i need a complete dorm setup and i'm clueless

[brandontw 10+ year member]

i say you just find a cheap reciever, a couple of speaks and then worry about a sub later, especially considering basically any sub is over your preffered budget. and any decent sub is over your max budget.

I also vote that you just go for 2 speakers for now, then if you decide to go surround sound later you can get your rear speakers and center. I find that surround sound isnt much good for music anyhow, and scince you laptop isnt surround sound anyway, i say stereo for now.

That receiver that scooby is offering up might work ok, but it looks like it might be a little low on power... mabye find an older one on ebay or something.

As far as the speakers.... i would go with something that would give you decent bass response to hold you over untill you can afford a sub, but considering a reciever will prolly be 40-50$ that only leaves like 50-100 left for 2 speaks...

i know people love to bash on sony, but i have had lots of their gear, and no problems. These are supposed to be some of the best speakers around for under 100$ they would be great first speakers for you:

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-SONY-SS-MB350H-BOOKSHELF-120w-HOME-AUDIO-SPEAKERS_W0QQitemZ170008561590QQihZ007QQcategoryZ94908QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

there are also offerings from JBL,polk,yamaha, and infinity that may fit the bill, but that sony set has lots for not alot of money: three way design, 8" bass driver!!

I think i may pick some up too...

 

[brandontw 10+ year member]

in all my talking i forgot to spam this with my own sale of a reciever,,, its an o sony model,STR-D715, dolby surround sound/ or 2 channel stereo 100 watts per channel, ins, outs all the usuals its a good reciever.

45 Bucks

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

I'd rather run CSS FR125's in a bass reflex cabinet, or AA Poly's with Dayton tweets, before I'd buy Sony bookshelves.

Just IMHO.

 

[brandontw 10+ year member]

i know there is other more elaboret options that i would be more inclined to pursue as well, after all your talking to a guy that was shopping for bookshelve speaks, and instead ended up building 7 foot tall line array speakers... but for a beginner, it makes it easy to be able to go down to best buy, drop 90$ and walk out with some acceptable speakers.

I consider myself at least an amature audiophile, and these speakers sounded decent to me., like i said, better than others in its pricepoint for sure, the infinity primus's sound ok, but they are 50 dollars more, and i think these still have strengths over them, polk is crap, and jbl dont match these for the money, and you may be able to do something DIY, but sometimes its nice just to go buy something instead of build it from scratch

 

[brandontw 10+ year member]

P.S. look around at reviews on these speaks....//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/cool.gif.3bcaf8f141236c00f8044d07150e34f7.gif

 

[maldecido33 10+ year member]

Thanks for the suggestions; I'll look into them. However, I am a DIY'er; I have never purchased a prefab box, or enclosure designs, etc. I've always done all my own stuff, and I like it that way. I wanted this to be my custom enclosure (although it may not be my design), my own crossover (I do know how), etc.

I'm not a newbie, persay, just unsure as to the different fundamental sof home audio in regards to car audio. I don't really want to just go to BB, CC, etc. and buy an in-the-box already assembled system.

edit: let's up the budget to, say, $300?

 

[maldecido33 10+ year member]

What about a Dayton RS180S-8 7" Reference Series Shielded Woofer, Dayton DC50F-8 2" Dome Midrange, and a Dayton DC28FS-8 1-1/8" Shielded Silk Dome Tweeter? Two of each set with a cabinet for each 3-way setup. I figure that is a fairly good 3-way system, or is it not?

What to power these? I'd like to use my laptop as the reciever, but run the two 3-way setups off of a nice plate amp, or something like that. Am I going in the right direction? Any recommendations on what to power these with?

 

[joetama 5,000+ posts]

I think that setup wouldn't be too bad. I personally would go with a two-way set up and forget that mid-range or a two-way setup with two of the 4 ohm RS-180's in series. Even better would be to do a 5" and a 10" of that RS series in a 3-Way setup...

What that “mid-range” is used for is if you were to go with a Tweeter and a 15” and needed to fill in the mids. But the low frequency unit you have picked will go high enough to mate with your tweeter. So, unless you want a real middy (muddy) sound I would go with a two way or a three way to supplement the low end.

 

[Scoobydoo 5,000+ posts]

guessing that you are going to use the headphone out on your laptop? only issue is getting surround sound, i would suggest buying a usb sound card from newegg.com

 

[maldecido33 10+ year member]

i don;t really need/want surround sound; all i'm gonna use this setup for is music, with MAYBE a movie here and there, but music 90% of the time. my laptop's sound card is capable of 2.1, so i'd like to build off of that.

I think i've decided upon the dayton 7" reference woofer, and the 1 1/8" silk dome tweeter from dayton. what else do i need to complete the 2.1 setup as well as powering it, and making it compatible to my laptop, or TV in the event i decide upon that

 

[maldecido33 10+ year member]

sorry, i'm just completely new to home audio and just need guidance and the basic concepts; i can take it from there (hopefully)

 

[Scoobydoo 5,000+ posts]

That receiver that scooby is offering up might work ok, but it looks like it might be a little low on power... mabye find an older one on ebay or something.

i am willing to bet the onkyo amps in my toshiba at 50 watts are just as powerful or more powerful than your sony amps at 100 watts

onkyo amps have higher current and are usually underrated, sony is always overrated and the amp current is non existant

also he needs it for a dorm room, not a banquet hall //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[Scoobydoo 5,000+ posts]

only thing you need for the laptop for stereo sound is a mini plug to rca adapter like this

does your laptop have an svideo out? tv have an svideo in?

 

[brandontw 10+ year member]

i am willing to bet the onkyo amps in my toshiba at 50 watts are just as powerful or more powerful than your sony amps at 100 watts
onkyo amps have higher current and are usually underrated, sony is always overrated and the amp current is non existant

also he needs it for a dorm room, not a banquet hall //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

pshh--- i think you giving onkyo and toshiba too much credit, and not enough to sony but whatever...

 

[brandontw 10+ year member]

i don;t really need/want surround sound; all i'm gonna use this setup for is music, with MAYBE a movie here and there, but music 90% of the time. my laptop's sound card is capable of 2.1, so i'd like to build off of that.
I think i've decided upon the dayton 7" reference woofer, and the 1 1/8" silk dome tweeter from dayton. what else do i need to complete the 2.1 setup as well as powering it, and making it compatible to my laptop, or TV in the event i decide upon that

sorry i treated you like a newb, there just isnt alot of people that are willing to put forth the efort to biuld their own stuff. i think that woofer and tweeter combination will be great. Im no expert on enclosure design, so you may be more knowledgable on that than i am, but i would design something ported for those to get the maximum bass performance out of them, then power them with something decent, i still think a reciever would be the easiest route, that way you could also plug in your TV, listen to the radio, Ect., instead of being limited to what your lappy can do. You coul duse a plate-type amp, but where would you put it?