Just wondering what people think about the following system for a family room (not a dedicated home theater room) with dimensions of 18' x 17' with 10' ceilings:
Pioneer Elite Pro-141FD (60" monitor)
Pioneer Elite BDP-23FD Blu-ray DVD player
Integra 8.9 A/V
Aerial Acoustic 5B bookshelf speakers (left/right/center)
B&W CCM65 in-ceiling 2 ways (rears)
JL Audio F110 10" Fathom Sub (may add second sub later on)
High-end surge protection
High-end cables, etc.
All total, including installation and miscellaneous materials, I'm looking at 19-20K. Reasonable?
$20k is a killer budget. Are you sure you don't want a projector? You can afford BOTH projector and flat panel behind the screen if you wanted.
On one hand, you could save a lot by installing yourself, but OTOH they might take away some discounts as a result. I don't know just how much they are doing for you. But, maybe just having a handyman install the in-ceilings and run some wire for you could save a lot.
The high end protection and cables are a complete screw you. It is whipped cream and cherry on the installers paycheck. A lot of it, obviously, in this case like a 15% bonus!
Also, your budget can handle separates as opposed to receiver. Not that you'll really it, but you could. I don't know how tough those Aerials are.
If you want to be very nice to your electronics, you could hook up TV, bluray, other sources to a UPS for a couple/few hundred dollars. That's already more than what 90% of us do here, and even many think that it's not necessary. To hook up the receiver, you'd need a very beefy one, but then again it's not like you couldn't afford that either.
Dual subs beats single sub, sure. Room treatments are the next important purchase after speakers, but of course I understand how people don't like the looks. But that is indeed my opinion on the matter.
I have two systems, one of which is dedicated. The gear cost me considerably less than your budget, but I cherry picked demo's, open box, refurbed, used, bstock, etc, items. This budget got me separates, hundreds of lbs of treatments, 8 leather HT seats, separate electronics, JVC projector, 75 sq ft screen, JL F113, etc, 7.1 system, ceiling mounts, what have you. UPS, which I've since given to my brother (won't explain why here, it worked perfectly fine), everything.
oh yeah, my budget also included a great assortment of cabling. I've even used 15 ft, 25 ft, and 35 ft HDMI cables on the PJ. Total cost of those three cables might have been less than $100.
But, obviously I wasted a lot of time hunting and building. Services are a paid thing for a reason.
