I am new, could use some help from the pros

[Tileteam]

Hello All,
I have been reading on this forum for a while but never posted. This place is really great.

I just setup a Home theater system for my parents and I now have the itch to start/complete/finish my own. I have a strange mix of equipment that I will list and could use some advice on where to go with it all.

For starters, my 42 rear projection is finished so I am going to replace it with an LCD in the 46 to 50 inch range. I have to look at the numbers again but I believe the 50 inch might be a bit large for my viewing in the room. The space between the screen and the eyes is about 9 or 10 feet.

I have my DVD/CD/Streaming audio/XM receiver all squared away so none of these items are an issue.

I guess the question would be what is a good TV, receiver (if I need one) and speakers.

I have a set of B&W 604 tower speakers but I am unsure if these can be integrated into this system and still have the ability to hear rear channel and center channel speakers which I do NOT currently have and could use some advice on. I also need a sub and have no idea where to go with this.

For a receiver, I have an Adcom GTP-760 connected to an Adcom GFA-7400 (100 watts x 5).

I also have an Xbox 360 Elite which allows for streaming music and video from my PC.

The room is only about 15 feet wide by 11 feet deep.

I was always big into music but I really want to do something in the theater area. Can I use what I have or do I need to start fresh?

One last thing. When I remodeled this room, I did run heavy gage speaker wire behind the sitting area in hopes that I would get a chance to install in wall speakers. I have read good and bad things about this.

Additionally, I ran speaker wire to the corner of the room that I thought I could use for sub woofer connection but it wasent until recently that I realized I can't really use this type of wire for a sub.

So, any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated from you guys.

Patrick

 

[avaserfi]

Hey,

If you are going for an LCD I would look into a Sharp or Toshiba screen although I would recommend you look into Panasonic plasmas as they will have better picture quality than you can currently find in a LCD. As far as screen size goes I would personally get a 50" at that distance. I currently sit 7.5' from my 42" display and sometimes feel that 46" would have been the right choice so at your distance 50" would be great!

If you like the B&W speakers I would look into getting a matching center and surrounds from B&W (see if you can get speakers with the same tweeter if they still make it). If you don't like them a budget would help. If you are interested in in-wall speakers there are a few member who love their Speakercraft speakers so I would check them out.

As far as subwoofers go I would recommend looking into HSU and SVS as they make great subs for the price, but are only found online.

If the receiver is working properly I wouldn't worry too much about upgrading it unless you really want to then I would look in the new line of Onkyo's.

Lastly, don't forget room treatments they will help your sound quality greatly! I would suggest focusing the most on speakers then treatments after that everything else, especially if you are big into music as movies are quiet a bit easier to take care of.

Good Luck and audition as many speakers as you can!

 

[Tileteam]

Thats some good advice. I will say this, I am real inetrested in the HDMI connections. The Sony system I did at my Parents house tonight was all HDMI through the reciever and it worked great and looks amazing.

I was looking at the Onkyo TX-NR905 as a replacement to the Adcom stuff only because of the updated features.
I like the B&W speakers but they are sooo large. On the other hand, I am not sure I will get as good a sound out of smaller bookshelf speakers. maybe I am wrong here.

The TV I put in my Parents tonight was a Sharp LCD 50 inch and it looks amazing when you feed it correctly. I was not to impressed with regular channels but I guess thats the norm. I have an HD dvr like my dads and those channels looked amazing on that screen.

 

[Seth=L]

I would keep the Adcom amplifier, at least until you are sure you need it or not, if you decide to get the TX-NR905.