Need some speaker advice

[cookdiesel]

Long time lurker of this wonderful site and have decided to do some upgrading. I found some great deals on the pieces I have already purchased and I am in the process of putting the final pieces together and thought I should get some real advice on the center channel and the subwoofer.

I have currently purchased:

Onkyo 805
Polk M60's
Polk M40's

Now I need the two biggest parts. I have seen in the different posts about matching the center to the fronts, Polk recommends the CS2, but I see they also have the CSi3 which appears to be decent also, but maybe I need something else.

For the sub I see many different options and suggestions. I don't really want to break the bank on the sub and I was kinda leaning to the JBL sub12, but it appears to me that everyone here likes the BIC Acoustech H100. Is this a good sub for the 200+ range? Is there something better?

Any options and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[JasonR]

I would try and voice match your speakers, so I would say the CS2.

I think you would be happy with either of those subs in the 200 dollar price range. Personally, I would get the BIC.

[cookdiesel]

Thanks Jason for the info...I will match the center channel with the CS2, is there a big difference between a front firing sub and a bottom firing sub? or is it just preference?

The room this is going to be in has 20+ foot ceilings and is roughly 20x17.

Any assistance is appreciated.

Thanks.

[Beta Man]

Originally Posted by cookdiesel

Thanks Jason for the info...I will match the center channel with the CS2, is there a big difference between a front firing sub and a bottom firing sub? or is it just preference?

The room this is going to be in has 20+ foot ceilings and is roughly 20x17.

Any assistance is appreciated.

Thanks.

They both have their strengths/weaknesses for placement...... but it's pretty universally acceptable, that you can make either configuration work.


P.S.. ... Nice big room you got there.

[cookdiesel]

Yea...the room is nice, but the nice folks who built the house didn't run speaker wire in the walls, so now I have to run speaker wire to the rears. Looks like I am going to go with the flat wire to go under the carpet.

So unless anyone has found anything better I will pick up the Polk CS2 and an H100 Acoustech.

and thanks for the assistance in rounding out what I hope to be a nice surround system.

[Beta Man]

Originally Posted by cookdiesel

Yea...the room is nice, but the nice folks who built the house didn't run speaker wire in the walls, so now I have to run speaker wire to the rears.

Yeah.... I have a bone to pick with the people who built my house...... of course they probably died 70 years ago

[kingofgrills]

Definitely use the recommended center channel to timbre match your Polks. And if you have $200 to spend on a sub, the BIC Acoustech H100 is probably the best way to go. It's Hsu Research designed and rated down to around 24 Hz I think.

The only other sub in that range I would consider is also Hsu Research designed, and that's Outlaw Audio's LFM-2. It's currently on sale for $199, down from $299. It's a down firing ported sub, but at just 8" the LFM-2's bass extension doesn't reach as far as the H100.

If you can get a Acoustech H100 for just $200, get it while you can. It's pretty much as good as you can get for that price range.

[cookdiesel]

Ok guys...I just picked up an H100 for 200 + 30 for shipping. I hope this was at least reasonable.

Now I just need to find a decent deal on the CS2 and some good speaker wire. I think I want to run the flat wires to my rears, and I see in a previous post some suggestions so I will be looking at those for sure.

I want to thank you everyone for their suggestions cause once the wife sees that I went a few hundred over the budget she is going to kill me!

But its all for the movies and how good they sound!