February 7, 2005
Impedance Breaks The Deal
I was nearly set on the theater speakers that I was going to buy. Then while doing my final checklist before ordering, I took one last look and noticed something odd with the impedance rating of the speakers. It was 4 ohms. Odd. All the receivers that I have been pricing usually say 6-16 ohms supported. Even a $6,000 receiver that I want badly (but am not getting for fear of divorce) only supports 6 ohms. So now those speakers are out.
The good news is that it will save me money. The next set of speakers in the product line are about half the cost of those with 4 ohms. So here are the speaker choices so far. I plan on ordering the rough-in kits and wiring today!
Left and Right Front
Center, Left Surround, Right Surround
Left and Right Rear Surround
Subwoofer
Any feedback on these models?
the specs on all the speakers look awesome, and i've heard a Polk subwoofer very similar to that (it wasnt as powerful, but same size), it sounded terrific... :P
Thanks. I am worried about the bass levels. I want to be able to really feel it!
Come on and get some real speakers Bowers & Wilkins
http://www.bwspeakers.com I know us "people" from indiana dont know anything but a few of us do use macs.
Oh man. Their product selector starts with "What is your budget?". The top choice was 27K. Wow. Most of the consultants that looked at what I wanted to do went with Klipsch. I wasn't as impressed. Polk has been much more responsive and I feel like I am getting what I want.
I was just kidding. The polk is a good choice. I wouldnt buy the klipsch junk if my life depended on it. They make a lot of that junk in indianapolis
Brandon
You should check out av123.com. They sell these great clear speakers at great prices. If you want more information, my father sells for them.
yeah, klipsch has good speakers, but only their higher line seems to be cost-effective... bose of course is supreme, but also expensive...
polk sounds great, and if u'r worried about their bass response, don't... it's terrific... clear & strong
nwistheone you need to hear some real speakers if you think bose is supreme. Nothing that is sold at best buy is supreme.
Brandon what reciever are you getting?
I am down to a couple of choices. Will blog it one of these days.
yeah matt, the best buy comment is very true... what speakers would you recommend eh?
Right now i have a pair of bowers & wilkins 602 s3 in the front pair of bowers & wilkins 602 s2 in the rear, bowers and wilkins cc6 as the center channel and a bowers and wilkins as6 12" sub. Powered by a pioneer elite vsx-59-txi.
I have Bose upstairs. I like the simplicity of them. You wouldn't ever do a real home theater with them though. Not high-end enough. They don't reproduce the sound well, according to the experts. But if you ear can't tell, go for it.
My big issue with Bose in this setup is that you have to run everything back through their subwoofer. Meaning you run one digital cable from your receiver to your Bose subwoofer and from there you run all 5, 6 or 7 lines out to the speakers. That would be a millions miles of cable in my setup. Plus it defeats a lot of the work the receiver does for you. And Bose doesn't do 7.1 yet anyway. Enough reasons? Oh, and it doesn't get loud and deep enough for me when I watch my Metallica DVDs. You don't feel the sound.
But again, I like my Bose on my other TV for regular old 5.1 sound.
i wish i could hear some bowers & wilkins, as i'm also in the market for new speakers (floor-standing tho)... infinity seems to have good options... my friend has JBL, and they are very loud, crisp & clear, and his subwoofer is ridiculously loud (12" 350-watt)... i don't know any model numbers tho :(
So after a long research on this, I narrowed it down to two brands... Polk and Definitive Technologies.. Obviously everyone knows about Polk and the sound quality of it.. As far as the Definitive goes, the founder is the guy who separate from the Polk group because he believed that Polk has compromised on the quality and the design of their speakers and created this high end speakers with a reasonable pricing.. I suggest the bipolar ones because for the space you are creating, you want the sound all over the room, not only on the speakers.. but since you are going with a built in speakers, this may be out of the question for you.. Polks are still awesome though
If Bose is so good, why don't they post specs with their products? They own the day with P.R. and advertising but their products are sub-standard.
I had Polk tower speakers front and rear and a Polk double-cone 12 inch subwoofer. I mated them to a 100 watt $300.00 Kenwood receiver. It was okay for what it was - good cheap system.
However, a $6000.00 receiver should be mated to Keff Reference 203s and a Velodyne SPL 1000 or 1200 subwoofer.
I currently use a $2400.00 Pioner vsx 59-txi thx ultra 2 receiver mated to Kef reference front and rear with a Velodyne spl 1000 sub.
Bower & Wilkins are also tight speakers but they're a bit shrill for my taste.
I put a pair of Definitive Technologies in ceiling of small workout room and can't believe how full the sound for the price. Good bass with plenty of treble and they handle the volume quite well. However, the B&W 602's are exceptional values for the price conscientious audiophile. Great range with plenty of umph to drive cleanly!