Mrbob said:
I've heard great things about ascend acoustics. I think that is where I'm going to get my speakers. For a medium sized room, what do you think of 4 CBM-170s with a 340 main and the STF2 sub? I'll probably add two more CBM 170s down the road when i go too 7.1.
If you click on these links in my original post, you will see my opinion:
Naturally....you could also get ONE OF THESE and SIX OF THESE (again, configure your sixth back surround channel as dual monos)
If you put a gun to my head and asked me to chose one line of bang-for-the-buck speaker line, that would be the Rocket ELT speakers, for sure....
If you are going to get a reciever, get the Harmon Kardon AVR 435 for $560 (spend the extra 60 bucks...TRUST ME)
http://www.ezhotdeal.com/catalog/catalog.asp?i=1477
Here is a breakdown of the features:
7 amplified channels
Dolby Digital 5.1
dts 5.1
Dolby Digital EX
dts es 6.1 (matrix and discrete)
dts Neo:6
dts 96/24
DPL2x which can apply 7.1 processing to Dolby Digital and dts
Dolby Headphone
Virtual Dolby
Upsample 48Khz digital sources to 96Khz
Logic 7 processing that can be applied to discrete digital sources (ie Dolby Digital and dts)
Quadruple Crossover bass mgt.(L/R mains/Center/Surround/Surround back groups can have individual crossover settings in 10Hz increments)
And last, but not least:
The AVR 435 has a 32-bit DSP called the Texas Instruments DA610....it is the most powerful DSP used in recievers today....the only recievers that use it are the HK AVR 435, the step up 635 ($700) the Denon 4806 ($3500 MSRP) and the flagship Denon 5805 (a cool Six grand)...
Besides all having the TI DA610, these 4 recievers have something else in common.....amazing room correction/EQ abilites.....the Denons have the Audessey system and the HKs have something called EzSet/EQ
EzSet/EQ is an automated room equalization/system calibration system that measures the frequency response of your room(via a mic) and can apply a compensating equalization curve to flatten the frequency response of your room, cancel standing waves and more....
EzSet/EQ also uses pretty a advanced parametric equalization scheme...
Many/most reciever manufacturers these days have Parametric EQ/room correcting scheme but the Audessey (Denon) and Ezset/EQ (Harmon Kardon) are by far the best of the bunch....the fact all 4 products use the TI DA610 is probably a big reason they are so much better than the competition.....
Another thing I like about Harmon Kardon recievers is the fact they have *TWO* power supplies (not even the high-zoot Denons have dual PS)
Combined with the rich feature-set, low price and, of course, Logic7, the AVR 435s is pretty hard to beat at that price point, IMO...
http://ww1.onecall.com/PID_25469.htm#25469
This is a unique product at this price point: