Decisions, decisions. New HT planning

[KCDaemon]

Hi all,

My name is Koen. I'm a self-employed IT guy from Belgium. Me and my wife are currently in the process of building (and planning for) a new office / home theater room. The new space will be 17.5' x 13'. In the back of the room there will be an L-shaped desk where I will work (I work from home on most days). The rest of the room will be a (small) home theater space.

I've already decided on some of the purchases, but I'm puzzled on a few others, so I'm hoping some of you can give us some opinions and/or advice.

Things we've decided on:
Projector: Sony VPL-HW65ES
Cabling:
- Tasker C716b CAT6A cabling -everywhere-
- Takser C276 speaker wire (2x2.5mm diameter or +/- 10 AWG). Hoping this will be enough
- Tasker C140 RG6 Coax for the sub(s)
- Neutrik REAN RCA plugs
- C2G HDMI "Select" cables, ranging from 2 to 7 meters (6.5 - 23'). These have a "High Speed HDMI with Ethernet" certification. The projector doesn't support 4K (above budget for now) so don't really need that bandwidth, but better safe than sorry.
AV Rack: DIY
Screen: Probably DIY, but I first need to know how big it can be without causing headaches. We'll be fairly close to the screen. I'm thinking 110" but we'll see.
Other hardware: Apple TV, PS4 or Xbox One (undecided)

Things I would appreciate some insight on:
Speakers:
I am/was leaning towards a combination in the Q Acoustics 3000 series: 2 floorstanders (3050), 2 rear bookshelf (3020), 1 center (3090c) and 1 sub (3070). I'm just wondering if I'm not going too low budget for this. These all have some great reviews on various places and would cost me around 1500 EUR (1588 USD at the time of writing) without the mounts and stand. I have yet to find a single shop in Belgium that have these in the shop for auditioning, so that makes the decision very difficult.
I'm open to any and all suggestions, but unfortunately many brands are difficult or impossible to get here in Belgium. I tend to shop around on various websites in the Netherlands, but I can unfortunately not post links yet due to this being my first post here.

I would happily spend up to around 2500 euro if such a set-up would give me (much) better performance than the Q Acoustics combo. Any and all input welcome.

Receiver:
As you may have noticed from the above, I intend to start out with a 5.1 setup. However, I will pre-cable for Atmos / DTS-X, so that's something I would like the receiver to support for future-proofing. I think that most receivers will do just fine for video, but I find the musical quality of the receiver to be equally (or even more) important.

I've been looking at the following:
Without DTS-X:
Marantz SR7009 (~ 850 EUR)
125W @ 8 Ω/ohm, 20 Hz – 20 kHz, 0,08 % T.H.D. 2 channels

Denon AVR-X4100W (~ 850 EUR)
125W @ 8 Ω/ohm, 20 Hz – 20 kHz, 0,08 % T.H.D. 2 channels

Yamaha RX-A850 (~ 1000 EUR)
100W @ 8 Ω/ohm, 20 Hz – 20 kHz, 0,06 % T.H.D. 2 channels

With DTS-X
Marantz SR7010 (~ 1700 EUR)
125W @ 8 Ω/ohm, 20 Hz – 20 kHz, 0,08 % T.H.D. 2 channels

Denon AVR-X4200W (~ 1500 EUR)
125W @ 8 Ω/ohm, 20 Hz – 20 kHz, 0,08 % T.H.D. 2 channels

Yamaha RX-A1050 (~ 1300 EUR)
110W @ 8 Ω/ohm, 20 Hz – 20 kHz, 0,06 % T.H.D. 2 channels

Do you think DTS-X is worth investing in? Price difference is significant and I'm just wondering if I better spend this extra money on the speakers, an extra sub, or other "stuff".

A really long-winded question, I know, and I'm sorry for that. I did my best wording my doubts. Basically: what would you do for speakers + receiver if you had a budget of ~ 4000 EUR/USD, keeping in mind the brands availability here.

Thanks a lot in advance for any and all replies. Your thoughts are much appreciated.

Cheers,
K!

 

[TheWarrior]

Hi!

1) Cabling is fine; speaker cable is recommended at no less than 12 AWG, 10 can be too thick for some speaker terminals.

2) The only thing that matters with HDMI is having a strong, quality, connector. Some can be too weak and crack. Blu ray does not support 4K, almost nothing does, so do not be concerned with 4K compatibility. When that time comes, you will look for products rated for HDCP 2.2.

3) THX screen size recommendation is to divide the screen size (in inches) by 0.84. That is designed to provide an "immersive" (BIG) viewing experience, and can be dialed back a bit as needed.

4) Those Q Acoustics look superb! Subwoofer may be a bit weak, particularly for movies.

5) I would get either the Denon X4100 or Marantz 7009, nothing to be gained from spending more. Those speakers may have some low impedance swings to 4 ohms so if you listen at loud volumes keep an eye on your receiver so that it does not over heat (there is thermal protection circuitry, and it will just shut down). But that is unlikely.

 

[KCDaemon]

Hi,

Thanks for the insights.

1) I found some decently priced banana plugs that should handle the speaker cable diameter without problem, so that shouldn't be an issue.

2) That certainly isn't for the immediate future. At 7000 EUR for the cheapest 4K projector that is certainly out of my budget.

3) I am assuming screen size means the diagonal? That means for a 110" screen I can be up to 92.4 inches away from the screen? Edit: sorry, you said divide, not multiply, so that would be a bit less than 10', which I think would work. We'll see.

4) Yes I've seen that mentioned in one the reviews I read. What do you think about the SVS PB-1000? Would that solve the sub issue? Seems to have better range, 300W RMS and it is cheaper than the 3070C. It's also less pretty though.

5) OK, out of those 2 I would lean towards the Marantz. However, I've also checked out the Denon AVR-X3200W. That one retails for the same price as I would be able to get the X4100W but it does come with DTS-X. On the other hand, it provides lower power (105W vs 125W at 8 ohm, 20Hz-20KHz 2 channel). What's your feel on this?

 

[rojo]

For the sub, I'd give a strong look at BK Electronics. Price - performance ratio, you probably won't do any better unless you diy. SVS does make good subs, but they're comparatively pricier than they once were a couple years ago.

Sent from my LG-VS980 using Forum Fiend OSP v1.3.3.

 

[KCDaemon]

Wow those look really nice. Just read through one of the reviews and from the looks of it this new P12-300SB looks like it might just fit the bill perfectly. Thanks for the tip!

/K

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

The Denon X4200 will also be 850 Euro by next Summer.

I don’t think DTS-X or Dolby ATMOS will enhance anything over DTS-HD MA.

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