suggestions on speaker brands

[bealy]

Hey guys. I’m going to be moving to my first apartment later this year for college, and I could use your suggestions on some great, more affordable speaker brands to get me started on a theater setup. I’d greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

[Psittac]

I started with a pair of Klipsch floor standing speakers 6-7 years ago and have done everything one piece at a time.  With that said, I haven't seen klipsch going for very reasonable deals since.  I got the step below the reference line.  I would keep an eye out for last years product as it's always substantially discounted.

 

I got my sister and brother in law a pair of polk floor standing but they are a warmer sound and not to my taste.

 

I would start off with a pair of main channel speakers, the best you can afford and go from there.  Either floor standing or bookshelf if you don't have the room.  Start with any AVR, even one from craigslist for little to nothing.  Once you have a left and right channel, then get an AVR, followed by either a center or subwoofer.  Then follow up with a surround.  Just remember that you are best to stay within the same model series, or at least the same brand.  Also as speakers break in they sound better, so month's or years down the road they will come into their prime.  Look at https://www.accessories4less.com/ for some thing's AV related, just make sure you double check as they aren't always the best deal, but when they are the best deal it's by a long shot.

 

example: I started with a pair of Klipsch VF-36's and ran them stereo on a 12yo yamaha AVR.  Then I got last year's Denon AVR-1712  Then I got a klipsch KSW-100 from my uncle that was in his closet for a decade.  Followed by a Klipsch VC-25 then KS-14.  That got me to 5.1 with all matching brand speakers and almost every model the same.  The KS was a similar but newer line.  All in, this is an expensive setup, however I have bought it one piece at a time and got lucky with older style components.  (side note: it almost became impossible to find speakers in the V series, they started to get expensive but I was lucky enough to find them or comparable components).  So yeah, get the best main channel stereo speakers you can afford and go from there.

[Marshnt]

On 3/6/2018 at 4:21 AM, bealy said:

Hey guys. I’m going to be moving to my first apartment later this year for college, and I could use your suggestions on some great, more affordable speaker brands to get me started on a theater setup. I’d greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

Look into ELAC their Debut series are getting great reviews