Advice and opinons on this setup (New to the world of custom setups)

[HT X]

Hi Everyone,

First off great site. Been hovering around for about 2 weeks and learned a lot about the general set up of custom setups. Also got to see some awesome Home Theater setups. Well I'll cut right through the chase and basically say I want to upgrade from my sc-ht900 HTB to a more powerful and future proofing set-up. It never really gave me any problems nor sounded bad but after 4 years of having it (bought it the same time I bought my HD TV) I think it's time for an upgrade.

Basically this is the setup I have been compiling.

Fronts: Polk Monitor 70
Center: Polk CS2 Center
Surrounds: Klipsch S3 Bipole Surrounds or Polk Monitor 40
Rears: Polk Monitor 30 or Polk Monitor 40
Sub: Polk Audio PSW505B 12" sub (was looking at svs nc12 but couldn't justify the price for the size of my living room)
A/V receiver: onkyo tx-sr805
Extra: Buttkicker LFE (just bought a bka kit but may return it and go with the LFE)

This would be for a 7.1 surround setup but not sure if it's best to go with a 5.1 since I have no clearance in the back of me to give the 8 feet required for rears. Was also throwing around the idea of having the surrounds and rears mounted on the ceiling and aimed down but that still doesn't solve the clearance issues with the back wall and couch.

Also my Living Room is 13' wide and 16' long. Also my couch is catacomb in the courner of the room and on the oppisite corner is the tv catacomb.

Just throwing this out there to the a/v professionals here. All and any help is well thanked in advance.

Mike

[crackinhedz]

newegg.com has the polk (speakers + sub) for a great price. Is that where you were thinking of buying them from?

[crackinhedz]

Also, for a subwoofer...consider:

Bic F12

[HT X]

yes indeed. Pretty much everything will be coming for them minus the onkyo and Klipsch S3 if I go that route. Thanks for the heads up though.

Mike

[HT X]

Also with the sub do you believe it will blend in well with the rest of the Polks? Also is that brand on par or better that Polks? Thanks.

Mike

[HT X]

Well it's done. Picked up everything I needed and set it up and that's 2g's out the window (that could be used towards a ring says my girlfriend ).
I went with Polk Monitor 70's for the fronts, cs2 for the center, 2 pairs of Monitor 30's for surrounds and rears, PS505 for the sub (will add svc when I buy a house in 2 years or so), Onkyo tx-sr805 for the A/V receiver & a buttkicker BKA300 kit all controlled by a harmony 550.

Took me a few days to redo the wiring with wire loom (I like neat and tidy) and to get it all setup but still need to fine tune something’s. Went with 14 gauge wire as well since my Living Room is only 13 x 16.

Will post pictures in gallery once I make some speaker stands for the surrounds (using my old HTIB speakers as stands and they are working quite well and pick up some miscellaneous things.

Also just throwing this out there I have a pair of Monitor 30's which are basically brand new (bought about a week ago and used for barely 1 hour) that I will sell for $80 picked up. Reason for selling is I just placed an order today at Van's for some S3 surrounds for $200 shipped. I posted the link in the deals section of these forums in case anyone is interested in them. Thanks again for everyone's help as well as all the post I have been reading on here for the last 2 weeks that helped me picking everything out as well as setting it up properly. Learned a lot and will most likely keep on learning.

Mike

[crackinhedz]

did you say Onkyo 505?

that model will not process hd audio...you will end up having to use optical cable.

[crackinhedz]

take some pics when you get the chance! everyone would love to see the setup.

[Beta Man]

Originally Posted by HT X

Well it's done. Picked up everything I needed and set it up and that's 2g's out the window (that could be used towards a ring says my girlfriend ).

Then you didn't spend $2k, you saved more money than you can imagine

[HT X]

whoops I meant to say tx-sr805 for the receiver lol. Didn't even know they had a 505 . I will have pictures up next weekend. Just finishing up on some custom speaker stands and just picked up a little goodie for the lighting . Plus the s3's won't be here until friday or next monday so they may or may not be pictured this weekend. For my first real HT I think it came out pretty good.

Mike

[HT X]

Hi,

Just wanted to let everyone know I will have pics up hopefully tonight or tomorrow. I have been enjoying the system too much to post the pics lol. Also I was adding a few more things to the setup. Love the BKA300 buttkicker so much (using it more for the remote since I have it hardwired) I added another one this past week. Had to rearrange the couch so that all pieces of the sectional now rumble instead of one (more so for the middle piece since it sits on both). Also instead of using my ps3 for regular dvds and picked up a harmon karmon dvd-48 for a great price off of craigs. Great all around up converting dvd player that really blends in nicely with the current a/v setup.

On a side note for anyone wondering about the s3's or any horn surround buy them. Same goes for the bass transducer (buttkicker etc). It is a huge difference in sound compare to my monitor 30's when I play a game or watch a movie. As well as a huge difference in overall experience to feel as well as here what’s going on around you.

Movies watched so far were: Journey to the center of the earth 3d, Grease, Star Wars Episode IV, Bram Stroker’s Dracula & Coralline.

