2. home-theater
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Please give me your 2 cents...budget 30-50k

I am building my second home theater/music room. My previous attempt was extreemly expensive (in excess of 100k) and I sold my house and the system prior to using. I am attempting to cover both music and theater without going crazy. I am concerned about buying used gear, maybe it's not a valid concern but it's mine.

I have other systems in the house family, master bedroom, home office. This system will be in my guest house/ personal space, billards, bar, music, sports, etc.

I am considering Aerial speakers (7b,8b, or 9) Revel, B&W, Sonus Faber, Vienna...

Amps and pre/pro???? Proceed, Krell, Parasound Halo sereis, ATI, others?

Front projector HD 2 Runco, Sharp 12000, Marantz, Dwinn??

I have a varity of dealers here in Scottsdale Az. I look forward to your input.
sabailey
rsbeck
887 posts
 
I'm not crazy about B & W until you get to the N803 and especially the N802. I also think a lot of people buy B & W and then fail to provide the
amplification necessary to make them work properly. But, I was just throwing out suggestions -- there are plenty of other speakers that would work given that budget. I would strongly suggest Wilson Watt/Puppy7's. If you liked the Revel Salons, those are also fine speakers.
Speakers are the hardest things to recommend because they are all different and everyone hears them differently. I can recommend the
Levinson amps because I own and love them. I also own Proceed gear
and I can pass on that when I tried to get some repairs recently, it was a
hell of an ordeal.

tpsonic
1,092 posts
 
Meridian 800 series and powered speakers?
sabailey OP
5 posts
 
B&W fans I have a question everyone seems to be high on the 802's. What are the opinons of the N801 and 800 Sig. are they a major step up? Obviously staying with quality amps and processing. Anyone heard the Dynaudio stuff, C-4's or other? Thanks.
rsbeck
887 posts
 
Haven't heard the N801's, so can't comment. Another speaker I would
recommend is the Joseph Audio Pearl.
gregm
3,397 posts
 
Sabailey: In comparing the B&W 802 & 800 I have found similarities. In both models it is easier to produce a sound spectrum that is more seamless top to bottom (to my deaf ears, of course) than with the 801. In the 801 the difficulty I had (at a friend's house) was to get rid of the sub-woof's dominance in the lower mid region. Not so with the other two.

Although I would definitely choose the 800 over the 802 (for more extension, an "effortless" mid-range, higher spls & dynamic possibilities...), the price differential is important...

In a similar vein, another British manufacturer that you may consider is Tannoy: I listen to classical so, IMO, Tannoy's top models are better performers than the B&W equivalents. Their Dimension series apparently is conceived for dual, home theatre/audio, use. Good as the TD12 is (the only model I know rather well), the Prestige & Kingdom series have better (musically) offerings.
Good luck
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