New Home Theater - AVR and Speaker Q

edk9

I'm building a new home theater (16ft x 12ft), and will be purchasing all new componants. I'm looking to spend about $2000 on Receiver and Speakers, I was looking at the Sony STR-7100 for a receiver and the Polk RM30/302/101 setup for the speakers. But, have to admit i'm clueless other then what i've researched on the web. Anybody have suggestions on how to maximize what i get for my budget?

McLoki

Personally I would stay away from any AVR made by Sony that is not part of their ES line. (and even some of those I would worry about)

If you want to maximise your budget - purchase used. (seriously)

Here in the forum sale area, audiogon or videogon are usually pretty good places to find a good deal. You can get good deals on e-bay, but the deals are getting harder to find there and the bad to good deal ratio seems to be higher than the other sites mentioned....

Michael

BTW - is there a reason you are looking at the RM series? WAF or size limitations we should keep in mind while suggesting other options? What is your room size? Will it be used only for home theater or will it be the main music system in your house as well? What equipment do you have now (if any) that could be used while waiting for funds to come together. (I am thinking used as rear speakers, DVD Players, Pre-amp, etc.)

edk9

I don't have any componants yet, the room is LWH is 16ftX14X8 and it will soley be a home theater. What led me to the Sony da7100es and hte polk rm series speakers was the Home Theater Buyers Guide Editors choice awards. I'm open to any suggestion though, the refurb seems like a good idea as it comes with a limited warranty as well.

polktiger

I picked up a Yamaha AVR - RX-V2500 in Tweeter for $499. Seems to be a solid unit. No HDMI, but I don't know if that is important to you. With $2000 you will have a lot of options. Are floorstanding an option? I don't own one (mostly due to budget) but many people speak very highly of SVS subs - I think for about $500, you can get a very solid one from them.

McLoki

If tower speakers are ok, you have no real speaker design limitation (they have to be little because they are sitting in the middle of your living room) and you are ok with purchasing used - you can get a system that is significantly better than the one you were thinking of.

Sub - SVS or HSU (for your price point, the new HSU may work a little better actually)

Electronics - Onkyo, Yamaha, Harmon Kardon, NAD and Denon are all good products with good and bad points. Don't get to stuck on watts, look at usability and if it has what features you need. NAD would be my recommendation for usability and good components inside. Harmon Kardon has a good amp section, but their setup seems more complicated than it needs to be for me. The rest are pretty even. You wont go wrong with any of them.

I am thinking roughly 500 for the sub, 500 for the AVR, 100 for cables, 100 for a dvd player, leaving 800 for the speakers.

I will let others weigh in with the speaker suggestions before I do.

Michael

polktiger

Also - big overlooked item, does the $2000 include cables and wiring? Your speaker wire alone will likely run $200. And interconnects can get very pricey, very fast.

tommyboy

edk9 wrote:

I don't have any componants yet, the room is LWH is 16ftX14X8 and it will soley be a home theater. What led me to the Sony da7100es and hte polk rm series speakers was the Home Theater Buyers Guide Editors choice awards. I'm open to any suggestion though, the refurb seems like a good idea as it comes with a limited warranty as well.

You should go take a listen yourself, don't just go by what magazines say.

Go to a store and take a listen to some of the decent tower speakers and ,if you can, compare them to the best RM satelites... You will be surpised with the difference.

The only reason you should think of the RM series is if you have a wife who doesn't want speakers to be seen easily:)

McLoki

polktiger wrote:

Also - big overlooked item, does the $2000 include cables and wiring? Your speaker wire alone will likely run $200. And interconnects can get very pricey, very fast.

For this level of system ($2000 including electronics) I would not spend much over $100 for cables. (optical or coax for DVD to AVR, Component (or HDMI) for DVD to TV (or projector), basic 12ga. for all speakers to AVR.

While I do think cables can and do make a difference - I see them as more of a tweaking/synergy tool than a "gotta have this one" kind of thing. Get the system set up and running, then decide what cables will work well with it.

To start out - get decent cables to hook everything together. Once up and running, start experimenting with what works well and what doesn't with your system.

If he is going to a projector and needs a 32' HDMI cable then yes - cables may HAVE to be a decent part of his budget.

Michael

tommyboy

polktiger wrote:

Also - big overlooked item, does the $2000 include cables and wiring? Your speaker wire alone will likely run $200. And interconnects can get very pricey, very fast.

As long as you don't buy your cables at a local electronic store(CC/BB/RS, etc), you won't get near $200 for an entry level system like this

edk9

thanks for steering me away from the RM's, i do plan on going to tweeter this weekend to listen. I had wiring costs in a separate budget, the one for building the home theater in the basement.

Which is more important to spend the money on, a good high end receiver, or the speakers? Or having one without the other doesn't make sense.

tommyboy

edk9 wrote:

Which is more important to spend the money on, a good high end receiver, or the speakers? Or having one without the other doesn't make sense.

