A5's too much for my living room?

[DarkNoghri Find all posts View Profile Close DarkNoghri]

Hi all, new poster here. Slight wall of text below, but I hope you'll bear with me.

Recently, I picked up the Onkyo TX-NR818 on Amazon, and now I'm looking to get a set of speakers to go with it. I live in an apartment, and I was looking at getting a 2.0 setup. No sub, since I don't want my neighbors horribly pissed off at me. I don't have a massive living room, either. Anyway, I was looking around, and I've stumbled upon the Arx line of speakers, having never heard of them before. I like what I'm hearing. Everything I'm hearing says that these speakers are pretty much as good as they get for the price (or double their price).

Anyway, the question I had was related to the size of my apartment. I've been looking at the A5's, but I'm not sure if that's overkill for my room or not. The layout of my apartment is like this (dimensions approximate):

The living room opens onto a hallway, the dining area, and the kitchen (which is separated from the living room with a breakfast bar). The TV is going to be centered over a triple dresser on the side of the living room opposite the love seat. I don't have a whole lot of options as to moving furniture around, and that long wall in the living room is the best place for a TV setup. If I center the triple dresser, I have something like 30 inches on either side that I can put speakers.

So here's the biggest question I have: would getting a pair of A5's be overkill, or would I be perfectly fine with a set of A1b's? I'm going to mostly be using them for home theater right now, as well as listening to music while in the kitchen. If I got A1b's, I would need either floorstands or wallmounts, but I could later get a set of A5's and move the A1b's to surround duties. And now that the A2rx-c has been announced, I might get one of those as well. I assume the whole set is tone-matched such that I can use pretty much any combo as a left-center-right set (A5/A2rx-c, A1b/A2rx-c, etc)? Also, has anyone driven these with the Onkyo 818? How's it sound?

If you made it through that, I would appreciate any advice ya'll might have. Thanks.

[gtpsuper24 Find all posts View Profile Close gtpsuper24]

No I don't believe the A5s would be overkill in a room that size My room isn't huge my any means and I run A5 fronts. With no using a subwoofer the A5s would be the best option IMO, they have deeper bass and have more output down low than the other mdoels.

I'm running the Onkyo 818 with A5 fronts, A2 center, A2 surrounds and A1 surrounds and i've had no issues. I did add another stereo amp a Parasound Halo A23 but it made no difference so I'm just using the 818 to power everything.

[Chris Ward Find all posts View Profile Close Chris Ward]

I'm sure you won't live there forever so the A5 ought to be an excellent purchase and a great investment. As long as you don't turn the volume up loud enough the neighbors are complaining you should be good with most any investment into tower speakers actually however I obviously applaud your choice of the A5! Be sure you check out the 1000k speaker shootout thread and the actual review it's based on for a little more insight on the A5s.

[D'Argo Find all posts View Profile Close D'Argo]

I live in an apartment too and I have the A5s as my LR in my 5.0 setup. It's not too much as I run it in low/med volume (50% in my AVR - Sherbourn-8100). It sounds fantastic. Sure, I can crank it up really high but as you said, you don't want to piss off the neighbors. I had the A1s (predecessor of the A1bs) running the LRs when I was waiting for the A5s. The A5s have better midrange and in my experience just an overall "balance" of the sound. Sorry, I'm a noob and don't know if this is the right term. Sometimes, I watch Netflix on just 2.0 because the dialogue is clearer (not that the A1s and A2 are bad). But the dialogue and sound effects are much more "balanced." It can also be my older AVR or my limited placement but the A5s are superb. You won't be disappointed.

[D'Argo Find all posts View Profile Close D'Argo]

Oh, and I also considered the Onkyo 818 but decided on the SR-8100 (wanted to try the Emotiva line). I'm surprised at how clear the A5s sound even at low volumes. No need to crank things up for clarity.

My space is also smaller than your apartment. My living room is 10' x 12' and one side is open to the rest of the apartment, similar to your layout. I have the A5s about 8'4" apart on the 10' side of the wall. They fill the whole space with sound (even off-axis, they sound great).

[DarkNoghri Find all posts View Profile Close DarkNoghri]

Man, ya'll are doing a terrible job at talking me out of purchasing a set of A5's. :p

I've already read the entirety of the 1000$ speaker roundup, as that's how I found this place. I was searching for speakers in the 1k price range and stumbled upon that review.

Thanks for the input, everyone. Now I just have to figure out if I really want to drop a grand right now...

[D'Argo Find all posts View Profile Close D'Argo]

:) Jon announced a group buy on the new A2s. You may get a deal with the A5s or A1bs (depending on what you choose). I vote for the A5s though... at least you won't keep asking "what if (I just bought the A5s instead of the A1bs)..."

[DarkNoghri Find all posts View Profile Close DarkNoghri]

Yeah, I've been keeping an eye on that group buy thread. I'll be checking in tomorrow for more details. Should be interesting.

[DarkNoghri Find all posts View Profile Close DarkNoghri]

So, what with the Group Buy details coming out tomorrow :D, I need to know if I can run, say, a pair of A5's and an A2 center full range. Alternatively, same question with the A1b's instead of the A5's. I've been looking through the Onkyo's manual, and by selecting the "no sub" setting, they're locked into full range. I need to make sure that it's safe to do so... Or can I tell it that I have a sub plugged in without actually attaching it so as to keep ultra-low frequencies from being sent to the speakers?

[Froggy Find all posts View Profile Close Froggy]

If you are talking about using it for music I wouldn't worry. Most music does not contain any significant frequencies below 40hz. The exception would be dubstep and the like.

Travis

[Froggy Find all posts View Profile Close Froggy]

Or use the sub setting and set the speakers to cross over at say 40hz. Yes you will be missing any material below whatever setting you choose but you will also have protected the speakers in the process.

Travis

[D'Argo Find all posts View Profile Close D'Argo]

I don't have the same receiver but I had mine on "large" (full range setting) and just switched off the sub. Not sure if changing sub to "no" will send the LFEs to the A5s/A1bs.

[powerlifter405 Find all posts View Profile Close powerlifter405]

I'm there w/ you. I returned a faulty 2113CI for the SR-120 and I didn't look back. The sound quality was night and day.
I have a 40x18 and it has a few dead spots but nothing horrible. That small of a room the A5 would sound great. I'd rather have "too big" of a speaker to better fill the area than something small struggling to reproduce the sound accurately. Either way I don't have a problem recommending the A5 to anyone wanting a solid tower w/ a very broad sound stage.