2. home-theater
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Home theater setup recommendations?

My daughter, married, middle aged, has asked me to help them set up a decent home theater/listening room in their new home. I've been an audiophile since the 70's......before I even heard the term, so I'm a pretty competent 2 channel guy and I understand room acoustics............That said, I never really ventured into HT. I simply went with my 2 channel rig and was perfectly happy with things that way.....still am.

I guess my questions are..........How  important is multi-channel for movies vs audio.............dumb question, I'm sure, but it's not my area, so I'm asking...............and any recommendations for a decent, not UBER, sound system primarily for movies. They're willing to spend some money to get a nice setup, but not the kind of coin that many here likely would. I'm thinking used gear, speakers, subs, receiver or amps. Something that will sound good, but not require a second mortgage..................These folks think that hanging 4 inch Bose speakers in the corners of the room with a micro, wanna-be sub is good sound..............I want to "enlighten" them..........thanks
shadowcat2016

Showing 4 responses by shadowcat2016

shadowcat2016 OP
132 posts
 
WOW...........I thought I was the only one who doesn't sleep!!..........Guess I was wrong. LOL

Haven't hammered out the budget thing with them yet. As previously mentioned, they have NO idea what good sound or gear is like. They think 4 inch  Bose satellites are high end.........Not knocking Bose, per se, they sell a ton of speakers, but not usually to audio people.

I'm thinking start basic, decent HT receiver with solid full or near full range L-R speakers and matching center.  They can build on that later, more speakers, subs, what have you. Keeps the initial system simpler and allows the up front costs to be more about quality, than how many channels can they cram into one room.

I've watched a lot of movies over the years with my 2 channel rig and never missed not having the other 35 speakers at the time, but I do understand that movie sound tracks are meant to be heard multi-channel for the best effect.
shadowcat2016 OP
132 posts
 
amg56

Good on ya mate :)
shadowcat2016 OP
132 posts
 
You folks have a lot of good input, thanks!!

This may be off the wall, but.........Does it make any sense to run 4 of the same speakers + center.............I see a lot of Vandy 2c and 2c sigs for sale at reasonable prices.

I have the 3A's myself and love them. Running two sets of Vandy 2's, L-R-LR-RR might be amazing and I don't think you'd miss a sub-woofer with a setup like that to keep things a bit simpler.

Never heard a setup like that, so there may be downsides I'm unaware of, either with Vandy's or any other set of 4.
shadowcat2016 OP
132 posts
 
Wow, lots of help and suggestions..............much appreciated folks. I learn more every day..........40 years, two channel audiophile, but the HT thing will be new ground. Lots of similarities, but important differences as well.

Daughter is in Florida, I'm in Maryland, so it will be a field trip for me to do this, which is fine. 

I'll be the one buying the gear and doing the setup since they have no idea where to start. They'd likely just go to Best Buy, get whatever was on sale that day, stick everything in corners and think they'd done good..........ugh.........Always fun spending other peoples $$$.

My impression is that that this will be a dedicated room, so aesthetics should be less of a concern than in multi-use rooms. That will give me some leeway to do it properly. Decent gear and some appropriate acoustic treatment should provide them with a new experience they'll be very happy with.

 I did check out the Master Switch article that was recommended..............good stuff, 

Thanks folks
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