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Help me piece together entry Level home audio

post #1 of 5
11/29/11 at 10:14am
Thread Starter 
I know absolutely nothing about home audio, and I am clearly not an audiophile, so feel free to school me gentlemen.

First question:
I have a Harmon Kardon AVR 5 receiver in my garage basically gathering dust, and I thought that it would work nicely as a basis for my audio setup.

What I'm looking for is some stuff to add to my Christmas wish list, so these would be items that I am comfortable with family purchasing for me as a gift, I.E. not overly expensive.

I'm thinking a 3.0 setup to start, after doing some reading this seems like the best way to go, as I can always get some nice floor-standing speakers and migrate my L/R front's to use as rear surrounds after the fact.

Basically I am looking @ these Daytons for L/R fronts and this Dayton Audio 3 way center channel

I appreciate a smaller form factor and black color scheme.

Any suggestions, comments, criticisms welcomed and rep for help of course!
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post #2 of 5
11/29/11 at 10:54am
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Well, it would be nice to know your budget. "Entry Level" is different for everyone. My first audio system stepped up from cheapo Creative speakers was over two grand, and that was the lowest cost bracket my dealer recommended to me.

While you are thinking about cost, it might be nice to go see a live audio dealer in your area and talk with them. Many will work with you at all price ranges and very often they are very passionate about audio and are a wonderful place to start your venture into quality sound, even if you don't buy from them.
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post #3 of 5
11/29/11 at 11:02am
Entry level for $2000? Lol yea if he goes to an audio dealer he will want you to dish out that much.

You have a decent receiver. I would actually get a 2.1 setup over a 3.0.

I have heard some positive reviews of those Daytons as well as Best Buy's Insignia bookshelfs which used to be cheap assuming you are trying to stay around $100 or so. I really do think you should grab Dayton's sub-8 or sub-10 to go with the bookshelfs.

I have a set of Athen AS-B1 speakers and they are really great. That is a steal for a cosmetic issue.

Polk Monitor 30 are really good for cheap and you can build on that in the future.

Whatever you get, I do suggest that you make sure they have floorstanding or center channel brothers that way when you move them to the surrounds, you still get timbre matched sound all around.
Edited by Wildcard36qs - 11/29/11 at 11:32am
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post #4 of 5
11/29/11 at 1:03pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff78 View Post

Well, it would be nice to know your budget. "Entry Level" is different for everyone. My first audio system stepped up from cheapo Creative speakers was over two grand, and that was the lowest cost bracket my dealer recommended to me.
While you are thinking about cost, it might be nice to go see a live audio dealer in your area and talk with them. Many will work with you at all price ranges and very often they are very passionate about audio and are a wonderful place to start your venture into quality sound, even if you don't buy from them.

I dont have a specific budget, though I did show items I'm looking @ and those add up to ~$100. Again these are going on a Christmas list for family members.

Really this is just to flesh out a wish list, make use of something I have laying around, and upgrade from the speakers on the TV. I dont expect earth shattering results. Thanks again for your input guys.
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post #5 of 5
11/29/11 at 8:24pm
You can get the same speakers for less here: http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=300-652

(Dayton is a partsexpress brand, that's where those speakers originate anyways).

Those speakers are a very good value in their price class. As eventual rear channel units they would be plenty good for most peoples listening demands. For front channel speakers they would either need to be supplemented by a sub-woofer or the listener should just get used to the fact that there won't really be any low end bass. Either a 3.0 or 2.1 system starting point would be pretty good IMO. Just depents on your initial desires.

Eric
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