At a crossroads, where to go with my home theater

stangman67

Hi there,

Longtime member and polk owner. My current state of affairs goes like this: Onkyo PR-SC5509 procesor with an Emotiva Xpa5 amp, oppo bdp103, Lsi15s up front with a non matching polk center, fxia4s as rears, and a psw505.

I bought the onkyo procesor and emotiva amp as an upgrade from a denon 3311ci 4 years back, and was never happy with the sound quality in stereo mode, tried everything with audessy and never got it to my liking, everything is just too bright and fatiguing.

So fast forward to today, military is moving me to Annapolis where i will be renting a larger house. I want to buy some lsim705s and matching center, and am trying to figure out whether i should purchase another processor to help my main stereos music performance (thinking cx-a5000 but from what im seeing it is considered bright as well), or once the lsims are in place, create a seperate 2 channel stereo in my man cave utilizing the lsi15s, with something like a nad 356bee to power.

The philosophical question: is it smarter to chase stereo performance utilizing a home theater centric processor, or spend about a grand for an integrated amp to use with a two channel lsi15 setup? Music is very important to me and i do not want to spend 3 grand give or take on another ht processor if its not going to reach my goals. I listen to all types of music, really all over the place so i need something versatile.

Nightfall

A second 2 channel rig if you're going to have room for it. I would if I could.

F1nut

The bright sound in 2 channel is a result, first and foremost of your amp and source.

stangman67

Thank for for the answers. I'd like the keep the emotiva amp as it does great for home theater. Maybe going separate 2 channel rig is the best option. By source, do you mean the oppo or actual source material? I only play cd's from the oppo. If the oppo is helping the issue, what should i be looking for in a replacement (or seperate source for the listening room)

Nightfall

Any interest in vinyl?

Nightfall

Sticking with CD's the Marantz SA8005 will be a popular suggestion.

F1nut

I mean the player.

A separate 2 channel rig would be an excellent idea as well as Nightfall's suggestion for a player.

stangman67

Okay i understand. Any alternatives to that marantz, looks very nice but unsure of if i want to spend that much on a cd player. If thats what it needs to be to sound good, than i will give it serious thought

Nightfall

You could look for used older models on eBay or Audiogon. 8004, 8003, etc.

F1nut

Consider this game plan. Keep what you currently have for HT. Get a PM8005/SA8005 along with a pair of LSiM705's for 2 channel. I think you'll find your feet tapping with that rig.

stangman67

While i love that game plan, one of the driving forces for me going to the lsim in my hometheater application is added aesthetics. The lsi15's look nice but i want more of a furniture look in my home theater. I certainly have not ruled it out yet though. And id have to eventually purchase a lsic to match the fronts if i keep them in my ht, and those are hard to come by nowadays.

F1nut

Ok, but the 705's will walk all over the 15's for music.

stangman67

I convinced myself id be willing to spend the money for more than just the selfish want of having better equipment, aesthetics etc. I will hace to convince myself 5 grand is worth a listening only setup. That may be hard but its definitely an option at this point.

Nightfall

It is possible to incorporate a 2 channel setup within a HT setup. Cary makes HT bypass equipment IIRC as does Parasound. There are more, I just don't know off the top of my head. You could get a more musical amp and either sell the Emo to recoup costs or relegate it to rear channel duty.

gudnoyez

+1 on the separate 2 channel rig, however 5000 can add up pretty fast, not even including the 705s, but you would be better off doing that than trying to get that perfect HT/music rig going.

afterburnt

FWIW I started out with the idea of putting together an HT rig. I wasnt long before I realized I was more into music mostly because the process gave me better sound for music and was enjoying it much more. Now I am sort of trying to make the HT setup better for music and HT is just an aside. I listen to music all day but I certainly cant and dont watch movies all of the time. I just got a Parasound P5 to integrate the music better into the HT. I know you are sort of in the same place but I wish I had started out 2 channel and hung the HT aspect on it instead of the other way around. I wound up with a second HT setup from spare gear and I am slowly undoing that one too.

stangman67

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Is there an affordable 5 channel amp that will fare bettrr with music than the emotiva? I really am unsure i i can justify 5k plus for just a listening room, which is why intially i was just going to use the lsi15s with a nad 356bee and a decent source, which would end up much less expensive. I don know the cost of fixing my ht situation to do both decntly but if its amp plus a different source, maybe that wouldnt be too bad.

mikeyb128

stangman67 wrote: »

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Is there an affordable 5 channel amp that will fare bettrr with music than the emotiva? I really am unsure i i can justify 5k plus for just a listening room, which is why intially i was just going to use the lsi15s with a nad 356bee and a decent source, which would end up much less expensive. I don know the cost of fixing my ht situation to do both decntly but if its amp plus a different source, maybe that wouldnt be too bad.

