Welcome to the forum Wycked!
You've got very good advice here so far from JohnnieB and Rojo. Just a few other things to think about...
Hey Johnnie, thank you so much for the reply!! Lots of good info there to digest. I figured towers would be suggested as the way to go. I still have an old set of Klipsch, but I really wanted to get away from something so bulky and "in your face". I went with the in-walls since they are so unobtrusive. I may have to reconsider though.....
When you said:
I do live by the adage "go big or go home" in the post 1, I immediately thought of these in the AVS classifieds:
Two Yorkville U215 speakers & one Yorkville U15 speaker: $2000. (See second pic
here for scale.) They're awesome, but probably too big/bulky for just about anyone.
I can certainly understand your preference for less obtrusive front speakers. You just need to be aware that there will be performance trade-offs with $150 in-wall speakers. You don't need to go all out with freestanding tower speakers though. A reasonable compromise is to step up to better class of in-wall or on-wall speaker.
There are a few companies around, but one I particularly like is
Triad Speakers. Triad make a bit of a speciality of in-wall, in-ceiling and on-wall speakers and have speakers that span a wide range of price points. Something I particularly like about their design philosophy is that they don't
pretend to be full range speakers and instead, trade-off low frequency extension for increased sensitivity. This is very sensible because a sub is pretty much mandatory in a HT environment anyway. One negative of Triad speakers is that many of them are (honestly) rated at 4Ω nominal impedance. This means that a 4Ω rated AVR is recommended, particularly if you prefer to listen/watch at "spirited" volumes.
This
AVS post contains some introductory info and link to a spreadsheet showing recommended combinations of Triad speakers. Individual retail prices are given, but any smart dealer would sharpen his pencil on a package. For you, I like the
InWall BRONZE/4 LCR or
OnWall BRONZE LCR. Better still, you could get a
pair of
InWall SILVER/4 (or 6) LCR's initially and get third later on. The surround speakers could then be added further down the track (eg.
InWall BRONZE/4 Satellite).
As far as subs, I am totally open to all suggestions, so I will check out your two recommendations. I am just looking for something that is accurate and able to perform well. Budget for the sub is in the 1500 range.
Within your budget, if it's accuracy and performance you're chasing, the Rythmik FV15HP JohnnieB recommended is very hard to beat. I was sold on Rythmik's Direct-Servo tech at about 0:46 of this video. (Note: Non HP version shown.)
The receiver. Defenitely want Bluetooth and streaming wouldn't be bad either. Not looking for 3D in particular and HDMI 1.4 is ok with me. I actually looked at the Denon AVR-S900W this weekend online and it seems to be a solid contender.
My budget. Receiver= $1000 Sub=$1500
Wyched, with a $1000 budget for an AVR, you will be significantly overspending on it at the expense of speakers. I good rule of thumb is to allocate only about 20 - 25% of your total audio budget to the AVR. Skewing your spend heavily towards speakers/subs will
always produce a superior audio result than big spending on an AVR or pre-pro/amp combo. Also (and I rarely say this), you could trim back your sub budget slightly in anticipation of getting a second sub (if necessary) later, and plough that into better quality front speakers. I'd suggest an AVR around the $500 mark and a sub for around $1000.
For a $500(ish) AVR, my pick would be this
factory refurb'd Onkyo TX-NR828. This unit is very capable and will drive a speaker setup of 89dB/1W/1m sensitivity | 4Ω LCR's and 8Ω surrounds to reference level (IOW very LOUD) in a medium sized room, and has your built-in Bluetooth and WiFi. On the flipside, it's Audyssey implementation (MultEQ) is a step down from comparable Denon/Marantz models. Onkyo has a reputation for fragile HDMI boards, but these issues appear to have been addressed in recent model cycles. If you don't end up with 4Ω speakers (or you always listen at sedate volumes), this
refurb'd Denon AVR-X3100W would do nicely.
A $1000 sub? The
Rythmik FVX15 is the updated version of the sub in the video. It's currently on introductory pricing for $999 shipped. It gives away only 2.5dBSPL in output to the FV15HP and plays just as deep.
The above $1000 "savings" will pay for one Triad InWall SILVER, and the returned Aperions will pay for half the other one.
viewing distance from TV is about 13 feet. Room is a unique layout and very open ceilings that are approx 15ft high and open into the kitchen.
Can you sneak in a bit closer than 13ft? Is 9 to 10ft a possibility? The closer you can get, the less power will be required to play at any given volume, the speakers aren't working
quite as hard and the on-screen action will be more immersive.
Let us know what you think.
