$7,500 budget for new home theater

[Streetglowtyler]

Well thats good to hear that they are good for a Home Theater. I will be using them probably 99% of the time for Home Theater use. I'm still researching though so if anyone has thoughts on a speaker which they think are better than the Def-Techs, Please let me know, Thanks!!

[Snap]

Jimmy is right, must compair apples to apples. $1000 spkr to $1000 spkr. Aud 19 is right about the Energy Veritas are nice speakers. Shop around the longest for the speakers. Those are the ones that are going to make the biggest impact on your system. Take you time with speakers!

[jimmyp58]

It doesn't matter what we think is better than Def Tech....like I said, speakers are very subjective among listeners/owners. It is what YOUR ears like. Many folks have never heard a pair of Def Tech in an HT environment so it may be hard for them to say what speakers could be better.

Knowing that you will be using your speakers for 99% HT, a lively speaker would be a good solution. That is, one designed such as a Def Tech though again arguably you could find some audiophile-grade speakers (direct firing) that will sparkle in HT.

The Energy Veritas are still on the list, Phase Tech, etc. Paradigms are incredible for HT though they are not built like Def Techs, Dynaudios too.

Again, you need to listen and take time, like SNAP says, to find the speaker YOUR ears like.

[aud19]

Yeah sorry, asking people what speakers sound better than DefTech's (in their opinions) isn't really going to help you. Besides most of the suggestions people have already made in this thread would probably be speakers they consider better (or at least as good) otherwise they wouldn't have recommended them, right? So you've already got a good list there, go listen to most/all of them and see what you think :T

I'll add one thing, IMO:

If a speaker can't play both music AND movies well, it's not a good speaker. Also if it plays music well, it should have no problems with movies however the reverse is not always true. Keep that in mind when demoing speakers and picking your demo material to bring with you

[Shane Martin]

Shane The Phase Tech sub is no SVS, or Velodyne, or Earthquake, but it is not bad for the price. It compliments the system well enough

Yes but for the savings he could get an SVS pb10isd and it would crush the little Phase Tech. Love the speakers, not loving their sub.

Energy makes a nice 12" too.

[Shane Martin]

hat does everyone else think about Definitive??? I am definitely considering getting theses speakers for my new home theater. By the way the model number is BP7002. They claim to have an outstanding frequency range (15Hz – 30 kHz). I don’t doubt those statistics at all because of the number speakers they have inside of each tower. If you’re wondering, each tower contains four 5-1/4” midrange drives. Two 1” aluminum tweeters with silk surrounds. And one 12” long-throw subwoofer coupled to two 12” radiators

Def Tech's were bright to listen to meaning they fatigued my ears after a short listen(30 minutes). The subwoofer inside their cabinet is no subwoofer. They make placement difficult because the best place for speakers is not the best place for a subwoofer. If you do go Def Tech, go with the unpowered towers if they still make them otherwise go with a different brand. The Sub makes placement more trouble than they are worth. Their output for movies is NOWHERE near a quality external subwoofer.

Other suggestions:
Kef, Snell, Polk LSI, Mirage, and finally Monitor Audio.

[Kens1]

I agree with Shane - if they are powered subs they can be trouble to place and an external sub always sounds better anyways. Def-techs seem to wow a lot of people off the bat because of the ambient effects of the rear firing. After longer listening periods I find them fatigueing especially with music. Apparrently I am not the only one who feels this way as I see used Def-techs for sale at local dealers all the time.

[Shane Martin]

Something to consider if you like the Bipolar like sound. If you do, then I would definitely look for a Mirage Dealer. They have 2 lines that would easily fit your budget. A member here that doesn't post much, CJ Paul, has them and really likes them.

[Adz]

If you're 99% home theater, then Def Tech Bi-polar /powered sub should be a very strong consideration. I've demo'ed about 4 other comparable or slightly more expensive speakers so far (since I have this continual need to buy home theater equipment syndrome), and the Def Tech simply sounded better to my ears in a HT set-up. If it didn't, I would have pulled the trigger on the better speakers. BUT, they need to be run as Large and I think you definitely need to add a separate sub for just LFE duties which sub needs to be properly placed to work with not against the Def Tech built-in subs. The best thing to do is to go to as many dealers in your area as possible that carry Def Tech and then a/b them to other comparable speakers they carry.

[sikoniko]

keep in mind that you might not currently think you will listen to music much, but when you get quality stuff, will find yourself doing things you didn't expect.

...hence upgraditis...