Games played so far were: Mario Galaxy, Mario Kart, Metroid Prime 3, Gears of War 2 & Metal Gear SoP.

Believe it or not the buttkicker had a nice effort on Coralline which later I notice at the end of the movie had a special track setup for D-Box which worked quite well with the buttkicker. Journey and Star Wars were awesome with the buttkickers and the s3's. Also surprising with the s3's when my girlfriend wanted to watch Grease it picked up a lot of sound like the classmates at schools and the carnival scene at the end. Not bad for a movie before my time lol.

With the Onkyo one of the 2 big reasons for me wanting the 805 was for the power (135 watts per channel) and the matrixing of 2.0 and 5.1. Needless to say the onkyo didn’t disappoint and did a great job matrixing 7.1 on games like Mario Kart, Mario Galaxy, Gears of War 2, Metal Gear SoP & Metroid the s3's and the rear m30's added such a sense of being there it's crazy to see what I was missing with my HTIB which I was very content with. Hearing buildings falling in the back as well as fire and helicopters and karts whizzing around was quite enjoyable. On movies forgot about it. Star Wars was fantastic and even Grease use the rear speaker’s quite well in the matrix mode. Dracula also had a great scene where Reeves just landing outside of Dracula’s castle and the wolves howl and lighting crashes. Sounded eerily awesome with the 7.1 one setup and the feeling of the lighting cracking from the buttkickers.

All in all I am very happy how this set-up turned out. Now only if I can justify the total cost of this system to my girl who is still looking for the ring all will be well with the world lol.

Again would love to thank everyone on this site (from all the post I have read and used to create my speaker stands) to everyone that posted. You all were very helpful and helped me build a great setup for a not so great price. Also would like to thank monoprice for the rear wall speaker mounts and all of my cabling and speaker wire. Saved me a fortune lol.

Mike

[Uniquely]

Originally Posted by HT X

Same goes for the bass transducer (buttkicker etc). It is a huge difference in sound compare to my monitor 30's when I play a game or watch a movie. As well as a huge difference in overall experience to feel as well as here what’s going on around you.

True, true. I love my bass shakers when I am playing Shadowrun. I can feel it in the seat of my pants when someone teleports in close to me, or when the sniper fires. It's great feedback that really helps in game play. It would be AWESOME if next gen consoles featured a LFE out that corresponded with controller rumble.

[HT X]

Hi,

Just wanted to let everyone know I will have pics up hopefully tonight or tomorrow. I have been enjoying the system too much to post the pics lol. Also I was adding a few more things to the setup. Love the BKA300 buttkicker so much (using it more for the remote since I have it hardwired) I added another one this past week. Had to rearrange the couch so that all pieces of the sectional no rumble instead of one (more so for the middle piece since it sits on both). Also instead of using my ps3 for regular dvds and picked up a harmon karmon dvd-48 for a great price off of craigs. Great all around up converting dvd player that really blends in nicely with the current a/v setup.

On a side note for anyone wondering about the s3's or any horn surround buy them. Same goes for the bass transducer (buttkicker etc). It is a huge difference in sound compare to my monitor 30's when I play a game or watch a movie. As well as a huge difference in overall experience to feel as well as here what’s going on around you.

Movies watched so far were: Journey to the center of the earth 3d, Grease, Star Wars Episode IV, Bram Stroker’s Dracula & Coralline.

Games played so far were: Mario Galaxy, Mario Kart, Metroid Prime 3, Gears of War 2 & Metal Gear SoP.

Believe it or not the buttkicker had a nice effort on Coralline which later I notice at the end of the movie had a special track setup for D-Box which worked quite well with the buttkicker. Journey and Star Wars were awesome with the buttkickers and the s3's. Also surprising with the s3's when my girlfriend wanted to watch Grease it picked up a lot of sound like the classmates at schools and the carnival scene at the end. Not bad for a movie before my time lol.

With the Onkyo one of the 2 big reasons for me wanting the 805 was for the power (135 watts per channel) and the matrixing of 2.0 and 5.1. Needless to say the onkyo didn’t disappoint and did a great job matrixing 5.1. On games like Mario Kart, Mario Galaxy, Gears of War 2, Metal Gear SoP & Metroid the s3's and the rear m30's added such a sense of being there it's crazy to see what I was missing with my HTIB which I was very content with. Hearing buildings falling in the back as well as fire and helicopters and karts whizzing around was quite enjoyable. On movies forgot about it. Star Wars was fantastic and even Grease use the rear speaker’s quite well in the matrix mode. Dracula also had a great scene where Reeves just landing outside of Dracula’s castle and the wolves howl and lighting crashes. Sounded eerily awesome with the 7.1 one setup and the feeling of the lighting cracking from the buttkickers.

All in all I am very happy how this set-up turned out. Now only if I can justify the total cost of this system to my girl who is still looking for the ring all will be well with the world lol.

Again would love to thank everyone on this site (from all the post I have read and used to create my speaker stands) to everyone that posted. You all were very helpful and helped me build a great setup for a not so great price. Also would like to thank monoprice for the rear wall speaker mounts and all of my cabling and speaker wire. Saved me a fortune lol.

Mike