My new Home Theater-ish

[Ch1mera1989]

Hey guys I'm back For the last two years my hifi journey has taken a few hits, mainly because of a decrease of interest. This happened mainly because the hifi company I worked for went belly up and this resulted in less contact with hifi. But now I have a new job, also at a hifi company (which does everything right, what the other company did wrong), and my interest is back In the last two years the only changes I made was the switch from Sonus Faber Cremona Auditor M's to Focal Electra 1008BE2's and from McIntosh C220 & MC402 to a Pathos Logos amp.

Now I'm gonna make the switch from stereo to home theater, because why the h*ll not :P So, next month I'm beginning to buy some stuff. At the beginning of my home theater journey, because of budget, it will be built in steps (now that I think about it, it's always like that. We're never done, are we) The idea is that at first I'm starting with a 4.0 setup:
As fronts: Dali Epicon 6 in sexy high gloss white
As rears: Dali Rubicon LCR also in sexy high gloss white
Pro: Marantz SR6006 or NAD M17 (depends on which route I'm gonna go with)
Power: NAD M22, one for the fronts and one for the rears (the aformentioned route decides if I'm gonna start with one or two)
The display remains my Plasma love, the Panasonic TX-P65VT30
As source: for video, Dune D1 mediaplayer and Netflix. For audio, Bluesound Node 2.

So, concerning the routes. I'm very curious what you guys think about this.
Route 1: I start with the Marantz SR6006 (which I already own) as pro, two NAD M22's and the Rubicon LCR rears. Which means I have to save up to be able to afford the NAD M17. This way I already have a surround setup, but the quality will take a hit.
Route 2: I start with the NAD M17, one NAD M22 and just the fronts. This way the overall quality will be the highest, but the rear speakers will have to wait, along with the second NAD M22. There is practically no price difference between the two routes €5999,- vs €5497,- So what do you guys think?

Dali Epicon 6


Dali Rubicon LCR

NAD M17

NAD M22

[SCAudiophile]

Beautiful and striking system and room... welcome back!!!

[Ch1mera1989]

Thanks. But that isn't my room, it's the room of a colleague of mine The first of december I'll make the first purchase.

[Antonmb]

It's a great equipment list, I think you're headed down a good path. The only suggestion I would have is to consider going to 5.0 instead of 4.0, or starting with 3.0 if you can't go the full 5 yet. I find the center channel to be one of the more critical parts of home theater, it makes a huge difference in the ability to follow dialog and localization of the actors and action in front of you. While the blockbusters have great surround effects, there are many wonderful movies where there isn't that much in the surround. The center, however, is important to most all movies.

[Wasatch]

Very Nice!

[W9TR]

I vote for route 2 with a modification.
Get the front L, C, R correct first. Makes a huge difference in seamless spatial integration with the video.

The modification - find a good inexpensive solution for the rears. Something like the Pioneer SP-BS22-LR. Get an inexpensive integrated (with power amp in jacks) to run them. Then when you have the cash to upgrade to the Dali Rubicon and M22 you can use the Pioneers and integrated as the core of a second system.

Tom

[audioguy3107]

Great system, love the look with the hardwoods and white speakers.....well done!

- Buck

[Ch1mera1989]

Thanks for the tips, Antonmb & W9TR The reason I haven't written a center speaker down is because it also would require a new piece of furniture, as the matching center is quite big (Dali Epicon Vokal: just over 32 inches wide). Both will come after everything else is done

[SCAudiophile]

Originally Posted by Antonmb

It's a great equipment list, I think you're headed down a good path. The only suggestion I would have is to consider going to 5.0 instead of 4.0, or starting with 3.0 if you can't go the full 5 yet. I find the center channel to be one of the more critical parts of home theater, it makes a huge difference in the ability to follow dialog and localization of the actors and action in front of you. While the blockbusters have great surround effects, there are many wonderful movies where there isn't that much in the surround. The center, however, is important to most all movies.

Great advice the OP is getting here! Getting the system to sound its best with 5.0 or 4.0, with the emphasis being on the .0 part (i.e. no sub) and focusing on getting great full-range speakers at least for the fronts is
great advice. Many people seem to focus on the .1 part of the HT surround setups and put too much emphasis on subs before getting speakers and bass integration with the room, surround field staging, etc...right (all IMHO mind you).

Background: Over the years I had built up several good 5.1 systems culminating in an over-top (sound and equipment list, complexity, etc..) 7.1 HT and 2-ch hybrid system. The 7.1 had dual Edge NL12.1s for the front, custom-built Edge G8 mono(s) for the center and G8 4-channel custom for the rears, Lumagen scaler for video calibration, Velodyne DD15 processor for LF integration, the works! It excelled at wrapping a movie soundtrack around you, getting you to duck when bullets whizzed by and all those great surround sound elements. The thing it was best at was DTS 6.1 (I think DTS has always been a superior sounding standard versus DD 5.1 even with THX post-processing. DTS 6.1 surround music playback was also extremely impressive. In all of this I had made the mistake of thinking that the .1 aspect was critical in home theater and had focused on full-range main speakers only with typical surrounds and rears as compromises thinking that as long as I had a sub or two, I would be just fine. This is all in the days before surround processors and receivers could do things above 7.1 and offer 9.x, 11.x, etc...(think multiple subs, "fly-over center channels", multiple surround sides, etc...

Ironically enough, my favorite iteration of all time came after this when I was stepping down the system after a speaker upgrade on my way back to focusing on 2-channel only. I had sold off my surrounds and surround rear channel speakers but still had an extra set of full-range towers (down to 16Hz +/- 2db around. Net net, my favorite home theater of all time was when I subtracted the center channel(!) and had 4 full-range speakers in the room both with and without my big REL monster sub (Britannia B1). Setting the surround processor "to LARGE" for all speakers in the config and for "fantom center channel" mode was the single best home theater experience I ever had. This was with 4.0 (no sub engaged). Dialing in the sub after this again resulted in an amazing 4.1 experience. I never missed the center channel and had razor sharp center vocal, effects, etc...without the frequency limitations of most center channel speakers...

Apologies for the long story but this great feedback brought back alot of good memories and lessons that were hard-earned.

[Ch1mera1989]

Thanks for the feedback so far. I'm leaning towards the M17 at first, building further from that point. Will keep you guys updated And keep the feedback coming