D
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This past weekend I rooted through my "spares" shelves in my basement to cobble together a 5.1 system for my daughter. Her "ex" had moved out and taken most of the gear with him, and I said I'd find something from my old gear, rather than having to buy new.
She was left with a nice Samsung flatscreen and Blu-ray player (with streaming capability) so she was set for "source" and "display." It was just the audio side that was lacking.
Space is a bit of an issue - mostly in terms of placement. Also with two three year old boys (one of whom is my grandson) in the house I was not about to put a spare pair of Koss anywhere near their curious paws!
So I dragged out a Yamaha RX-V596 receiver. DD/DTS 5.1 capable and lots of power.
I then chose two pairs of Audiosphere Research Micro-Monitor speakers for front and surround duty, an Energy EC-100 centre speaker, and a Cerwin Vega LW-10 sub. A bit of a dog's breakfast, but the right size, and with the AS' included brackets, easy to place up and out of reach.
The AS speakers are very comparable in size and appearance to the RS Minimum 7 - which most should be familiar with. Not a lot of bass below 100Hz - but with the Yamaha's Xover of 90 Hz that wouldn't be a problem.
It took a couple of hours to set it all up and get it calibrated but in the end the system delivered surprisingly good sound. We played scenes from the first Ironman movie and dialogue was clear and intelligible, effects well-placed, and bass not bad (although limited to 30 Hz or so with that sub.) There was pretty decent dynamics - at least good enough to be concerned about bothering the neighbours.
Not bad at all for zero incremental cost!
Jeff
ps. My next choice for gear, had space (and little fingers) permitted it, would have been an old Outlaw Model 950, three NAD power amps, four Bose 301 III speakers (fronts and surrounds), and a Cerwin Vega centre speaker - with the same Cerwin Vega sub.
ps. After that I would have gone with a pair of Koss CM/1020 up front and CM/1010 in the rear, instead of the Bose 301s.
She was left with a nice Samsung flatscreen and Blu-ray player (with streaming capability) so she was set for "source" and "display." It was just the audio side that was lacking.
Space is a bit of an issue - mostly in terms of placement. Also with two three year old boys (one of whom is my grandson) in the house I was not about to put a spare pair of Koss anywhere near their curious paws!
So I dragged out a Yamaha RX-V596 receiver. DD/DTS 5.1 capable and lots of power.
I then chose two pairs of Audiosphere Research Micro-Monitor speakers for front and surround duty, an Energy EC-100 centre speaker, and a Cerwin Vega LW-10 sub. A bit of a dog's breakfast, but the right size, and with the AS' included brackets, easy to place up and out of reach.
The AS speakers are very comparable in size and appearance to the RS Minimum 7 - which most should be familiar with. Not a lot of bass below 100Hz - but with the Yamaha's Xover of 90 Hz that wouldn't be a problem.
It took a couple of hours to set it all up and get it calibrated but in the end the system delivered surprisingly good sound. We played scenes from the first Ironman movie and dialogue was clear and intelligible, effects well-placed, and bass not bad (although limited to 30 Hz or so with that sub.) There was pretty decent dynamics - at least good enough to be concerned about bothering the neighbours.
Not bad at all for zero incremental cost!
Jeff
ps. My next choice for gear, had space (and little fingers) permitted it, would have been an old Outlaw Model 950, three NAD power amps, four Bose 301 III speakers (fronts and surrounds), and a Cerwin Vega centre speaker - with the same Cerwin Vega sub.
ps. After that I would have gone with a pair of Koss CM/1020 up front and CM/1010 in the rear, instead of the Bose 301s.
