HSU Ventriloquist for Bedroom HT and Music

I think it was Sound and Vision in the last month or 2 that had them reviewed against the maggs, and another maker I cant recall, but it got high marks for the budget. I think there was an issue of moving them a bit farther away from the wall but all in all good review. The Maggies in their own words were a completely diffrent animal.

Hmm. Dr Hsu audtioned these for me himself at CES 2005. He is a respectable and pleasant man and his company is trustworthy as well.

However, I was completely unimpressed by the Ventroloquist speaker system; the sub was just fine however.

maybe I am partial having his sub, the review was psitive though, and he is famous for great customer service

chadnliz, I am sure you have heard that high end wags call Sound and Vision "Deaf and Blind"?

Once in a while, I take a quick peek at Sensible Sound on the newstand. As it is not glossy, and tweaky and enthusiastic in its tone, I tend to trust their reviews a bit more than the mass magazines.

They raved about the system, even when demoing multi channel, high res MUSIC.

But hey, I guess controversy is what makes the high end interesting!

In any case, for $498.00 complete it is tempting to give it a try.....

For HT only it is pretty good. It did much better than I expected. The shifting the mid-bass to the center channel works. Is it great? No. Is it nice for $600? Yes. Does it have the best sub of $600 HTiBs? Yes. I found it pretty flawless on sound effects but not great for a dynamic score like LoTR but not HTiB awful. Doesn't Hsu have a 30 day home trial period?

Newbie13

Does Hsu have a 30 day trial period? Yes.
Is repacking and returning things a pain in the ass? Yes.
Do I know what you meant by LoTR? No.
Do I otherwise thank you for your comments? Yes.

Would I appreciate any other thoughts or suggestions for a bedroom home theatre speaker to be used with a Hsu subwoofer? Yes.

LotR= Lord of the Rings

It isn't that hard to repack. All six speaker go in the same box.

Take a look at RAD Micros similar concept but much more attractive in form.

Ah....Lord of the Rings. Have not seen it or listened to the "dynamic score".

But funny coincidence. Sorry to drop a name, but I have just returned from a dinner where I sat across the table from Howard Shore.

I was not familiar with his work on LotR or any other movies, but it was interesting that our conversation regarding audio went just about nowhere.

I tried to engage him in a conversation about audio and sound quality being a lost art, what with recording studios for windows in a box, studios closing, digital vs good old fashioned analogue etc.

He looked at me like I had 17 heads and then more or less dismissively said that he had been making records since I was in diapers, spent his days in a soundproofed office with a suspended floor, and that technology had changed dramatically in recent years.

I mentioned that I was interested in Audio Research amplifiers and he said "yeah, Ive had a lot of "AR" equipment. (ACOUSTIC Research?)

When I asked him what he thought was state of the art for amplifiers and speakers he mentioned B&Ws and Crown.

I guess we are all just insane? Or other people, even professional composers, just dont get it?

AS fra as other speaker choices for bedroom HT-- ie somewhat small and not too pricey--there are many choices. One I might consider is the E series from AAD. ( American Acoustic Development.) The reason that I like this setup is that their center channel speaker isnt an afterthought-- it actually matches the rest of the set up quite well. So its like e-44c and e-40 mains with e-30 surrounds or something like that. Not too expensive and with an HSU sub should be good. The entry level Klipsch RB-15s and 25s also might a decent consideration for a bedroom system. Very efficient.

The setup for the Ventroloquist is somewhat unfriendly. All the speakers need to be hooked up to the center. Similar to Bose setup, where all cubes are plugged to the rear of the subwoofer, it does not sound like Bose however. It is impressive for its size and its price range regarding HT. I visited Dr. Hsu office last month, and I heard that he was in the process of introducing a new Ventroloquist, which has a thinner center speaker.

For $600 retail, I like what many people used at the CES show in their video booths, and that's the Infinity Tss750 system. You should use with receiver with crossover adjustments at 100hz/125hz. But otherwise, for that money, I don't think you'll get better sound. The sub is also excellent as well for a 12" sealed sub. And for a bedroom system, it's superb.
I wouldn't concentrate on getting the best sub you thought you could find over superbly clear and detailed sat's, NO WAY!...CONTRARE! For $1000 retail, I'd go with the superb Polk system (RB...something or other???).
Good luck.

I would change my choice from HSU to the JBL SCS300.7

This is a true 7.1 HTIB with LCR's FOR all channels with a 150 watt sub and all mounting hardware included. For true 7.1 ready sound at 699.00 its a great deal.

Hmmmmm

Frnlamb

You make a good point -- no sense in a high end ish woofer with cheap, lousy satellites.

Reading the reviews on the web, it seems Infinity has had some detractors for an overly bright high end.....

Ideally, I would go and LISTEN to the stuff, but I would rather have it Fedexed and a cheap price from one of the big box retailers so I appreciate all of these ideas.

Any other suggestions? Does anyone else have any experience with the Polks, Hsus, or JBLs?

During a conversation I had with a speaker repairman concerning my ignorance of what a freguency response graph was and how to read one, he used a trade magazine (name escapes me) that contained a lot of these graphs as his example. Flipping through a number of pages he landed on one and then showed it to me. I was a freq graph of the PSB Alpha Intros. He got rather animated during his explanation because he couldn't believe how flat the graph was for such a small cheap speaker.

Sound like these might do for your application.
Hope it helps. Also, I'll mention that I've never heard them and am currently looking for a second hand pair to try.