Newbie-Wanted Ideas for a 5.1 home theatre

[TheDon]

I am working with about a $1500 budget. I have a family room about 17x22 & I wanted ideas about equipment, amps, speakers, etc. I am a true newbie & first time surround sound purchaser. I wanted to know what type of receiver to purchase. I have a hi-defintion tv receiver that I would want to add to it along with a dvd player, disc changer, & vcr(for the old stuff). My home has been prewired with 14 gauge wire for 2 in-wall front & 2 in-wall rear speakers. Center channel speaker can be placed on top of the big screen. I noticed where most of the klipsch speakers used12 gauge cable & since my home is already wired with 14 gauge wire, I wanted to if the Klipsch in wall speakers could be adjusted to work with that cable guage.

I would like a reciever with at least 90-100 watts per channel & possibly the ablility for the ipod to be attached(but not a necessity), but I really don't know what to buy & really reaching for some ideas.

Please don't hold back on any suggestions.

[Fish]

Welcome,the 14 guage speaker wire will be fine for inwalls or most

speaker applications(unless they are very long runs).If you look around you'll notice many avr's

boasting 100+watts,this is not the criteria to base a decision on.Some

of the things to look for would be high current design,power rated from

20hz to 20khz ALL channels driven.Harman Kardon is a good example of an

avr w/low watt ratings but lots of real quality power.Rotel is another

with true watt ratings,Denon makes great units but avoid cheaper

models,Pioneer makes good units but avoid cheaper models.Most of the

better names out there make cheap junk rated at 100+watts,more like 30

all ch driven,these same co's make better quality(increased $) rated at

100+watts and can deliver closer to that.Bottom line is you get what

you pay for,find the features/price ratio you're lookin' for then do

research on those units.All you have to do then is add the best model Klipsch you can afford and hold on.

[tommiwan]

Welcome to the boards. I'm not the most experienced here but I can tell ya what I know. I hope this isn't too basic for you, but the two lines that Klipsch sells that I am most familiar with (and are probably most popular for Home Theater) are the Synergy line and the Reference series. The Synergy series is available at best buy. The reference series is not, you would have to look at a more high end audio store.

If you are wanting an entire system, reciever, fronts, rears, sub for that amount of money you would have to go with the synergy series as the reference series is too expensive. Otherwise most of us piece their home theater together over time instead of all at once. You generally can afford higher end products that way. Let us know what you are thinking, and get out to best buy and hopefully another local store to compare these two series of speakers.

[TheDon]

Thanks for the ideas Fish. I will try to look at some of the better receivers mentioned. Is there a particular make & model that you would recommend based on your experience? I'm open to any suggestions, because I have seen some receivers on ebay new, but I did not know which ones to purchase. You have given me some technical info to look at too, but I like word of mouth for a good reference.

As far as the speaker cable, there are no long speaker runs. Probably 15-20 feet at most, so I don't think I will run into any signal loss.

[TheDon]

As far as waiting until I can afford more of the high end stuff, I will definitely do that. This unit is for our family room for a house I am moving into in about a week. I want something decent to listen to up there, but I will definitely want the some better equipment for the basement once I finish it. So, I would entertain the synergy or the reference speakers. I noticed the reference speakers had great range, but do you have any experience with the synergy & do they put out a decent sound? I know the output is based off of the receiver too, but I wanted someone who has some Synergy or Reference in wall speakers in their house that they would actually recommend. I wanted to keep the family room low-end, but I don't want to waste money by trying to be too cheap. If it cost a few hundred more to get the reference speakers & be happy, I would, but otherwise if synergy will create a decent sound to begin my home theatre experience, I would do those too.

My family room is about 18 x 23 with a 9 foot ceiling. Open to any suggestions.

[love_hertz]

Klipsch speakers are very efficient, and don't need a crap-load of power to push. I would suggest the Klipsch Synergy series for budget systems, or try out ebay for quality epuipment. Also try out the end of the year gear for recievers out with the old in with new models, you can pick up last model for cheaper prices. Good Luck.

