Yamaha 5790 Questions

[mspivy]

First time poster to this forum....newbie to Home Theater setup....any advice is very appreciated!!

I'm looking at setting up a HT in a house currently under construction. I've been looking pretty seriously at the Yamaha 5790 receiver as it seems to have the one main item I'm interested in and is in a price range that is compatible with my budget (under $500 for receiver). I need a receiver that will support dual room / dual source. (I want to be able to have the kids watching a movie in the family room while I'm on the back porch listening to a CD). I've seen one review that said I needed a separate amp to make this work (to have dual sources going at the same time)...is that accurate or can the receiver handle it on it own? Is this receiver highly regarded? Is there something else I should be looking at?

Also, any insight as to the speakers / sub I should match with the receiver would be great....I'm likely just going to setup a 5.1 system with the 2 rear speakers being "in ceiling" and the front speakers being on the shelf. I don't have any preference to brand, but my budget is what I think would be considered modest....I don't need (or want) a system that's really flashy...just one that sounds nice and supports dual room use.

Thanks!
Mike

 

[BMXTRIX]

Page 69 of the manual right here:
http://www.yamaha.com/yec/customer/manuals/PDFs/HTR_5790.PDF

You are not required to have a amplifier if you are only using a 5.1 setup as the presence speakers won't be used. An outboard amp is better, but not required and if you need more power, then add it later on.

 

[rschleicher]

Since your house is under construction, you should take advantage of the opportunity to run a lot of wires around, including speaker wire, to support all of the likely locations for your surround system (including for speakers you don't have yet), second and third zones, etc. Most of the runs (maybe all, depending on what you do or don't believe about speaker wire quality) can be done using inexpensive cable, especially since the biggest benefit of in-wall wiring is for the side and back surrounds. You can use banana plug sockets to set in the wall, near the intended speaker locations.

In addition to the normal coax and telephone wires, its also a good idea to run ethernet cables around as well. Even better is if you can find a good place for a "wiring closet", where all of the various cable runs terminate, and where connections can be made. (I don't think you want to run all of the speaker wires to a wiring closet location, necessarily, if this adds a lot of length to the wire runs. For speaker wires, direct minimum-length runs are probably best, although it implies more advance planning on where things will be located.)