~$25,000 Home Theater Budget

[Howard]

Whatever you do, don't forget the room treatments.

 

[IgorFL]

If your friend is interested in classical music, he should really try out some Magnepans. Many people (including me) feel that planar magnetic speakers are far superior to traditional cone designs for classical and jazz.

http://www.magnepan.com

Many people also prefer electrostatic speakers, such as MartinLogans:

http://martinlogan.com

Here is a description of the design of electrostatic speakers, in case you are interested:

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/speaker11.htm

 

[JackBurton]

Originally posted by: cliftonite
Id go for the 65" 1080P Panasonic Plasma.

I agree. Obviously res is dependent on the viewing distance, but once you go over 50", I'd feel more comfortable with more data on the screen to keep it sharp, so I'd say the Panasoinic 65" 1080p plasma would be perfect. I love the Fujitsu, but hook up the new HD-A2 HD-DVD player with a movie like MI:III and watch the Panasonic shine. Amazing looking plasma. I'd say it's the best plasma out now.

As for the receiver, I'd keep it simple with the Denon AVR-5805CI. Awesome receiver with plenty of features.

Speakers, as others have said B&W or Paradigm.

That should JUST fall under 25K. 😉

 

[Auryg]

Why no projector?

 

[Koing]

I'd go with B&W speakers.

Koing

 

[Snakexor]

imho paradigm tweeters are so harsh. ive listened to b&w, but i work at the mount laurel magnolia SL, and the vienna acoustics are by far the most well rounded speakers ive ever heard. if you have the dts disc put on the jazz clip (not peter gabriel or eagles, i think its the bottom left on the menu) and prepared to be blown away. with just the mozart grands (i think, the 1375ea speakers) they are phenominal. if the sumiko rep has not yet been to your store to calibrate them, let me know and i will come up and do it.

as for a reciever, just go with a high end denon, i think the one that has 11 seperate amps or whatever and put that in pure direct mode or whatever.

 

[Excelsior]

Nvm.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: Troll4Hire
Two Names: McIntosh Tube Amplifiers and B&W speakers (B&W is built from the Ground Up to play classical music, It's their forte')

QFT Mac Tube amps and B&W Nautilus

mt bro in laws dad has a pair of Nautilus, IDK the amp they are run off but OMFG EARGASM

 

[SLCentral]

Originally posted by: Snakexor
imho paradigm tweeters are so harsh. ive listened to b&w, but i work at the mount laurel magnolia SL, and the vienna acoustics are by far the most well rounded speakers ive ever heard. if you have the dts disc put on the jazz clip (not peter gabriel or eagles, i think its the bottom left on the menu) and prepared to be blown away. with just the mozart grands (i think, the 1375ea speakers) they are phenominal. if the sumiko rep has not yet been to your store to calibrate them, let me know and i will come up and do it.

as for a reciever, just go with a high end denon, i think the one that has 11 seperate amps or whatever and put that in pure direct mode or whatever.

Yeah dude, we have the Viennas in MHT @ 578, and they blew me away, which is why I was initially thinking them. I was thinking about going with the Beethoven Grands opposed to the Mozarts, which we actually don't carry in MHT. I don't think a Sukimo rep has been to our store to calibrate, but the DTS disk with the Viennas is nothing short of spectacular.

 

[gamepad]

I'll bring the popcorn.

 

[Snakexor]

Originally posted by: SLCentral

Originally posted by: Snakexor
imho paradigm tweeters are so harsh. ive listened to b&w, but i work at the mount laurel magnolia SL, and the vienna acoustics are by far the most well rounded speakers ive ever heard. if you have the dts disc put on the jazz clip (not peter gabriel or eagles, i think its the bottom left on the menu) and prepared to be blown away. with just the mozart grands (i think, the 1375ea speakers) they are phenominal. if the sumiko rep has not yet been to your store to calibrate them, let me know and i will come up and do it.

as for a reciever, just go with a high end denon, i think the one that has 11 seperate amps or whatever and put that in pure direct mode or whatever.

Yeah dude, we have the Viennas in MHT @ 578, and they blew me away, which is why I was initially thinking them. I was thinking about going with the Beethoven Grands opposed to the Mozarts, which we actually don't carry in MHT. I don't think a Sukimo rep has been to our store to calibrate, but the DTS disk with the Viennas is nothing short of spectacular.

you can tell if someone has been there if you have tape lines on the floor where the speakers should be placed and angled. make sure we can order those because when i get into RSS the mozart grands or whatever ones they are are the highest end we can get AFAIK. if he has 25K, put 7 of them in a room with their 12" sub and your friggin nuts will explode, lol

 

[giantpinkbunnyhead]

Originally posted by: IgorFL
If your friend is interested in classical music, he should really try out some Magnepans. Many people (including me) feel that planar magnetic speakers are far superior to traditional cone designs for classical and jazz.

