In Wall speakers for Dedicated HT

kddotw

I'm trying to set up a home theater for the first time and need some advice on what to get for my AV receiver.

My room is 13x24 and have these speakers for 5.1

front--Polk tc65i
center--Polk tc265i
surrounds--Polk rc60i
sub

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Polk psw505

I will also use a zone 2 for music at bar area in another room.

Anyone have a similar speaker setup who can offer some advice.


Most of these speakers are rated at 100w. Do I need a receiver with this same rating for the room size, or can I get by with say a Denon or Yamaha @ less than 100w per channel?

Thanks

Dennis Gardner

How are you arranging the room? Filling the entire room with reference theater levels with speakers of this size will require some solid power.

kddotw

Will be using front projector on a 110' screen and the seating will be 15'-18' back from screen/front speakers. The A/V equiptment will be at the back of the room, built in.

Hope this is what you are refering to.

Dennis Gardner

I would consider 7 channel sound since the fronts and rears could be separated by 20 feet or so. This isn't for the processing as much as due to space. Buy the largest speakers your budget will allow if you haven't done so already and if you buy a receiver, get one that allows for expansion with preamplifier outputs. This will allow you to get external amps in the future if you need them.

I found that a screen of that size wasn't complete until I had a sound setup that would match its size and that meant more power, bigger speakers and lots of subwoofer capability.

kddotw

Thanks Dennis

Would you be willing to recommend some receivers that would allow 7.1 for the theater and has pre amp outputs? The theater room is prewired for 7.1, but my thought was that if 5.1 was adequate for the theater room then I would use the rears for zone 2. This second zone is not a "have to" thing and I'm willing to scrap it in favor of a better sound package in the theater room.

Thank you for any input you may have.

Dennis Gardner

Do a search on the internet or your local stores for Pioneer VSX-1016, Denon AVR 2807 or 3806, Harmon Kardon AVR635 or 735, or Yamaha RXV2400 or 2500.

These aren't the only brands or models that will fit your needs, and they aren't the top models by a long shot, but they possess the processing power and enough amplifier power to give you a starting place.

Refefer

As for power, make sure you get an amplifier which provides watts in excess of of 100 watts. Hometheater and 2 channel audio are different in many ways, but everyone agrees that dynamic headroom makes everything much, much better, no matter that format.

After all, cannons are *supposed* to EXPLODE out and be fast... just like snare drums should be sharp, and if you're not providing the power needed for that you're going to find your audio setup handicapped.

At some point you might want to upgrade your polk sub to something more hefty. For a relatively small sum of money you can grab yourself a nice SVS or HSU sub that will run circles around the 505.

Never the less, focus on preamp and amplifier first and foremost and good luck with your setup. We all want pictures!

kddotw

Thanks for the feedback. I'll check out these receivers and subs you mentioned. This will help get me started!