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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.
raw33
chcumo63
21 posts
 
I had the same conundrum Raw and solved it by putting in a McIntosh 8900 integrated amplifier with HT pass through. I have 804D3s as my main speakers and an older HT7 center channel and two B&W in-wall surrounds. I run a Marantz AV processor and multi-channel amp for TV/Movies.  This setup gives me the best of both worlds. I am a music first guy, so when I was upgrading from my older mid-fi system, the emphasis was on stereo reproduction and not Theater.  I do agree that the 804D3s can be bright and after hearing a pair of Sonus Faber Olympicas, I am considering a swap.  
I think this route is a very good way to go as the better integrated amps of today are really hard to beat.  Good luck. 
david1963
10 posts
 
I recently purchased a Naim Star and B&W 702 S2’s for music and love it.  Plan on purchasing the B&W sound bar and subwoofer for my oled tv.  I think you can add rears too if you want a surround sound.  I tried to do what you wanted to do but there was just too much compromise on the audio side.
dmhopwood
6 posts
 
As your room is a challenge with all the hard reflective surfaces, a surround system with multiple speakers could end up sounding very muddled. I recommend just doing a 2-channel system, which will be easier to get sounding right and be a lot more immersive for watching movies than a poorly designed surround system. You will also reduce the amount of ugly wires and hardware. For amplification, if you do go for the B&W, I recommend looking at the integrated amps by Yamaha, Luxman and McIntosh. Best of luck with it!
hartf36's avatar
hartf36
206 posts
 
“here is my advice. Get a preamp with home theatre bypass. Plug all youR music sources into this preamp. Get a badass two channel amp for the front speakers. Get as good of a multi channel amp for the other speakers.”

This is what I, too, did.  I got one of Denon’s higher-end 5.1 AVRs, a Rythmik FG12 sub (here on Agon), a vintage B&K EX-442 Sonata 2-channel amp and a Parasound P5 preamp with home theater bypass (which is CRITICAL to a system with this configuration).  I had an Adcom  5-channel amp that I had previously used with older Paradigm speakers, but it wasn’t enough to drive the Magnepan MMG speakers I purchased for stereo listening, so I run my center MMG-C and Paradigm Phantom v3 rear channel speakers through it.  I don’t even USE the AVR for amplification (but again, I had the multi-channel amp laying around).  I bought a used Oppo BDP-93 Blu-ray/SACD player for movie and some CD listening, and also scored a mint Denon DVD-2900 DVD player for other SACD/CD listening.  Oh, and because of the size of my CD collection, I practically stole a mint Pioneer DV-F727 300 disc changer just to have my favorites at my fingertips.  I took a few hours and created a spreadsheet of artists and titles for easy access to anything I might want to hear (even though it has a title/artist display window).

I have under $5,000 into my admittedly mid-fi system but to my trained ear.......it all sounds pretty damned good to me.  Yeah, I’ve got a stack of components but it’s orderly and aesthetically fitting for my living room.
vinylrestingplace's avatar
vinylrestingplace
33 posts
 
Forget about how a speaker sounds at Best Buy. You need to try (borrow from stores or friends) a speaker to hear in your own listening environment, which as you describe, sounds like a challenge. The room is the biggest variable. Figure out where the speakers are going to go. Do they need to go up against a wall? Certain speakers, like Larsen's, are ideal for wall placement. Most speakers benefit from being out in the room and the room you describe, btw, does not sound like a good candidate for home theater, so can definitely save money by sticking to 2-channel which is adequate for most video and ideal for music. Indeed you should start "backwards": buy a speaker that will drive your room, then an amp that will drive your speakers and with whatever money is left buy the best front end components you can. There are definitely differences between front end components but nothing like the differences between speakers in real life rooms. I've owned quite a few great speakers that just didn't work in my room. Don't make a mistake like that!
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