# kind of speakers



## Teetorbilt

For that dime, why not go with Bose? The DIY days of speakers is over.
An old, convinced audiophile. 
My 20 yr. old son, lead player for Corona Lane (on web) and scheduled to play Bill Haley's part in the reincarted 'Bill Haley and the Comets' agrees.


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## LockDownLance

IMO Bose is overrated, over priced JUNK.

If you are looking for high quality, DIY low cost HT subs... check out.. www.edesignaudio.com or their HT forum at http://www.icixsound.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=33

My .02 cents..

Cheers,
-L


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## bountyhunter

I am not sure Bose are junk, but they are overrated and over priced. I have Infinity all the way around including sub and they sound great.


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## pipeguy

Infinity rocks! I've been buying Infinity products since my first car sound system 20+ years ago. For my money, the best bang for the buck.


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## Speedy Petey

> I am not sure Bose are junk, but they are overrated and over priced.


My feelings as well. 
I'll take a well desigened HT system long before the _glamourous_ Acoustimass. 
Big fronts, medium rears and a nice center. And as big a sub as the home, budget & wife will allow.


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## 747

Teetor is correct. Bose are excellent speakers. The greatest speakers of the day back in the hard rock DAYS THAT EVERY SERIOUS STEREO MAN HAD HOOKED UP TO HIS STEREO WERE BOSE 901's. I had a friend back in the day who was a serious guitarist. He had a strat,and a les paul,and a gibson sg,and a flying v. what kind of speakers did he have hooked up to his stereo back in the day bose 901. and bose are still going strong.


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## Scott_K

I'm a Polk fan. I will be migrating my theater to the new house later this summer (hopefully) and will find some Polks to match.
Front Speakers are Polk RTi 28s.
Center Speaker is a Polk CSi 30.
Sub is a Velodyne CHT 12  
Got some junky rears right now (they make noise)

I don't think Bose are complete junk, but I think you are paying some bucks towards the name.


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## Dustin07

> IMO Bose is overrated, over priced JUNK.


thats a harsh statement. every Bose speaker I've ever heard was excellent. I think Bose's true specialty though is at somewhat lower volumes, and it's basically a wonderfully full range sound for what are typically small speakers.

With that said, you can do better for the money.

For $600, I personally feel Onkyo is one of the better HTIB (Home Theater In a Box ) solutions.


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## Teetorbilt

Bose bananas and a cannon will blow you out of the house.


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## kenvest

IMHO, speaker quality isn't as important at the space you're playing. 

we can go on and on about the quality of various semi-high-end speakers but they are all pretty good these days. investing in high-end amps is even questionable as the technology and features of the newer stuff is growing so fast...why invest in the killer when the good is good enough for now.

the prohibiting factor in homemade speakers is cabinet design, proper porting dimensions, baffling, materials used, etc. etc....

forget building your own speakers, settle on decent equipment off the shelf and spend your time making the space you're playing acoustically freindly. that will payoff for years........

good luck!


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## bob the builder

kenvest said:


> IMHO, speaker quality isn't as important at the space you're playing.
> 
> 
> the prohibiting factor in homemade speakers is cabinet design, proper porting dimensions, baffling, materials used, etc. etc....
> good luck!


2 excellent points, I should add that every speaker needs to have it's own design suited to that particular speaker. Don't waste your time just go buy the surround sound.......

Bob


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## mahjohn

*Home Theater Speakers*

The key speakers in a home theater system are the "Center Channel", and "Sub Woofer".

On a 5.1 ( or 6.1, 7.1) Surround System, voice dialog comes from the Center Channel speaker (unless someone is talking on screen from a position behind you...off camera). Once you have a good CH, and a good SW, the rest is easy. You can buy a smaller SW, and get Front Speakers with larger Woofers in them to compensate....or buy bass shakers to connect to the seat..(bit buzzy though). Anyway, if the acoustics of the room are bad, or the dimesions are off, the sound will bounce of the walls distorting it.

Long story short.....if you buy a good CH, and a good SW, you'd be hard pressed to tell if the other speakers cost $100 or $1000.


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## ERIK2173

The fact that the center is the most important speaker is only true to a point. I have heard systems where people had this opinion and bought a really high end center and bought decent mains and the characteristics didn't match. If a sound travels across the screen, say from left to right it should sound the same, seamlessly, as the sound is transfered from the left speaker to the center then to the right speaker. I know it's just a marketing term, but that is why speaker manufactures have what they call "voice matched" speaker. Specific center speakers meant to be used with the rest of the speaker in a home theater setup.
If the center and the mains do not match it will be very distracting.
I do agree to get the best Sub you can afford, the more of the bass you can direct to the sub the less work your mains have to do. and the better they will sound.
Also alot of the faults in a rooms accoustics can be overcome by properly calibrating the levels of the speakers. I know I go overboard but I use a sound meter to set each of the speaker to the proper level when I set up my, (and many friends) home theaters in a room. 
But just like everything else, you can spend as alot of time and money, or a little. If in the end it sounds good to you, that's all that matters.


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## mahjohn

I do like the sound meter idea....there are simple test DVD's which emit a tone, or the system itself might rotate sound from one to the other etc...but without a sound meter, its amazing how far off human ears can be......if you're sitting in the "best seat", and are tuning the back right speaker....you'll naturally lean slightly to the right. So if you imagine a car going down the street and the wheel being turned slightly right....the car veers right, same happens to hearing, you pickup slightly more with the right ear, and less with the left ear.


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## ERIK2173

The test DVD i use is "The Avia Guide to Home Theater" which not only has the test tones but has alot of other calibration test both for audio and visual.
The video calibration on the DVD is very useful for calibrating the brightness, contrast and color of your telivision.


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## Scott_K

ERIK2173 said:


> The test DVD i use is "The Avia Guide to Home Theater" which not only has the test tones but has alot of other calibration test both for audio and visual.
> The video calibration on the DVD is very useful for calibrating the brightness, contrast and color of your telivision.


The AVIA DVD is really helpful if you're willing to sit there. I spent hours sitting there watching gray boxes and lines.

Also agree with your previous post on the speaker matching. I went with the idea and matched my center and front mains. It's noticeable when cars go by. 
Some really old pics. Everything is packed away now. Working on plans to build a new theater in the basement.  
http://www.angelfire.com/electronic2/tls/ht.html


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## mmarceau

I am a polk fan as well. I have polk fronts, rears, center and sub. It doesn't sound as good as it used to b/c I don't have the surrounds mounted on the wall yet. Just haven't gotten around to running the wires in the wall to make it look nice. my rears are bookshelf speakers, I wish I had gotten multi-directional surrounds instead. In my living room they would sound better I'm sure. But I am extremely happy with my system and suggest the polk brand to anyone else in the market for speakers.

http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/individual/


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