Building New HI-FI HT sound system - Overclock.net

sonenelson · 05-20-09

EDIT: updating latest posts with tower plans

This is my Plan for a new HT sound system that is mostly used for music from my pc, then some video/tv and gaming.
I'm going for hi quality over volume.
Edit: after much deliberation my plan is changed I am going to be building all enclosures custom, I am still in the planning/designing stage, Looking for the best drivers, crossovers, and any good enclosure examples/diagrams

rough upgrade order - LR w/ phantom center, upa-7/receiver, 4.1 ,6.1, preamp, 7.1, extras

receiver -Sony 700w- receiver/preamp, motiva upa-7
center - n/a- custom center will be last built
LR- Infinity ref 6x9's- upgrade to custom towers
Surround LR-n/a- upgrade to/use infinity's then custom towers
Rear LR-sony's- upgrade to/use infinity's then custom towers
Sub- I have lots of experience making custom sub box's too loud for my apartment.

extras - add/upgrade, audio grade receptacle, power conditioner, cables, bananas, binding posts, etc.

This is what I'm starting with.

I'm going to refinish the infinity box's, remove carpet/ paint black, add feet.

Thanks, as always, +rep for any suggestions or good finds.

Edit: edited down some of my posts to keep things on the new topic of building custom towers and so any new reader can get through it faster.

Mikecdm · 05-20-09

Is there any reason that you want to do things in this particular order and do the speakers have to be towers? With a $200-300 budget, I'd say that you are asking for too much with towers. I feel that you would end up with a better quality, better sounding bookshelf speaker with that same budget.

I would have recommended this, as they are great sounding speakers for the price, but they exceed your budget and aren't black.

sonenelson · 05-20-09

It doesn't have to be in that order just what made sense to me at the time. I will go in what ever order I can find the best deals in.
Now that i think about it I am going to look into bookshelf speakers, I can always add/fabricate stands later.
And they don't have to be black but they can't be laminated I need real wood or plastic so I can paint or stain them and refinish them if they get damaged.

something thats at least half off I could spend an extra $100 on.

Edit: these av123 monitors look good but i want to spend a little more on a pair.
http://www.av123.com//index.php?page...mart&Itemid=37

grossebeaver · 05-20-09

Have you tried finding something on audiogon? Sometimes you can find some really good deal for your pricerange.

Mikecdm · 05-20-09

Quote:

Originally Posted by sonenelson

It doesn't have to be in that order just what made sense to me at the time. I will go in what ever order I can find the best deals in.
Now that i think about it I am going to look into bookshelf speakers, I can always add/fabricate stands later.
And they don't have to be black but they can't be laminated I need real wood or plastic so I can paint or stain them and refinish them if they get damaged.

something thats at least half off I could spend an extra $100 on.

Edit: these av123 monitors look good but i want to spend a little more on a pair.
http://www.av123.com//index.php?page...mart&Itemid=37

Those av123 speakers are normally $300 a pair and I have seen them plenty of times at full price. $175 seems like a really good deal on them. They will sound better than almost any $200-300 speaker out there.

The thing with buying deals only is that it might be hard to have a matching set of speakers. Ideally you would want all the speakers to be identical. Obviously that can be hard to achieve, so the next best thing is to have them all be from the same line and with identical drivers.

In my opinion, if I were wanting to rebuild a system going of what you have right now, I'd buy the best pair of front speakers that you can afford and use a phantom center. If you plan on later on buying some better speakers, then I'd get the best speakers that I can afford that would work well as surround speakers. Meaning that if you can only use bookshelf speakers as surrounds I'd buy the best bookshelf speaker. Since you mentioned that you'd even do towers for surrounds I'd just buy the best speaker that I can afford.

I can only assume that mixing those infinity 6x9's with anything else wouldn't sound to great. The tonal balance would be completely off. The same thing would apply if you were to buy a nice center and either use the sony's or the infinity's as your front left and right speakers. That's why I suggest using only the front speakers with no center. A good pair of speakers, with proper placement, should be able to give the impression that a center is being used.

If you have any questions in regards to the av123 speakers, Soloz would be the person to ask. He has experience with just about all of their speakers and knows a lot about audio.

sonenelson · 05-20-09

I agree about not mixing things up for optimum HI-FI audio, I was hoping to find a good brand/line and stick with that.

sonenelson · 05-21-09

so now after much research I may just buy the tools to build my own enclosures but I'm still unsure on some parts

I have not been able to find any HT amps or receivers rated at 2 ohms. does anyone know of a brand or source for something like this, the drivers I would want to use are 2ohm, so I need at least a 4ohm amp. I have no problem adding cooling fans/modifying my amp or receiver I always have AC+fans running anyway.

does anyway know or have a reference for why 6x9's are not used in HT systems? I couldn't find anything on google? just curious, I plan on using 6.5" drivers anyway.

Mikecdm · 05-21-09

I don't know of any HT receivers that are rated at 2ohms. Most if not all are rated at 8ohms. I also don't know of any amps rated at 2ohms. The lowest that I have seen are 4ohm and they are generally very expensive.

Do you plan on using car speakers for your project? Parts express sells raw drivers and so does madisound.

bobfig · 05-21-09

for the center i here that this is pritty good:
Polk Audio CS1

and these would be for the front and back's:
Polk Audio Monitor 40

i know u said all black, but i think it looks better wit that little bit of silver to give it that accent.

sonenelson · 05-21-09

If I give up and put off buying/building a true HI-FI system I may give in and buy a set of polks off newegg or av123's but that's not likely.

I have a set of Focals and a 13.5" w7 in my car... sometimes I just go driving to listen to music. I would like something better then my cars setup so I don't have to waste gas just to get my audio fix.

@mikecdm I don't really plan on using car speakers but that is what I'm familiar with. I still can't find any home theater amps at 2 ohms, found some with 4 ohm ratings. I Know of lots of car amps at/below 2ohms my Xtant 1001 being one example.
But I'm sure I can find some good 4ohm drivers if it comes to that.

Also I noticed Soloz sig says please don't pm me general audio questions

... maybe because people give out his name as the person to ask(and he's the audio editor).

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Building New HI-FI HT sound system

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