I am seeking suggestions to help my dad set up an audio system in his house. This is not going to be a typical home theater-type setup--my dad has no interest in getting a display big enough to make it worthwhile, and even if they did my stepmom would want to go to the theater anyhow. The motivation is to "bring music back into [their] lives" and to make the transition to digital music.
The problem is getting the music to all the rooms where they want it. They live in a townhome style house with the audio equipment in the downstairs kitchen/family room area. They also want to have music in the upstairs office and bedroom, and although he didn't mention it specifically, I imagine they also want speakers in the living room/dining room space where they do a lot of entertaining (also downstairs, but at the opposite end of the floor plan from the AV nook). My first thought would be to get a standard 7.1 HT receiver and just put the mains in the family room, the surrounds in the living room, and the rear surrounds upstairs (possibly with an external amp to drive the second room, although this is pushing the limits of my knowledge). Are there any other options that make more sense? Given the application, it doesn't make much sense to get a product where most of the features (multi-channel decoding, HDMI, video processing, etc.) go to waste. That money would be better spent on the amplifiers. When I was putting together my HT setup 4-5 years ago, there were still some true "stereo" receivers but would these have the multi-room capabilities they need? They have talked about getting some kind of wireless solution to get the music upstairs, but I have a rather large distrust of anything wireless when wires can be run for an afternoon of sweat and blood. Thoughts?
My dad put together a pretty decent system for our family in the 80's. Back then he did all the right things for someone that doesn't know much about audio equipment--go to a dedicated audio store, and make your decision based on listening tests and the advice of someone that has been in the business his entire life. Now those stores are all but gone and my dad is understandably at a loss. He does know enough not to go with just the big names (Sony, Bose) or the advice of the pimple faced kid at BB.
As for budget, this will be a gradual project. The first step is to get a decent receiver/amplifier and make do with the current aging speakers. Later, speakers will be added and the system will be expanded into the rooms mentioned above. I haven't talked to him specifically about dollar figures, but I suspect that $400-500 would be a good place to start talking for the receiver and I'll entertain any suggestions up to about $1K.
Thanks,
J
