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Is buildiing a HT around the speakers a good start

I just bought a new house with a gorgeous library. I thought it was perfect for my dream of building a home theater. The room size is: 19’L x 11.2’W x 8’H. My listening habit is 80% Movies and 20% Music. The biggest challenge is the speaker placement. The library covers three walls. The front wall has a bay window incorporated into the shelving. My wife would be quite irate if were to “clog up” the front with speakers. To resolve the issue I am thinking of the Thiel PoerPoints for all five speakers. This will be my first try at building a HT. Am I on the right track? Do I now buy components that work well with the speakers? Does anyone have thoughts on which components would work well? It should be noted that the PoerPoints have limited bass extension, in this case a lower limit of 75 Hz. Thus, a subwoofer is mandatory.
I am thinking of one of the following 3 processors, as they are in my price range: a) Krell Showcase b) Parasound C-2 c) Aragon Stage 1
captaincapitalism
cytocycle
1,043 posts
 
If you can't do full range speakers (DVD soundtracks suck anyway compared to the electronics you want to put on them), compensate with a bigger screen (motorized and tensioned), better projector, Two subs(Front and back depending on the processor -Meridian would give you the ultimate flexibility but you need an outstanding dealer to setup that correctly) instead of one. Put Bass shakers in the couch of some kind...

Remember those are Thiels so make sure you get 200watts a channel and some decent speaker cable.

Remember the center channel is the most important speaker with about 80% of the information and it needs to match the left and right for good panning effect. Positioning the Speakers to hit the sweet spots will be critical, make sure your dealer can! Don't do any other ceiling mount speaker without an enclosure.. IT WILL SUCK or the Attic will suck the life out of your system!

www.avsforum.com for all your other questions

I'm not very partial to any of your choices for processors because I find soundtrack to be harsh already... depending on your tastes... EAD (Auto Setup Rocks!) or Meridian (Serious Dealer Setup).. Not looking for a flame war, just my opinion
unclejeff
1,313 posts
 
Cytocycle's response is good. I am just going to throw something at you that you won't like. Stick with two very good speakers towards the front. Two channel has great uses and you might avoid the problems with the wife. Our compromise with our library addition was jsut two speakers and and amazing sound system. audio aero, McIntosh, etc.
rsbeck
887 posts
 
If I could add to Jeff's thoughts -- two front speakers
plus a Center channel and sub-woof will provide you
with 90% of the sound you need for home theatre.
If you listen to music in two channel and movies in
surround and you have a wife to consider -- you might
be able to add rear surrounds by buying some of those tiny little speakers you can hide -- or consider sinking
the rear surrounds into your ceiling or walls. It ain't
ideal, but it might be a workable compromise. For
your sub-woof, check out some of those little Sunfire
jobs. They're small, but effective.
rsbeck
887 posts
 
Also, since your preference is 80% movies, check out
the Lexicon MC12b surround processor. The new version uses the 32 bit Sharc chips.
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