Advice for new HT

[kfr01]

Ok, so I finally have a guy working on the basement HT space in my house. He should be done by the end of the month.

We've run a bunch of HDMI, Ethernet, and speaker wire. Dedicated 15amp line for the projector. Dedicated 20amp line for the audio. A ton of boxes of Soundproofcow insulation.

18' x 19' space.

Here's the issue. I haven't had any time to consider the equipment, beyond the fact that I want to use my Vandersteen 5A's as the mains.

I will leave the Audio Research Ref. 150 in my office, so I basically need everything other than the stereo mains. Remember, the Vandys have built in 400w amps and 12" subs for the lows, so I don't need huge amplifier power for L and R.

I'm not going 4k for now. The vast majority of what I watch is streamed in 1080 and 5.1. I like upgrading equipment over the years, so I'm OK with swapping out the processor, projector, etc. in a few years.

I am thinking about:

Bryston TC-1-Mini Center.
Bryston TOW On-Wall for surrounds.
Maybe Bryston for subs? Anyone used the Bryston subs?
McIntosh amplification (Maybe the 303 for the front and something non Mc for the surrounds; better than the 200x5 Mcintosh?).

What the heck should I use for the proc? I see used MX121s going for less than $4,000. Or, I could go with the Marantz AV8802A for about the same price. Remember, I don't care about 4K and anything more than 5.1 for now.

I'll use some combination of the Amazon Fire TV, PS4, and Xbox one for HT media sources. HT bypass on a decent DAC (e.g., Benchmark DAC2?) when I want to feed 2-channel audio from my NAS. Maybe the Bryston streamer.

Projector ... since this is 1080p for a few years before 4K, I'm thinking of just buying whatever the $2500 Sony is at the time and calling it a day for now.

Final notes. No, I'm not going to use Vandy for the center and surrounds. I'm just not convinced the Vandy center can take the abuse of HT ... and the surrounds are freaking ugly.

One final question: thinking about doing a very flat and dark charcoal color for the front wall; lighter blue/gray for the rest of the room.

Advice? Thoughts? Boos or hisses?

Cheers

[Deckard]

Originally Posted by kfr01

Ok, so I finally have a guy working on the basement HT space in my house. He should be done by the end of the month.

We've run a bunch of HDMI, Ethernet, and speaker wire. Dedicated 15amp line for the projector. Dedicated 20amp line for the audio. A ton of boxes of Soundproofcow insulation.

18' x 19' space.

Here's the issue. I haven't had any time to consider the equipment, beyond the fact that I want to use my Vandersteen 5A's as the mains.

I will leave the Audio Research Ref. 150 in my office, so I basically need everything other than the stereo mains. Remember, the Vandys have built in 400w amps and 12" subs for the lows, so I don't need huge amplifier power for L and R.

I'm not going 4k for now. The vast majority of what I watch is streamed in 1080 and 5.1. I like upgrading equipment over the years, so I'm OK with swapping out the processor, projector, etc. in a few years.

I am thinking about:

Bryston TC-1-Mini Center.
Bryston TOW On-Wall for surrounds.
Maybe Bryston for subs? Anyone used the Bryston subs?
McIntosh amplification (Maybe the 303 for the front and something non Mc for the surrounds; better than the 200x5 Mcintosh?).

What the heck should I use for the proc? I see used MX121s going for less than $4,000. Or, I could go with the Marantz AV8802A for about the same price. Remember, I don't care about 4K and anything more than 5.1 for now.

I'll use some combination of the Amazon Fire TV, PS4, and Xbox one for HT media sources. HT bypass on a decent DAC (e.g., Benchmark DAC2?) when I want to feed 2-channel audio from my NAS. Maybe the Bryston streamer.

Projector ... since this is 1080p for a few years before 4K, I'm thinking of just buying whatever the $2500 Sony is at the time and calling it a day for now.

Final notes. No, I'm not going to use Vandy for the center and surrounds. I'm just not convinced the Vandy center can take the abuse of HT ... and the surrounds are freaking ugly.

One final question: thinking about doing a very flat and dark charcoal color for the front wall; lighter blue/gray for the rest of the room.

Advice? Thoughts? Boos or hisses?

Cheers

For the processor, I'd suggest looking at the Classe Sigma SSP, especially since you'll be streaming 2 channel music from your NAS. Classe did a great job in the Sigma series, with the SSP designed around the 2 channel capability first before adding the surround processing. I've been very happy with mine for music and movies.

[Superfrg]

Very nice with a dedicated home theater room!

You have alot of thoughts going on, so I will just give my few cents on some of the topics.
I have a combined 2.0 "pure" stereo and 5.1 in the same room, sharing the fronts.

I would try to timbre match the front 3 speakers, and put less emphasis on the 2 side surrounds.
Could be any brand for the side surrounds.

If you are moving on to better things along the road, I would not purchase Mcintosh amplification right off the bat.
My thoughts are with all the room correction going on in a 5.1 setup, it matters less what amps are in use.

I myself really like Anthems AVRs, and their ARC room correction.
Last gen used should be 1500 bucks or so, probably cheaper.
I have a MRX-500 series, which is 2-3 generations old, dont get that cause Arc takes 2 years to run.

I have the benchmark Dac 2 (selling it), its pretty good at the price and its a decent preamp too.

Lastly, getting darker colours in your room would be a good idea!

Post some pics when your done, good luck.