Hello all. So I'm in the army and just moved into a new house and am trying to set up a decent home theater system. Already have the HDTV, and a sharp aquas blu-ray player. To go with this, I recently purchased a ONKYO TX-SR607 receiver and a pair of Polk Audio M10 speakers to start out with. I need some help trying to decide what sort of speakers I need to complement the system. I would like to spend under 500$ for at least enough speakers to set up a 5.1 system, and ultimately plan to move up to a 7.2 system. My extensive research on amazon has led to me to 2 speaker sets; the Fluance SX-HTB+, vs the JBL CS6100BG Complete 6-Piece Home Theater Speaker System. After reading some of the posts on this site I am leaning toward the JBL's even though they are 200$ more than the Flaunce's. I am not opposed to buying each speaker separately but don't want to spend more than 500$. If anyone has any advice it would be appreciated.
Additionally, I would love some advice on what sort of cable I need to hook this system up. I am looking at the Belden 5000UE 12 AWG from bluejeancable.com, but think I might be overdoing it and could go with the 14 gauge.
Finally, if anyone could provide insight as to what the digital audio ports on my tv, dvr, blu-ray player are used for I would be very grateful.
Thank you all for your help, your site has been a great resource and I foresee a great possibility of becoming somewhat addicted to always improving my home audio.
The 12 ga Belden is what I use and it works great. Infinity Primus speakers work great for HT and are very inexpensive. I bought all 5 for under $500...I wouldn't skimp on the sub...A Hsu STF2 is the minimum I would use. Sell the Polks they will pay for the speaker cable.
Thanks art. I figured the polks were crap as they were only 20$ extra when I bought the receiver. I've been checking out the Infinity primus reviews online and they all seem very positive, so I might head to a store and take a listen. thanks for the help
Get out of the habit of judging anything in audio by its price tag. You will find that generally you do get what you pay for in comsumer audio but you should also find cost can often be nothing more than a yardstick to judge the true value of other components.
The consumer audio market has always had its share of "giant killers", those components that are of exceptionally high musical value while possessing relatively low cost (Polk has had a few of their own in this regard). The original Advent line and the Dynaco products from David Hafler define value for the dollar for many older hobbyists. (Hafler was a pioneer in the use of "surround sound" systems that have now become the basis for all the home theater systems out there.) Since that time (the mid '60's) numerous lines have come and gone which walked the same well worn path to success - above all else "play the music well".
Be aware that "playing the music well" is typically the decision of one or two company leaders and not a mass market advertising commitee. Smaller lines that fall outside of the mass market approach to being everything to everyone and selling everywhere to anyone have been successful in the consumer audio market. You will find these lines in audio specialty shops and not in the big box/grocery store type of appliance/computer/car stereo/home theater retailers.
In value lines you are many times sacrificing something nebulous (cosmetics, heavy duty build quality, flexibility or convenience) in exchange for sound quality. I doubt anyone would not concede a 1960's McIntosh or Marantz (in their heyday under Saul's leadership) were not better products than Dynaco. However, there are thousands of decades old Dynacos still in the marketplace still defining that same value for the dollar as they did nearly fifty years ago. Few would think a NAD or Rotel to be the equal of a modern day McIntosh or Audio Research. And, unless you are more interested in features than sound quality (which, if you are, is fine but not what we deal with here), I seriously doubt anyone on this forum would argue with you over the value of a Pioneer HT receiver against the musicality of two channel separates and integrated amplifiers built by companies who specialize in two channel music reproduction.
Learning where your trade offs occur will be tantamount to success in system building. If you want a home theater, that's fine, they are all over the place and easy to find. If you want a top notch music system, then that is another thing all together. Most of the members on this portion of the forum (home audio) would probably agree a HT system and a music system are not going to be the same components.
If you are looking for a HT system only, then you can stop reading now. You probably should be posting in the "home theater" section of the forum. If you have an interest in music, then you should read a bit further.
As you are beginning, you will very likely want to start with the value products and work your way up to the high end lines. Learning what is of the greatest value musically will be a tremendous boon to your success in this journey, that is, if the quality of the music you hear is important to you.
Therefore, your effort should be in assembling a list in your mind of what actually is important to you in music reproduction. A jet fly over and a "bent" guitar note require vastly different sorts of musical ability from a system.
I would suggest you go listen to some music played live by real musicians, not a garage band or a "live recording". Listen to what makes live music interesting to you. Is it the timing or rhythm of the players making your toes tap and your fingers snap, is it the timbre and tone of the instruments moving through the air and into your head, or possibly the communication between performers that can only be experienced when they are playing in a groove - or whatever you choose - that counts? Just step outside of the basic beginner's elements of "tight bass" and "clear highs", those are things we all prefer to have but which you'll soon find are often expensive to actually acquire.
How much bass a system plays is, IMO, not as important as how well it plays that bass and how precisely it integrates the bass (or treble) into the structure of the music. Concentrate on the middle - the midrange - of the music, first getting it right - and intelligible - and then adding to that as your system evolves.
Once you've begun to narrow down what is important to you in music itself - not "imaging" or "soundstaging" or anything not strictly related to how well is "the music played" and subsequently reprodued - then you can begin to find those giant killers on your own. Then you will have a path that will lead you to a system that works well together at any price level.
Often this requires patience on your part, rushing to buy something simply to have something is typically not the route to success in audio. Take your time, you do not need to buy today - just don't get to the point where you can never buy because you are certain there will always be something better around the next turn. Know when to buy and what to buy to satisfy yourself.
Use your ears and your brain to decipher what it is you can live without - even it that only means you can live without the cosmetic appeal of 3/4" thick faceplates or more importantly an extra group of channels and speakers or that you can live without the deepest octave of bass response - and you will begin to discern what components are of value to you.
For the most part ignore specs, they do not mean what you tend to think they do. Use your own ears instead. No more looking at catalogs and magazines and picking what you are interested in by comparing numbers.
Don't trust other people's ears over your own and don't rely on other people's taste to guide your selection.
Be proactive in this process by learning the sound of music and do not fall back on being reactive to what others say you should own or think. IMO, if you understand the sound of music as completely as possible and know it well enough to trust it against all other input, then you will need little in the way of guidance in your buying process.
Forget everything you've heard up to now - particularly if you learned it through dealing with car audio - and learn about the sound of music. If you rely on it alone, you will seldom make a bad decision in audio. Price and cost will become inconsequential to your decisons.
A lot of people deride Fluance as "white van" speakers. I've owned them before (I still have them on my son's HT system - yes, he's 6 and has his own HT system...lol). For the price they're really not bad.
I'm using 10 AWG BJ cables on my HT system. The 12 would not be overkill on your system at all, but the 14 would be fine.