I have am getting the feeling that I want to start piecing together a nice home audio system
I have been looking at klipsch speakers and went to stereo advantage so I could here their lower end stuff and they do have a very unique sound. I like them but I don’t want to make a big purchase on anything until I can hear their competition. What brands should I be looking at or rather listening to for a good comparison.
I don’t really have a set budget and eventually will have a proper 7.1 system but for right now I am focusing on the center and 2 fronts to start.
There is definitely some research to be done first… starting with developing a budget. You can go out and buy some of the greatest B&W speakers, and if you only have enough money left for a $250 receiver… well you get it.
Figure out your budget for 5.1. 7.1 at this point is still a waste since you will have to look harder to find content in 7.1 than you will spend time enjoying it. Figure out your room-scape… where your speakers will be positioned, what floor, carpet or hardwood, are bass traps needed, etc. Having this information will be vital to picking out speakers as some are setup for a more wide open draw, where others are more pin-pointed to a specific direction (and will need an auto-sensing mic from the receiver to begin the proper calibration).
Once you get that stuff set about, do a little shopping online for pricing to see what’s around your budget then bring a disc or two of audio that you know well to your shopping location. This should be stuff where you know how it sounds (or how you want it to sound). From being around audio equipment for about 4 years now, what sounds good to you may not sound good to me. It’s best to shop to your ear, not the salespersons’.
you DO NOT need $10k speakers to get good sound. go and listen to different brands, and models before you buy anything. also, there’s plenty of sub $1000 receivers that will work great for a home theater.
To reiterate, figure out your total budget for everything and work from there. Also, there are places online to get much better deals and thus get a lot more for your money.