Oh man... Magnepans ROCK. When I picked up my B&W's from the local store, they had a couple Magnepans there. I thought they were framed art or something. Half inch thick? No way that could be a speaker. But damn... did they ever sound so, so, sweet.

 

[SLCentral]

Originally posted by: Snakexor

Originally posted by: SLCentral

Originally posted by: Snakexor
imho paradigm tweeters are so harsh. ive listened to b&w, but i work at the mount laurel magnolia SL, and the vienna acoustics are by far the most well rounded speakers ive ever heard. if you have the dts disc put on the jazz clip (not peter gabriel or eagles, i think its the bottom left on the menu) and prepared to be blown away. with just the mozart grands (i think, the 1375ea speakers) they are phenominal. if the sumiko rep has not yet been to your store to calibrate them, let me know and i will come up and do it.

as for a reciever, just go with a high end denon, i think the one that has 11 seperate amps or whatever and put that in pure direct mode or whatever.

Yeah dude, we have the Viennas in MHT @ 578, and they blew me away, which is why I was initially thinking them. I was thinking about going with the Beethoven Grands opposed to the Mozarts, which we actually don't carry in MHT. I don't think a Sukimo rep has been to our store to calibrate, but the DTS disk with the Viennas is nothing short of spectacular.

you can tell if someone has been there if you have tape lines on the floor where the speakers should be placed and angled. make sure we can order those because when i get into RSS the mozart grands or whatever ones they are are the highest end we can get AFAIK. if he has 25K, put 7 of them in a room with their 12" sub and your friggin nuts will explode, lol

I know that we don't carry the Beethoven's, but thats fine. I can just order them from Sukimo directly.

As to whoever suggested the Magnepans/Martin Logans, I'd respectably disagree. The Martin Logan Clarity's I demoed sounded fantastic with movies and rock/pop music, but when you put classical in there, the Viennas put them to shame. I don't think electrostatic brings to the table what a traditional speaker can in terms of classical music.

 

[Snakexor]

Originally posted by: SLCentral

Originally posted by: Snakexor

Originally posted by: SLCentral

Originally posted by: Snakexor
imho paradigm tweeters are so harsh. ive listened to b&w, but i work at the mount laurel magnolia SL, and the vienna acoustics are by far the most well rounded speakers ive ever heard. if you have the dts disc put on the jazz clip (not peter gabriel or eagles, i think its the bottom left on the menu) and prepared to be blown away. with just the mozart grands (i think, the 1375ea speakers) they are phenominal. if the sumiko rep has not yet been to your store to calibrate them, let me know and i will come up and do it.

as for a reciever, just go with a high end denon, i think the one that has 11 seperate amps or whatever and put that in pure direct mode or whatever.

Yeah dude, we have the Viennas in MHT @ 578, and they blew me away, which is why I was initially thinking them. I was thinking about going with the Beethoven Grands opposed to the Mozarts, which we actually don't carry in MHT. I don't think a Sukimo rep has been to our store to calibrate, but the DTS disk with the Viennas is nothing short of spectacular.

you can tell if someone has been there if you have tape lines on the floor where the speakers should be placed and angled. make sure we can order those because when i get into RSS the mozart grands or whatever ones they are are the highest end we can get AFAIK. if he has 25K, put 7 of them in a room with their 12" sub and your friggin nuts will explode, lol

I know that we don't carry the Beethoven's, but thats fine. I can just order them from Sukimo directly.

As to whoever suggested the Magnepans/Martin Logans, I'd respectably disagree. The Martin Logan Clarity's I demoed sounded fantastic with movies and rock/pop music, but when you put classical in there, the Viennas put them to shame. I don't think electrostatic brings to the table what a traditional speaker can in terms of classical music.

there is actually a frequency gap that the martin logans do not hit that the viennas do. you really should stop in a magnolia home theater to listen to these things though.

 

[SLCentral]

Originally posted by: Snakexor

Originally posted by: SLCentral

Originally posted by: Snakexor

Originally posted by: SLCentral

Originally posted by: Snakexor
imho paradigm tweeters are so harsh. ive listened to b&w, but i work at the mount laurel magnolia SL, and the vienna acoustics are by far the most well rounded speakers ive ever heard. if you have the dts disc put on the jazz clip (not peter gabriel or eagles, i think its the bottom left on the menu) and prepared to be blown away. with just the mozart grands (i think, the 1375ea speakers) they are phenominal. if the sumiko rep has not yet been to your store to calibrate them, let me know and i will come up and do it.

as for a reciever, just go with a high end denon, i think the one that has 11 seperate amps or whatever and put that in pure direct mode or whatever.

