What are good car audio speakers for a home theatre?

Hardware and technical stuff
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The fact that you’re thinking in the thousands of dollars already tells me that you’re well overestimating the level of quality I’m looking for. Admittedly, $100 may have been a lot lower than is practical, but bear in mind I’m not looking for something to knock my socks off.

It’s like … if someone came to me and said “So I wanna get a new camera, but I only have $100-$150 to spend.” I could say “Come on. If you want even a halfway decent camera, you’re gonna need to drop at least $300-$350. Hell, mine cost me about $2,600 and it’s not even the best there is. And that’s just for the body. Forget lenses. That’s another $1000 per, easy.”

Or, I could say “Well, you should know in advance that you’re not gonna get results anywhere near the level that you would if you spent $300-350, but if you’re fine with that then the [B]Canon Powershot A590[/B] should suit your basic needs. The zoom is mediocre and it’s only 8mp, but that’s more than you’ll need. And the image quality is pretty decent.”

I understand a $100-150 budget is probably a nigh-insulting figure to quote an audiophile, but the quality of my home theater isn’t so important to me that I can justify spending much more than that. All I want is a step up from the tv speakers and my old Logitechs. And if there’s nothing I can buy in a bare speaker and I’m better off just using that money to buy a new Logitech or Creative speaker kit, then so be it. If it can’t be done, it can’t be done. And I’m fine with that. I just (obviously) know dick about speaker tech, and wanted to ask for input before I foolishly went spending my money on things I can’t use.

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Go on craigslists, find someone selling a HT in a box, go listen to it to make sure everything works and buy it.

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/ele/1067699571.html

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/ele/1068080508.html

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/ele/1067955841.html

This is probably your best bet. Seriously. You can’t touch these types of prices by building your own. You can make any of these cheap systems sound 100X better by plugging a 5 channel amp in between the reciever and the speakers. Then later on you can upgrade speakers and keep the amp. Amps are forever.

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Perfect. Thanks for the advice. I think I’ll contact that guy about the Onkyo.

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It’s not insulting - it’s impossible. At least for what you originally asked for.
You can buy a crap sorround set for <$100 and build into your stand, but as others have pointed out, you’d have front, rear and side coming from the same place.
Those setups you picture might look good (I think they’re hideous), but I doubt that even built with expensive gear that they’re any better than the cheapest soundbars like the one Tallisker linked to.

Logitech makes great cheap speakers that have lots of oomph for action movies and games - they’re not HiFi, but nothing <$100 will be. Buy the best 2.1 set you can get for that price and build it into the table, if you like.

I use the Logitech z-680 (discontinued) in my small living room and it’s great for a boxed surround set in that range… but even that cheapish setup was much more than what you’re willing to pay. And of course I’ve placed the speakers properly and not all up front.

25

You can get decent/ok 5.1 surround sound systems for $100-150 at a place like Walmart that are name brand (as well as cheaper ones that I can’t really comment on other then that they have sound that comes out of all the speakers). It would probably be pretty easy to integrate that into whatever TV cabinet you plan on building.

However, if you aren’t going to actually put the rear speakers behind you, I’d personally suggest just getting some good 2.1 speakers and calling it good.

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I’d be afraid of what the audiophiles would say to you.

Now that’s out of the way, and I can be serious.

As I originally stated, and others have seconded, thirded, and so on, you just won’t be able to get a home theater setup for $100. It’s not remotely doable. At least, you won’t find one in that price point that doesn’t totally butcher the sound.

I won’t say you need to spend $2k either. What you need is a good 3.1 setup, left, right, center, subwoofer. Most audio receivers (I assume you’ve got a receiver to power your speakers?) can downmix the rear channels into the front L/R, and it doesn’t muddy things up in my experience. My living room is running a 3.1 setup, since the GF would kill me if I shitted the place up with surrounds speakers.

Something like this is far from phenomenal, but will be pretty decent. You get 3 of those, and you’ve got your speaker part taken care of.

For subs, obviously you’re on a budget, so I’m not gonna waste your time saying you should get a JBL this or a BIC that. Get this one. It’s the cheapest decent sub out there.

http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-10-Inch-Monitor-Subwoofer/dp/B0002KVQBA/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1236693816&sr=8-1

Or you could buy a HTIB off of Craigslist and be done with it.

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I bought some Surround Sound set for $100 at walmart on a clearance sale. They aren’t going to win an competitions for sound quality, but they are surround sound and are loud.

Check your local CC.

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The best way to improve the sound of that setup is to put the speakers in better places. Put the center speaker just below the screen, separate the left and right channel (perhaps extending them out from the wall?) and at least get the subwoofer out of the glass enclosure. You may need to put it close to the wall or farther away depending on how boomy you want it.

It’s still going to look stupid having cheap computer speakers, but at least it will sound better.

