What do you think about this for a home theater set up?

Question

This is what I have put together.

RECEIVER-Sony 5.1 500W Str-dg520

Center Speaker-Sony dual 5-1/4 sscn5000

Sub-12'' sony 200 watt saw3000

bookshelf-sony 2 way speaker (pair) ssb1000

Do I need another set of bookshelf to get full 5.1 surround sound. thanks for looking.

Answer 1

Sony makes some half decent receivers so that is not a bad way to start out. However, Sony is NOT the first choice or even the second or third choice for speakers.

For surround sound you need 5 speakers and a sub-woofer. Front left, front center, front right, surround left, and surround right. It works best if all three front speakers are identical. Since you have 2 bookshelf speakers already I would suggest you get another set (matching) of bookshelves and use 3 matching speakers for your fronts and banish the "center" speaker to one of your surround positions and use the other bookshelf for your remaining surround position. This will give you the best sound with what you already have, speaking by my own experience. BTW surround speakers are properly placed at the sides of the room, not behind you.

You should know that Sony vastly overrates it's speakers in both frequency response and power. For example they rate that sub-woofer at 200w at 10%t.h.d.! That means your 200w sub is actually putting out maybe 50w of clean power if you're lucky. The frequency response is rated down to 20 Hz which is impossible for a 12" speaker and unlikely for even a store bought 15" sub. There are a few speakers that do have that kind of frequency response but they are into the thousands of dollars. There is simply no $200 sub that will come even close to 20Hz.

Since you already have 3/4 of the equipment you need you may as well get the other 2 speakers you need and set it up. But I would highly recommend you consider upgrading both the satellite speakers and the sub-woofer when you can. You will be MUCH happier with the sound if you do.