Best speaker style for HT?

[rsotak]

I'm looking into building a complete Home Theater System (6.1) for a room that is fairly large (~600ft2). I'm on a budget (~$750-1000 complete) so I'm looking for the best bang for the buck.

I've seen a ton of projects on various sites and most seem to be MTM 2-way designs. Here are my questions:
1) Is a MTM the best front/center speaker design or is a three way better?
2) I'd imagine that the 3-way would be better at creating the entire range of sounds more accurately then a 2-way (given equivalent drivers), but is it really noticable?
3) Given the fact I'm usging a powered subwoffer, would a 3-way with a woffer even be needed?

Any advice you could give on a good HT set-up would be greatly appreciated

[leadbelly]

1) You bring up a lot of questions that don't have yes/no answers.

2) That $750-1000 budget is actually pretty tight. What do you mean by complete? Complete drivers + crossover components for 6 speakers + sub driver + sub amp + wood + finishing? If that is your budget, weighing 2-way vs 3-way is by far less important than just picking budget designs that have earned praise.

[Therac]

1.) In HT it would be best if you used the same speakers all the way around. For music however you can't really define it and say that one is better than the other. The 3-way would likely have some more punch to it, and the detail in the midrange would probably be better because the woofer would handle the low frequencies. But you said that you will be operating with at sub so it's not a problem.

2.) As I said before, the MTM can be as good as the 3-way. It just depends on how you look at it.

3.) I would say no. If you make yourself a good sub, that can satisfy your need, then it would not be a problem.

I hope that this will help you on your way.

The answers here are based on my current knowledge. So anyone please correct me if I'm wrong!

Therac

[leadbelly]

1.) In HT it would be best if you used the same speakers all the way around.

I know I often have said exactly the same thing on this forum, but now that I've had my full HT system for a full year, I disagree.

I think full range speakers for the front L & R make a much better setup for the average all-in-one music + HT system where diverse media is played.

[JoeBob]

I'm really think about 3-ways for the two may speakers, or at least two subs, one per channel. Because stereo bass really is that much better. I'll never use a single sub again...