Novice alert! Looking for some advice and views on a surround system I'm planning to install in my basement, as I was proposed two different setups by two different AV installers, and I have no clue what's the better option. Brief background: my basement is in an "L" shape and open concept otherwise. The TV/sound system is going in the bottom left corner of the "L", meaning the TV is up against the wall, but there is no back/side walls for me to put speakers on. As such, I'm looking at a passive soundbar for LCR (the wife doesn't want towers) and in-ceiling speakers for the back surround.
Option 1:
- Onkyo Digital Receiver TX-NR787
- Episode 550 Series Thin Design 3-Channel Passive Soundbar
- 2 NHT iC2-ARC in-ceiling speakers
- Episode Element 10" Ported Powered 200W Subwoofer
Option 2:
- Marantz SS Receiver NR1510
- GoldenEar 3-Channel Soundbar
- 2 GoldenEar in-ceiling speakers (INVISA-525)
- GoldenEar 8" 1000W Subwoofer (ForceField 3)
Option 1 was quoted at $800 more than Option 2 (total cost including all wires, bluray, installation, etc which was roughly the same otherwise).
Thoughts? Is one speaker setup better than the other? If option 1 is better (which I don't even know is true or not), is it worth the extra cost? I've tried to do some research on the two speaker brands, but its been difficult to find many reviews on the Episode brand, though it seems to be a reasonably common brand for AV installers from what I can tell (based on some quick googling online at least!).
Thanks ahead of time for your help and input!