Help me pick home theater setup

ponyo

Lifer
Feb 14, 2002
19,689
2,811
126
Max budget is $10k.

Need projector, receiver, and speakers. Im thinking 7.1 setup. Recommendation?
 

velillen

Platinum Member
Jul 12, 2006
2,120
1
81
So little info provided.....
room dimensions/style.
Are you a picture guy or audio guy?
Able to sample before you buy or buy without hearing/seeing?
Single room or multi-zone?

Personally i'd shoot for a projector in the 3-4k (including a screen). ~1k for a receiver (used or refurb) with a emotiva xpa-5 (+~800) (or could go with the xpa-3 for ~600 instead) which leaves 4-5k for speakers. Since most sound comes from the front three i'd try to match those three on higher ends and then you can use cheaper speakers for the sides and rears. You can get a good subwoofer for anywhere from 500-1k. So out of the 4-5k "speaker" money i'd go for something like 1k for the sub, (down to 3-4k) then go ~2500 for the front three and the remaining on the sides/rears.

Anyways theres my train of though. Obviously you'd have a bit leftover probably (as a sub isnt exactly 1k) so you have the cash for cables or two invest more in other speakers.

As for the receiver higher end models offer multieq, multieq xt and multieq xt32 which are something to definitely look for. The dedicated amp is something you could skip i fyou wanted. but many people feel their higher end speakers (and even lower end ones if with a lower end receiver) sound a bit better with the extra, more dedicated power.
 

Tiamat

Lifer
Nov 25, 2003
14,074
5
71
need more info...

Room dimensions?

Intended furniture layout?

Video heavy vs. audio heavy?

Intended use (reference levels vs. casual)


These are all needed in order to provide advise on specific types of projectors and subwoofers at minimum. Projectors are chosen based on screen size, throw distance, noise requirements, etc. Subwoofers depend very much on the size of the unenclosed space where they are being placed. Typically, the larger the space, the more expensive these two items will be in order to meet minimum requirements for producing a decent quality.
 

BurnItDwn

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
26,067
1,550
126
Is this room underground? Does it have windows? Do you also need to include light control as part of this budget?

If room is less than 20ish feet deep than 7.1 is overkill and a waste.


At 10K price point, If you care more about sound, I would think 3K would be plenty for projector +screen, and then separates would be a MUCH better option vs a reciever....

If you were more concerned about video, I'd spend 5-7K on a two CRT projector setup (double up on projectors to improve contrast and brightness) ..... And then the rest on a decent reciever for $500-750 and then the rest on speakers and sub.
 

richardycc

Diamond Member
Apr 29, 2001
5,719
1
81
projector: Sony vpl-hw30es, coming out next month or so, MSRP ~$3600, should be able to get it for around $3k. specs look so good on this projector, you will need to spend a lot more to get something might not be as good. I am actually looking at this to replace my old 720p projector.
Screen: ? no recommendation, as I haven't done any research on screen lately, I have a dalite hipower, but the gain might be too high to go with the new sony projector.
Processor: marantz av7005 7 ch preamp MSRP $1500, street price ~$1300
amp: Sherwood Newcastle A965 7ch amp, ~$700

whatever you buy, avoid Onkyo. They might have all the bells and whistles and low prices, but they are just not worth the hassle with high failure rate and nonexisting tech support. I am actually using their top of the line receiver TXNR5007 and had an issue with it in the beginning, a new firmware eventually fixed the issue and now I am hearing a lot of their receiver owners are experiencing bad hdmi board, a $1000 part if it is out of warranty...so I will never buy another Onkyo gear again.

This should leave you ~$5k for the rest. I don't rec any speakers without knowing what kind of sound you are looking for and room dimensions, so you should do your own audition. Good luck and have fun picking out your stuff.
 

Tiamat

Lifer
Nov 25, 2003
14,074
5
71
Do you really think OP is coming back?

Doesn't matter. At least for future folks who want to start a similar thread (title is so very generic), they will hopefully read this and realize they need to provide more info other than budget :)
 

Anubis

No Lifer
Aug 31, 2001
78,716
417
126
tbqhwy.com
projector: Sony vpl-hw30es, coming out next month or so, MSRP ~$3600, should be able to get it for around $3k. specs look so good on this projector, you will need to spend a lot more to get something might not be as good. I am actually looking at this to replace my old 720p projector.
Screen: ? no recommendation, as I haven't done any research on screen lately, I have a dalite hipower, but the gain might be too high to go with the new sony projector.
Processor: marantz av7005 7 ch preamp MSRP $1500, street price ~$1300
amp: Sherwood Newcastle A965 7ch amp, ~$700

whatever you buy, avoid Onkyo. They might have all the bells and whistles and low prices, but they are just not worth the hassle with high failure rate and nonexisting tech support. I am actually using their top of the line receiver TXNR5007 and had an issue with it in the beginning, a new firmware eventually fixed the issue and now I am hearing a lot of their receiver owners are experiencing bad hdmi board, a $1000 part if it is out of warranty...so I will never buy another Onkyo gear again.

This should leave you ~$5k for the rest. I don't rec any speakers without knowing what kind of sound you are looking for and room dimensions, so you should do your own audition. Good luck and have fun picking out your stuff.

do this and get some JTR tripple 8s