A/V Speakers.....

[b0redom]

Hi All,
My man cave is now complete, and I have a projector and screen setup. I've got 2 bookshelf speakers sitting on the floor, and whilst they're generally OK, when I'm sitting on my turbo trainer, the vocals in movies aren't terribly clear.

I have a few options:

1) Buy some speaker stands to bring the 2 speakers I have up to closer to head level
2) Buy a center speaker and increase the volume of the center channel
3) Buy a pair of floor standing speakers
4) Buy a 2nd hand set of lifestyle speakers (KEF eggs or similar) with stands

What's likely to give me the best sound? The turbo is a bit noisy and I'm leaning towards option 4.

The source is Plex, Netflix or Amazon on Demand via a Denon A/V amp.

Anything else I could/should consider?

[royo]

Getting some stands to raise those speakers off the ground is the cheapest option. If you get a center speaker, you'll want one from the same series as the bookshelves to make sure the sound stays the same in terms of warmth.

[g8ina]

Budget ?

Some optipons :

Make some stands just opile up some concrete slabs.
Acoustic Solutions floor standers, very cheap and not too shabby for £30 !!
Virtually *any* branded centre speaker will improve vocals
Use headphones, Senn HD202 £25

[DanceswithUnix]

I have a pair of floor standers for the front, and a pair of bookshelf speakers for the back. Works very well in a small "cave".

OFC it does depend on budget, in my case I already had those speakers when I moved house so I was allocating to a new use rather than buying something.

[peterb]

Budget ?

Some optipons :

Make some stands just opile up some concrete slabs old books.
Acoustic Solutions floor standers, very cheap and not too shabby for £30 !!
Virtually *any* branded centre speaker will improve vocals
Use headphones, Senn HD202 £25

Just amended that for you

(Although thinking about it they might have too much 'give' - concrete has more mass.)

[b0redom]

Is raising the bookshelf speakers really going to make THAT much difference? I seem to remember that before I had a centre in the living room, the vocals were a bit lacking. I guess the amp is trying to split the centre channel into stereo.

I could pick up a Kef Egg center for about £80 2nd had.

I don't have any concrete slabs around, and headphones aren't really an option as I use my Trekz Aftershokz for audio cues on the turbo trainer.

[g8ina]

Oh yes, being so close to the floor all the bass is going straight ito the carpet, stands are almost mandatory for small spkrs, and thanks Peter, yes, books would be good but Id add a slab on top anyway.

This :
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tannoy-Mer...sAAOSwo4pYanh2

These :
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Heybrook-P...UAAOSw~AVYrd6e

[b0redom]

@g8ina - what do you think about this for a center?

http://www.richersounds.com/product/...-xtra-wide-blk

They do them for left + right too - will angling them up help, or do they have to actually be elevated off the floor? It's a hard wood/laminate floor rather than carpet if it makes any difference.

[g8ina]

Needs to be at the same height as yer ears....

[b0redom]

Yeah, that's probably not going to happen unfortunately, certainly not for the centre anyway as it needs to be placed between an ultra short throw projector and a screen, so I'm looking for the best compromise.

[Dashers]

Spend your money on a centre speaker (assuming you have a multichannel amp/receiver that supports a centre). Your "fronts" are fairly useless for spoken word which is the vast majority of TV and film - fronts are there for music and things that require oomph. A centre makes film and TV so much easier to hear.

Obviously you do want to sort out your fronts, putting them on cheapo stands filled with builders sand is an easy way to go about this. But ultimately, I'd recommend floor-standers. You land up having to spend a lot on a subwoofer and speaker stands to be able to match low-end (excluding unbranded/cheap knock-off) floor standards.

Speakers can be a tricky thing, buying a centre and slapping it in a poor location isn't going to give you what you want either. Make sure speakers aren't up against any surfaces, pull your centre forward away from the TV/back wall, and same for your fronts. Get everything ear-level and away from the walls. This will help the sound massively.

[Smudger]

In an ideal world, I would say all of the first 3. I would agree with people that say try to keep them all to the same brand. What make are your bookshelves?

[Marcus]

Agree that centre speakers make the world of difference for clarity of dialogue. Angling the speakers up so that thee tweeters are aimed at your ears helps if you can't mount them at ear level in my experience.