[aud19]

keep in mind that you might not currently think you will listen to music much, but when you get quality stuff, will find yourself doing things you didn't expect.

...hence upgraditis...

Very true :T I listen to way more music than I used to before I got quality gear

[spyboy]

The OP should be very aware that speakers will sound very different in your home than they do in a showroom. Basically, they will sound brighter at home. A bright speaker may sound perfect in a showroom and too bright when you get it home. Klipsch tend to be a little bright and so would sparkle in a showroom. At home they might sound too bright.

This is something that is especially important for those auditioning high end speakers. Some are flat to 20K. They may sound excellent in the showroom and very bright at home.

[kylek100]

Let me save you a lot of trouble.

You will not go wrong with this system:

RECEIVER: Denon 3805 1200 (huge bang for buck, flawless reviews any place you look. simply best in class)

B&W speakers all the way around. People always tell me how great paradigm is for the money but I honestly think the B&W 600 series is about the best value for money I've seen. Since you're after home theater this works even more in your favor. I own 600 series speakers all the way around, but am upgrading to 805S fronts, but I assure it's ONLY for music.

FRONTS: B&W 602 S3 $600 (again, check any reviews, and more importantly listen to them yourself)

REARS: B&W 602 S3 $600

CENTER: LCR600 $500 I believe, but I would highly recommend upgrading to the HTM7 for only a few hundred more ($750). It's got much cleaner highs and is a very good value for the money compared to the LCR600. It's true that they do not perfectly sonicly match, but I have it and it has not bothered me.

SUB: Velodyne Digital Drive. This is quite possibly the best thing I ever did for my theater. The 10 inch is 2500 and can keep up with 15's I've heard. It will do 18hz at -3. Incredible.

Total so far: $5,400

This leaves you with a few hundred to spend on a decent DVD player, and almost two grand for a TV.

The fact is, in my opinion (and yes, it's my opinion), that the system I've just described sounds just as good as system's that I have heard that cost easily 10 times as much. The thing with home theater is that the important thing is that you purchase a center channel that is as good as your budget allows, make sure that you have front and rear speakers that are atleast pretty accurate, and have a sub that can recreate the subsonic frequencies that are the trademark of the very best home theaters.

Now, if we were talking about two channel music setup's, it would be a very, very different story. There's still a law of diminishing returns there, but it is MUCH more gradual than with home theater.

I cannot encourage you to go out and listen to the components I've described enough. Happy hunting.

Kyle

[aud19]

Yup, those are YOUR opinions

[Shane Martin]

Definitely.

For instance I would take an HK 635 over the 3805 and pocket $400 in the difference or wait for the new HDMI switching Pioneer Elites to come out. Then again you'd have to give up Logic 7 if you didn't go with the HK :x
I would also go with an SVS over the DD. The DD10 at $2,500 is WAY OVERPRICED. The Pb12/2 Ultra from SVS would own it. In fact the DD18 is barely better and it's nearly $5k which is double the money.

[aud19]

Yup I'm with Shane, SVS with even with the inexpensive BFD added would walk all over the Velodyne and give you the room correction as well for way less $$$$.

I'd personally go for Rotel/Nad/Sherwood etc over the mass market brands (That's where Shane and my opinions differ :lol: He'd rather have room-correction, maybe HDMI etc features, I'd rather have sound quality, real power, generally longer warranty, better resale etc )

Nothing against B&W's I quite like them. Saying they're the best deal out there period is a bit too broad though considering how many other quality speakers there are out there in the same price range. Depending where you are in the world makes a difference here as well. Being in Canada, I for example, get better pricing generally on Canadian made speakers, I'd imagine the same applies for other countries/speakers as well

[Shane Martin]

I'd rather have sound quality, real power, generally longer warranty, better resale etc

Yeah I know HK and Pioneer Elite have crappy sound quality, and fake power :roll:

Room correction is big and HDMI will be rather huge with future formats coming and using it. Ignoring the room correction aspects of the advanced eq's but praising the desire of needing one in a BFD is a bit comical.

give you the room correction

Aud,
The DD has room correction. It's QUITE advanced..but not worth $2,500 or more. Velodyne is releasing their EQ as a seperate deal here soon for few hundred bucks.

[kylek100]

I bought my DD-10 on audiogon for only 1600.

I'm not as familiar with SVS subs. I'm under the impression that they're cylindrical tubes that fire downwards? Do they have any sort of servo technology? One of the main reasons I bought my velodyne was because of how musical it was when you have the servo turned all the way up. It measures 16000 times per second and virtually eliminates distortion. I know SVS subs can pack quite a punch, but how do they perform in the music realm?

[aud19]

I agreed with you on the sub, so I'm not sure what point you're trying to make there....? Otherwise..IMO correction is MUCH more important for the sub, hence the BFD. Beides I was only trying to help illustrate that you can get a much better SVS sub and still have similar to the Velodyne's correction capabilities (with the BFD) for much less $$.

And yes Rotel has more/better power than HK, Pioneer or pretty much any other mass-market reciever. Sorry

While I agree HDMI will become fairly important, it isn't necesarrily now. Besides it's not being widely available on receivers yet either. Though that's changing this year. Also most people aren't going to have more than one DVI/HDMI source for a while yet. IMO, for ME, it's less of a consideration to power, sound quality, warranty, resale etc.

I know our views differ here but I don't think there's a need for sarcasm

[Shane Martin]

Kyle,
They are cylinders and box version like the Velodyne except they use a ported sub instead of sealed.

Do they have any sort of servo technology?

No they don't need it.

It measures 16000 times per second and virtually eliminates distortion.

The measurements don't bear this out. AVtalk has been doing some serious measurements on different subs including the DD series.

I know SVS subs can pack quite a punch, but how do they perform in the music realm?

Just as good especially with their ultra woofer but better downlow for less money because they don't have any dealer markup. They are a larger box which can turn some folks off.

Aud,
My point was that room correction is very important for ALL ASPECTS not just the sub. Praising one and ignoring the other(in favor of "sound quality) is a bit strange because the sound quality is directly affected by your room.

But I'm sure you've compared the latest room correction AV receivers in your room with your speakers and determined that the Rotel w/o room correction was better right? I'm thinking not likely. I mean no offense but to flippantly say that Rotel is better would be a bit biased of an answer and ignores one of the biggest changes to AVR's in the past 5 years. Room correction is a huge deal.

HDMI will be a big deal coming in a few months. We have HDMI dvd players(ignoring the future), HDMI equipped STB's for HDTV, and that doesn't include the future game consoles which will use HDMI as well. Pretty soon you are looking at a minimum of 3-4 needed devices. These receivers(affordable ones) are comiing THIS year in a matter of months.

[Nick M]

Heck with the DD-10 and even the SVS PB12-Ultra/2. For $2500 I'd get dual SVS PB12-Plus/2s. Not much in the plug n' play world of subs would beat dual PB12-Plus/2s! :demon:

[aud19]

No I haven't compared them in my room Shane and I do agree your room has an influence on the sounds but as I stated IMO, correction of lower frequencies is much more important and noticeable than the higher frequencies. I did listen to receivers vs Rotel a couple years ago when I bought and IMO Rotel walked all over the big names in sound quality. From what I've read and heard in store I've seen no reason to change that view. The higher end gear is more musical, has better detail, imaging etc etc. Now would I take Rotel gear with room correction over my current stuff? Sure. I have nothing against room correction by itself but IMO the mass market companies give up too much in other areas that those bells and whistles don't make up for.

[Adz]

Kyle,
Aud,
My point was that room correction is very important for ALL ASPECTS not just the sub. Praising one and ignoring the other(in favor of "sound quality) is a bit strange because the sound quality is directly affected by your room.

But I'm sure you've compared the latest room correction AV receivers in your room with your speakers and determined that the Rotel w/o room correction was better right? I'm thinking not likely. I mean no offense but to flippantly say that Rotel is better would be a bit biased of an answer and ignores one of the biggest changes to AVR's in the past 5 years. Room correction is a huge deal.

Here's one view on EQ for all channels directly from the owner of a prestigious AV company:

"Most competent speaker designers try to produce loudspeakers that do not 'beam' the energy at you. In other words they want the 'polar response' or frequency response of the speaker to be as even or as 'FLAT' as possible on axis as well as off-axis.

The reason is that the ear/brain not only perceives the direct sound but shortly thereafter the reflected sound from all the boundaries of the room. This is called "TOTAL POWER RESPONSE'. It is this 'total power response' that you in fact hear. If the off axis response is not as flat as possible in frequency then the radiated energy reaching your ear will have serious dips and peaks in response.

Speakers that have flat on and off axis frequency response always produce an excellent sound stage with proper imaging and placement. They always project sound 'outside the box' and the resulting experience is always more lifelike in presentation.

EQ srews this up because it alters the frequency response only at the measured position at the expense of everywhere else.

Long live the soundstage."