New Condo, New Home theater setup. Spend My money!

[Amity83]

Hi guys, finally bought my first home, a beautiful condo on a cove in SE Connecticut. Now I need to get my home theater all set up! I have no choice for this room but to go with smaller sub/sat type system. I'm super nervous about this as I'm not sure they can reproduce the sound that I want so I'm willing to spend a bit more that normal to be happy with them. The room is open concept type with the living room opening to a dining area. The theater area is approximately 14x18 with the TV in the corner above a moderately low fireplace. Its not an ideal placement for the TV, but the window and room layout make this the best/only spot. The speakers will be wall mounted. MY TV is a Panasonic ST60 Plasma 60". Its amazing. My old "big" home theater setup is going to get put in my 3rd floor loft/man cave and consists of Polk Monitor 60's, monitor 30's, a CS1 and PSW110 all powered by a Denon x1000 receiver. I really like the sound from this setup and the bang I got for my buck, but these simply won't work downstairs.

I'm willing to spend to do it right, and do it once, but I'd like to keep the cost for speakers and mounts under $2,000, preferably closer to $1500. I'm interested in the Polk Blackstone TL350, Definitive Procinema 1000, GoldenEar supersat30, paradigm cinema 100, bowers & wilkins MT50... and any more that you can suggest. The local dealer is roberts audio video in waterford, CT robertsaudiovideo.com and they carry a decent number of top brands.
I may change out the receiver for a Marantz NR1403 due to its small size and great sound quality. I listen to maybe a 60-40 mix of music to movies. The place is a condo that is more like a townhouse. Its an end unit so only one neighbor, which is on the opposite side of the room from the tv. I don't know how badly sound gets to the neighbors so i'd prefer to have more speakers at a lower volume than going with something like a sound bar and having it super loud to hear across the room. I usually have my sub turned down to moderate levels for this reason also.

What are your thoughts on sub/sat systems? They often get panned on review sites but places rarely mention anything but the cheapo HTIB setups for less than $500, not exactly the setups i'm looking at. I want something thats decent for music/HT and doesn't rely SO much on the sub that I'm constantly pissing off the neighbors.

Any and all feedback is appreciated. Thanks guys!

 

[ImcLoud]

I have been to Roberts, they sell a lot of the lower end of hi fi, nice enough people though...

If I was building a system and size was an issue there is only one small speaker I would consider {that I have heard}, the psb imagine mini's, designeraudiovideo sells the centers and mains for a little over $1000, then for surrounds you can use http://www.amazon.com/Leviton-AESS5...=1410174874&sr=8-1&keywords=satellite+speaker or any other sat you find that is affordable, I have experience with these, they are decent...

next for the sub vtf1 from HSUresearch you can get them bstock for $450 shipped The Hsu Clearance Center

for an avr the marantz is nice, I own one too, MARANTZ NR1403 Slimline 5.1 AV Receiver | Accessories4less

That will be a really good sounding system vs the others you listed are not going to be anywhere near what this system can do...

 

[GIEGAR]

Welcome to the forum!

I wouldn't be concerned about corner placement too much - it can work very well. In fact, Dr Floyd Toole says of corner placement, or having the room on a diagonal:

It amazes me that so few people think to do this. If you are not building a special entertainment room from scratch, the probability is very high that there will be a fireplace, a door, a window, or an opening, precisely where the video display should go. It has happened in my last two houses, in spite of my attempts to avoid it.

So, just go with the flow, and put the system on the room diagonal. Those bothersome side-wall reflections go away, the side channel loudspeakers are a long way from the listeners – if they are in the corners, equalization will be necessary, otherwise move them down the walls a couple of feet or more.

Having lived with this, I have come to really like it. The space behind the TV can hide a subwoofer, or a rack of equipment, or both. It is excellent for a general-purpose entertainment room. Now, I would not hesitate to deliberately design a room in this configuration.

(Source: http://www.harman.com/EN-US/OurCompany/Innovation/Documents/White Papers/LoudspeakersandRoomsPt1.pdf)

​

My recommendation for a "sub/sat" solution that I reckon offers outstanding performance for your budget is a 7.1 Ascend/Rythmik combo comprising:

Ascend Acoustics HTM-200 SE Monitor X 7, and a Rythmik Audio LV12R Direct Servo Sub.

Load these into the Ascend Acoustics shopping cart (via the System Advisor), along with Omni-20 wall mounts, and the total comes to $1700 plus $175 shipping.

Edit:
Just noticed that the Omni-20 mounts are discontinued. These would be fine: Amazon.com: Mount-it Heavy Duty Black Universal Satellite Speaker Mounts / Brackets for Walls and Ceilings up to 33 lb (2 Packs with 2 mounts in each).

• 7.1 HTM-200 SE's + Rythmik LV12R comes to around $1500 shipped.
  
• Even better... 7.2 HTM-200 SE's + Rythmik LV12R's comes to around $2000 shipped.

Alternately, HTM-200 SE's + Dual SVS PB1000's comes to around $1900 shipped.
End edit.

Generally speaking, I tend to think the "slimline" AVR's at about 50W/channel are a bit underpowered, particularly if hooked up to smaller, lower sensitivity satellite speakers... and you like to listen at "satisfyingly loud" levels. I'd hit the Ascends with a bit more power from something like a refurbished Denon AVR-X3000 7.2 4K Ultra HD Networking Receiver with AirPlay | Accessories4less for $500. If you think dual subs may be in your future, it's worthwhile considering the Denon AVR-X4000 7.2 4K Ultra HD Networking Receiver with AirPlay | Accessories4less ($850), for its excellent Audyssey XT32 + SubEQ HT capability.

Good luck!