New HT on a budget

[nadams]

My brother is finishing one of the rooms in his basement and is researching HT options. I think he's looking at the R30's in the front and the R15's in the rear. His room is relatively small, so he doesn't need anything extravagant to fill the space.

The speaker choice was also helped by the fact that the R30's in black are currently $50/piece, and the R15's in black are currently $50/pr on Outpost.com (and both are in stock...)

Now, we need to look at a center channel. I was thinking that another pair of R15's might do the trick. He's going to have a 72" projector screen at the front of the room, and maybe we could mount one above and one below?

I think that he's probably going to build his own sub... but we're not sure on that yet.

Any thoughts about the center channel? I've heard that Polk's recommendation of the CSi20 is less than stellar, but I could be wrong. Thanks,

nadams

[tryrrthg]

if it were me I'd buy another pair of R15's and use one (or both) as the center channel.

[Nemesis]

R15's should sufice. Pretty economical and still offers good sound quality. Top and bottom all teh way. Buy/build a good subwoofer and it will be a good system. Other center channel options as i see it:

-buy one of the Radioshack 3 way loud speakers (tall rectangular, about $100). I have an old 3 way that is phenominal as a center. It has a horn with a brand name of "Realistic" that is clear and natural sounding. Exactly what I wanted. Plus I got mine as a hand me down from my best friend. I use 15's for fronts right now and the timbre is an ok match (incredibly).

-if your friend wouldn't mind spending some more dough, he could probably get a CSi3 on deal ($200-400, varies a hell of a lot). Good match for the R series, but that seems a little on the expensive side.

-look for centers used or open box returns. You can find good stuff.

[nadams]

Crap, my bro just called outpost and the black R15's are actually $50 a piece... which is the same price as the R30's!

That kinda sucks...

I suppose it's still a decent price.

[Tour2ma]

So all R-30's???

[nadams]

Well, he's not sure now. He's considering just using existing speakers and using the money on something else. I personally am recommending the R30's.