have as much money in crossover components as the drivers themselves.

Ok. Budget. The receiver is going to be 200. And I plan on having 4 speakers. To be honest I dont want to spend more than 800 for those 4 speakers. I dont know if that is a lot or not enough for tweaters and mids, but idk. If i go over the 1000 mark for just the speakers then I give up. I know the subwoofer alone is going to cost 700, but that comes last. Im just focusing on the speakers

Edited June 30, 2008 by chad

[Robert_J 0]

It will all start with your budget.

I'd add one other thing, the crossovers that come with car audio gear are typically way underbuilt. A good set of home speakers will regularly have as much money in crossover components as the drivers themselves.

Ok. Budget. The receiver is going to be 200. And I plan on having 4 speakers. To be honest I dont want to spend more than 800 for those 4 speakers. I dont know if that is a lot or not enough for tweaters and mids, but idk. If i go over the 1000 mark for just the speakers then I give up. I know the subwoofer alone is going to cost 700, but that comes last. Im just focusing on the speakers

Why four speakers when you want 5.1 audio? Here's a nice 5.0 setup from SVS - http://www.svsound.com/products-spks-sbs01.cfm

As much as it will pain others on this forum, the ED home speakers get good reviews.

And finally check out AV123.com . They have speakers that will fit any budget as well as excellent customer service (SVS is no customer service slouch either).

-Robert

[Robert_J 0]

And for receivers, look for something with automatic calibration. With the Pioneer receivers, it is called MCACC. You can spend thousands on a setup and it will still sound like crap if it is not set up correctly. Since you are new to the game, the auto set up receivers aren't perfect but they are much better than no calibration at all.

-Robert

[///M5 2,833]

Personally I'd re-arrange your budget a bit and for two reasons.

One, I think you are personally putting way too much into a sub considering what you are putting into the other speakers. On the other hand if your budget for speakers is in the $1k and under range, my preference would be to only buy two speakers and forego the other channels.

[chad.SQ 0]

I said the subwoofer comes last. I first want to get those speakers going. 800 for speakers isnt enough? How much should I add?

Edited June 30, 2008 by chad

[chad.SQ 0]

Has anyone ever tried Morel tweaters/woofers?

[///M5 2,833]

I said the subwoofer comes last. I first want to get those speakers going. 800 for speakers isnt enough? How much should I add?

It isn't that it isn't enough, just in the budget range you are in I'd personally spend the money on 2 instead of 4.

The other comment was that the budget seems lopsided, 90% of the sound+ comes from the speakers so having a budget of $700 for the sub and $800 for the speakers seems odd to me.

Actually if I were you and had only $1500 I wouldn't get a sub at all and instead spend it all on 2 speakers.

[chad.SQ 0]

Yea that is true M5. Ill be honest, I am not looking for top notch quality. I know that you get what you pay for. I guess for my dorm I wanted to have surround sound. I know that many people just get 2 channel if they are going to be listening to music. But I like the 4 speaker surround sound. And I do expect to watch a few movies. So yea thats my thinking. Is there no way that I can piece together some tweaters and woofers and expect done decent sound from 800 dollars?

[JimJ 11]

I'd skip the whole multiple-speakers thing unless you're actually going with 5.1 surround, which really isn't going to work well in a dorm. Unless you can convince the roommate to put speakers and wires running everywhere, and do it in a way that's not obtrusive.

$800 for two speakers is a very workable budget, that would put you in the range of some nice used speakers or a DIY project using some very good components. For amplification, I'd prefer something older, late '70s integrated amps are a heck of a value for two channel use, especially if you don't listen to broadcast radio. I'm not a fan of modern receivers, by and large.

[dem beats 1,223]

I'd skip the whole multiple-speakers thing unless you're actually going with 5.1 surround, which really isn't going to work well in a dorm. Unless you can convince the roommate to put speakers and wires running everywhere, and do it in a way that's not obtrusive.

