Completely overwhelmed with choices?

[ascraw]

Alright So I want a surround system, surprise surprise. Here is what I'm working with. I have a Panasonic plasma 3d tv, 3d bd player, I play xbox, and have direct tv hd receiver. Not sure if you need to know all of that but i figured I would put it out there. My room is the real issue. I have a 22'x18' living room with pergo wood laminate flooring and a false ceiling with 2'x2' tiles. The issue though is that this living room has large openings (say 3' and a 7' opening leading into the kitchen and dining on the left if you were facing the tv) and then another huge opening (14'), basically a continuation of the living room in the back if you facing the tv, that leads into a tile floor 20'x20' sun room with lots of windows and normal drywall painted ceiling. So what I have been looking at for surround is the following. Let me know if these work, under powered over powered etc.

First option Kef 3005 system with marantz nr 1602 receiver. Cheapest and quickest (but will it give me any satisfaction of room filling sound?)

Second option Klipsch synergy f30 system with polk psw 505 sub, with Denon 891 receiver. (little more pricey but still not bad, I think, or is it not?)

Third Kef q900 floors, q600c, q800ds, and q400 sub with marantz 6006 receiver.

or none of these and tell me what would be the best for about the money i would spend on the last kef and marantz setup.
I would like to make 7.1 surround but i'll just add that later.

 

[agarwalro]

How far is your seating position from the TV? Is it correct to assume that your budget is $2500-3000?

First decide the speakers, then the receiver to drive them. I'd recommend using high sensitivity (louder for same power) speakers to make it easier on the receiver.

For a room that big, count on needing two subwoofers.

 

[ascraw]

My seating is about six feet away if its only the wife and I watching. We push our couch up torward the tv (nice thing about wood floors and felt pads on furniture, easy to move.) But if we have company over its normally 8 to 12 feet. Price range is about 3k to 3.5k. Thanks for viewing post and advising me.

 

[ascraw]

Any other advice out there, any more help would be appreciated.

 

[XEagleDriver]

Ideas on your plan

. . . I have a Panasonic plasma 3d tv, 3d bd player, I play xbox, and have direct tv hd receiver.
. . . My room is the real issue. I have a 22'x18' living room with pergo wood laminate flooring and a false ceiling with 2'x2' tiles. The issue though is that this living room has large openings (say 3' and a 7' opening leading into the kitchen and dining on the left if you were facing the tv) and then another huge opening (14'), basically a continuation of the living room in the back if you facing the tv, that leads into a tile floor 20'x20' sun room with lots of windows and normal drywall painted ceiling.

An enviable situation, since you have a $3.5K budget excluding the TV, bd player and xbox you already own!

Your room's large size will drive your speaker selection.
- In general, a large room needs larger speakers and I 2nd the previous recommendation to consider two subs.

With that in mind, spend about 80% of the budget (i.e $2,800) on speakers and subs.

In your case, allocate $1600 for a 5.1 set of speakers with 6" to 7" woofers (absolute minimum of 5.25").
- Look into strong value brands--PSB, Ascend, Infinity . . .

Leaving about $1200 for either two "strong-swimmer" subs (aka SVS PB12-NSD or equivalent) or one high end sub (aka SVS PB12-PLUS or equivalent).
- Do not lock yourself into the mistake of limiting your sub search to the same company as the speakers--two different animals; a company great at building one does not imply it is great at building the other (very rare in fact!).
- For subs check out SVS, HSU, Velodyne, Epik . . .

Finally, you will have about $700 for a very capable AVR (Yamaha, Denon, or Marantz are my rec's, but also look into Pioneer models with Class D amps.

Concerning your specific ideas:

First option Kef 3005 system with marantz nr 1602 receiver. Cheapest and quickest (but will it give me any satisfaction of room filling sound?)

Complete waste of money, you will regret in short order--much too small and dinky of a speaker system for a room that large!

Second option Klipsch synergy f30 system with polk psw 505 sub, with Denon 891 receiver.

Klipsch speakers generally have high efficiency, try and test drive if at all possible--some do not care for the sound of the horn tweeters.
Stay away from Polk subs IMHO--can do way better, and your room will need it.

Third Kef q900 floors, q600c, q800ds, and q400 sub with marantz 6006 receiver.

See above on not limiting your sub search "to match" the speaker manufacturer.

I would like to make 7.1 surround but i'll just add that later.

7.1 is a bad idea unless you want to increase the budget--buying fewer, more capable speakers are what your large room needs.
Any modern AVR will support 7.1, and as you indicated, you can always add two more speakers down the road.

Cheers,
XEagleDriver

 

[ascraw]

Thank you very much Xeagledriver. I need all the help I can get and all your input will go a long way in aiding my decision.

 

[afterlife2]

What is your budget? Read this for speakers/Reciever: http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/beginners-audiophytes/78314-total-newb-questions.html and http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/amps-pre-pros-receivers/77771-best-receiver-around-$500.html

 

[agarwalro]

First and foremost, your listening area needs to be made less reflective. Throw a thick rug in front of the couch, hang up heavy drapes, maybe even get a big fluffy couch (reducing wall and floor bounce will tame upper frequency range).

Your room is large but listening distance is not. Bookshelf speakers with multiple subs is definitely the way to go. The choice of 3 or 5 or 7 speakers depends on your ability to correctly place the side and rear speakers. Under no circumstance should the side speakers be ahead of your couch and rear speakers be no closer than 2-3 ft. behind it. Since your couch is changing location, I'd recommend sticking with 3.2 configuration.

In your budget, it would be a crime to not audition. If not for anything else, to get an idea of good or bad sound and develop a preference. To this end, I recommend that find Ascend CMT-340, Infinity Primus P362, Martin Logan Encore TF, Bose, Klipsch, Axiom Audio, Aperion Audio and whichever other setups you can.

For subs, the brands to look at are, SVS, Hsu Research, Epic, Funky Waves, Rhythmic, etc.