I've been researching this for a pretty long time and have never come up confident with what to get. I realize with these prices, it won't be even close to top of the line stuff but we just want to listen to decently loud music for when people are over and have it sound as good as below will buy.
I'm looking for the following recommendations:
1) In ceiling speakers that are $100-150 each
2) 12 channel amplifier to power these speakers (there are 6 rooms with 2 speakers in each). Max price: $1,500
3) We have spots in every room for subwoofers -- are in wall speakers like the one sold by HTD reliable or should we go with a freestanding one: Max price: $350
Thanks a ton everyone.
Here is what I ended up with
Monoprice 6 zone selector box {mounted in basement where I ran speaker wires to each room and from my HT rack in my up stairs living room}
For only $19.25 each when QTY 50+ purchased - 6-Channel Speaker Selector | Speaker Selector
Jamo Volume controls {not the impedance matching ones the others}, I had problems with the imped matching type, so instead I let the Mono price selector box do the matching, the amp doesnt even get warm..
http://www.amazon.com/Jamo-AT-1A-White-Control-Remote/dp/B000QGKJ4A/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1351024406&sr=1-1&keywords=jamo+volume+controls
I found them on amazon for 10 each, I paid 20
An Emotiva UPA200 amplifier $349 125 watts x 2 is pleanty to get my 4000sq ft house blasting, and I have no subs, I can turn the sun in my living room on with it, but never do.. I use zone 2 on my avr so I can make it work how ever I like...
Yamaha speakers
Amazon.com: Yamaha NS-IW280CWH 6.5" 3-Way In-Ceiling Speaker System (White): Electronics I like these better than the 8" version they sell, you can point them to the area you want them to fill, and the 8" seemed undefined and muddy...
Any recommendations are truly appreciated as it's getting close to time when we will need these!
Now for subs, I have heard some of the built ins and what I dont like about them is not the sound, because they are not bad {although the freestandings are better} its the fact that when you go tochange it its a pain, you have to cut walls and find one to fit, ect.. Most rooms have closets or places you can put a sub.. And then you can just buy small cheap subs, or get a lot more than you would dollar fordollar compared to a built in thats for sure...
Find a good looking sub, my wharfedales look like furniture, they all dont have to be black boxes...
I had expensive 12 channel amps, and they were a huge headache for me, always cooking a channel, and then another channel and then a board that would make everything static, it sucked, 2 ch amps are easy to find cheap and hardley ever break, I have about 1000 hours of use with the above setup on my emo 200 and no issues at all {knock on wood}...
This was very easy to wire , ran 4 wire from my ht rack where I have the amp to the selector box, ran 4 wire from selector box to each vol control then 2wires from vol control to each speaker.. As far as wiring the amp, I plugged it into 120 and ran rca's from my avr's zone 2 output to the amps inputs... It is loud clear and reliable... All I wanted from the start, too bad it took a rotel, dma, and 2 other amps to figure it out {I got refunded for all amps except the rotel, they fixed it the third time and I put it on EBAY, I paid $2200 I think and got $1300 back... that $900 loss would have paid for my entire system if I started this way..
