New HT Help and Advice

[cjwolverine]

Holics help me!
My wife, 2 boys (soon to be 3), just moved into a new house.

I have anchored my new living room with a Pioneer Elite 1130HD 50 inch plasma. Now I need help with the rest. I have $3-$5K to spend. So far I have bought tons of magazines visited this forum and others and have only caused myself confusion. The last equipment I bought was in college over 12 years ago.

My local dealers basically carry Denon, Marantz, Yamaha, Pioneer, NAD. Speakers from Boston, Def Tech, Paradigm. I am willing to buy outside of these local dealers or even online. I'm just telling you what I've been introduced to so far.
There is much discussion about the Denon/Yami debate. I don't wish to start another debate here.

This is what my home setup needs to do:
60% of the time the T.V. will have kids shows and basic prime-time tv. Some in HD. So far we love this and have Monday thru Friday and kid time covered.

The rest of the time. I'd like a solid Home Theatre experience with some quality audio/video. I won't blow the roof off every night, but once a week would be cool.

Also, we like to entertain. I would like a receiver that could also power some speakers in the kitchen dining area where guests tend to mingle. I'd also like to power some outdoor patio speakers when I'm on the grill and people are outside. This way I could still here the football game if I have to tend to a grill outside or listen to music in or outside party.
So 5.1 in the living room, plus 2 in the kitchen, and 2 on the patio. Is this too much to ask of one receiver? Will I need separate amps? If so that is ok.

Also for entertaining i'd like some sort of cd changer vs. ipod capable player. I rarely see reviews on multi-disk changers but I really don't care to play D.J. and constantly switch things around at my own party. I wouldn't mind having a decent changer for the parties and a better quality multi DVD format player (like the Denon 2910 or similar) for the rest of the higher quality video and listening.

I hear Pioneer has a new rec. that will control an ipod. But I don't want to sacrafice the quality of the sound for my few annual parties when the music is just background anyway. If you Holics say another receiver is better for my needs then I can always make playlists and hook ipods and cd changers up another way to give me 6 hours of "background noise".

I'm sorry this is long. But lastly speakers. My room is about 30 ft wide and 15 feet deep. We will watch t.v. from about 12 feet from the screen with lots of room on either side. The rear is partially open to a kitchen dining area to the right and stairs to the left. I know it is not ideal, but it is our home and the space was more important than the "media room". The ceiling is peaked. The T.v is centered on the peak.
So far my plan is surrounds mounted in the peak pointed to the center of the room just above where the angles peak meets the vertical side walls.

The front sides and center will be in a custom entertainment center I'm having built. So I can pick a decent sized bookshelf style speaker. And the sub is likely going to be built in the bottom of the cabinet or could even be in the floor below from the basement. I know Boston sells one of these.

So feel free to pick this set up apart. Any and all recommendations are greatly appreciated. I'm having lots of fun so far, but I have succeeded in confusing myself with information.

Please Help
thanks
chris

 

[j_garcia]

Of the receivers you listed, my personal preference would be NAD or Marantz, but the rest would probably do fine as well. With a room that size and that budget, I'd say look at something in the $1K or better range. If you can locate a local Rotel dealer (who will likely also have B&W speakers), they should probably be on your list to audition as well.

I really wouldn't put speakers inside another cabinet if it could be avoided. It's generally not a good idea. I have a friend who put bookshelf speakers behind doors with acoustically transparent (speaker grille) cloth that matched the color of the entertainment center and it worked OK, but it would not be my first choice. If possible, where the speakers are, I'd say no doors if you can do that. I like both Boston and Paradigm. In your price range, I'd say the Paradigm Studio 40s, CC-470 and whichever surrounds work for your particular install would probably do the trick.

 

[jaxvon]

CJ, I highly recommend that you take a trip over to the Stereo Shoppe on W. Stadium. They carry B&W (oldest B&W dealer in the state), Rotel, Phase Tech (my favorite!), Klipsch Reference, Yamaha, and other stuff. Don't let them sell you their expensive Audioquest cables, but they're good people and carry nice stuff.

The other two dealers that I would visit would be Paragon Sight and Sound, and Overture Audio.

For your speakers, you should look for a sealed or front-ported speaker. Rear ported speakers will not work well in a cabinet. Ideally you would keep your speakers freestanding, but that might not work with your aesthetic vision.

The subwoofer is another concern. Subwoofers are very sensitive (like any speaker) to placement. To really get the most out of your subwoofer, you'll need to move it around. Chances are, the place you have picked out for it in the cabinet is not the best place. Secondly, great care must be taken to properly isolate the subwoofer from the cabinet. Thirdly, to get good, theatrical bass, you'll need to use a front-firing sealed design with a boatload of power. This basically equates to buying an HGS or DD series subwoofer from Velodyne, which is quite expensive. The infinite baffle subwoofer is an interesting idea, but I still think that for your purposes the best route would be a free-standing subwoofer from SVS or Hsu. They represent an excellent value and will give you plenty of high-quality bass while leaving you more money to invest in speakers and electronics.

 

[cjwolverine]

Thanks so far J and Jax..

I hear you both on speakers in the cabinet, but it is a compromise I have to make. My wild boys have knocked my old college pinnacles down several times already so this next pair goes up high. Luckily for me, I'm having the cabinet made. So they can rest comfortably and I can leave room on the side or pack them in tight, whatever is recommended. They can just sit on the shelf or they can be hidden by fabric. Which is best?

My sub placement is going to be a real challenge. The furniture gets placed first and then I will have to make room for the sub. It can go behind fabric in my cabinet under the plasma. It can go in the wall or floor behind the couch or over to a corner away from the real listening/viewing area. Of these 3 inperfect situations which is the least worst?

Jax I have not been to the Stereo Shoppe, but I have visited the others. Overture- NAD and Paradigm was their pick for me. I was pretty sold, but no HDMI in the NAD. Will I notice the difference? Paragon has the Denon and Def Techs, which impressed me as well. Architechtual Media systems has the Pioneer, Marantz, Denon, but they seem to order everything and don't have much of a "listening room" to compare. What really perked my ears about the Pioneer was the ipod interface. It would be very handy for long weekend mixes and/or entertaining. But I want to be cautious and don't want to sacrafice sound, video etc. just so I can hook up an ipod. I just thought if all else was equal say between the Yammie, Denon, NAD, Pioneer, Marantz well then I'd take the ipod hookup as the one feature the rest lacked.

Thanks again
Chris

 

[j_garcia]

The new Harmon Kardons and Onkyo also have Ipod support, though I think you need to buy a cradle for Onkyo.

 

[cjwolverine]

J-
thank you, I'll look into it.