$800 for two speakers is a very workable budget, that would put you in the range of some nice used speakers or a DIY project using some very good components. For amplification, I'd prefer something older, late '70s integrated amps are a heck of a value for two channel use, especially if you don't listen to broadcast radio. I'm not a fan of modern receivers, by and large.

x2

[MikeS 0]

Yea that is true M5. Ill be honest, I am not looking for top notch quality. I know that you get what you pay for. I guess for my dorm I wanted to have surround sound. I know that many people just get 2 channel if they are going to be listening to music. But I like the 4 speaker surround sound. And I do expect to watch a few movies. So yea thats my thinking. Is there no way that I can piece together some tweaters and woofers and expect done decent sound from 800 dollars?

Yep, you get what you pay for.

If you really want 4 speaker surround sound, then the options listed from SVS and the other links listed by RobertJ would be great options.

But IMO, you end up with four little bookshelf speakers. I'm not knocking SVS by no means, they make excellent product at reasonable prices. And excellent customer service to boot.

I have a pair of SVS 16/46 CS series, they served me well for the last 6-7 years.

Do you plan on watching movies more than listening to music? If you'll listen to music more often in this situation, why not build or buy a nice pair of floor standing mains that can get down to 45-40Hz or so?

Lash up whatever subwoofer or plate amplifier from 45Hz down.

A nice good quality 2 or 3 way pair of loudspeakers with good tonal balance will sound better with a mediocre solid state amplifier, than say a pair of cheap assed loudspeakers with no matter what you power them with.

Get a good pair of mains and go from there. There is no shortage of AV receivers on CL.....and even vintage integrated amplifiers, which are more designed for two channel music listening of course.

Don't just buy any vintage integrated amp, do a little research first.

A audio friend down in NV, missed out on 5 Marantz THX amplifiers a week ago at a high school yardsale thing....he went back this last weekend and picked them up for 250 bucks. He did good there.

AV receivers are more catered to processing features, which is required for HT application of course. But they take shortcuts in power supply design, and are a bit generous in their power ratings.

You got 5 amplifier circuits in one chassis, powered from a compromised power supply circuit. The cheaper the AV receiver, the worse it is. $1500-2000 would probably the starting range for a good high quality, well designed AV receiver with good rated power.

But those cheap mains will still sound like cheap mains, even with a $2000 AV receiver.

That's my opinion, your mileage may vary......

[///M5 2,833]

One other thing, surround sound is pretty much a joke. IMO first you buy the front two speakers, then the center channel, and then you think about rears. You could really get by with some really cheap rears for "effects" and be okay, but if you have no center then you have no surround. Hell in movies 70%+ of the sound comes from the center channel. In music NOTHING comes from the center or rears though, so it is all about your preferences. With your budget I really, really think you would be nuts to get surround sound. IMO if you do it is only to say you have it as there is no acoustic benefit and many things that make it worse, of course the major one being that your front two speakers will be mediocre at best.

[chad.SQ 0]

Ok M5. You convinced me. 2 speakers. And yes I do want to piece it together myself (DIY). But I dont know where to start. Ive seen some QSC 2 channel amps and thought they were nice, but I honestly dont know what to look for. Where should I start? This is for everyone on this forum, everyones advice will be appreciated.

[Robert_J 0]

One other thing, surround sound is pretty much a joke.

I will have to disagree with your opinion. My system is used mainly for high def TV and movies. I use Dolby Digital surround on almost everything I watch. It all depends on your goals.

if you have no center then you have no surround. Hell in movies 70%+ of the sound comes from the center channel.

If you have no center channel your receiver will have a 'phantom center' mode. Some people like that mode rather than using a real center channel. But if you are going to use a center, make sure it is timbre matched to the mains.

In music NOTHING comes from the center or rears though, so it is all about your preferences.

I have a LOT of concert DVDs that are in full surround sound. DVD-A and SACD also have discs that are in full surround sound.

-Robert

[chad.SQ 0]

Yea. But with the money I have now I don't want to go all out on nothing. If 800 is a workable budget for 2 speakers, then hey, then those 2 speakers is what I should start with. And I do have 2 bookshelf KEF Q Series speakers so if I really wanted to, I could have surround, and a phantom center.

Edited July 2, 2008 by chad