Putting together a new system...

[MattGoose]

<font color='#000000'>I'm putting together a new system for a condo that I am moving into.  There are 5 zones that I am trying to put music into.  One of the zones is going to be a home theater, and the remaining 4 will have a pair of speakers in them for ambient music.  Total system price is restricted to $12-15K.  Currently, I am counting on $5-6K for a plasma or lcd tv, and about $2k for install of components, although that may be less if I decide to do some of the build up myself.

My primary question is how to power all of this.  I'm thinking about the Yamaha RX-V2400 or the Denon AVR-3805 to power the home theater, and one of the other zones, and then finding a seperate 3 zone stereo receiver.  Does anyone have a better, more efficient way to power all of this??

Additionally, I'm looking for speaker suggestions for each of these systems.  I have a pair of Energy C-1's in an existing system that I have been extremely happy with and am considering moving up to the Veritas line, or perhaps a paradigm system.  Total budget for these speakers (in 5.1 configuration) is about $2K.  And I plan on spending about $500 for each of the other pairs, and am looking for in wall speaker suggestions.

Any help that anyone would be willing to provide would be extremely appreciated.  And if anyone knows of shops in the Boston area that they know and trust, that would be appreciated as well.

Thanks so much,
Matt</font>

 

[Guest]

<font color='#000000'>I have a few thoughts. I assume that if you are in a condo that it probably is not your ultimate home. Therefore a fancy install may not be necessary or worth the money. A flat TV is easy to hang on the wall. I got a 50 inch plasma at DTVCity.com for $6299 plus shipping. They seem like a good dealer and hung it with my brother easily. I did not bury the wires but put a center channel below it and my gear below that which hid things enough to please my wife. palsmatvbuyingguide.com is a good resource.

For speakers you will need 4 pairs for the other rooms plus the theater. I figure 6K for the TV, $500 for a Denon 2200 a good choice universal DVD player or something similar and about $500 for wire/ interconnects. I recommend parts express.com as a good source for all the wires, spade lugs etc. That leaves 5-8K for receivers and speakers. Many receivers have two zone output. I am less familiar with your choices though both are probably quite good. I have a distaste for Denon manuals(my brother has a receiver and I have had two DVD players) although they work fine. Will all the other rooms play the same source? If so consider a 6 channel amp and a preamp. Sherbourn makes an amp that might work well. Theta Dreadnaughts are supposed to be wonderful amps and are modular although pricey. I believe you could get ten channels of about 100 watts each for about $5,000 if budget allows. That and the receiver may be enough.

Speakers are hard to recommend as taste varies. Your room size also plays a role as well as space to physically place the speakers. If you are a little handy would you consider building speakers? My brother built a pair for less than $300 that are small and sound great from an internet source. I will happily provide the website if you are interested. You could build them for less if you can make your own enclosure, he bought his.

I lived in Boston in the eighties and there was a good albeit pretentious high end store near MIT called Q audio I think which may still be there. I would not pay for a dealer install. If you really want hidden wire there is flat wire you can paint over at parts express whichis easy to run. Or, hire an electrician to run the wire and mount the speakers yourself.
Good luck!</font>

 

[cbell2112]

Man, you are right there with me. Almost exact type of set up for my new house.

Right now I am leaning toward:

Klipsch RF-7 floorstanding
Matching center/surround/sub
Denon 3805 or Yamaha 2400 though I did just read about a new Onkyo receiver that has ethernet which would let you access all that great music off your hard drive. It retails for about $1500. Don't have the model here at the moment

Samsung 50" DLP

Denon DVD 2900

And possibly a media server that would allow me to send music to all my other speakers around the house. Problem is that adds at least $3K to the system. It would be better if I could just access my computer via an infrared remote or something.

Any thoughts?

 

[zipper]

Why all the speakers if you're in a condo? Is it 4000 sq.ft.? I understand some people want to listen to tunes while someone else is watching tube but how often does that happen? I also understand that to hear your music throughout that simply turning up the mains is not acceptable in a condo,but,oh well. Klipsch & Paradigm make some in-wall speakers that would probably be worth checking out. The Klipsch are interesting in that they have a swivel tweeter which might help if being used as part of a surround system. I imagine there are others that do the same but I happen to see those one day.
Sounds like fun.