Speaker advice, budge is $5,000 room layout included

[rfisher983]

What speakers would sound good for this home audio setup?
What is the best position for me to have my surround speakers?
Is 7.1 worth it in this setup if the speakers are in the ceiling?

TV: Pioneer Kuro 50" 9G (June)
Receiver: Pioneer VXS 1018THX-K (June) $600?

Speakers:

Left / Right: Paradigm Millenia 200 $1258
Center: Paradigm Millenia 20 $426
LR Surrounds: Paradigm Millenia ADP $1132
7.1 Rears: In ceiling 6.5" speakers? ????
Sub Woofer: Paradigm Seismic 12"? $1600?

or SVS PB12-Plus, PB 13 Ultra, SB12-plus, PB12-plus/2??

Room layout:

16x17 w/ 20' ceilings with attached nook and kitchen w/ 9' ceilings.

I like the idea of the slim modern look of the Paradigm millenia 200 tower speakers for the (Front L&R) but I'm open to suggestions. I believe the surrounds would either need to be either satellite speakers or Dipole/Bipole.

The back speakers would need to be 6.5" in ceiling speakers w/ the tweeters facing the couch.

I tried to keep this layout dolby 7.1 friendly the best I could. Please look at the surround speaker location and tell me if Dipole / Biopole would work well. It is extremely difficult to have the surrounds parallel to the seating position. Any other location, suggestions, or ideas is greatly appreciated!

Also in consideration:

Mirage Omnisat V2 FS w/ NanoSat Prestiege Satellites?
Klipsch? Polk Audio? Definitive Audio?

Max budget for 5.1 w/ receiver = $5,000. I will upgrade to the In-Ceiling speakers at a later date but would like suggestions so all the speakers will sound match with L/C/R/Surround.

70% HT and 30% music (rock, rap)

The problem is leaving enough space between the kitchen bar area and the couch for walk way space. It is almost impossible to mount the right surround speaker parallel to where I would sit because of the openness of the floor plan. I can mount it 10' 11' in the air on the balcony but I feel like that would defeat the purpose of surround sound for being that high up in the air.

**The pictures of the house is not exact house that I'm purchasing but one like it. It's currently being built and will be ready in June. I'm planning on purchasing the equipment in July.**

 

[mrsollars]

maybe you'll get more responses if the blonde were more visible....

kidding, beautiful room though.

 

[Davemcc]

The two-storey floorplan looks like a challenging layout, but your solution seems to be about the best compromise. You might consider in-walls for the surrounds and in-ceiling for the rears in the kitchen. I might consider just going with 5.1 since the surrounds are already so far back towards the kitchen, the rears almost seem redundant.

 

[rfisher983]

The two-storey floorplan looks like a challenging layout, but your solution seems to be about the best compromise. You might consider in-walls for the surrounds and in-ceiling for the rears in the kitchen. I might consider just going with 5.1 since the surrounds are already so far back towards the kitchen, the rears almost seem redundant.

I'd rather get satellites, or monopole for the surrounds and not in wall. Could you recommend some speakers that would sound good?

 

[Exit]

I have been happy with Klipsch dual-tractix-horn-tweeter surrounds. You can hear them from just about any seating location in the room. I am not sure if they are Dipole, Bipole or just a 180 degree radiator. They are three sided with a woofer in the center and they look pretty cool on the wall. Mine go down to 70 Hz and I use an 80 Hz subwoofer crossover. I think I would give the Mirage Omnisat/Nanostat ceiling speakers a look. They have the metal piece that hangs down and radiates 360 degrees horizontally which would also tend to make them hearable in almost any seating position and I think they would help fill in like there was a back wall at the kitchen.

Your room looks huge cubic foor wise. My room opens into 8500 cu ft and I got an SVS PB12+2 to fill it with low frequencies. I haven’t given it a good workout but I am pretty sure anything less would not cut it. It’s a big subwoofer but I got it in blond maple which blends in with the room so it looks fine. I would recommend you get a good subwoofer too since you are trying to fill up two stories of space with bass. They still have PB12+2s in textured black only but I would recommend the PB13 Ultra in a room compatible wood color. If you can tolerate two subwoofers, two AV123 MFW15s are a good deal but they are probably still backlogged for a couple of months. In a very large room, the bass from the main speakers just gets lost in the room and you don’t hear it much. A good subwoofer or two makes up for that loss. There are also higher end subwoofers such a JL Audio that are reported to be significantly better but they were out of my price range so I didn’t look into them. You may want to however.

 

[rfisher983]

im actually looking at that JL 12" sub that is $2700msrp on their website and just getting mirage / klipsch satellite speakers. I have a $5,000 budget and $600 of it is for the Receiver.

 

[rfisher983]

Would the JL 12" be over kill for the Paradigm Millenia 200's and the Paradigm Millenia 20 center? or should i go something with the SVS PB12+2 ?

 

[Davemcc]

It's hard to beat the value of SVS performance in a very large, open room, especially when you want a fine furniture grade finish. Given the photos, it looks like a job for the +2 or the Ultra 13.

I don't know if you have already auditioned the Paradigm, but it is wise to spend a substantial amount of time listening to as many speakers as you can. I've had a good experience with Monitor Audio bipole/dipole surrounds. But there are so many speaker choices to choose from, you should probably start a new thread in the speaker section to aid this choice.

 

[Exit]

There is no such thing as overkill in a subwoofer. You can simply turn the gain down and excess output capability becomes headroom for peak signal demands. Realistically though you need to calculate the rough volume (cubic feet) of your HT room and all the rooms that open into the HT without closeable doors. Then you can e-mail SVS, JL Audio, HSU, AV123 etc. with your setup and get recommendations for how much subwoofer you need from the people who know the subwoofers best. I know SVS was really good about giving advice and I presume the others are too.

When you have the speaker wires run through the walls, you should use the grade of wire approved for in-the-wall use to stay in code.

Oh, there is a subwoofer ranking that you may find interesting called Craigsublist with the link listed below. There is also some general advice on subwoofers in the second link.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=768150

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=989316

 

[ParadigmDawg]

Where's the blode, I didnt see her....

Beautiful house but it will be difficult to fill with bass, You need about 10 subs! Get the biggest, baddest sub you can afford or two would be better. Go with a 5.1 vs. the 7.1.

 

[Midcow2]

Get a large JL Audio fathom f113 Subwoofer

This sub is worth the money and will make the rest of your system sound awesome.

http://www.hometheatermag.com/images/archivesart/407JL.1.jpg

 

[rfisher983]

This sub is worth the money and will make the rest of your system sound awesome.

http://www.hometheatermag.com/images/archivesart/407JL.1.jpg

what would be better for the size of my room? JL Fathom 10" or 12" ? Also, would the paradigm speakers be a good match w/ the Fathom or would a need more higher quality speaklers to match the sub?

The only reason I suggestion the Paradigm Millenia 200 was because they look nice. I have yet to hear them. Also, I've been told not to get Dipole / Bi poler surrounds because of the way the room acoustics will sound. Any thoughts on what type of surround speaker I should get?