Help with Audio portion of my HT setup

[Savage40]

Hello all, back in September, my 2 1/2 year home caught on fire and was a total loss to the interior due to extreme smoke damage. We have rebuilt and are almost ready to start furnishing and getting it ready to move back in by the end of January.

So, I took advantage of our bad fortune to upgrade the hell outta the house and the media room is one of the funner upgrades.

Anyhow, my media room is 100% light controlled and measure 16'w x 24'l, pretty good size room. built a platform at the read of the room for multi level seating of 8 home theater recliners. I am installing a new Epson 6010 projector with a 120" motorized tab tensioned screen by Stewart.

With that all said, I am not sure what will give me the best bang for the buck for the sound system. I have roughly $4000 I can spend now for an audio receiver and 7.1 sound. The room is pre wired with in-speakers wire, hdmi 1.4, cat-5, etc..

My last system was a $500 HTIB, so I have no experience at building a system from the ground up. I just want to get a good setup for the $4000 I can blow although I have already spent $250 of that for a rack mount power conditioner/surge. I am just hoping that the $4000 is enough for a system that can provide the sound for that size of a room with a big screen.

 

[XEagleDriver]

Savage,

Sorry to hear of your house trauma, that would suck.

With a 16' x 24' room here are some initial ideas on allocating your funds:

Spend about 80% of the remaining budget on speakers/subs. In your case the math works out to 0.8 * 3,750 = $3,000

In that $3k, I would consider budgeting for two subwoofers due to the size of the room.
Or at least place a second sub on your future growth list.

Spend about 15% (~$575) on electronics (AVR and blu-ray), with the lions share on the AVR and only about $100 on the bluray player.

The last 5% (~$175) is for cables (monoprice!), banana connectors, etc.

Hope that helps you get started with a plan.
XEagleDriver

 

[Savage40]

Savage,

Sorry to hear of your house trauma, that would suck.

With a 16' x 24' room here are some initial ideas on allocating your funds:

Spend about 80% of the remaining budget on speakers/subs. In your case the math works out to 0.8 * 3,750 = $3,000

In that $3k, I would consider budgeting for two subwoofers due to the size of the room.
Or at least place a second sub on your future growth list.

Spend about 15% (~$575) on electronics (AVR and blu-ray), with the lions share on the AVR and only about $100 on the bluray player.

The last 5% (~$175) is for cables (monoprice!), banana connectors, etc.

Hope that helps you get started with a plan.
XEagleDriver

Thanks for your response. I just got done speccing out a Denon A/R & Boston Acoustic speakers, any thoughts on this setup for the money? I can buy the following for $2902.75

A/V Receiver Denon AVR3312CI x1 $719.40
Front Speakers Boston A. RS 326 x2 $1,148.94
Center Boston A. RS 244C x1 $287.47
Sub - Boston A. RPS 1000 x1 $516.97
Surrounds - Boston A. RS 260 x4 $229.97

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Thanks for your response. I just got done speccing out a Denon A/R & Boston Acoustic speakers, any thoughts on this setup for the money? I can buy the following for $2902.75

A/V Receiver Denon AVR3312CI x1 $719.40
Front Speakers Boston A. RS 326 x2 $1,148.94
Center Boston A. RS 244C x1 $287.47
Sub - Boston A. RPS 1000 x1 $516.97
Surrounds - Boston A. RS 260 x4 $229.97

At $4k you really should try to give a speakers an audition before buying them.
I'd like to suggest a bit different system:
2x Infinity Primus P362
2x Infinity Primus P162
1x Infinity Primus P351
all from cruchfield - subtotal $769.95
Sub:
The Boston sub is really lags behind and there is no need to match the sub to system
my suggestion is with your larger room you need a capable sub:
SVS PB12-NSD would be good starts, but PB12-PLUS would be even better.
You could also get both as cylinders if floor space is in issue for you

Denon avr you picked would work fine...

I'd strongly recommended keeping some money for good universal remote control.

I'd also suggest to checkout Aperion Audio Verus speaker line since they are great performers and allow free 30 days in-home trial.

 

[sholling]

Thanks for your response. I just got done speccing out a Denon A/R & Boston Acoustic speakers, any thoughts on this setup for the money? I can buy the following for $2902.75

A/V Receiver Denon AVR3312CI x1 $719.40
Front Speakers Boston A. RS 326 x2 $1,148.94
Center Boston A. RS 244C x1 $287.47
Sub - Boston A. RPS 1000 x1 $516.97
Surrounds - Boston A. RS 260 x4 $229.97

XEagleDriver's adice is excellent and your taste in receivers is very nice. I happen to be a big fan of Boson Acoustics speakers but that's individual taste and I haven't heard that model but at that price they would be on my short list of candidates. I would double check the price on those Bostons because it seems really low. For example the RS260 sell for $400 EACH.

