Building a new house and can do a new system from ground up

[NorCalJohn]

Hi all, new to the group. Modest audiophile here. Live in NorCal and have a system comprised of A PrimaLuna tube amplifier controlled by a higher end NAD preamplifier. Speakers are Martin Logan Motion 20i and ML subwoofer. Digital is a very old and heavy/solid Sony ES 5 disc changer fed to a Cambridge Audio DacMagic. Streaming via an Audiolab 6000N streamer. Simple vinyl set up for fun too. Basic blueray dvd and 4K tv. Much more into audio than video. No surround sound. All through a very lovely 35 watts.

But as the headline says, I am building a new home (in Chiang Mai, Thailand) and thus have the opportunity to create a whole new system from scratch. Thus the posting. Say a budget of $10,000 to maybe $15,000 on an extreme stretch. Prices for equipment seem similar to slightly more in Thailand compared to the US. Though selection seems considerably less. So hopefully keep with more mainstream brands. From what I gather online there are a few reasonable HiFi shops in Chiang Mai area. A smaller city. And much more selection in Bangkok.

It will be a digital streaming only set up. For music and video. Main living room area will have a TV and relatively modest surround set up (5.1 likely). That room is approximately 15x18 though open floorplan to entry, and extended kitchen/bar area. Double height ceilings, lots of glass. A big rectangular space. So it will be fairly bright. Floors will be either concrete, tile, wood, or fake wood. Concrete slab. Rear surround effect speakers could be in the ceiling or walls possibly. Though construction is not the typical stud and drywall we have here due to ferocious termites. They use a smaller interior Thai sourced brick and steel studs and then a plaster like skim coat finish. Then want to have wired or possibly wireless speakers in adjoining kitchen, dining, patio. Also want to have fairly high fidelity in the master bedroom. More like a side extension of the bedroom. A nice space to relax with some music, can sometimes be loud. May do a rowing machine in this extended bedroom area as well. This may or may not be connected to the main system. Music tends towards rock, pop, electronic, alternative, some jazz, classical, traditional Thai.

Thinking some mid/high end AV receiver for main amplification and control. Seems most options available there would be Denon/Marantz, Yamaha, Onkyo, and luckily NAD. Looking like NAD with DiracLive and BluOS streaming. vs D/M featuring Audyssey and HEOS streaming. Yamaha has their own take on it though seems Yamaha has gone down hill a bit in the last 20 years. Not very familiar with Onkyo. Seems the $1500-$3000 options would be stable with 4 ohm speakers. And may be able to bi-amp main speakers as an option too. Though have read mixed opinions on doing this with a mid level A/V receiver. What are observations on the sound quality of Denon Heos speakers vs Bluesound speakers for the additional rooms? Also quality of streaming and maintaining a connection? I do also love Pandora and have many customized "stations". Also I could go the route of another Audiolab streamer as that supports nearly all formats. I do not know if a stand alone mid level streamer would sound better than one built into a receiver. Right now I listen to Pandora, Tidal, and Spotify. Though that may change.

Also I have no experience with Roon. Actually quite a novice with digital music outside of a CD and a few streaming services. No music stored on a computer/server.

Speakers: the big area of options. I think attractive towers for main L/R speaker. Meaning not huge. Preferably white, but could do a modern wood finish. But need to get the power/speaker match done well. One Chiang Mai hifi shop works with the distributor for NAD/Bluesound/PSB. I have not heard PSB speakers but do know they are well respected. That shop also carries Acoustic Energy. Reading good reviews of their speakers. Seem relatively easy to drive. Also attractive in size, with gloss white, black, or a modern real walnut finish.
Wired speakers driven off a multi channel A/V received vs wireless speakers (but still need to be attached to electrical outlet) for the dining/kitchen/patio. A decision there too.

Other speakers brands that seem to be available. Polk, lower end Focal, I believe Martin Logan Motion series, Klipsch, Dali, Elac, perhaps B&W. So some decent options.

I need to build a spread sheet to go over the various possibilities.

This should be a fun exercise for some of you. A whole new system design from scratch. What values do you see in mid Fi?

Thank you much.

 

[shadyJ]

I really like what Polk has done lately. You might look at some Polk Reserve R700s with a Legend L400 center. Yeah, they are from different series, but they have similar performance. Add some R200 speakers for surrounds. Regarding AVR, availability is not great across brands right now, so I would get whatever you can from Yamaha, Denon, or Marantz.

 

[DigitalDawn]

I highly recommend Triad Speakers. Triad is a Portland-based company that hand builds speakers in just about every configuration you can imagine. They will even color match the speakers and grills to match the paint on your walls. In addition to InRoom speakers, Triad has In-Wall and angled InCeiling speakers and subwoofers that work amazingly well for spaces in which you have no floor space, or when you wish to hide the speakers from view. The company has speakers in many different price ranges, starting at $300 per speaker.

