After a thorough research about A/V receivers I have decided to buy the Yamaha RXV-1400.But I am unable to make a decesion about the speakers. So Please suggest and guide me to select the right set of Center,Floor and sourround speakers.
Jimvm
Unregistered guest
Posted on
Well, since no one has responded, I'll give you my 2 cents. As I am fairly new to audio, my advice may only be worth 2 cents.
You say you thoroughly researched receivers. I'm guessing you spent some time lurking audio forums, looking at manufacturer's websites, checking out the specs and features, inspecting the units themselves and maybe even listening to a receiver or two.
Well, I think you should thoroughly research the speakers as well. Sure, the way a speaker looks may have some influence on you and the specs will have a bearing, but the way it sounds to you and its cost will most likely be the determining factors.
First, determine what kind of sound you like, e.g., bright, warm, full, forward, laid back, etc. Do this by finding every decent audio store within 50 - 100 miles of you and visiting them. Listen to every speaker you can, even if some are a little out of your price range, just to determine what kind of sound makes you happy. Then, try to learn which speakers within your price range have that sound. Do this by reading these forums and by reading professional speaker reviews. You must keep in mind during all of this that whatever they sound like in the store, in all likelyhood, they will sound different (maybe better, maybe worse) once they're in your home.
Once you begin to narrow down the field, then you can try to locate and audition these speakers (some maybe for the second time), only this time do some critical listening. Take along music that you are very familiar with; some suggest you should listen to several songs with a woman's voice, e.g., Alison Kraus, several with a man's voice, and several that are primarily instrumental.
As you may know, there are several speaker companies which sell only on line, e.g., Axiom, ACI, etc. Auditioning these are a little more difficult. Some of these companies have networks of owners who will allow you to listen to their speakers. Most of these companies have liberal 30-day return policies.
Stereophile's 2004 Buyer's Guide lists over 130 speaker companies selling all kinds of speakers ranging from less than $100 to over $100,000. You will find that there are some well-meaning folks on these forums will tell you that you should go right out and purchase a specific set of speakers and that you will be in audio bliss. Well, everyone's ears are different and I have been amazed at how different opinions can be about the same speaker. One person will say, "Speaker A is the best sounding speaker in the history of the universe; it's so neutral and transparent, etc., etc." Another, will say, "Speaker A didn't impress me at all, it was muddy sounding and the highs were blah, blah, blah." And you wonder how they could be talking about the same speaker. All I am saying is that, while you certainly should listen to all comments and recommendations, only you can determine which speakers will make you happy.
In my quest for speakers, I listened to dozens of speakers made by numerous manufacturers. Most sounded pretty good, but some sounded better than others. Some I could afford and some I couldn't. I ended up choosing the best sounding (to me) speakers I could afford -- and I'm happy.
Among the speakers I suggest you might try to listen to: Athena, Axiom, Boston Acoustics, B&W, Definitive Technology, Dynaudio, Energy, JMLab, KEF, Klipsch, M&K, Monitor Audio, Paradigm, PSB and RBH. All of these companies, as well as dozens of others, make excellent, affordable speakers.
Sorry for the long reply, but by when you said, ". . . suggest and guide me to select the right set of . . . speakers," you sorta asked for it.
And finally, like I said, I'm fairly new to audio. There are quite a number of folks on this forum with much more experience than I. If they suggest something additional or different, they will not be hurting my feelings. And the more feedback you get, the better.
Why Yamaha? If used in a home theatre set up, i'd go with the Panasonic XR-45. Getting rave reviews from many audiophiles. If stereo only, you could do better with H/K, Cambridge, Nad, Onkyo, etc. I sold Yamaha equipment for years. Never was impressed with it sonically or reliability wise. It's your money though.......and you did research. Did you ask any audiophiles their opinion? Ya might wanna. Don't take my word for it. I'm just an average joe.......30 years musician.....20 years audiophile....10 years hi end audio sales.....decades reading and researching what makes brand "A" sound better than brand "B" or in this case brand "Y" I can tell you when I sold Yamaha, they were unstable at low impedence loads, had little current capability, wayyyyyyyyyyyy too much negative feedback(in fact, so much feedback that they once claimed "less than zero distortion") High negative feedback slews the signal, slowing it down, increasing phase distortion. Any transient related distortions, like T.I.M. will be increased, insufficient power supplies, small filter caps. I'd start your search over again.....just my .02