Looking for help

[Osylvan]

I'm trying to pick out audio equipment for my first home theater, and I feel in over my head. I'm tempted to buy a package with an amp and speakers, but I think I may need better speakers than most kits provide given the distance I will be sitting from the front speakers. I'm hoping to get some recommendations on what I should buy. The size of the room is 25.75 ft x 14.25 ft and 8 ft ceiling. I will be sitting 18.3 ft from the screen. Was looking at 7.1 kits around $1200, but can spend more if needed. Maybe a budget of around $2000. I'd really appreciate any advice anyone can offer.

 

[shadyJ]

You can do better than home-theater-in-a-box systems for that money. Some manufacturers I would be looking at: Ascend Acoustics, Hsu Research, SVS, RSL, RBH, Monoprice Monolith, JBL studio, Emotiva, and there are plenty of others. For a AVR, look a models from Denon, Marantz, or Yamaha.

 

[lovinthehd]

May not want to jump to 7.1 speaker set from the start, 5.1 would work well and save you some money for better speakers/sub. Try shopping accessories4less.com for a refurb avr (not necessarily 5.1 ones tho), and sometimes they have nice speaker packages, altho I'd only get speakers there, not subs. Subs look to SVS, Hsu Research, Rythmik for starters...

 

[2channel lover]

I'm trying to pick out audio equipment for my first home theater, and I feel in over my head. I'm tempted to buy a package with an amp and speakers, but I think I may need better speakers than most kits provide given the distance I will be sitting from the front speakers. I'm hoping to get some recommendations on what I should buy. The size of the room is 25.75 ft x 14.25 ft and 8 ft ceiling. I will be sitting 18.3 ft from the screen. Was looking at 7.1 kits around $1200, but can spend more if needed. Maybe a budget of around $2000. I'd really appreciate any advice anyone can offer.

Agree with post #3...given that you're just starting out, you can always prewire or run your wires for a 7.1 system, but I'd save the money on the extra pair of surround speakers and go with a 5.1 system to start.

With $2k...I might buy one of the HSU bookshelf package deals with a sub....the CCB-8 would be my choice and that might run the funds really low...worst case, I would leave off the center channel and run with 4 speakers and a sub until funds allow to add one more speaker.

7.1 is great, but imo it's not leaps and bounds better than 5.1.

 

[shadyJ]

7.1 is great, but imo it's not leaps and bounds better than 5.1.

Agreed, 7.1 is only a subtle improvement over a properly set up 5.1 system.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I think 5 speakers for $500 + 2 subwoofers for $1,000 + Denon X3300 on sale for $600 would be good.