Need some broad suggestions for HT setups

[ChicagoLR3]

My father-in-law asked me to make some suggestions for a home theater room they're putting together in their new condo. Previously, he had a Mitsubishi projection TV and an old Sony HTIB. My guess is that he saw what I did with my setup and wants something similar. He's already said he's getting the same TV.

The downside is he didn't give me any budget (I asked, he has no idea what HT costs), dimensions of the room (Its enclosed, and my guess would be 15x20x10. Haven't seen it in person yet), or whether he wants bookshelfs or towers. I realize just how important those parameters are. He doesn't balk at price when it comes to splurging on toys, but I would imagine anything over $4-5k would be out. I was thinking about ESL, Elac, Aperion, and the SVS prime setups. Just wanted to know if there is anything else out there I should be thinking of. I'm basically going to give him a list of 5.1 and 7.1 setups at various price points. Once I get more guidance I can narrow it down further.


Secondly, we would like the rear speakers to be wireless, as he's not sure how he would hide the wires. There are a few options actual wireless options, but based on cost, I think we could just hide them.

 

[shadyJ]

I would be looking at setups from Ascend/Rythmik, Hsu, or EMP Tek. You can get a really good setup from those companies that I think is a better value than the ESL, Elac, Aperion, or SVS setups for the same money. Try to get two subwoofers instead of one, and don't use that as an excuse to get cheap subwoofers either. As for the wireless rear speakers, I would just get this thing here. If the surrounds will be close to the listening position, these might work well, but I wouldn't want to have them tackle distances of over 10 feet or so. You will need a AVR that has pre-outs for the wireless rear speakers.

 

[ChicagoLR3]

Thanks. I was thinking about the Outlaw wireless amp, but for $300 I think he would prefer to find a wired solution.

Out of curiosity, why do you think the ascend/rythmik, Hsu, or EmpTek would be better values than the ones I initially named? I believe they're all ID, so they should be relatively equal.

 

[shadyJ]

Lol, ID doesn't mean they are all equal. I think they are all good though. If I were going for tower speakers, I would go for the EMP Tek E55Ti towers, I like the idea of dual mid woofers and three bass drivers. They have been measured to have a neutral response, a good thing. They look the nicest too, and have a beefy looking center speaker to go with them. EMP Tek looks to have a very good inexpensive sub with the I-12s, although I would try to get a couple of the 15"s from Hsu, Rythmik, or Reaction Audio as far as subwoofers are concerned. The Ascend speakers also look very good, they present very neutral measurements and are very reasonably priced for that performance, as are the Hsu speakers. Rythmik and Hsu make killer subwoofers, and the idea of using bookshelf speakers instead of towers is more cost effective than tower speakers. Better to get good subs and bookshelf speakers rather than tower speakers with lesser subwoofers.

 

[ChicagoLR3]

I agree with you on that. Guess I was thrown by "value". There are certainly better ID speakers than others.