Advice for Buying Speakers

[IndyFan12]

I've been setting up a modest little budget home theater setup recently and have most of the components in place except for audio. Currently, I have a TCL 55P605 4K TV paired with a Sony UBP-X700 4K Blu-ray player. Unfortunately, I'm a bit of a newcomer when it comes to audio setups so I have no idea where to proceed from here. I was looking at a Yamaha RX-V383 receiver (It's a little out of my price range but it looks like it'll work good for what I need...?) but I'm not sure what kind of speakers to pair it with. I suppose I'm either looking for a decent 5.1 setup or a really decent 2.0. Based on the receiver and the general budget/standards I've set in place so far, does anyone have any advice for what to go with? I have a pretty small room so I don't need anything too spectacular, somewhere around the $150-250 probably sounds OK. Anything that lines up with the quality of the rest of my setup probably works best.

[ChromeJob]

Welcome to the slippery slope where whatever you bought in the past may suddenly be less appealing with newer, bigger, more capable components on offer.

I’m a long time Yamaha owner, the 383 is a fine entry level AVR to get you started. If you’re starting small, you don’t need more. You could get a bit more at Accessories4less, refurbed or open box, but why bother. Among other retailers, Costco carries the 583 for a price that might be within reach.

That’s not a lot to spend on speakers, but you could get some adequate speakers for now at Monoprice. Spend more for your sub than for others as the sub (which you’d think does the least of the set) will actually do more for making smaller “bookshelf” size speakers sound better by handling more of the low bass as well as ultra low bass. A cheap sub ruins the whole affair. Even spending big on a Hsu Research VTF-1 (their entry level model) will serve you longer than a cheaper one. In the AVR, you’ll mark the speakers as “small,” which is a misnomer. “Small” enables bass management in which bass content is sent to the sub, which is better suited for low freqs than small woofers in main speakers. Even if you buy $50 or $100 main speakers, a $400 or $500 sub can serve you for 10 years.

If you can save up a few months and buy better speakers, look to direct merchants like Hsu Reseach or SVS, they have highly regarded speakers (and sell them in packages with their subs).

You don’t have to go both feet in with 5.1 in a smaller room ... if you’re listening to music mostly, 2.1 (left, right, and the sub) will suffice. If you’re watching shows regularly, invest in 3.1, buying the same size/series speakers for left, right, and center. The center does a lot of work in shows: dialog, sound fx, even music have to come from that single speaker. Don’t cheap out on it. You can add rear surrounds later, in my view, 5 cheaper speakers do not equal or improve on 3 better speakers. YMMV.

If you really need to buy cheap and right now, Monoprice can help you out. I would look around a bit and see how much/long you’d have to save up to get a wee bit more, though.

Good luck.