Hi from New Jersey

[duachirag]

Hi Everybody,

I am going to finish my basement. Work has already started. I am planning to put a good HT system but have absolutely no clue about good speakers/sub-woofer/matching receiver. Considering a standard sized room/area, can you guys please suggest speakers/sub-woofer/receiver for 5.1 setup (I won't be having any multi row seating and all) I am planning to go for 7.1 receiver and want to put 2 speakers like helos 20 in the kids area (want same receiver to drive those 2 small babies in the kids area) It's a L shaped basement. One part will be kid's area and other part will be for adults with HT setup.

I am thinking of passage/ticket speakers. I am not sure if I can go with all tickets (L/R/Center and Surrounds). Is 3 passages and 2 tickets the best 5.1 setup? I was thinking of restricting my cost to 2k (speakers only), that's why I was thinking of all tickets but if it's worth it, might go for 3 passages + 2 tickets + 2 helos 20 (kids' area)

And which receiver and sub I should pick up? Any other equipment I am missing?

Thanks a lot!

 

[tsmooth]

I would suggest going for out of wall speakers for the front / center / front of your system. You can find a pair of prefaces for a pretty good deal right now and I think it would preform better then any of the inwalls. I think a vignette or fresco would match the preface as a center speaker. I also belive the Dynamo line-up of subwoofers were designed to work well with the system your are trying to put together.

If you polled most of the people on this site that use receivers in their systems, I would guess the ones that pop up most would be Denon and Onkyo. I have a Denon 3808 and it controls two rooms pretty easily.

If you are ok with buying used, I would check out audiogon.com search for what you are looking for. It is like the ebay of audio related electronics.

 

[duachirag]

Thanks!

Thank you! Points noted.

 

[tsmooth]

No problem, keep us updated as the process unfolds.

 

[JMAUSGP]

I would add, that you could look through the members systems and find some systems that you like, then working within a future budget, you could take your time and buy used on Audiogon until you get the system of your lust... I mean dreams.

With that said, 2 grand for the intial speaker setup might get you some used Frescos or Vingettes which are pretty nice ATF speakers that you could use as FR/C/FL along with with possibly a couple of the new HT lineup of AMT speakers from ML.

Regardless there is tons of great information on this site if you are inclined to use the search feature and read/learn about the world of Martin Logan speakers and middle to the very high end of audio systems for both HT and music. For example, I assume you are going to get a bluray player, well if you choose an OPPO BDP 83 you will get a universal disc player that will let you turn your HT into a world class music system capable of playing High Resolution Audio formats like SACD, DVD Audio, SHM, XRCD, and redbook.

One little suggestion, if you haven't already done so. Try auditioning some ML high-end electrostatic speakers at your local HIFI shop. It will let you know if you are aflicted with the electrostatic gene and whether you want to pursue the life long chase to a perfect sound system with Martin Logan Electrostats.