Would any speakers from Best Buy be a big improvement over 15 yr old Infinity SM 185?

OhioGuy25

Member
I should start by saying these will be used almost exclusively for home theater.

I have Infinity SM 185's that I bought in 2000. http://content.abt.com/get_documen...th=/images/products/INF1246 SM InfoSheet.pdf

I also have a pair of Onkyo SKM 520S that I was considering using for surrounds.

They sound pretty good but I work at Best Buy and get a great discount on home theater and I'm wondering if there are any speakers there that would be a noticeable improvement over them?

I'm not an audiophile by any means but I just bought a BenQ 1070 and am about to get a big screen and I'm considering the idea of getting some Klipsch towers and surrounds or maybe Polk, Energy or Yamaha. Would I notice a significant difference? Are the towers better suited for home theater than bookshelf studio monitors or are the Infinitys perfectly adequate for a beginner? Thanks!

Edit: these will be used exclusively for my home theater setup w a projector!
 
Last edited:
The SM series are not notoriously great examples of Infinity, so I'm sure you could find something better. Being that you work at Best Buy, you should have ample time and access to be able to audition a variety of products before contemplating a purchase. Spend your lunch breaks in the listening room and play a little bit and you'll figure it out.
 
Are you looking to put together a 2.0, 2.1 or 5.1/5.2/7.2 system? With a sub added, I'm guessing your current speakers would do fine in a 2.1 system for home theater. Of course you could do better, but, depending on your budget and space requirements, you might want to take a look at Andrew Jones' BS22 or FS52 speakers. I have both and use them for home theater -- the FS52's will give a better low-end response than the BS22's and a sub really isn't needed with them, IMO. If going with a 5.1 system, you could get the whole Andrew Jones' set.

Good luck.
 
Last edited:
The SM series are not notoriously great examples of Infinity, so I'm sure you could find something better. Being that you work at Best Buy, you should have ample time and access to be able to audition a variety of products before contemplating a purchase. Spend your lunch breaks in the listening room and play a little bit and you'll figure it out.

That's the problem, they no longer have a listening room. Are any of the lines they carry that I mentioned particularly good? Would floor standing towers be a lot better than bookshelf studio monitors for home theater?
 
Gnesen said what I was going to.

I too have some of those Infinity's. SM152's. Poor maligned things. Brace them, stuff with some loose polyfill, and they improve.

Somewhat.
 
Are you looking to put together a 2.0, 2.1 or 5.1/5.2/7.2 system? With a sub added, I'm guessing your current speakers would do fine in a 2.1 system for home theater. Of course you could do better, but, depending on your budget and space requirements, you might want to take a look at Andrew Jones' BS22 or FS52 speakers. I have both and use them for home theater -- the FS52's will give a better low-end response than the BS22's and a sub really isn't needed with them, IMO. If going with a 5.1 system, you could get the whole Andrew Jones' set.

Good luck.

I am looking to do full out 5.1 surround sound. I am not looking to get anything that is not sold at Best Buy as I get such an amazing discount.
 
Oh nice, I didn't realize Andrew Jones was Pioneer. Are these significantly better than anything else Best Buy has, even Klipsch?

My guess is you could find better speakers at BB, but it depends (I'm not familiar with their entire inventory). Some find Klipsch to be a bit shrill. One advantage of Klipsch is they tend to be a bit more sensitive than a lot of other speakers, including the AJ Pioneer's, so you don't need as much power to get to higher volumes. The best way is to audition them if you can (as savatage posted before).
 
you have a good selection to choose from,What is your budget/price range?

I'd like to spend under $300 since I'm probably gonna have to buy a receiver too, unless lossless Dolby doesn't make that much of a difference. I have a 15 year old Yamaha HTR-5150.
 
I'll avoid a lot of what I want to say, because it makes me sound like an audio snob. Since this is only 5.1 I would suggest buying a used Pioneer elite that's about 5 years old. I would recommend the first model that does 1080p. I have an older one that does 1080i so for 1080p picture, I can't use it. You will get a much better reciever than what BB has. As far as speakers go, home theater experts say the best way to go is to get speakers that have big subwoofers and skip buying a separate sub. Problem here is room. My home theater I have jbl l200t3 in front and l100t3 in the back. It sounds great. I know those are beyond your budget Personally I would double your budget. Try for 2 pairs of jbl l20t3 and buy a used powered subwoofer. Just my opinion.
 
Having just auditioned what Best Buy has to offer with a friend buying a new theater setup, I would say for the money a non Best Buy employee could do better, but depending on the employee discount they have some decent stuff. If you're getting an outrageous deal the Klipsch and Polk offerings aren't bad, if they're say, 50% off retail. If you are in central ohio I would say you need to do a little re wiring and auditioning, as none of the stores I was in had a demo area set up properly. Everything they had seemed overpriced at retail.
 
I'd like to spend under $300 since I'm probably gonna have to buy a receiver too, unless lossless Dolby doesn't make that much of a difference. I have a 15 year old Yamaha HTR-5150.

Having just auditioned what Best Buy has to offer with a friend buying a new theater setup, I would say for the money a non Best Buy employee could do better, but depending on the employee discount they have some decent stuff. If you're getting an outrageous deal the Klipsch and Polk offerings aren't bad, if they're say, 50% off retail. If you are in central ohio I would say you need to do a little re wiring and auditioning, as none of the stores I was in had a demo area set up properly. Everything they had seemed overpriced at retail.

I've heard Klipsch are too bright, are Polk more balanced?
 
The Andrew Jones Pioneer speakers get my vote.

The main reason to switch to a newer receiver would be for the HDMI inputs and switching. Blu-ray players have a coax or optical output for audio and an HDMI output for video/audio.
 
Back
Top Bottom