I would Look for a used sunfire or a B&K. My theater is dual purpose, my sunfire and marantz go together like peanut butter and jam. The marantz does a great job in 2 channel direct pure mode, with both svs ultras in the mix it sounds not too bad

I used a pair of lsi15 in my living room with a little dot tube amp with some vintage mullards in there for about a year. It sounded very good for a system that probably cost 1500$.

Nightfall

There's a B&K 200.5 for sale in Colorado Springs. Nice amp. Maybe ask if they'd be interested in shipping?

http://cosprings.craigslist.org/ele/5485008475.html

stangman67

Looks like a great deal, not looking to buy right this second though, would like to execute the move first. Im dead afraid of throwing a bunch of money at this and not being happy. Up to now i thought it was the processor. Maybe a simple 2 channel ayatem will be better. Too many options right now

F1nut

Ya gotta pay to play.

It's rare that someone puts a 2 channel rig together and gets it right the first time, too many variables and synergy is key. Putting together an HT rig is a cake walk in comparison. That said, I still think you'd be very happy with my suggestion. However, since you are unsure of things at this time, buy used and if it doesn't float your boat you can sell it for little to no loss.

Nightfall

Do you live anywhere near a brick and mortar hifi shop?

F1nut

He will when he gets to Annapolis.

stangman67

Well im in Singapore right now lol. Thanks guys, ill go forward with the plan to go 2 channel in a separate room. Probably will try to save some money by purchasing refurb 705s off the ebay store. This is a pretty safe bet, correct?

F1nut

It is indeed.

polkfarmboy

Singapore singapore is jumping and alive with hifi stores I was reading after selling to a guy over there. You are far away my friend and those big polks are going to skin you alive on shipping costs.

The best way to get high end 2 channel and home theater is with an Anthem D2v. The prices have fallen through the floor because of the avm 60. You could buy a regular older and even cheaper Anthem d2 ? Those are great HT preamps with a well designed analog stage.

cnh

Strangely, PFB is right. Singapore is crawling with HiFi equipment. You should be able to find a good deal on anything Marantz and more!

stangman67

You are correct, Singapore has plenty of high fi stores, im deployed here so wont be buying anything here.

iskandam

polkfarmboy wrote: »

The best way to get high end 2 channel and home theater is with an Anthem D2v. The prices have fallen through the floor because of the avm 60. You could buy a regular older and even cheaper Anthem d2 ? Those are great HT preamps with a well designed analog stage.

Bingo. The D2V would be a huge leap over the Onkyo pre-pro in every way. I got it for HT only but was shocked by how musical it is. Now I find myself listening to more music on the HT rig.

notified

I'd have to agree to get the best coupling of high end stereo and home theater is to buy the Dv2 or similar,but at apx $10,000 it obviously may not be the most practical solution in terms of economics.My approach to this situation is to run 2 systems sharing the main spks. either thru a spk selector or as in my system toggle them off manually with 2 sets of wire with banana plugs at the spks.With the quality mixing and wide dynamic range of recorded movies a ultra high end stereo amp is unnecessary unless your filling a big space and a decent upper end receiver should deliver respectable quality sounding amplification for A/V needs,Thus Freeing the remaining expenditure for a high quality sounding 2 chn system which should likely surpass most attempts to amalgamate the 2 systems that aren't of a ultra high end quality and price as exampled in the Dv2,This also gives the added benefit of not putting the eggs in one basket since you can use one system if the other should fail ie- you could suffer a reduction in quality snd and use the HT while the 2chn is repaired/replaced, or use the 2chn set up for movies should the HT need attention,

polkfarmboy

Notified I am selling my D2V for $2500 so its easily affordable as many others are selling for aroumd $2800 these days because of 4k and dolby atmos. With the Anthem you can run dual room corrections, one for just stereo and the other for 7 channel.