TV & Home Theater

[misty123]

We're spending our income tax refund on our first flat screen & a new TV stand.  We have an Onkyo surround sound receiver.  Hooked up to the SS system are home theater in a box speakers (I know, I know....)

I really do not wish to spend a lot on speakers after 2 other purchases.   Husband has already blown 2 or 3 sets of cheesey speakers when playing his music so I need something that can handle rock & roll  :-D  But I also do not want anything that will blow away the neighbors

I am hoping for recommendations (as cheaply as possible) on what I should get.  I was looking at the Insignia set on Best Buy onlin, I'll admit because of the price & reviews are good.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Insignia%26%23174%3B+-+5.1-Channel+Home+Theater+Speaker+System+-+Black/8...

Do I need to buy anything else to make it work?  Have a better recomendation?

[SlimJim77]

Welcome to the forum, misty123.

The speakers in that link aren't any better than the speakers that would come with a HTiB.

What is your max budget? You may want to consider two good quality front speakers only. Must the speakers be small? To help, we need to visualize your goals.

[misty123]

Would prefer small speakers that can be placed on the wall for that surround effect.  I know I need a subwoofer & i know those are expensive.  I think we'd be OK spending around $300 (maybe up to $350) on speakers total.

[SlimJim77]

I would use the speakers you already have for the rear. Add in these cheap-but-effective speakers, and you'll be in good shape with that budget.

Front L&R

Center channel

Subwoofer

You will have to fabricate some mounts for the fronts if they MUST be mounted. You're better off using speaker stands or the other furniture.

[misty123]

thanks for the advice.  Our rear speakers are currently blown and the Sony speakers are pretty reasonable.  We might even be able to buy a piece here & there so it isn't such a big bite on our budget.  At a glance, Sony gets really reviews and thanks for saving me the hassle of reading, reading, reading!!  :-D

Great advice, thanks again

[SlimJim77]

I've had a change to listen to those speakers quite a bit. There are certainly not bad for the money. Much better than the Insignia package you where thinking about. You could add another pair of speaker and still be within your budget.

[smileemile]

before purchasing speakers for your receiver, you should check first the speaker impedance of the speaker if it can handle the power output of your receiver to avoid blowing the speakers

[mstng87gt Trusted Contributor]

Power output from the receiver is different from Impendance.  Slim recommended 8 ohms speakers which are fine.  The receiver sounds like its from a HTIB and those receivers are packing a whole lot of power so even 50w speakers would be fine.  You more so have to worry about distortion over power because if you only have the volume on 1/4 of full volume your not using all the watts the receiver has so you would not blow the speakers.  Distortion on the other hand can happen at any volume level.

[mstng87gt Trusted Contributor]

Impedance sorry

[misty123]

sorry but that all confused me a little!  The speakers we have currently came with a junky DVD player-home theater system all in one thing.  Paid abut $80 for the whole thing.  Yeah, they're junk speakers and the DVD player died a looooong time ago.

Exactly what do I need to look for to avoid blowing the speakers?

What should I look for in the manual for our receiver?

The only problem is that husband cranks up the music after I go to work--helps him wake up for work.  He's blown out a couple sets of HTIB speakers already, but who cares--they're cheap