# HT Speaker Opinions



## GWCR (Apr 14, 2010)

I'm in the planning stage of building a dedicated HT, and wanted to get some opinions on speakers. My budget is not huge for speakers, so I'm looking for the most bang for the buck. After looking at Axiom, Aperion and others, I thought I had settled on the HSU Enthusiast 2 package. However, for my room bipole/dipole surrounds will work the best (per the designer). So now I am thinking the HSU HB-1 MK2 for the L/R, HC-1 MK2 Center and VTF-2 MK3 Sub. For the surrounds I am looking at Emotiva ERD-1.

I have no doubts that all these speakers can produce great sound on their own. I have read enought reviews from multiple sites to convince me of that. My biggest concern is pairing the Emotiva surrounds with the HSU fronts and sub. Anyone have any thoughts on pairing these 2 up, or am I over thinking this?

Thanks in advance.

GWCR


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## STRONGBADF1 (Oct 9, 2008)

Hi GWCR,

Matching is always best, but if you can't, surrounds are not as important to match as the front 3. The only caveat would be multi-channel music from a sacd/dvd-a. I would get 5 identical speakers if I was big into that.

Why not Klipsch surrounds? I would think they would be more similar???
http://www.klipsch.com/na-en/products/s-10-overview/


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## GWCR (Apr 14, 2010)

Thanks Strong. Don't know why I didn't think about Klipsch. Since they have horn tweeters they probably would pair with the HSUs better. I'll have to give those a listen.

The room will be primarily used for movies, sports and gaming with a bit of music mixed in, but not much. It will be a 7.1 setup so will need 2 pairs of surrounds.

Thanks again for the input.


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## Andre (Feb 15, 2010)

Why horns may I ask? Did you need the throw because of distance from the seating area?


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## GWCR (Apr 14, 2010)

No real reason. I am not an audiophile by any stretch of the term. I just liked the sound stage that the HSU fronts produced, so horns it is . LCR will be behind a SeymourAV AT screen that will be approximately 10' from the first row of seats. There will be a 2nd row behind that. I am not yet 100% on my speaker choice, so please feel free to recommend other speakers. Ultimate goal is to have a solid 7.1 solution between $1500-$2000.


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## Andre (Feb 15, 2010)

Why not all Klipsch..


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## GWCR (Apr 14, 2010)

I thought about that after you mentioned them. Unfortunately, the packages that fall into my price range have fixed grills over the woofers. With LCR behind an AT screen, it is preferable to leave the grills off completely. Then I looked at piecing together a system, but the speaker combinations that would work price wise either have non removable grills or have gold or silver drivers. Need black/dark drivers behind an AT screen as well, or they can show through.

So the quest continues. onder:


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## Andre (Feb 15, 2010)

I honestly don't think the grills will make a difference, however that is just my opinion. The only other brand of speakers that fall into the Horn/Not expensive catagory that I know of is BIC. Unfortunately they also have metalic look cones.

Now if you are looking at bipole horn surrounds then I can only think of Klip and BIC that have them (both make a unit with a 6.5" driver to match the HSUs.

Another thought I had was using two more HB-1 as the center vice the HC-1 since it is always better to have identical speakers in the front and since you don't have the problem of needing to mount a center under the screen


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## Jungle Jack (Jul 28, 2009)

Hello,
A wonderful advantage to Horn Loaded Speakers is how loud they play with very little Amplifier or AVR Power.
The Hsu Package would be excellent and the Subwoofer is an absolute gem.
Cheers,
JJ


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## GWCR (Apr 14, 2010)

Thanks for the replies Andre and Jack. I know I'll just have to pull the trigger on something (or more than one thing) give them a listen and keep the ones I like better.

I found another brand that I don't know much about yet. Has anyone heard of or heard Episode speakers? I've found a little info on them, but haven't seen many reviews.


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## Andre (Feb 15, 2010)

One of their speakers remind me of MKs (sigh...the MK are Nice)

http://www.mksoundsystem.com/MK Leaflets/4sA4leaflet_150THX_0610.pdf


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## GWCR (Apr 14, 2010)

Those do look nice, and I bet they sound better than they look! If only they would have some sort of crazy 80% off sale...


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## GWCR (Apr 14, 2010)

OK, so looking at the Klipsh surrounds it seems like they have a few that are very similar. The RS-41 II, VS-14 and S-10 are very similar except for size. Then there is the S-2 on the vanns site, but I dont see it on the klipsh site. What is the big difference in these? After reading the specs I am struggling to see which ones have an advantage since they are all about the same price.


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## Andre (Feb 15, 2010)

Different series'. All the ones you list are 4" driver models. The S-2 is a discontinued model. I am a proponant of "same size drivers all around". For your HSU which have a 6.5" driver I would match them with the RS-62 II

Soooo. 4 x HB-1 MkII across the front behind the screen. 2 x HB-1 in the back for 7.1. and the RS62s on the side.

OH and you will need a sub perhaps an MTX jackhammer in a custom box... just joking.


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## JCD (Apr 20, 2006)

Why did your designer say you needed di-poles? They made sense in the ProLogic days, but I usually prefer normal direct firing speakers for the surrounds when listening to DD or DTS soundtracks. And they're going to be cheaper too since there are fewer drivers.


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## needspeed52 (Aug 2, 2008)

I agree with Jacen, I much preferred the direct firing surrounds over my di-poles. As per JJ says, the HSU's would make a wonderful 7.1 or 7.2 system. If I was working with your budget I would go all HSU HB-1's with the VTF-2MK3, I think you would be pleasantly surprised, IMO.


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## GWCR (Apr 14, 2010)

Thanks all for the continued replies. I will be talking to my designer tomorrow, but I believe the reason for the bipole setup is that they need to be a more shallow profile than the HB-1s. My room is somewhat narrow, and at the optimal speaker height there is some potential headwacking if they stick out too far. Thats what it looks like to me from the initial drawings, but I will confirm tomorrow.


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## GWCR (Apr 14, 2010)

Due to the size of my room, seating area, etc, bipoles being recommended. So I will audition a few of the Klipsch models and anything else that might work here locally. Thanks for all the help!


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