I am renovating a 12 by 18 foot living/dining room area and planning to set up a home theater, upgrading the TV, receiver and speakers. The idea is to wall mount the TV (most likely a 46 inch Sony XBR4) against the 12 foot wall. The two fronts plus the center speakers would go on the same wall and the two rear speakers would go directly across from them.
1. I am debating between two speaker sets (i) 5 B&W’s FPM5s + PV1 sub (ii) 4 B&W’s XT2s + XTC + PV1 sub. I listened to both and I like the XT2s a little more (but I am not sure how they would look mounted on the wall). Any ideas on the choice of speakers? Any other speakers that I should consider?
2. In terms of receivers, I own some old Harman/Kardon speakers and I like the looks of their latest receivers (sleek silver look). The new HK AVR 354 just came out in the US and some more models (AVR 645 and 745) are to be released in the fall. Any ideas on receivers? Would the HK AVR354 power the B&W speakers properly?
I must honestly say I am a novice in this. Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
