Buddy wants help setting up a new system

[bshipper]

So my friend wants to update all his equipment from 2003. This is what he wants:
- hdmi connections
- ipod/iphone/mp3 player connections
- 7.1 surround sound in living room with wireless surround speakers(he's concerned about battery consumption here though)
- 2.1 speakers on the back patio with volume control from the back patio(he wants these speakers to be able to play digital audio, i've heard of some with a second zone that will only play stereo audio)
- blu ray player
- 3D tv
- one remote to control the tv and receiver and dish dvr box and blu ray player
- he won't buy second hand stuff

I don't know enough about all the new a/v technologies.
Any suggestions? and if you could give me a price estimate on how much all this would cost. I told him if he wants to do all that he's looking at a few thousand dollars.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Denon X4000. MSRP is $1300. You could call Electronics Expo and see if they would sell it for significantly less (around $800).

 

[rojo]

I was just looking at the manual for the Denon X4000. For zone 2, it looks like it'll only do 2.0. It's got a stereo pre-out for zone 2, but no LPF for a sub. By extension, he'll have to run all Zone 2 speakers full range and use a sub's built-in LPF. That's up to him whether this is acceptable, though. Personally, if I'm running a sub, I'd like a high pass filter on my stereo speakers.

Anyway, biggest hurdle to overcome will be the Dish DVR I think. If I recall correctly, the remotes they use are RF-based, rather than IR. So something like a Harmony remote won't control a Dish. I found this out the hard way banging my head against a wall for a few hours trying to set up a Harmony for my parents. (I could be mistaken about this being a Dish thing. It might be DirecTV. I don't remember which service my parents have.) You might ought to verify this info before shopping for a remote.

Edit: Well, according to this thread it's possible to enable IR on the Dish DVR. My parents have a second and third tuner in other rooms which required them to leave RF enabled though. That might've been what caused me grief. It's been a while since I messed with it, though.

 

[ReUpRo]

7.1 surround sound in living room with wireless surround speakers

Can you provide some detail here? Why wireless?

Does your friend already have a means to serve up the digital library? Something like a HTPC or NAS?

We are looking at,
1x mid level receiver (like the X4000 mentioned by ADTG will give you all the zone flexibility you can possibly use)
1x 7.1 speaker set (pending clarification on the wireless thing)
1x 2.1 outdoor speaker set
1x Bluray player
1x RF universal remotes
Miscellaneous cables

To give you goods recommendations for the 7.1, can you give the room dimensions and layout of the listening area compared to where the TV and front speakers will be?

Is this setup going to be used (abused) during parties and socials? IMO, that will significantly change the suggestions.

A 'few thousand' is about right. I think $5000 would be a healthy budget to put together a quality setup.

 

[ReUpRo]

I was just looking at the manual for the Denon X4000. For zone 2, it looks like it'll only do 2.0. It's got a stereo pre-out for zone 2, but no LPF for a sub. By extension, he'll have to run all Zone 2 speakers full range and use a sub's built-in LPF.

That's 100% correct. I'm not aware of any mid level receiver that does 2.1 in Zone 2. I believe the Denon 4250 does it. Not sure. But, that much on a receiver is not recommended for a 2 zone setup with a budget of "a few thousand".

By extension, he'll have to run all Zone 2 speakers full range and use a sub's built-in LPF.

Definitely not ideal, but, doable.

He can also assign Zone 2 and Zone 3 to the patio. Have the sub on Zone 3.

 

[bshipper]

I don't know why he wants wireless, no wires all over the place i guess. Is that a bad idea? should he just wire through the wall?

 

[ReUpRo]

I don't know why he wants wireless, no wires all over the place i guess. Is that a bad idea? should he just wire through the wall?

While there are wireless sender and receiver units geared towards audio, the quality of signal transmission is not guaranteed. It will certainly not be like sending HD audio over conventional speaker wires.

Yeah, the best way to cleanly wire the surrounds and patio speakers will be to use in-wall certified cables.