First HT need help

[sid369]

I have a HTIB in an apartment and will be going to a house in a couple of months. I need help with pre-wire location that I getting it done through builder.

The room is 22X19 and opens to kitchen etc. Here is the layout and I have marked in yellow what I think should be the location for pre-wiring.
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I have bought the receiver - pioneer SC-1522k

I now need recommendation/suggestion on speakers. I am not a critical listener and to be honest I am happy with my HTIB so I am sure will be happy upgrading from that. Do I need to spend a lot of money to get good sound.

We will be watching movies/tv most of the time 90% and 10% music (streaming spotify etc.)

I started my research with polk monitor 75t, then moved up to rtia7, but heard too many people not recommending polks.

Then looked at KEF, did not like the sound maybe the way it was set up. Paradigm monitor 7 was good but not for the price. I liked the focal chorus 716 and 726 but will I really be able to hear the difference in sound between a $300 speaker vs. $1000 if I am not a critical listener.

I like bright sounding speakers, but many say that it gets fatiguing after a while, so did not look into the klipsch.

Polk forum members say that the RTIA7 would be a good fit, but the price of the polks is coming close to that of the focal chorus, so can't decide. Also am I getting more speaker in the polk line vs the Focal 716v, 705v and the 700cc center channel.

 

[fmw]

Then looked at KEF, did not like the sound maybe the way it was set up. Paradigm monitor 7 was good but not for the price. I liked the focal chorus 716 and 726 but will I really be able to hear the difference in sound between a $300 speaker vs. $1000 if I am not a critical listener.

I like bright sounding speakers, but many say that it gets fatiguing after a while, so did not look into the klipsch.

There is an audiophile axiom to which I do not subscribe that warm is better than bright. So many audiophile products get designed to roll off the high frequencies. My preference, like yours, is to get all of it from the speakers. I don't consider it fatiguing at all. Perhaps some do. Mostly, people get accustomed to the sound of their speakers and tend to like them more as time goes on. I would recommend buying what sounds best to you and ignoring what sounds best to other people. Generally, smaller speakers will sound "brighter" simply because there is less bass in the mix of frequencies. Finally, I'm not sure such a thing as a critical listener exists. Everyone has preferences but most of us hear about the same when it comes to recorded audio. I think you would hear any differences in speakers as well as anyone else. Go listen and buy what appeals to you.