Yeah dude, we have the Viennas in MHT @ 578, and they blew me away, which is why I was initially thinking them. I was thinking about going with the Beethoven Grands opposed to the Mozarts, which we actually don't carry in MHT. I don't think a Sukimo rep has been to our store to calibrate, but the DTS disk with the Viennas is nothing short of spectacular.

you can tell if someone has been there if you have tape lines on the floor where the speakers should be placed and angled. make sure we can order those because when i get into RSS the mozart grands or whatever ones they are are the highest end we can get AFAIK. if he has 25K, put 7 of them in a room with their 12" sub and your friggin nuts will explode, lol

I know that we don't carry the Beethoven's, but thats fine. I can just order them from Sukimo directly.

As to whoever suggested the Magnepans/Martin Logans, I'd respectably disagree. The Martin Logan Clarity's I demoed sounded fantastic with movies and rock/pop music, but when you put classical in there, the Viennas put them to shame. I don't think electrostatic brings to the table what a traditional speaker can in terms of classical music.

there is actually a frequency gap that the martin logans do not hit that the viennas do. you really should stop in a magnolia home theater to listen to these things though.

Considering I work in BB HT...😛. I've demoed the Martin Logans vs. the Viennas extensively with CLASSICAL music only (via a Pioneer Elite DVD player), and I was left unimpressed with the ML's, as were the people I was with (employees, as well as my family). The Viennas just blew them away. The ML's were phenomenal when we popped Norah Jones in, and surely had a wider range of sound then the Viennas did, but for classical, MY ears preferred the Viennas.

 

[Koing]

WOW

Some dudes gear...

http://gon8.audiogon.com/i/c/f/1166701887.jpg
http://gon8.audiogon.com/i/c/f/1166701890.jpg
http://gon8.audiogon.com/i/c/f/1166720874.jpg

 

[Tiamat]

Dont forget the room acoustical treatments... Untreated rooms color the sound from the speakers by at least +/- 15 db. Put at least 5K$ into good room treatments, soemthing from realtraps.com or whatnot.

Everything else is subjective.

25k$ isnt too much for a full HT system given large screen TVs, and 7.1 setup. Especially if the room is large. Typically the rule of thumb is 1$/cubic foot of room volume for subwooferage from a good manufacturer.

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: Tiamat
Dont forget the room acoustical treatments... Untreated rooms color the sound from the speakers by at least +/- 15 db

Yikes, color... I hate words like that.

Peaks/nulls of that magnitude only happen in the bass (and maybe midbass, depending on room size) region.

 

[silverpig]

I was going to suggest tube amps and electrostatic speakers myself...

 

[iliopsoas]

Originally posted by: SLCentral
Considering I work in BB HT...😛. I've demoed the Martin Logans vs. the Viennas extensively with CLASSICAL music only (via a Pioneer Elite DVD player), and I was left unimpressed with the ML's, as were the people I was with (employees, as well as my family). The Viennas just blew them away. The ML's were phenomenal when we popped Norah Jones in, and surely had a wider range of sound then the Viennas did, but for classical, MY ears preferred the Viennas.

For a guy who works in BB HT, you should be familiar with the virtues of BOSE.

BOSE BOSE BOSE!! FTW!

 

[trOver]

WAIT TILL LAZER TV'S!!!!!!!!!!

 

[SLCentral]

Originally posted by: iliopsoas

Originally posted by: SLCentral
Considering I work in BB HT...😛. I've demoed the Martin Logans vs. the Viennas extensively with CLASSICAL music only (via a Pioneer Elite DVD player), and I was left unimpressed with the ML's, as were the people I was with (employees, as well as my family). The Viennas just blew them away. The ML's were phenomenal when we popped Norah Jones in, and surely had a wider range of sound then the Viennas did, but for classical, MY ears preferred the Viennas.

For a guy who works in BB HT, you should be familiar with the virtues of BOSE.

BOSE BOSE BOSE!! FTW!

Well obviously I'd get them Bose. There's nothing better!

 

[Snakexor]

Originally posted by: SLCentral

Originally posted by: Snakexor

Originally posted by: SLCentral

Originally posted by: Snakexor

Originally posted by: SLCentral

Originally posted by: Snakexor
imho paradigm tweeters are so harsh. ive listened to b&w, but i work at the mount laurel magnolia SL, and the vienna acoustics are by far the most well rounded speakers ive ever heard. if you have the dts disc put on the jazz clip (not peter gabriel or eagles, i think its the bottom left on the menu) and prepared to be blown away. with just the mozart grands (i think, the 1375ea speakers) they are phenominal. if the sumiko rep has not yet been to your store to calibrate them, let me know and i will come up and do it.

as for a reciever, just go with a high end denon, i think the one that has 11 seperate amps or whatever and put that in pure direct mode or whatever.

