Newbie here, Saying "hi" and asking nub questions.

[togo]

Hello all. I'm entirely new to the "high-end" speaker/audio scene but have loved MLs since the first time i heard them. I want to do a system for my self here soon but i don't want to get speakers that i'm not really getting everything out of because of my gear. It would be about 90% HT use 10% music. I was thinking of doing Vistas for mains, Stage or Motif for center, Frescoi for surrounds and a Depth i for sub.

My biggest concern was what would i need to power that kind of setup. I know most here don't use AVRs from what i've been reading. It seems just about everyone uses seperates. I was tossing around the idea of getting a Pioneer Elite 94txh or Denon 4308CI to start, and then picking up a power amp to power the front 3. 3 monos or maybe even just get a 5 channel amp. I want something tho that can decode TrueHD and DTS MA thats why i was thinking the AVR as a pre/pro.

I guess what i wanted to know was would that be a reasonable place to start, or just outright pretty good. What kind of power would i need for the vistas/stage. 200+ watts? Also how much does bi-wiring / bi-amping help, and how exactly is it done? What kinda of speaker wire would be a good recommendation for starts?

Thanks ahead of time. I tried searching out most of these answers the past couple weeks but any extra clarity from everyone would be much appreciated.

 

[twich54]

togo, welcome !

The fact that you plan on your system being utilized 95% in HT tells me that a good quality AVR would do you fine for now, and down the road should music become a more important factor then $$ allocation can be best spent there.

FWIW, I own a Pioneer elite AVR and would rate it an "8" at best. I can't comment on Denon as I sure others can but I know there is plenty of positives to said for Arcam. I actually am thinking about moving my Pioneer upstairs to replace a failing Onkyo and putting an Arcam AVR it it's place.

In so far as power requirements, room size does come into play but I would think 100-120 per channel should suffice.

Check out Neil's (nsgarch) discussion on cabling for ESL's.

Good Luck !!

 

[edwinr]

There'll be nothing wrong with that Pioneer. It'll drive anything and will sound good with music too. You could upgrade to separates or add a power amplifier later, but with a receiver of that quality you wouldn't need to worry about that for a while.

 

[MarcinKG]

Another newbie in the same situation saying "hi"

Hi togo and all,

I am almost exactly in situation like togo. I mean I am looking to setup the system of very similar specs as your have described 90% HT 5.1, 10% music

I have visited my cousin couple of months ago and we watched few movies at his house. Under his influence I decided to get myself HT system setup. He gave me a receiver that he is not using anymore to get me started and recommended going with ML speakers.

The receiver he gave me is Marantz SR5200, and so far I have got new Vista's and used Descent sub.

I am very happy with Vistas, but my sub makes this static noise as soon the cable is connected. I think Marantz SR5200 has to go back to my cousin's and I have to update it with some new AVR. I just hope Descent will not make this noise anymore with the new AVR.

Did you make any decision on which one you are going to get?

All, what would you recommend for the price comparable to speakers to help us setup a decent HT?

Thank you.

 

[togo]

I haven't decided which one i'm personally gonna go with. I talked with my rep and turns out he won't be able to get me set up with any ESLs but only Design series since thats what we retail. I was hoping I could get around that but no joy. As far as the AVR i like the Arcam receivers, from just reading about them, but they currently lack the HDMI1.3 so no DD HD or DTS-MA. Those are very big for me since I do have a BR player. I'm thinking that with my accomidations I'll stay with Denon or Pioneer Elite because well I can get one of those at 30%-50% the cost of an Arcam. I suppose the biggest deciding factors will be from getting more info about their internal amps and if they have full freq sub pre out. I'm leaning towards Denon but Pioneer's look so much better. Sound quality wise I still need to do a comparison.

As an update, I'm thinking i'll get 2 Purity, 1 Matinee, 2 Frescoi and an Abyss or two.

I also heard that come January time ML is supposed to be adding a couple new lines to their Design Series. If anyone else could confirm or deny that, it would be appreciated.


EDIT*- What websites sell a lot of used seperates, and how safe is that sort of thing.

 

[tsmooth]

I think you will be happy with that setup. Use the preouts on your amp for the Purity fronts and save the rest of your juice for the center and surrounds. Have fun.

 

[Jasper]

togo - I thoroughly enjoyed my Denon AVR powering ML's before going seperates. Sounds like the latest models have come a long ways as well so would be a good starting point. That being said I probably wouldn't go back

Jasper