[TheDon]

Thanks for the feedback. I wiill definitely check out the speakers & info you suggested.

[DrWho]

Don't go with "inwall" or "incieling" speakers...from either line. You seriously will notice huge improvements in sound by going with a pair of floorstanders or even bookshelf speakers. And for your budget the synergy line will be more than adequate.

You could get a pair of F3's for around $800 which leaves you plenty of money to pick a nice reciever. Then later on down the road you can add the center, surrounds, and sub as funds allow. Btw, don't you already have at leat a pair of speakers that are going to be replaced? You could totally use them as surround speakers until you upgrade.

[Chris Robinson]

I agree with the good Doctor Who ... Avoid in-wall/in-ceiling installations unless the WAF (wife acceptance factor) absolutely requires it. You'll be giving up a lot of sonic benefits, although some will go that route due to small children using the room and possible injury to them from falling speakers.

If you're comfortable with Ebay, you can find some amazing deals on used Heritage line speakers. These include Klipschorns, Belles, LaScalas, Cornwalls and Heresies. If you're patient (a few weeks), you can find a pair of Heresies for $300 - $400, Cornwalls for $800. Heck, I found a pair of mighty Klipschorns for $1000. I liked the Klipschorns too for the very reason stated above; I had small children and NOBODY can knock over a Klipschorn. At that price, though, I needed to spend about $25 on refinishing materials and about 10 hours of elbow-grease to get them up to the "beautiful" state.

On any of the Heritage line, always WAIT until they are within driving distance. These are beautiful but big speakers and will almost always be destroyed in shipping, and at great expense. The Heritage line is considered by many here to make the best foundation for a home theater. If not for the current system in your family room, please consider Heritage for your basement setup. You couldn't possibly be disappointed []

Chris

[TheDon]

I wanted to thank all of the responses from Dr. Who & Chris Robinson. Chris, definitely read between the lines for the Family Room set up. The WAF is the reason for the in wall speakers. The wife did not want the family room full of speakers, so I am "forced" to comprimise until I get to the basement. Then her input will be limited. I will definitely look for the klipschorns for my basement. Based on all responses, I assume there will be some difference with the in wall speakers, but not enough to justify spending too much money on them for this first project.

[HTADDICT]

How about this, you know you are going to replace whatever receiver and speakers you buy now, with a dream system later so how about purchasing them items in that bang for buck category.

You should check out the AVS forum, when it comes to finding that point of diminishing return on an item it is definently hashed out on that forum. You could definently find that best bang for the buck item there!

Picking out a budget system is fun, it's when you try to get that be-all-end-all system is when it gets serious. If I were picking out a budget system I knew I was going to replace it would go something like this: 1.Panasonic xr55 receiver ($225.00?) or yamaha htr5860 receiver ($325.00?)

2.Panasonic s77 dvd player($200.00?)

3.Piece together the best KLIPSCH system I could, focusing on the best center channel I could get and trying to match the rest of the speakers around it with a good set of towers also. (you might be mismatched for a little while, but these are just temporary right?)

4. Last but not least, here is where I would try to allocate most of my funds, even if I had to wait to fully complete my klipsch speaker system by buying used or ebay stuff..........the subwoofer, the reason I would buy the biggest baddest sub I could afford, is it is the anchor in a cheaper sytem, with your budget you are probably not going to be getting anything that can really nock your socks off in the bass department. A sub is not something that outdates easily like a receiver, it doesn't have to be brand matched like your mains, center and surrounds, so if you upgrade you can still keep your sub. And it's something you can enjoy now, and integrate into a future system and have less to buy later. Not to mention it will make everyone OOOH and AHHHH, My suggestion would be to get the best svs you can afford, they are the bang for the buck subs, and is what I plan on purchasing also.

I do not own any of these (except for a yamaha rxv-757 receiver), so make your own choices, but I don't think you could go wrong with a 1.great sub, 2.Bang for the buck reciever, 3.workhorse panasonic s77 dvd player 4.temporary klipsch system until you can build that dream one. Good luck!