Looking for the best bang for the buck sound system

[itsblown 10+ year member]

Well my goal is to be able to play music louder and clearer in my basement then my current logitech computer speakers can lol. Not going to be focused on sound quality that much, Im going to use it as a party set up when I have people over but im also going to have to be able to enjoy it at low level volumes.. i need it to be able to music off of an ipod,computer, or t.v.

What kind of a receiver should I look at ? should I look for P.A speakers or go another route. I have little to no knowledge about home audio. Im only looking to spend about 300 dollars in total so Im most likely going to go the used route. Would I be better off buying some sort of pre fab home stereo set or building custom enclosure with some P.A. speakers in it and a super tweet with a sub?

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[cfox10 10+ year member]

Built my own enclosures.... two towers about 5 feet tall, 3 feet wide, each has a 10" woofer and components that I had laying around... put some 6.5" speakers and a sattelite sub in the back of the room and that ish gets LOUD off a $100 pawn shop onkyo reciever. It sounds really nice too, surprisingly.

 

[RangerDangerV2 5,000+ posts]

sundown. that is all.

 

[Ejcj]

What's your system budget? I would advise you to buy a basic system with a good used receiver or integrated amp? Is it just for music or home theater? How loud do you intend to listen etc are all factors. Their is a great sounding budget speaker made by Dayton audio and sold by parts express that is amazing for the money but it can't handle high power. It retails for around 40 bucks. They have a matched center speaker and sub also low cost. They sound almost as good as speakers by PSB or Paradigm. The cabinets are crap though and they use pin connectors rather than binding posts but they are musical and clean.

Receivers that I like are Integra , marantz and Denon. They all make nice sounding products. A low cost musical streaming solution is to use an Apple tv which you can hook to a digital analog converter. You can use a remote ap with your I phone or iPad. Another product which just got a great review is the Dragonfly dad by audio quest. It'ts a USB dac that you can plug directly into your computer. You then use a mini to RCA cable into your stereo.

Philosophically speaking I always advise folks to focus on getting best sound within budget rather than waiting money on stuff you will want to replace right away.

 

[BrownVanMan 10+ year member]

I used a computer power supply to power a kenwood 4 ch car amp. Bridged so that the 2 tower speakers would get 75 watts each and then a sundown E8 on the other 2 and bam **** wangs.

 

[ewadz3006 10+ year member]

My set up cost me around 450$. It consists of a carver tfm 24 amp (300$ shipped) 2 cerwin vega towers (12") (125$ off craigslist) and a cheap radio shack 2 channel mixer(20$ shipped off ebay). I play songs off my laptop and ipod. Great for parties, sounds really good and gets quite loud.

If your looking for home theater this isnt the best set up, but if you want to jam out in the basement... bang.

 

[quackhead 10+ year member]

Well my goal is to be able to play music louder and clearer in my basement then my current logitech computer speakers can lol. Not going to be focused on sound quality that much, Im going to use it as a party set up when I have people over but im also going to have to be able to enjoy it at low level volumes.. i need it to be able to music off of an ipod,computer, or t.v. What kind of a receiver should I look at ? should I look for P.A speakers or go another route. I have little to no knowledge about home audio. Im only looking to spend about 300 dollars in total so Im most likely going to go the used route. Would I be better off buying some sort of pre fab home stereo set or building custom enclosure with some P.A. speakers in it and a super tweet with a sub?

My set up cost me around 450$. It consists of a carver tfm 24 amp (300$ shipped) 2 cerwin vega towers (12") (125$ off craigslist) and a cheap radio shack 2 channel mixer(20$ shipped off ebay). I play songs off my laptop and ipod. Great for parties, sounds really good and gets quite loud.
If your looking for home theater this isnt the best set up, but if you want to jam out in the basement... bang.

speaking of Carver...check this out:

POWER AMPLIFIER Carver is some of the best made.

Behringer B212XL Eurolive 2-Way PA Speaker (800 Watts, 1x12") x2 Zzounds offers a "Play as you Pay"option in the shopping cart that is very handy..it breaks down the Price into 4 equal monthly payments...on the two 212XL's that payment will be $80 a month for 4 months.

I have used the Powered versions of the Behrenger 212Xl, and they sound better than the Peavey PV series I own now. That Carver is a beast for the $...If i lived there , I would snatch it up in a heartbeat. You can buy adapters and cables for cheap to tie in a laptop straight to the amp, but I think it sounds better and more headroom with a small Mixer. As you can see, for a few hundred bucks, you can have a system that you can actually use to make money at weddings, small gatherings, etc. Around here, It is nothing to make $500 cash for a night using not much more than what I listed here.

 

[Seraphim38 10+ year member]

Behringer is the crappiest knock off crap in the history of professional gear. And for $300 you won't get a hell of a lot, (speaking of new gear). Used gear, you might be able to find a pair of powered PA speakers that get far louder than studio monitors or a home stereo setup, but without familiarity to the market it would be challenging.

 

[ewadz3006 10+ year member]

speaking of Carver...check this out:POWER AMPLIFIER Carver is some of the best made.

Behringer B212XL Eurolive 2-Way PA Speaker (800 Watts, 1x12") x2 Zzounds offers a "Play as you Pay"option in the shopping cart that is very handy..it breaks down the Price into 4 equal monthly payments...on the two 212XL's that payment will be $80 a month for 4 months.

I have used the Powered versions of the Behrenger 212Xl, and they sound better than the Peavey PV series I own now. That Carver is a beast for the $...If i lived there , I would snatch it up in a heartbeat. You can buy adapters and cables for cheap to tie in a laptop straight to the amp, but I think it sounds better and more headroom with a small Mixer. As you can see, for a few hundred bucks, you can have a system that you can actually use to make money at weddings, small gatherings, etc. Around here, It is nothing to make $500 cash for a night using not much more than what I listed here.

Thats pretty **** cheap for that carver. I've seen those magnetic field amps go for way more than that.