[SantaPimp27]

Originally Posted by Lagger1

I'd also recommend good speaker cables. NOT Monster.....some good cheap alternatives are audioquest, kimber kables

nordost if you can afford them

Monoprice ftw

[BlueLion]

Originally Posted by SantaPimp27

Monoprice ftw

+1 for monoprice

if you want polks check out there factory direct store on ebay, link, comes with full manufacture warranty....ive bought from there and had one warranty claim that was fix no problem

if you do get polk you might want to look into getting a separate amp to power them.

[Gearcraft]

Originally Posted by SantaPimp27

Out of your choices klipsch is the best. Especially for home theater. They will play super loud before they distort. It takes a doubling in power for a 3db increase in sound so sensitivity is very important. One thing to note is that many people think klipsch speakers are bright for music because they use horn tweeters. I have a pair of bookshelves and they don't fatigue my ears at all tho. (Whoever said they were warm, i've never heard that before.)

There are a lot of great speakers out there and just because you can get a good deal on these, it doesnt mean they are your best choice. Everyone gets good deals on klipsch and polk. Personally im not a big fan of polk. There are so many speaker companies out there you wouldn't believe it. I really like Paradigm for a neutral sounding speaker. They look great too.

Some good questions would be

Budget?
What speakers have you heard and liked?
Are looks important?
m
Music/HT Ratio?

For pure HT its impossible to beat Pro audio speakers. But not everyone wants them in their living room(example: JTR Triple 8's). But audiophile speakers can still make for a great HT experience. Provided you have a good sub with the system. Check out the Epik Empire. I just ordered one and its supposed to be insane performance for the money.

Finally, head over to avsforum.com they can help you out with any questions you have.

i agree with this guy... consider how sensitive the speakers are if you are into loudness because a 3db is a difference of twice the loudness (it also requires twice the power to jump every 3db increment).

a few more things to check in the specs...
signal-to-noise ratio. some of them can get loud but the natural noise of the circuit and components will also be noticeable.

as for the frequency range... 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz is what most of us can hear if im not mistaken. the lower and the upper ranges most people dont hear that much. the majority is on the mid-range which i think most of us already know... so if you are not picky then something that is a little cut off on the top and bottom should be fine. if you want to be picky with how the sound comes to you read up on BBE's sonic maximizer. (i believe some consumer products now carry this DSP)

check the size of the speakers themselves especially the tweeter. generally, the bigger tweeters are the ones that will have the ease of moving more air. of course there would be exceptions with some efficient tweeters.

decide how loud you want your system to be and make sure you have enough headroom in your amp so your speakers do not distort(clipping) when you reach momentary peaks in your music/ movies.

another thing that i agree with this guy is the pro audio products. you may be able to match a high end consumer system with an entry level pro audio speaker. (they may be a little bulky though)

Originally Posted by Lagger1

I'd also recommend good speaker cables. NOT Monster.....some good cheap alternatives are audioquest, kimber kables

nordost if you can afford them

another important thing.... connections. some people spend a lot of money with expensive system and use cheap connections... not a good idea.

personally, i like monsters. even the cheap monsters are well built. i have returned a lot of them to stores and they never ask you any questions. they will just see how long it is and find you a new replacement and off you are with a new monster cable.

and last thing i would like to share... (someone correct me if i get this mixed up)

Peak power is the max power your speaker can take
RMS is what the speaker can run at all day long (minimum power required)
Program power (i think sometimes called music power) is the standard or recommended and will give you just enough headroom for peaks

[ukthunderace]

Gonzo, exactly...you pay for the sound you like...don't get caught up in the audiophile frenzy unless you have the money!!!

All, Careful with the speaker cables. I agree that you need quality, but quality on speaker cables does not need to cost very much at all. I bought 10 foot pairs of 10gauge cable with banana terminators from Blue Jean cable for around $60. Remember, with speaker cables you are simply covering how conductive the wire is. There is no special gimmick that you can do to a copper strand that will make it better speaker wire...the only thing that makes it better is to make it bigger (lower gauge). And again, this is most important when you are talking about the length of the cable.

When you are talking about interconnects, that is a little different. Different metals do carry different signals better. My interconnects between my Transporter and my preamp are pure silver and between my pre-amp and my amp I have silver with a little bit of copper. I also run only balanced interconnects...cuts down on noise.

Whatever you do, don't get caught up in the hype. There are speaker cables that run $10,000 and higher....they aren't any better than my Blue Jean cables, but people who paid that much for them will swear up and down by them...you would too if you overpaid $9940 for your speaker cables.

Do a lot of research. Don't buy into the hype. Listen to what you are going to buy. If some guy says that something expensive is a must have, do a blind side by side test.

[ukthunderace]

Peak power is the max power your speaker can take
RMS is what the speaker can run at all day long (minimum power required)
Program power (i think sometimes called music power) is the standard or recommended and will give you just enough headroom for peaks[/QUOTE]

See, the thing is, the amp has to be able to meet the load and the demand is always changing. Your speaker might list at 8ohm, but it operates all over the place. Using it for home theater? Wait for that explosion that will be a lower ohm load and will instantly use up all that headroom...hello distortion and blown coil (or channel on the amp).

Get an amp that has plenty of power. If your speakers rate 125, get 200wpc or even 250 on your amp.