I'd say for now, the speakers will be more important. Just make sure you get a reciever with pre-outs. Cause when you do save up some more cash, you can put that towards an amp and your system would be set.

polktiger

I would agree with that, but having spent a lot of time recently looking for speaker wire, it is hard to find 12 ga that is not going to run at least $.35 per foot. To run inwall or in crawl space, the surrounds will probably be 50ft runs each. Both sets for 7.1 thats 200ft plus probably another 50 for fronts and center. Thats 250 with little margin or error, so there will be 300ft of wire. Wall plates will be $50 to $75. Throw in tax and or shipping and you are right at $200.

McLoki

Fair enough polktiger. You may be correct with the lengths needed for surrounds that it could get expensive quick.

One thing I would consider is wiring for rear surrounds (7.1) but only purchasing 5.1 initially. (you can add the additional rear 2 speakers when you feel it is needed.) Much easier to wire for them now though.

Speakers or electronics - I would say they are both important, but for your budget I would say about 1/4-1/3 on electronics (AVR and DVD player), 1/4 on the sub and the rest on the other speakers. all of those numbers would be rough with a +- of 10% at least. (also all percentages are in my opinon and valid for your $2000 budget - not a golden rule or anything)

Michael

Edit - +1 on the reciver (AVR) with pre-outs.

jkn

You've got about the same budget as I do - although my room is a longer and narrower shoebox. My wife has suggested that if we remove an ottoman from the room - we'd be able to get towers instead of bookshelf speakers - so as far as WAF (thanks for explaining that, Michael...) goes - I'm feeling extremely lucky at the moment. :-)

For an AVR - we picked up a Yamaha HTR-5960 ( http://www.yamaha.com/yec/products/productdetail.html?CNTID=200502&CTID=5000400 ). I like the pre-outs for future growth, and the lack of hdmi doesn't bother me as our need for that is likely many years out yet...

We're borrowing a set of Polk speakers (thanks! Michael) until we decide what route to go.

I'm very interested in everyone's advice in this thread as well. Thanks to everyone for sharing...

John

McLoki

This would make for some impressive speakers (especially for the price)

You would be able to run 7.1 (have to purchase 2 additional speakers as surround back) and have a little extra for a bigger sub and AVR to boot....

Michael

PolkWannabie

Having a pair of LS90's, I absolutely agree ... You'd be hard pressed to find anything new in the current Polk line anywhere near that price that would be even close to as good as the front sound stage that these would present with the CS350. I'm surprised no one has scooped them up already. Only 1.5 hours away from me ... hmmm ...

cfrizz

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/speaker/index.htm

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/audio/index.htm

Good wires & IC's at reasonable prices.

Sansui

cfrizz wrote:

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/speaker/index.htm

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/audio/index.htm

Good wires & IC's at reasonable prices.

How does bluejeanscable.com compare to monoprice.com regarding cable quality and prices?

McLoki

Sansui wrote:

How does bluejeanscable.com compare to monoprice.com regarding cable quality and prices?

Interesting site, I had not seen it before. The prices seem to be much lower than blue jeans cable. You have no idea about cable type used and what the differences are between thier more expensive and less expensive wires though.

I still plan to use blue jeans cable (at a minimum) just because I know what I am getting, but if i need a cable and just need it to work (i.e. cheap is the main requirement) I may give monoprice a call. I am not saying they are bad cables, just that they give you very little information about the cables to form an opinion other than they are inexpensive.

Michael

DollarDave

Monoprice.com - I bought a couple of 50ft RCA cables for my SUB from them. Fast shipping, and they seem like good quality cables. Great prices.

Sansui

McLoki wrote:

Interesting site, I had not seen it before. The prices seem to be much lower than blue jeans cable. You have no idea about cable type used and what the differences are between thier more expensive and less expensive wires though.

I still plan to use blue jeans cable (at a minimum) just because I know what I am getting, but if i need a cable and just need it to work (i.e. cheap is the main requirement) I may give monoprice a call. I am not saying they are bad cables, just that they give you very little information about the cables to form an opinion other than they are inexpensive.

I just checked bluejeanscables.com and I see what you mean (cable used). I've only bought TOSlink cables from monoprice.com. If anyone wants to use TOSlink cables they really need to check out monoprice.com. I got two 12' cables from them for about $15.00 (shipping included). BlueJeans charges $19.75 for ONE for that type of cable. I don't know if that price included shipping or not. The two I got work great with no problems.

McLoki

Sansui wrote:

I've only bought TOSlink cables from monoprice.com. If anyone wants to use TOSlink cables they really need to check out monoprice.com.

That is exactly what I was thinking of ordering from them for. (HD from my tv back to the pre/pro) would need about 18feet, but I can get a 25' cable cheaper from monoprice than I could a 18' from bluejeans.

I will let you know what i think of them...

Michael