Yeah dude, we have the Viennas in MHT @ 578, and they blew me away, which is why I was initially thinking them. I was thinking about going with the Beethoven Grands opposed to the Mozarts, which we actually don't carry in MHT. I don't think a Sukimo rep has been to our store to calibrate, but the DTS disk with the Viennas is nothing short of spectacular.

you can tell if someone has been there if you have tape lines on the floor where the speakers should be placed and angled. make sure we can order those because when i get into RSS the mozart grands or whatever ones they are are the highest end we can get AFAIK. if he has 25K, put 7 of them in a room with their 12" sub and your friggin nuts will explode, lol

I know that we don't carry the Beethoven's, but thats fine. I can just order them from Sukimo directly.

As to whoever suggested the Magnepans/Martin Logans, I'd respectably disagree. The Martin Logan Clarity's I demoed sounded fantastic with movies and rock/pop music, but when you put classical in there, the Viennas put them to shame. I don't think electrostatic brings to the table what a traditional speaker can in terms of classical music.

there is actually a frequency gap that the martin logans do not hit that the viennas do. you really should stop in a magnolia home theater to listen to these things though.

Considering I work in BB HT...😛. I've demoed the Martin Logans vs. the Viennas extensively with CLASSICAL music only (via a Pioneer Elite DVD player), and I was left unimpressed with the ML's, as were the people I was with (employees, as well as my family). The Viennas just blew them away. The ML's were phenomenal when we popped Norah Jones in, and surely had a wider range of sound then the Viennas did, but for classical, MY ears preferred the Viennas.

SL i was agreeing with you. I work in the Mag room at 583 Mount Laurel, and I wholeheartedly believe there is not a better speaker we carry than the viennas. The Martin Logans have a frequency gap in between the electrostatic portion and the woofer and is quite noticable when you listen to similar tracks on the viennas, as the viennas fill that void perfectly.

 

[SLCentral]

Originally posted by: Snakexor

Originally posted by: SLCentral

Originally posted by: Snakexor

Originally posted by: SLCentral

Originally posted by: Snakexor

Originally posted by: SLCentral

Originally posted by: Snakexor
imho paradigm tweeters are so harsh. ive listened to b&w, but i work at the mount laurel magnolia SL, and the vienna acoustics are by far the most well rounded speakers ive ever heard. if you have the dts disc put on the jazz clip (not peter gabriel or eagles, i think its the bottom left on the menu) and prepared to be blown away. with just the mozart grands (i think, the 1375ea speakers) they are phenominal. if the sumiko rep has not yet been to your store to calibrate them, let me know and i will come up and do it.

as for a reciever, just go with a high end denon, i think the one that has 11 seperate amps or whatever and put that in pure direct mode or whatever.

Yeah dude, we have the Viennas in MHT @ 578, and they blew me away, which is why I was initially thinking them. I was thinking about going with the Beethoven Grands opposed to the Mozarts, which we actually don't carry in MHT. I don't think a Sukimo rep has been to our store to calibrate, but the DTS disk with the Viennas is nothing short of spectacular.

you can tell if someone has been there if you have tape lines on the floor where the speakers should be placed and angled. make sure we can order those because when i get into RSS the mozart grands or whatever ones they are are the highest end we can get AFAIK. if he has 25K, put 7 of them in a room with their 12" sub and your friggin nuts will explode, lol

I know that we don't carry the Beethoven's, but thats fine. I can just order them from Sukimo directly.

As to whoever suggested the Magnepans/Martin Logans, I'd respectably disagree. The Martin Logan Clarity's I demoed sounded fantastic with movies and rock/pop music, but when you put classical in there, the Viennas put them to shame. I don't think electrostatic brings to the table what a traditional speaker can in terms of classical music.

there is actually a frequency gap that the martin logans do not hit that the viennas do. you really should stop in a magnolia home theater to listen to these things though.

Considering I work in BB HT...😛. I've demoed the Martin Logans vs. the Viennas extensively with CLASSICAL music only (via a Pioneer Elite DVD player), and I was left unimpressed with the ML's, as were the people I was with (employees, as well as my family). The Viennas just blew them away. The ML's were phenomenal when we popped Norah Jones in, and surely had a wider range of sound then the Viennas did, but for classical, MY ears preferred the Viennas.

SL i was agreeing with you. I work in the Mag room at 583 Mount Laurel, and I wholeheartedly believe there is not a better speaker we carry than the viennas. The Martin Logans have a frequency gap in between the electrostatic portion and the woofer and is quite noticable when you listen to similar tracks on the viennas, as the viennas fill that void perfectly.

Haha, reading comprehension FTL. I thought you said the ML's hit frequencys the Viennas do not, AND I read it over a couple times. I'm feeling pretty dumb 😛.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Juno
jello has your answers in 3...2...1...

I was away for the weekend 😛