Starting with a pair of B&W 804D is definitely a wrong move. In addition, the "must have" of a 5.1 system is a sub, which is not practical if you live in an apartment. B&W Diamond speakers need a hefty amplifier to drive them, and the cost is very close to the cost of the 804's. On top of that are streamer, DAC, and AVR. Finally, a receiver, regardless of the brand, is not for again, the 804's. Five year ago, I had a $2000 surround system. After buying a pair of Focal Electra 1038Be, I spent a total almost $50K just to match the front speakers.
confused and don't know what to do
We would like to buy a nice audio system and also have this double as a surround sound but listening to music is the priority. We have listened to many speakers but have settled on the B&W 804's. Now the challenge is to select a receiver and all the other accompaniments we require. We have a little challenge in that our home is a condo and the outside wall is all glass. The space is combined kitchen, living room, and dining room all open with hardwood floors and hard tile on the walls of the kitchen and a lot of granite counter tops. It seems that every where we go, the recommendations are different depending on what the store is selling and of course, the sales people would like us to buy the most expensive. What would give great sound without going crazy. We are thinking about 2 tribe sub woofers and space is limited and an in wall center B&W speaker but we don't know what we are doing and don't want to throw our money away. Help! Too many choices and we don't have enough knowledge. Thank you so much.