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[Matt]

I recently lost a tweeter in one of my main home theater speakers.

I blame the stereo I got to avoid being made fun of:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=55396.0

Regardless, I can't find a direct replacement tweeter.  I could get a set of matching tweeters and Frankenstein them together, but I think this is the sort of thing that gets me made fun of.

So I'm looking for recommendations on front / main speakers for a home theater setup.  Thanks for any tips.

[MrC]

Ugh, I share your pain, but on the woofer side for a Slimdevices/Logitech Boom:

http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=82497&highlight=boom+woofer&page=2

[nwboater]

Hi Matt,

A bunch of questions, the answers of which may help people help you:

1. Left, Center & Right?
2. Is this in a 5.1, 7.1  or something else system?
3. What are the other speakers, including sub?
4. What is your amp power?
5. How large is the room?
6. Is this only for HT or is it also used much for music?
7. Is WAF a limitation?
8. A ballpark budget?

This should be fun!

Have a great weekend.

Rod

[Matt]

It's the front left and right speakers in a 5.1 setup.  They're used for music, movies, and television.

The room is about 330 sq. ft (plus it opens up to some more space on one end).  I probably need tower speakers to fit in the space (i.e. not a huge footprint).

The amplifier is 125W RMS at 8 ohms.

I would like to spend $1 but will spend considerably more if I can pry my wallet open.

Building my own speaker cabinets is something I'd enjoy doing, but jmone preemptively made fun of me about that so I'm not sure.

Thanks for any advice.

[nwboater]

It's the front left and right speakers in a 5.1 setup.  They're used for music, movies, and television.

The room is about 330 sq. ft (plus it opens up to some more space on one end).  I probably need tower speakers to fit in the space (i.e. not a huge footprint).

The amplifier is 125W RMS at 8 ohms.

I would like to spend $1 but will spend considerably more if I can pry my wallet open.

Building my own speaker cabinets is something I'd enjoy doing, but jmone preemptively made fun of me about that so I'm not sure.

Thanks for any advice.

Just to further clarify:

1. What is your existing center and would you consider replacing it?
2. What is your sub?
3. How important is good solid deep bass, especially for movies?
4. Is your amp 125 RMS watts per channel?
5. How important is appearance? Is this in a formal living room, or a more casual home theater or rec room?
5. Can you spend at least $2?

Sorry to be pushy on the questions but I think this will allow people to give you much more informed suggestions.

Rod

[DarkPenguin]

It's the front left and right speakers in a 5.1 setup.  They're used for music, movies, and television.

The room is about 330 sq. ft (plus it opens up to some more space on one end).  I probably need tower speakers to fit in the space (i.e. not a huge footprint).

The amplifier is 125W RMS at 8 ohms.

I would like to spend $1 but will spend considerably more if I can pry my wallet open.

Building my own speaker cabinets is something I'd enjoy doing, but jmone preemptively made fun of me about that so I'm not sure.

Thanks for any advice.

Go visit Stereoland.  They've some nice stuff.

[Matt]

If I just ordered a $3.50 tweeter to fix the speaker, should I admit it?

[mojave]

If I just ordered a $3.50 tweeter to fix the speaker, should I admit it?

No!

[nwboater]

If I just ordered a $3.50 tweeter to fix the speaker, should I admit it?

No, you spent way more than $1.00!

Rod

[nwboater]

And further Matt, for those of us that love spending other peoples money you have just robbed us of a lot of joy!

Rod

[Matt]

I swapped the blown speaker in the theater with an old set of DCM KX12 speakers.  The DCM's are sort of party speakers (99 dB sensitivity!) but I'm nostalgic about them and have always liked their sound.

Once I get the blown speakers repaired, I'll relegate them to some other room in the house.

I'm sad that jmone didn't even poke his head in here to give me a ribbing

[jmone]

I'm sad that jmone didn't even poke his head in here to give me a ribbing

How did I miss this opportunity!  I really am getting old but never fear, I've got some well chosen thought for you...Now that I've managed to stop rocking and banging my head against in wall after reading this thread  

.... but I'm nostalgic about them and have always liked their sound.

Ahh Haa - I've found the source of Matt's problem (and JimH thought it was just that he was tight!).  I'm nostalgic about lots of things as well, but you don't see me dragging out my Hercules graphics adapter and monitor and with the misty eyed claim that I have always liked how they looked!  Lets go over the history of this one again, and all the work that has gotten us to where we are today:
* Matt Creates in 2000? a Lossless Codec (dont we all?) to ensure lossless music compression - http://www.monkeysaudio.com/index.html
* Matt works with MC to develop and introduce a whole range of Audiophile Playback and DSP features
* Matt spends countless hours arguing the finer points of oversampling, room correction, and other stuff even I don't think makes a difference in the listening environment

...and then...wait for it.... what does he do??
* Matt connects the whole thing up to some POS Speakers he dug out the back shed  

Back in a minute - just got to bang my head against the wall to drive the evil out  

[jmone]

...Ok back and feeling better (and more serious now).

On the playback side there is nothing more important than the speakers.  This is the last device in the chain where all the fancy stuff comes to an "air pump" that is going to wobble the air so we can hear the original track in either the most transparent way OR with our preferred DSP added to it.  What we definitely want to minimise is any colouration to the noise introduced by the speakers (regardless of how nostalgic we are about it!)

While the speakers are the most important component, I imagine that like most people we end up settling for what we consider good "value for money" and that the amount spent on speakers will probably be a reflection of the demographic the user comes from (mmmm a Phd Thethis in this one I think).  Any way, I purchased these http://axiomaudio.com/epic60_500.html for my setup which will cost CAN/USA users US$3K.  Now this for some will be a big sum, and for other modest...& each of us need to find a balance.  FYI - I choose the Axioms as they fit the budget I was willing to commit and after doing some research managed to sift some of the facts from the pseudo science that infects this industry (sorry to all Bose Cube Lovers....but they do look good!).  I'm not sure that there are many others in Australia who have imported Axioms but the Canadians seems to have a good center of excellence going on around one of their Universities for this stuff.

Right now I can see JimH laughing as Matt is curled in the corner wimping about the cost (but he will drop $500 on a GPU I've been told and that stuff only lasts a season or two!).  Axiom's M60 founts are about US$1K but you may want to consider a L, C, R purchase one one mfr as with movies the front sound stage is important and mismatched speakers are not great with sound that travels from one side of the screen to the other (eg it has to move across all three speakers in a seemless as possible way).

There are some good options around, but the crap at the back of your shed is not one of them....even if you upgraded them with a mismatched $2.50 tweeter!  I bet you even paid more for a set of Headphones!

[jmone]

At no point should you give into feelings of nostalga like this,



...or even worse the "How hard can it be, I'll build my own!) ... and then you have to pretend it not only looks good but sounds great (add you own pseudo science here)



...but the final humiliation however would be to spend big big money on stuff like this:

[Matt]

Thanks for the laughs jmone.  The pictures are great.

I'm going to start referring to my home theater as "The Shed."

[jmone]

Thanks for the laughs jmone.  The pictures are great.

But I was being serious!

I'm going to start referring to my home theater as "The Shed."

It must be a big shed for all the "vintage" AV Equipment you seem to have