While not a household name, Triad is a favorite of custom installers and has won numerous industry awards. The company is also a prototype partner for Dolby, helping to design speaker systems for immersive audio. Most recently, Triad Gold Monitor speakers won Best of Show, at the 2019 CEDIA Expo in Denver.

www.triadspeakers.com

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Hi all, new to the group. Modest audiophile here. Live in NorCal and have a system comprised of A PrimaLuna tube amplifier controlled by a higher end NAD preamplifier. Speakers are Martin Logan Motion 20i and ML subwoofer. Digital is a very old and heavy/solid Sony ES 5 disc changer fed to a Cambridge Audio DacMagic. Streaming via an Audiolab 6000N streamer. Simple vinyl set up for fun too. Basic blueray dvd and 4K tv. Much more into audio than video. No surround sound. All through a very lovely 35 watts.

But as the headline says, I am building a new home (in Chiang Mai, Thailand) and thus have the opportunity to create a whole new system from scratch. Thus the posting. Say a budget of $10,000 to maybe $15,000 on an extreme stretch. Prices for equipment seem similar to slightly more in Thailand compared to the US. Though selection seems considerably less. So hopefully keep with more mainstream brands. From what I gather online there are a few reasonable HiFi shops in Chiang Mai area. A smaller city. And much more selection in Bangkok.

It will be a digital streaming only set up. For music and video. Main living room area will have a TV and relatively modest surround set up (5.1 likely). That room is approximately 15x18 though open floorplan to entry, and extended kitchen/bar area. Double height ceilings, lots of glass. A big rectangular space. So it will be fairly bright. Floors will be either concrete, tile, wood, or fake wood. Concrete slab. Rear surround effect speakers could be in the ceiling or walls possibly. Though construction is not the typical stud and drywall we have here due to ferocious termites. They use a smaller interior Thai sourced brick and steel studs and then a plaster like skim coat finish. Then want to have wired or possibly wireless speakers in adjoining kitchen, dining, patio. Also want to have fairly high fidelity in the master bedroom. More like a side extension of the bedroom. A nice space to relax with some music, can sometimes be loud. May do a rowing machine in this extended bedroom area as well. This may or may not be connected to the main system. Music tends towards rock, pop, electronic, alternative, some jazz, classical, traditional Thai.

Thinking some mid/high end AV receiver for main amplification and control. Seems most options available there would be Denon/Marantz, Yamaha, Onkyo, and luckily NAD. Looking like NAD with DiracLive and BluOS streaming. vs D/M featuring Audyssey and HEOS streaming. Yamaha has their own take on it though seems Yamaha has gone down hill a bit in the last 20 years. Not very familiar with Onkyo. Seems the $1500-$3000 options would be stable with 4 ohm speakers. And may be able to bi-amp main speakers as an option too. Though have read mixed opinions on doing this with a mid level A/V receiver. What are observations on the sound quality of Denon Heos speakers vs Bluesound speakers for the additional rooms? Also quality of streaming and maintaining a connection? I do also love Pandora and have many customized "stations". Also I could go the route of another Audiolab streamer as that supports nearly all formats. I do not know if a stand alone mid level streamer would sound better than one built into a receiver. Right now I listen to Pandora, Tidal, and Spotify. Though that may change.

Also I have no experience with Roon. Actually quite a novice with digital music outside of a CD and a few streaming services. No music stored on a computer/server.

Speakers: the big area of options. I think attractive towers for main L/R speaker. Meaning not huge. Preferably white, but could do a modern wood finish. But need to get the power/speaker match done well. One Chiang Mai hifi shop works with the distributor for NAD/Bluesound/PSB. I have not heard PSB speakers but do know they are well respected. That shop also carries Acoustic Energy. Reading good reviews of their speakers. Seem relatively easy to drive. Also attractive in size, with gloss white, black, or a modern real walnut finish.
Wired speakers driven off a multi channel A/V received vs wireless speakers (but still need to be attached to electrical outlet) for the dining/kitchen/patio. A decision there too.

Other speakers brands that seem to be available. Polk, lower end Focal, I believe Martin Logan Motion series, Klipsch, Dali, Elac, perhaps B&W. So some decent options.

I need to build a spread sheet to go over the various possibilities.

This should be a fun exercise for some of you. A whole new system design from scratch. What values do you see in mid Fi?

Thank you much.

Room is 15ft x 18ft?

Depending on what’s available to you in Thailand, I would look at Focal, KEF, RBH, Revel, Dali, Dynaudio for speakers.

Do 5.2.4 Atmos.

TV is good. But is there a Projector dealer there? Maybe a big 133” screen and a Laser PJ with 4,000-lumen or more like an Epson EB-PU1006W. But traditional TV is good.