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Budding Audiophile Seeks Speaker Guidance

Hello and thank you for taking the time to read this thread. I am new to the world of quality home theater audio and am currently trying to decide on a speaker brand. I have demoed several brands so far and, thankfully, have been able to rule a few out. I have spent many weeks learning what I can on my own, but am now at the point where I need the advice of more experienced audiophiles to guide me.

I have a 12x12 living room with a 54" Panasonic VT25. The system will be used for somewhere around 70% movies and 30% music. Movies are my primary concern, but I would like for it to sound good on music as well. After all, the music in film soundtracks is an essential element of the viewing experience. The system will start as a 5.1, due to limited space at this time, but will eventually become a 7.1 when we move in a few months. I will have a separate, powered sub, and have not determined which brand it will be yet, although I'm looking at the $500 price range for it. Additionally, again, due to space limitations, I will need to go with bookshelf speakers for the fronts. As for the two rear channels, my couch is up against the wall in the back of the room and really cannot be moved, so I'm unsure of the speaker type and placement that I should go with. Everything will be powered by the Onkyo 3008.

From Magnolia's offerings, I was able to narrow things down to B&W and MartinLogan. As for the B&W, I listened to the 685B fronts with an HTM61B center channel. For the MartinLogans, I listened to the Motion 4s in front with a Motion 8 center channel. My findings may give you an idea of my personal preference and help you steer me in the right direction. I found the B&W to give a pretty good sound, with dialogue quality being its high point for me. The dialogue was clear, though just a little unnatural-sounding. As for the MartinLogans, the dialogue was good, but not as clear as the B&W. Dialogue clarity is very important to me because, due to a minor hearing problem, I sometimes have trouble understanding the occasional word or words when there is an ambient sound of some sort playing at the same time.

The MartinLogans actually offered something important to me as well, which was emphasized during a particular sound effect. The demo being used was Tron: Legacy, and there is a part in the first bike scene when one bike jumps over the other in slow motion. With the B&Ws, I heard the sound of the bike, and it was fine. With the MartinLogans, however, I could not only hear the sound as part of the film, I could "feel" it, as if the bike actually was nearby. It was a very natural sound for a bike, though, and not overdone at all.

What I really need is the best of both worlds here--a system that will give me very natural and clear dialogue, as well as giving me a balanced and as-intended punch on sound effects that call for it. I would like to stress that, just as I'm not interested in anything underdone or overly-restrained, I also don't want anything overdone or unnatural. Budget-wise, I'm looking to stay in the range of the aforementioned speakers, so basically around $1500 total for the fronts, center, and two surrounds. I could probably manage just a bit more if necessary.

The other brands that are available for me to demo within a "fairly reasonable" driving distance are NHT, Paradigm, KEF, Boston Acoustics, PSB, and Monitor Audio. Would any of these brands be good choices for my personal preferences and requirements? Would any of them absolutely not be? Any that I could exclude would be helpful since I live in the middle of nowhere and am looking at a 300-mile trip to several cities just to demo these few brands.

Thank you so much for any help and advice you can give. I'm holding off on watching many of my favorite films until I get the system installed and I'm so excited to be closing in on the final steps!!
kryptonian
lkc_boot
9 posts
 
Kryptonian,

My vote would be to go one of two paths:
-look for a used pair of Monitor Audio GR10s on the forum or ebay. They are not the latest model, but are in your budget, are bookshelf, have the acoustic properties you are looking for IMO. Prior to the GR10s, MA used to market their speakers in the $10k range. They changed their cabinets to make them cheaper to manufacture and targeted their speakers to the home theatre market at lower prices but with the acoustics maintained at "2-channel audiophile" levels. Combine with a MA GR-CEN, forget about the rears. Look for a used REL sub. You could enjoy this set-up, and you could upgrade, maintaining these speakers in your system, for some time to come.

Second route. Look for a HT in a Box as mentioned earlier. Demo what is available in your area. If the voices come through good enough buy it. Save your $ for a future purchase. You wont be able to upgrade around this but maybe it will do for the time being. Eventually you can become more knowledgeable on what you want, sell your HTB for a few $, and start again.

For you to be happy, my recommendation would be go the route of 2-channel, adding the sub for movies. For people new to the club you will also want to get the center and rear channels to know for yourself. Like other posters here, I went a long way down the 2.0, 2.1, 5.1, 7.1 road and in bliss back at 2.0.

If you ever get a chance, go to a high end shop and demo some music in a top 2.0 system. You can use this as a reference along your quest. Good luck!
soundcomponents
49 posts
 
Find a good, high end specialty store in your area. Don't trust advice or what you hear on a magnolia. The B&W stuff is good, as well as the paradigm . Do your demo's in music- not film- even though you will do film most of the time. There's too much going on in multi channel to critique it- music is much easier. Also, if you do not already own the onkyo, then you can do better- an anthem reciever will be a different world from the onkyo.
kryptonian OP
2 posts
 
Uncleaudio, just as a side interest, perhaps for late-night listening, can you recommend brands of headphones that would give really good home theater sound with depth, and, dare I say, be so comfortable you can actually forget that you're wearing them?
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