The problem is your your choice of subwoofers. Assuming an 8ft ceiling you're at 3100cuft which is way too much for a 10" sub. You're also better off buying your subwoofer from a subwoofer specialist like SVSounds, Hsu Research, Rythmik Subwoofers etc. I would contact each of those with the room's dimensions (LxWxH) and usage (percent music vs movies) and have them each give you a recommendation. A single large sub may do the trick but honestly with dual row four across seating you're probably better off with two so that the bass is more evenly distributed. I'd also do some serious reading from the tips & trick section of the main Audioholics site, there's a whole lot of really good information in there. I'll also second his advice to source your cables from Monoprice or Blue Jeans. electrons can't read brand labels and there is no reason to waste big money on the fancy high profit margin name brands that they push at the stores.

 

[zieglj01]

A/V Receiver Denon AVR3312CI x1 $719.40
Front Speakers Boston A. RS 326 x2 $1,148.94
Center Boston A. RS 244C x1 $287.47
Sub - Boston A. RPS 1000 x1 $516.97
Surrounds - Boston A. RS 260 x4 $229.97

I agree with the others about the sub change - other than that,
your list looks good.

 

[Savage40]

At $4k you really should try to give a speakers an audition before buying them.
I'd like to suggest a bit different system:
2x Infinity Primus P362
2x Infinity Primus P162
1x Infinity Primus P351
all from cruchfield - subtotal $769.95
Sub:
The Boston sub is really lags behind and there is no need to match the sub to system
my suggestion is with your larger room you need a capable sub:
SVS PB12-NSD would be good starts, but PB12-PLUS would be even better.
You could also get both as cylinders if floor space is in issue for you

Denon avr you picked would work fine...

I'd strongly recommended keeping some money for good universal remote control.

I'd also suggest to checkout Aperion Audio Verus speaker line since they are great performers and allow free 30 days in-home trial.

The reason I thought I would go with the Boston speakers is bang for the buck. I actually got hooked up as a reseller through a distributor and can buy only the Boston Acoustics at wholesale pricing. Well, the projector as well, I can get for $2500.00 for an Epson 6010 which comes with an extra bulb, mount, 2 pair 3D glasses and extra year warranty, over night replacement and also supports Anamorphic lens in 2 modes, although I don't see me ever spending $2500 for an Anamorphic lens.

 

[Savage40]

Wow, thank you all for the very nice feedback. I will MOST definitely be looking for an alternate sub. You are correct about the 3100 cubic feet of space and now that I think about it, that single 10" is most likely way less than what I would be happy with.

As for cables and what not, I already have everything pre-wired etc. so none of the cabling is going to eat into my budget, also, I just discovered that the bedroom set that my oldest son wants from Rooms2Go comes with a 60" tv so I do not have to buy one for the media room, so I now have $4,750 to spend on audio receiver, speakers, power conditioner and universal remote.

 

[zieglj01]

The reason I thought I would go with the Boston speakers is bang for the buck. I actually got hooked up as a reseller through a distributor and can buy only the Boston Acoustics at wholesale pricing.

I knew, that you had to be getting good pricing from somewhere.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

The reason I thought I would go with the Boston speakers is bang for the buck. I actually got hooked up as a reseller through a distributor and can buy only the Boston Acoustics at wholesale pricing.

I know what you saying, but trust me on one thing - no Boston even at wholesale price could beat P362's for $200/ea as far as bang for buck goes..

Nothing wrong with Boston speakers, but you need to give them a listen before the purchase or have to option to return them with no or minimal cost. You never know - you might not like them.

Question: Boston A. RS 326 x2 $1,148.94 - priced for each for for pair?
MSRP is 2k a pair, so I assume it's a pair price.

At the same price point Verus Forte Tower Speaker would be a strong alternative

 

[Savage40]

I know what you saying, but trust me on one thing - no Boston even at wholesale price could beat P362's for $200/ea as far as bang for buck goes..

Nothing wrong with Boston speakers, but you need to give them a listen before the purchase or have to option to return them with no or minimal cost. You never know - you might not like them.

Question: Boston A. RS 326 x2 $1,148.94 - priced for each for for pair?
MSRP is 2k a pair, so I assume it's a pair price.

At the same price point Verus Forte Tower Speaker would be a strong alternative

You are correct, that is the price for a pair. I am talking to the distributor today about a demo before I pull the trigger, thank you, I will be looking up the Verus Forte's pronto to read up on them.

 

[Savage40]

The problem is your your choice of subwoofers. Assuming an 8ft ceiling you're at 3100cuft which is way too much for a 10" sub. You're also better off buying your subwoofer from a subwoofer specialist like SVSounds, Hsu Research, Rythmik Subwoofers etc. I would contact each of those with the room's dimensions (LxWxH) and usage (percent music vs movies) and have them each give you a recommendation. A single large sub may do the trick but honestly with dual row four across seating you're probably better off with two so that the bass is more evenly distributed.

Thanks for that. Funny thing you mentioned Rythmik. I looked them up a few minutes ago and spoke to the owner, a guy named Mike. It turns out that their warehouse is about 4 blocks away from where I work here in Austin. He told me once I get my projector and A/V components all installed to come by there and he will allow me to take a SV15 Sub home for a day to demo it in my own home theater. That is a deal I can not pass up and will be taking him up on that offer.