I am looking for some advice from people who are more involved in the current state of technology than I am. I was a professional installer for about 10 years, but that was about 10 years ago, and I have not been in the business since back then.
I am putting together a theater for my parents and I have a pretty good Idea what I am looking for, but there are so many choices, and there are a few things I am not sure where to start.
First, here's what I have to start with. I have a pair of M&K LCR75's. I located a new MK Sound center750 to match it, now that MK Sound is selling in the US again. So front stage is pretty much decided. I was always an M&K fan and I love these speakers. They have maybe 10 hours on them and sound as good as the day they were taken out of the box.
For rear surround, I have to find a decent in wall. The wall behind the listening area is all windows and doors, and is high traffic, with no room to have a speaker sticking off the wall, so in-wall is the way its gonna be. I am on a budget, and I would prefer to find something in the $600 per pair range that would at least compliment the M&K's. Impedence matching will be an issue but I should be able to overcome it with some level adjustment on the receiver. The budget for these is not set in stone, but I want to be close if possible to that price.
For a receiver, I have a couple in mind. I was a Marantz and M&K dealer at one time, and I am somewhat partial to Marantz, but I want control to be simple. It is, after all, for my parents, and they are not that good at running anything complicated. 10-15 years ago Marantz was a great choice to go with the M&K because the amplifiers handled the 4ohm speakers very well, even in the lower end units. So I looked at the SR7002 Marantz unit, and featurewise it meets my needs. I will have only a BD player and a cable box, both HDMI. It would be great if I could also hook up their xbox360 (they love playing tiger woods golf on it) and have it upscale and come through the HDMI. I want to keep it simple and have the receiver handle all the video switching. I also looked at the Yamaha RX-V1900. I have a purchasing advantage with the Yamaha that makes it a little less expensive, and leaves more money for other stuff. I don't mind looking at other receivers in that $1000-$1400 range if someone has a suggestion.
Subwoofer will probably be a weak link in this system, I will have to reuse their old 10" powered sub.. I don't even recall what brand it is but it sounds nice.. the only concern there is the room this is going in is twice the size of the room its in now.. If it ends up not being enough I will squeeze another $1000 out of them for the budget for one, but the last time I shopped subwoofers was over 10 years ago, and the only subs I really liked back then were the big push pull 12" M&K's. I am sure there are some decent subs for a LARGE room in that price range.
I am going to run the receiver in 5.1, and I need a second zone and speaker output for their patio. I would prefer something that I can independently power the second zone so they don't have to fiddle with the receiver to have it run music outside. It will be a pair of outdoor speakers and a volume control in the wall, so volume control is not necessary. If someone has an opinion on some decent BASIC oudoor speakers (ie ~300-500 for a pair), I would appreciate any advice. My parents are NOT audiophiles by any stretch, but they have a nice house and I want them to have an impressive system.
Thanks in advance for any help or advice.
