Surround Sound Home Theater Speaker recommendations?

I would also have to agree with J.W. and audio. if you have the chance just walk away from BOSE. depending on price range and size of room you have a few options. first you said you have a reciever so we would need to know what type of speakers best match up with it. second what size of speakers are you looking for, third what price range are you looking for, and finally what kind of performance are you looking for? there are many different options if small speakers are what your looking for take a look at definitive technologies, Mirage, or polk audio systems. all three have inexpensive speaker packages that sound fantastic, midsize bookshelves look at again Definitive technologies and polk audio you can also look at boston acustics and B&K. if your looking at small towers Definitive or polk audio, personally id go definitive. larger towers .... theres just to many. remember to go to a store near you and listen to them and be aware that they will NOT sound the same in your house but it will give you a good idea. you can actually most of the time get your house sounding 10x better than what it does in most stores because how they have to set it up. Finally depending on your situation subwoofers are a huge option. some speakers such as definitive technologies have built in subs but i would personally look to have a seperate sub. Look for one that gives deep rich base you can not only feel but hear as well, not just one that blasts it since there is a huge difference between the two in how they will perform for you. personally i like Martin logan subs or the smaller supercubes from definitive. the sub will most likely be the most expensive speaker of them all since it has not only the speaker but an amplifier with it.

JW is absolutely right 100%. I am a CEDIA certified professional and have installed MANY brands of speakers and there are MANY great brands. Definitive are great for the money. I have atlantic technology which are also great for the money and have a crisper sound for a little lower pricetag. I can recommend a system 2200 by atlantic for about $2000. Definitive towers do outperform them though as they are towers and have that deep sound but the $$$ are comparatively more. Anyway BOSE is not a great sound and no real installers use them for anything at all except profiting :). BOSE is great for consumers who want a name but thats it. Ill put my atlantics or JW's definitives with a Denon or Yamaha reciever against a bose anyday. So would any tru professional. BOSE offers very little in terms of their "recievers" (use term loosely) as far as video and audio switching, routing, scaling. As an industry professional pick ANYTHING but BOSE or theaters in a box and you will have a worthy system. Other CEDIA professionals, high end retailers will back me up.

klipsch home theater speakers rock! they have small and stylish speakers to big floor standing speakers . great high fidelity sound,crisp, and very well manufactured!

I use Polk and B & W's............

Klipsch, Harman/Kardon, Or Bose Are Probably The Best Ones Out There. I Personally Would Recommend Klipsch.

The question can't really be answered well without the desired price-range being known. I know of some home theater speakers that perform much better than you'd expect for next to nothing... Like the Insignia bookshelves from Best Buy that have been getting some attention...http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7705307&type=product&productCategoryId=cat03043&id=1138085354138 One speaker may be used as a center speaker. Or the Sony SS- series that Consumer Reports rated higher than many more expensive speakers (larger speakers in the series recommended for main L+R channel use, such as SS-MF750H). The Sony SA-WX700 subwoofer will give most $500.00 subs some REAL competition as far as quantity AND quality of sound at less than half the cost. I would recommend this sub to anyone on a budget seeking excellent performance. Worthy of being matched with high quality mid-priced speakers. I've heard the newest series of Cerwin Vega speakers is sounding pretty good (V-series or Classic series actually) and is priced competitively. (not the cheapest, less than many, good value) At a higher price level, I like Wharfedale Diamond, PSB, Boston Acoustics, Energy, NHT, Definitive Tech... as some strong values. Worth their higher price for the performance delivered. There are many others around this price level and worth it... Too many to mention... Dynaudio makes some awesome speakers for more money... The speakers in these price-ranges will generally sound cleaner and more detailed without sounding harsh. If I had to choose the best speakers from those being sold at Best Buy or Circuit City.... I'd choose JBL at Best Buy (Klipsch come close, something wrong with the midrange sounds)... Infinity at Circuit City... The DCM speakers at Circuit City sound decent for cheap. Could compare favorably to the Sony SS- series I mentioned. Klipsch makes a Reference Series not sold at Best Buy that sounds much better and is a VERY strong contender in it's price-range. There are many high-end home theater speakers costing many thousands of dollars that I don't have much experience with. I have heard a few and was pretty impressed though...

I'd use a Denon amp/rcvr. with Bose speakers, (the little ones.) Those darn things rock for the size!! I use 3 front, 3 rear, and a good woofer!! Of course many programs and DVD's do not have surround sound, so it is not always sounding great. Was professionally installed, to make sure phasing and balance was correct. Also had everything programmed into ONE remote. I got sick of four or five remotes!!!

I can't believe there are still people out there recommending Bose. Although it depends on the price range you are looking at, you can get an excellent Marantz receiver for about $1000. Speakers are a matter of taste. Boston Acoustics and PSB are both excellent speaker companies. As far as subwoofers go, Velodyne are the first and last name to consider. You will also want to look carefully at how you are wiring/connecting your components and speakers. If you use cheap wires, then all the money you spend on your system will be for nothing. Although you could end up spending as much for wiring up the system as a pair of speakers, it will dramatically improve the sound and video quality of your system. You also need to consider the room this will be in and how/where you place the speakers. A room with paneling will deaden the sound. As with all audio equipment, you should go out and listen to everything for yourself as everyone's ear is different. Just please, stay away from Bose. If you've really got the $$$ to spend, then go for McIntosh audio equipment and Sonus Faber (fabre?) speakers.

About two months ago, I went to Circuit City and bought six Infinity Primus 150 bookshelf speakers and their Primus C25 center channel speaker. I am very pleased with these. I haven't made a final decision on subwoofers yet (what size and what brand), but there are bound to be many that will work fine. Try out the Infinitys or even the Polks that Circuit City sells. Try mixing various subwoofers with them also and see what pleases you. Your bound to find something that works quite well. Does anyone else reading this have any thoughts about subwoofers? Please share them with us.