That’s a very large area to pressurize with a sealed subwoofer or 2.
That is a large volume to pressurize with a ported sub or two!
@SimplyEpic I also have such a large volume thanks to vaulted ceiling, open balcony,open foyer, and open kitchen/b'fast nook. One way to compensate for this is to have the subs closer to you (sometimes this is called near-field placement) where more energy is present! So be considering if you have some placement options to help with this!
So, we are at $8,700 for 5 speakers, amps, and 2 subs - Nice, that will get you into a very sweet place!
One of the reasons to know that you are 70% Music and 30%HT is to figure out how to distribute your money. A 70/30 split suggests to me that it would be better to sink money into two excellent speakers for stereo music and use less expensive speakers for surrounds (with your budget, they should still be quite good)!. The quality level of the Center is more controversial - it is often the hardest working speaker for HT!
Based on the speakers I have heard, my suggestion is a little unconventional, but I do believe it represents good value with very high quality sound.
I would get a pair of Focal Twin6Be ($2200 ea) for your right and left speakers and a Focal Solo6Be ($1500) for a center:
3-way Powered Studio Monitor, Dual 6.5" Woofers, 1" Beryllium Inverted-dome Tweeter, and 40Hz-40kHz Frequency Response (each)
www.sweetwater.com
2-way Powered Studio Monitor with 6.5" Woofer, 1" Beryllium Inverted-Dome Tweeter, and 40Hz-40kHz Frequency Response (each)
www.sweetwater.com
These include an amplifier matched to each driver so 3 amps for each of the Twins and 2 amps for the Solo! One nice thing about have amps custom selected for the drivers is the speakers will simply cut off if you drive them too hard. No worries over blown tweeters!
Least anyone tell you that studio monitors don't belong in a HT, consider that DTS Labs uses these exact speakers to demo their surround processing technology to customers!:
For your surround speakers, I would get a pair of Canton Chrono 516.2 ($450/pr) wall-mount speakers that have a ceramic tweeter than matches closely with the Focal Be Tweeter.:
www.accessories4less.com
I would simply use teh Denon amps for these. They are not a difficult load and the Denon puts out plenty of power when you only ask it to drive the two surround speakers!
$8,700 Remaining budget
-5,900 Focals across front
$2,800 Remaining budget
-450 Canton Chrono 516.2 surrounds
$2350 Remains for subwoofers
Some thoughts:
You may not care for the look of these speakers, they are not traditional that way. I think these are a high-value option, but if it is not a look you like; obviously, they are not for you!
Depending on how much you want to protect the extra $2000 that you mentioned adding, you might spend aanother $700 and use a Twin6 Be for your center speaker as well as the left and right. The Solo6 plays 113dB peak SPL at 1 meter and the Twin6 play 115dB peak SPL at 1 meter. I can say with certainty that the Solo is louder than I would ever listen.
I am going to leave choice of subs alone for now because we need feedback from you as to flexibility of placement, how big is too big (or is there such a thing). In a large room like that it can get to be a juggling act between placement locations that work in your room, being able to pressurize the room, and WAF constraints! Sometimes that can force you into smaller subs such that you are sacrificing bass output.
@shadyJ (and others) are more familiar with home consumer speakers in this price range and might be be able to give you some more traditional options! I'm thinking Revel, but there are lots of great speakers out there!
