Seeking Some Beginner Guidance

[nomen]

I am looking at building my first real living room system and am looking for some guidance.

Currently our condo has Sonos in every room. In our living room, we have a Sonos Connect with the TV hooked into an old Logitech 5.1 surround setup I bought years ago for my computer. This is the setup I want to change.

I will need to get a receiver, loudspeakers, and maybe a sub.

The inputs in the system will be a DVD player, Chromecast, Sonos Connect, and possibly my vinyl turntable (Pro-Ject Essential II) (currently it feeds into a play 5 in another room but I am considering wiring it directly into the receiver although space wise, I would rather keep it with the Play 5 unless there will be a big benefit going directly into the receiver).

Audio quality of music is more important to us than movies although decent movie quality would be great. Genre wise we listen to primarily Jazz, Hip Hop, Classical, and spoken word (stand-up/podcasts).

To start, I think it will make sense to start with a 2.0 or 2.1 setup. Some have advised getting a 5.1 capable receiver so if I want surround again in the future, I can more easily upgrade. Some have advised to get a dedicated 2.1 receiver as for the same money, the quality will be better. I like the idea of having surround in the future, but that would probably be 5 years down the line, and by that time, maybe it would be time to upgrade the receiver anyways?

It is worth noting that even though we listen to hip hop/jazz and bass is important, we live in a Condo with people below us, so we can't play crazy bass anyways. Would it make sense to get towers, or just bookshelf speakers, or bookshelf speakers with a sub for this scenario?

Budget wise, I am thinking around 1500 CDN for the speakers and receiver. I saw all the hype around the Elac Unifi UF5 and UB5 and that is definitely on my list of speakers to listen to when they come out.

Last but not least: for the turntable, currently the phono stage is a Pyle PP999. With speakers at this price range, do you think it would be worth upgrading? I have heard mixed things.

Any suggestions on where to start? Thanks!

 

[nomen]

After doing a bit more reading, it sounds like the Marantz NR1504 might be a good pick for the receiver. Thoughts?

 

[Seth=L]

After doing a bit more reading, it sounds like the Marantz NR1504 might be a good pick for the receiver. Thoughts?

That's what I have. It works well in my apartment with some moderately inefficient speakers (88dB 1w/m) and worked well with my Boston VR-M50s (90dB 1w/m). The sound quality is quite good thanks to the bass management. A nice improvement over the standard 2 channel integrated amplifier I was using prior.

 

[Latent]

Dedicated 2.1 Receivers are in general more expensive or around the same price as a full 5-7 channel alternative. There is less 'junk' in a 2.1 Receiver but because they are not as popular or as mass produced you will not make any savings going this route. If there is a chance you might move up to a 5.1 setup later on then I would recommend starting with something that can as it will work just fine 2.1 initially. The latest generation AVR's have an crazy amount of features which can turn some people off. The advantage of buying a new latest version one is that it has the latest HDMI video switching with 4k HDCP2.2 tech etc. Also has many new network connected music streaming features etc. If you already have your sonos doing all your network streaming and are not interested in getting into 4k blu-ray in the future then there is no advantage for you getting the latest model and you may want to look at 1-2 year old models that are cheaper but just as good in audio performance. Other option is to pick up a second hand receiver that has the required level of HDMI switching tech level you need and you will often be able to get the higher end model with better Amplification specifications for much less money. Also the second hand mid range units are more likely to have a phono input option which is missing on all entry level AVR's (but you may not need this as your pre-amp may work fine with non phono inputs).

As to the NR1504 it is probably fine with it's one big advantage being it's small size if you are limited in finding room to place a normally quite large AVR unit. The cost of this small size is it's more limited powersupply and AMP sections meaning it may not be the best option to power some speakers or to use it in a larger room where higher SPL's are required.