29

I’ve had a Yamaha home theater that cost €400 new. I was quite impressed with it. Nice setup options, DTS, 100000 in- & outputs including video in & outs, tuner with EDS… So, my suggestion would be to check out one of those.

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Okay, look, let’s back up here. Your main problem is that you started off asking about 5.1 speakers, when you don’t even have a place to put the surrounds.

Forget 5.1, just stick with two-channel. That’ll basically triple your per-spaker budget.

And at that point, well, $100 is still on the extremely low side. If you bump it up to $300 or so, a pair of PSB Alpha B1s will be great for you.

(And speakers are something I’d advise you not to skimp on. A $600 graphics card is worthless in two years; a $600 pair of speakers is every bit as good in two years. And in five. And, really, in ten. Speakers get obsolete in decades.)

31

Those cable supports are fucking awesome. What brilliant marketing. Something that holds a cable off the ground for $20. Hahaha…

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I don’t know why you have such a hard time understanding the concept of a luxury good.

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I don’t know why you have such a hard time understanding the concept of a luxury good.

Also, the stripes on my shoes make me run faster!

34

Hehe. Yeah, that’s what I was afraid and largely why I came here first. Some subcultures are more pretentious and unwelcoming to outsiders, and I wasn’t sure where audiophiles ranked on that list so I opted to stay out.

What you need is a good 3.1 setup, left, right, center, subwoofer.

3.1 it is, then. I re-examined my living room this morning and while I could easily run wire along the molding, i really wouldn’t be able to mount them anywhere. My building is a little old and the walls are this kind of plaster-drywall that crumbles when you drill into it. I’m gonna have to stand-mount my speakers most likely.

Or you could buy a HTIB off of Craigslist and be done with it.

I’m leaning toward that, but I’m also curious what you think of Logitech’s 3.1 systems. Yeah, they’re probably not even in the same realm as solid bookshelf speakers, but they can be had for a decent price. [B]Something like this[/B], for example. No center channel, but people seem to like 'em well enough.

Right now I’m really hoping to hear back from that Onkyo guy, because it seems like a great bargain. But if I can get decent sound out of computer speakers, I don’t mind at all.

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Well, my original plan was to build them into the stand like in the photo above, using the angle of the speakers to help “throw” the sound toward the back.

Forget 5.1, just stick with two-channel. That’ll basically triple your per-spaker budget.

Two channel it is, then. :)

And at that point, well, $100 is still on the extremely low side. If you bump it up to $300 or so, a pair of PSB Alpha B1s will be great for you.

The main reason I’m hesitant to spend more than $150 or so is because I don’t really have the ability to crank them up. And while I understand that a good audio system sounds great no matter the volume, it seems like (to my uninitiated self, at least) that it’s at the higher volumes that a good system really breaks away from a mediocre system. So if the difference isn’t as pronounced at lower volumes, then I can’t really justify spending an extra hundred or two just for crankability. Maybe when I have a proper house or condo with decent sound insulation. But while living in a downtown apartment? I can barely crank it up to four, let alone eleven.

(And speakers are something I’d advise you not to skimp on. A $600 graphics card is worthless in two years; a $600 pair of speakers is every bit as good in two years. And in five. And, really, in ten. Speakers get obsolete in decades.)

And even then, really not until they start to fall apart. At least, that’s what an audiophile friend used to tell me.

And believe me, I understand. It’s the same way with lenses. A good lens will last longer than you will, if you take care of it. And while I completely agree that a $1,200 lens is a worthwhile investment and actually pretty cheap when you consider its lifespan, I also know that $1,200 is a lot of money and that a $300 third-party equivalent, while nowhere near as good, will still suffice until such a time that I have the $1,200 to spend.

Truth be told, I’m fine with my Logitechs as-is. The main reason for this thread was because I wanted to build speakers into the tv stand I’ll be putting together, and needed to know what kind of speakers to get. But it sounds like it wouldn’t be a sound (hur) idea, and that anything halfway decent would run me a lot more than I’m looking to spend. And if that’s the case then I’ll just take Tim’s suggestion of repositioning my POS speakers and making do with that until such a time that I can afford $600 speakers and have somewhere I can utilize them.

36

Do you have an amp? no amp, then no way to drive anything. For your TV i’ll guess it will have line-level stereo outs, so you can put two stereo speakers there.

If you had an amp handy I’d just get a nice center speaker and use it with the dinky built in TV speakers. “talky” shows like “The Wire” and “West Wing” have most of the stuff come from the center anyway.

37

Good to know.

I don’t currently have an amp. My original plan was to get one to go with the speakers I’d be building into the stand. I have a digital cable box, and was planning on using the audio outs from there.

I’ve pretty much chucked the idea of building the speakers into the stand at this point. It was a cute idea, but clearly a lot more financially involved than I anticipated. I’ll just keep making do with what I have for now until a little more money rolls in, then I’ll just replace everything with better gear.

Thanks for the input, everyone!

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