Summit dream system under construction

[greg2putt]

Hi All, This 2009 retiree wannabee has started constructing the dream system for my dream home which will be built on a golf course in Southport, NC in just 45 months.

Yes, I bought the Summits.... the BIG bang speakers for the future Great Room (20x25x30ft ceilings)!

Now I need to plan out the next pieces, AMP, PreAMP, cable, etc. etc. and the wise counsel of this forum will prove invaluable.

I've got my FROG 5.0 system now (Sony SE A/V; Focal speakers) and want to plan out a 5.1 or 5.0 system for completion in pieces for the Great room between next week and 2009!
My audiophile consultant has provided great advice:
>AMP - MacCormack HT5 buy next week (or buy Roland 201 pair and supplement with ?something great? in 2009)
>Buy 2009 version of A/V / HT Preamp (BelCanto PrePro circa 2009?? or Anthem circa 2009??)

I'd like views on this multi-year plan... I've got to plan out my 'investment' and want to build the pieces for a Fabulous system by retirement!!

Greg - My first posting after 12 months of monitoring the exchange!

(Any advice on Augioquest Gibraltar speaker cables and Cardas RCA Cross interconnects for purchase next week would be appreciated!)

 

[kach22i]

Yes, I bought the Summits.... the BIG bang speakers for the future Great Room (20x25x30ft ceilings)! ................(Any advice on Augioquest Gibraltar speaker cables and Cardas RCA Cross interconnects for purchase next week would be appreciated!)

Questions...................

1. Are there to be two seperate systems, one for Home-Theater (HT), and one for two channel stereo?

2. Are both systems or the composite system to be in the Great Room?

3. What lengths of speaker wire (SW) and interconnect wires (IC) are we looking at?

A: Long SW, short IC's

B: Short SW, long IC's

C: Long SW, long IC's

D: Short SW, Short IC's

4. As you may know there are some strong opinions on which setup of connectors is best. Most people are not in the position of doing option "D" which would be best and cheapest (don't hear that very often). If you are designing a system for a room from scratch you may have this option open to you.

5. Brand names on SW and Interconnects - everyone has their favorites, do a search on the topic.

6. Will you be spinning any old vinly records? Are you a CD guy? Are you a hard-drive off the computer guy? Into radio - what kind? Your format may affect other choices, please provide more information.

7. This is just me, and my current choices: Two seperate systems in a single room. Long speaker wires (Nordost blue heaven), short IC's (Nordost blue heaven) and a turntable with Cardas Neutral Reference IC's to a tube phone preamp. Tube amp and preamp for stereo, solid state amps and S.S. processor for HT. Just a TV, no fancy projector. About 500 CD's, and another 500 vinyl records, FM is a rare thing, mostly for the car.

8. Leave money in your budget for acoustic room treatments.

 

[greg2putt]

Questions...................

1. Are there to be two seperate systems, one for Home-Theater (HT), and one for two channel stereo? No, one system with some sort of Preamp/HT receiver that manages whether it is a HT or Stereo (music) experience.

2. Are both systems or the composite system to be in the Great Room? One SYstem in the Great room being constructed now starting with the Summits and the Existing system (Sony, Focal, etc.) in the Frog

3. What lengths of speaker wire (SW) and interconnect wires (IC) are we looking at? Speaker wire to the Summits--- about 8 feet however it could be 12 or so in the future and the IC will be just 1 meter.

A: Long SW, short IC's -- not sure I understand the lingo

B: Short SW, long IC's

C: Long SW, long IC's

D: Short SW, Short IC's

4. As you may know there are some strong opinions on which setup of connectors is best. Most people are not in the position of doing option "D" which would be best and cheapest (don't hear that very often). If you are designing a system for a room from scratch you may have this option open to you.... hmmm I'll attach a JPEG with a rough idea of the house and the two rooms

5. Brand names on SW and Interconnects - everyone has their favorites, do a search on the topic. Great advice... I've seen goodness on both brands that I've been advised to buy... but these are certainly not inexpensive options.

6. Will you be spinning any old vinly records? (minimal!) Are you a CD guy? (YES, and also concert DVD including U2, Eagles, Bruce) Are you a hard-drive off the computer guy? YES--- XM and HDradio (nice Jazz on the Internet at 106.1 [Phil. station]), plus I've burned several hundred CDs so I'll use my NEW VIVV computer. Into radio - what kind? FM although clear signals are not always to be found even where I live today near Princeton, NJ... not far from NYC - Your format may affect other choices, please provide more information.

7. This is just me, and my current choices: Two seperate systems in a single room. Long speaker wires (Nordost blue heaven), short IC's (Nordost blue heaven) and a turntable with Cardas Neutral Reference IC's to a tube phone preamp. Tube amp and preamp for stereo, solid state amps and S.S. processor for HT. Just a TV, no fancy projector. About 500 CD's, and another 500 vinyl records, FM is a rare thing, mostly for the car.

8. Leave money in your budget for acoustic room treatments. Great advice...

 

[greg2putt]

Hmmm. I can't seem to find the tool/mechanism to insert a JPEG of the house plans? Suggestions where this is so you can see the TWO rooms.... Great room and Frog

 

[kach22i]

Hmmm. I can't seem to find the tool/mechanism to insert a JPEG of the house plans? Suggestions where this is so you can see the TWO rooms.... Great room and Frog

I think you will be able to post pictures after a dozen posts or so, I'm not sure but I think it's to protect us from spamers.

I'm not sure why you called your existing system a Frog, will it become a prince if you kiss your money away?

There are a few tube preamps out there with HT pass-thru's, then attach a stand alone processor. Conrad Johnson comes to mind, also look into Audio Reasearch and the other well known brands.

Your other option is something like a Proceed or Theta which does more (pre and process), will still need a seperate AM/FM tuner and an outboard phono preamp. I am not a big fan of this path, but it's one way. The names I mentioned were popular ten years ago, I'm not sure if they are still around.

I could be wrong, but I don't think a massive HT reciever is going to cut it for your room size, nor do justice for your speakers. You really have to consider seperates.

Since this house is being built just for you, one option is to build in the HT speakers into the walls, including all wiring. This will clean up the installation for the speakers at least, maybe even build in the equipment as seen in the magiznes. You have now knocked out most of the cluter, so adding a seperate two channel stereo system into the same room will not be as intrusive. Just throwing out options, and seeing if anything sticks.

I went with an all in one preamp/prologic processor/tuner (Carver CT-17) about 16 years ago, it was always the weakest link in the chain, could not wait to replace it. I now have two seperate systems, each doing a very good job at what they do. See system 42.

 

[greg2putt]

Wow, your system looks wonderful. It'll be more than 5 years before I build out mine with the Summits to get to a 'complete' state as yours. I've cueing up a lot of decisions from AMPing the Summits to purchasing a $500k townhome in the next 6 months to use as complimentary housing in the gated golf community where my lot is ... with house construction not happening for about 3 years. I intend to keep both but need by audio and video EVERYWHERE.... including in the 2 separate units in the Townhome. Bottom line..... piecing together 4 systems.... 4 or 5 LCD 42in + displays plus the 'dream' Summit system. My inclination in the next week is to go forward with the McCormack HT5 and then continue to monitor the PREAMP options over the next couple of years. Right now HDMI2 capable systems interest me as the PREAMP.... but then maybe something like the BelCANTO may do the trick and separate video from audio. I also was informed about NEW home electronics companies like Netstreams may begin to bring NEW options. My Summits will be the CORE of whatever I build out. I'll post pictures when I get the system up in the NEXT week!

THANKS!