Ventriloquist and others... cannot decide

[nrezaie]

I have a 18x16 room with 8 foot ceilings.

I am very concerned as to whether a Ventriloquist system would sound decent in this size room....

I am thinking about buying the Ventriloquist VT-12 with HSU STF-2.

BUT, I also cannot decide if I want the HTD Level II package. FOR SURE the subwoofer in the HTD package will not be as good as a STF-2, but I am wondering if the speakers will do me much better.


I am also looking at a JBL Northridge set up. E30s front and back with EC35 center channel. But then I might not be able to get the HSU subwoofer.



What do you guys think given my room conditions? Are the Ventriloquists acceptable? Because I really want to spend a minimal amount of money.

[Dudley]

If you want value, then it is going to be hard to beat the VT-12 with HSU sub - you get $100 off on the package.

I have the STF-2 in a 12' x 18' room with 10' ceilings, and it does very well. The room is also very open to the rest of the house with one opening of about 10' x 10' that cannot be closed.

I have not heard anyHTD speakers, but I think the JBL speakers sound fine (they are certainly bigger and more expensive than the ventriliquist though). I have heard and measured their (JBL) subs in the STF-2 price range, and they do not compete.

[nrezaie]

Honestly.. after doing a lot of deep thinking... I am not so sure that the Ventriloquist are worth it.


The JBL set from JR + an STF-2 only costs around 850 dollars shipped. A ventriloquist + STF-2 costs about 635 shipped. This particular series of JBL Northridge is fairly highly regarded value line and undoubtedly sound 'bigger' than a Ventriloquist set. To me this 200 dollar price difference seems very low to get much better performance out of 5 speakers and have a full size home theater from a respected JBL E Series.

But there's more.....
I also do not doubt that the HTD speakers alone sound better than the VT-12 speakers alone. If I purchased HTD Level II alone with STF-2, the price is only 750 shipped. That pretty much 100 dollars more than VT-12 and STF-2. Which seems like a much better option compared to TINY VT-12 speakers that are probably EXCELLENT but still do weird techniques to sound good.

At this point I think I have to be REALLY convinced in getting the VT-12 instead of one of the other sets.

In a heartbeat I would purchase the STF-1 + VT12 combo, because that is an excellent deal no matter what, but I am pretty sure the sub is not good enough for my room.

[cschang]

Your arguments are valid, but I would not sell the VT-12 short until you heard it.

[Dudley]

If you "really want to spend a minimal amount of money" then the VT-12 is half the price of the JBL ($200 vs $400) and according to reviews should sound fine. You can return the VT-12 if you do not like the sound, and you will only be out the shipping - which shouldn't be too much for just the VT-12.

[Active Speaker]

The sub will have much more effect on your perceptions of "fullness" and "volume" than you realize. Try an STF-3 & VT-12, you won't be disappointed. Spend more on the sub rather than the speakers, you can always add a larger stereo pair later if you want, but the sub is more important. You may even consider the VTF-3.

[nrezaie]

I want to spend a minimal amount but am considering value as well...


The VT-12 just do not seem like a good value compared to others.


Another huge problem:

I come from higher end systems and had to downgrade because I wasn't getting much use out of such expense.

I come from a SVS PB2-Plus. It was ridiculously good and massive. No way in hell did it make up for having crappy speakers. Thankfully I had some pretty decent DefTech BP6 and a CLR2002 center. To me, the subwoofer makes things sound ALL around better as you said... but still doesn't make up for underperforming speakers.

And before that I come from an ALL Paradigm Reference theater.... Studio 40, CC, ADP, and Servo-15...


I am willing to be flexible given the low amount of money I want to spend, but I do not know if I can actually be satisfied with such a TINY VT-12 system with only a good subwoofer like the STF-2, which is still TINY compared to the SVS PB2-Plus.

[Active Speaker]

The PB2-Plus is excellent, but ridiculously huge; a VTF-3 wouldn't be prohibitively expensive OR disappoint. A friend of mine has Rock Solid speakers which I surmise are similar to the VT-12. He added a VTF-3, & it made all the difference. You could TRY them and return them if you're not satisfied. On a good system, STEREO sounds better than DD or DTS so maybe you should go for a decent pair of stereo speakers & a VTF-3 for now, add a good center & surround speakers later. I've heard that Axiom is pretty good.

[wid]

I have the VT-12 in a living room that is 15x20 with 7.5 ceilings and it does a very good job.The sub I have with these is a Wharfedale powercube,I'm positive the STF-2 is a better sub as I also own 2 HSU-VTF-2's that I run with my 2 channel set up.I don't think you would be dissapointed.

[Sasha_G]

The VT-12 just do not seem like a good value compared to others.

CNET and others say otherwise.

If you want to tell how "LOUD" the system will get, the Ventriloquist will perform about loudly as any 5 1/2 inch bookshelf speaker on the market.

[Sasha_G]

nrezaie,

CNET gave the JBL E20 a 7.5 rating ($150 for a pair, 5 inch woofers). The JBL tower, the E90, did a little better with 7.7. This is coming from JBL, part of Harmon Kardon-- perhaps the second largest audio company in the world.

The HSU Ventriloquist VT-12, coming from a small company in California, received an 8.2 rating from CNET. You get 6 speakers and it costs as much as four JBL E20.

In addition, you get small satellites instead of big ones. One can argue about which company offers the better value, since value can be subjective. However, I think it is fair to say that we have done a good job with the VT-12s. I think we managed to squeeze a lot of output from the small Ventriloquists. They really do sound very big.

If your heart is set on large satellites, I'd recommend the Ascend Acoustics CMBs for about twice the price as the JBLs. They are made by an ex M&K engineer who started his own business selling direct. They get plenty loud, and have a frequency response so flat it competes with $10,000 systems like the Wilson Audio Tiny Tots.

http://www.ascendacoustics.com/

[wid]

I think he's just yanking our chains and isn't really serious about getting the VT-12 anyway. :confused: If he wants loud how about those BIG Cerwin Vega's.