$3,000 budget: 7.1 Channel Surround For Blu Rays

[abar20]

Requests: An ENTIRE system: 7 speakers, 1 sub, and 1 AVR(one with dynamic volume adjustment ie dolby volume or audessy EQ)

Room: 15'x20'

Speaker placement: ANYWHERE! (This setup is just for me, so the speakers can be 2 feet away from me if I want.)

Usage: Watching blu rays. (That's all I care about. Music is a distant second)

Preferences: I live in an apt, thus I cannot make TOO MUCH noise at night (I can make a moderate amount of noise though). Anyway, I like the audessy EQ volume adjustment on the DENON and ONKYO receivers (or the new dolby volume adjustment if you think it's good). So, I would like an AVR recommendation from one of those 3 brands.

I was looking at some of the online direct sales companies i.e salk sound, axiom, svs, etc. I want good value! I don't want to pay for anything but quality. And I don't want excess quality, Just enough.

GOALS: I want GREAT surround sound. I have yet to feel aurally immersed in the movie experience: To the degree of looking around to make sure there isn't someone standing over you. That kind of immersion!

PLEASE HELP ME ON MY QUEST TO HAVE A PERFECT CINEMA EXPERIENCE! AND THANK YOU ALL IN ADVANCE!

 

[shadyJ]

For a good value speaker/sub package, I would look to Hsu Research, SVS, Elemental Designs, or Rythmik/Ascend Acoustics. There are a lot of great packages you can put together for about $2K. For receivers, there are a lot of good Denon and Marantz and Onkyo receivers that have varying levels of Audyssey, which are under $1K. Accessories4less.com and newegg.com have lots of great deals on receivers, not to mention audioholics.com. Go to monoprice.com or bluejeanscable.com for a roll of 12 awg or 14 awg speaker cable and a couple of HDMI cables, and you are set. All you have to do is hook everything together and you could be rocking by the end of the week.

 

[fredk]

Speaker placement: ANYWHERE!

Well, that opens up some interesting possibilities.

The most seamless soundstage comes from having the fl/fr/center all the same.

For movies, I would look at spending a little less on the front stage and getting a sub that will reach a little lower: somewhere in the teens if you can.

Axiom is another ID company to put on your list. From them I would look at something like the M3 for all 3 fronts, and QS4 or QS8 for surrounds. For a sub, you will get more value out of HSU or SVS.

Another think you could look at is identical speakers all around. With a 15' wide room, you might be far enough away from the surrounds to use regular bookshelves. This assumes your seating is in the middle of the room, and your surrounds go on the wall.

In this situation, you could also look at the Behringer 2030p all the way around (as long as you don't mind black as the speaker color).