New Forum Member requests guidance

[piper]

Hello All,

I am brand new to this forum, and new to home theater.
This is my first post.
I am probably doing all this in a backwards manner, but this is how it is.
I am putting together components for my first HT system.
After much research, I am going with Polk.....Great choice, eh?

I have always enjoyed researching and shopping for quality used equipment. I feel that you get a great deal of 'bang for the buck'. Plus the excitement of finding a real sweet deal is always fun.

I do not yet have a receiver......but I am leaning heavily toward a new Denon AVR-2310 CI. 7.1. There is a local store which does high end installations which carries Denon....and I like the idea of local service if ever need be.

I have assembled some speakers from eBay and Craig's List which I feel pretty good about.

I have a nice pair of RT-16's for the fronts.
A CS-400 center channel.
A pair of ls/fx for surrounds.
A pair of Sony (sorry) SSU 3000 for rears.

I am expressly wanting to have some opinions on this.....I will be using this 90% or more for HT. Not too much music, although you never know.

I have a good deal of PA equipment that I have used and accumulated over the years.

I have an EV 18" passive subwoofer that I could use for a sub. Perhaps overkill, but I just have it laying around and am wondering how this may sound in a HT situation. It again, is a passive sub, but I have an old Soundcraftsmen A-5000 amp to power it.....lots of power, class H design. It would be all my medium size room would ever need.

I also have a pair of JBL Eon subs....."powered 15's", that could be utalized, but my feelings are that the EV sub would be the better of these two choices.

I am just respectfully asking your Polk experts and enthusiasts your opinions on my overall situation before I get into purchasing a receiver, and starting to wire everything up.

Anything blaringly wrong with the direction I am going ?
Any suggestions ?

Thank you.
Piper.

[hearingimpared]

Welcome to Club Polk piper. I'm far from an HT guy so I will refrain from any advice, however, stick around and I'm sure you will get all the advice you need.

[disneyjoe7]

Just make sure the AVR you're looking at has Pre amp outputs. You may like to spend a little more now, then spend $$ later. Trust me.

[piper]

Thanks guys. It seems as though all the AVR's change every 3 months or so. By the time I would have one shipped and installed, another comes along.

[hearingimpared]

I have an NAD T765 it is great for HT and good for music (no-where near my 2ch rig). You may be able to get one used on audiogon.

[wallstreet]

The good - The Polk speakers, while not an exact timbre match, should blend quite nicely. The bad - I would hold off on the Sony to complete a 7.1 system until you can find a more suitable match. The 5.1 system will be more than adequate until you can find a good timbre matched direct radiating rear speaker(s).

[piper]

Wallstreet....a newbie question.
Can I simply not hook up the rears, and hold off with the Sony's as you suggest ?
Will this damage the AVR with an 'open load' in any way ?
Plus, your thoughts on the EV sub ?
Thank you.

[piper]

Hearing impaired......I will check out the NAD t765. Thanks for the input.

[VSchneider]

Can I simply not hook up the rears, and hold off with the Sony's as you suggest ? Will this damage the AVR with an 'open load' in any way ?

That's exactly what you do. You may specify that you don't have back surrounds in the AVR menu.

[nguyendot]

+1 dump the sony speakers and just run 5.1 Most people can't tell from 5.1 to 7.1 anyways.

[stuwee]

Hi Piper! You're EV sub and Soundcraftsman amp makes me wet :p, damp or at the least very moist ;)

Why no 2-channel music listening?? Go vintage SAE, dual pre-outs on the pre-amp and active crossovers, $$'s but, very worth it!

[piper]

I see....when going through the automatic speaker setup, just say that there is nothing hooked up to these yet ? Easy enough. Thank you.

[obieone]

Another welcome, and a recommendation: Get a Pioneer VSX-21TXH. For the same price as the Denon 2310, you'll get preouts;)

Another vote for dumping the Sony's

Btw, how big a room are we dealing with?

[piper]

Thanks for all the people joining this thread.
I have been in bands for 30 plus years. Now that I am getting a bit older, I just seem to get away from putting on a CD and chilling out. But with a much better system, that could certainly change.
I have had so much PA equipment over the years that I never did get into home audio much....I remember an old pair of Utah, and a pair of Advent speakers.

My PA stuff would go LOUD. I had 6 big EV Eliminator systems, with 15" folded horns, and nice EV horns to match. Certainly equipment for big halls and outdoor events.
I am glad not to have to carry all that around anymore.

I still have some EV SX-80's, and some Peavey Impulse speakers with quality components that I use for my public speaking gigs. Those with the JBL Eon subs work well for what I need now.

But I will admit, that I realize that quality over sheer volumn is what I am working to accomplish with my HT system.

I don't want to do this on the cheap.....rather, be prudent with my purchasing decisions to get the best overall value, while putting together what I hope will be a real nice system.

[piper]

Room size is 18 deep x 25 wide.
I have the ls/fx surrounds up 6 feet on the side walls, and forced by my setup, to be just a couple feet ahead of my 'sweet spot' main listening seat.
I believe that this will make a set of something for the rears a necessity.

[VSchneider]

You could just mount your surrounds on the back wall, if you must

[piper]

No one likes my Sony's. That is ok. I can move them to a different room for audio only purposes. I will look for some direct radiating Polks.

[piper]

I thought of that originally....but since I want to go 7.1 vs. 5.1.....I went with this setup. I do not have any of the speakers hooked up yet, as I don't have a receiver yet.
I would have to put at least one of the ls/fx surrounds on a stand if I used them in as rears, and the spots on the side walls for the side surrounds may be less than ideal for direct radiating speakers.

Any thoughts on using two sets of dipole/bipole speakers.....one for the rears and one for the side surrounds?

[hearingimpared]

Any thoughts on using two sets of dipole/bipole speakers.....one for the rears and one for the side surrounds?

There should be no problem with that setup as long as you have the dipole/bipole set correctly for the application, i.e. side wall setting vs. rear wall setting.