Home Theater System...??

So I’m looking at upgrading my home theater system and was curious what everyone has and would recommend. It’s been a while so looking to go all out.

TV: Looking at going with one of the new 2018 lineup of the Samsung QLED TVs, probably a 75”. Anything else I should consider?

Sound: I have a fairly new Onkyo receiver with 4K abilities, but I need speakers. I thought of Klipsh, but they are so damn big. Smaller speakers is what I’m wanting but all I can find are Bose, that are $$$. Any others you’d recommend?

Thanks for any help or advice!

 

i went with an epson projector (1080 not 4k) to a 120" screen. using a NAD receiver and blue-ray. front (3), side (2) and rear (2) speakers are B+W. sub is from REL with 2 10s, one fires down the other to the side. if you want specs, i can run downstairs and take a look. sounds and looks amazing. at some point, i may upgrade the projector to 4k but it isn't a necessity.

 

I have the Sonos system in my house, and I’m very happy with it. Something like @smslavin has probably blows it out of the water, but he’s a lot smarter with that stuff than I am. I needed something a five year old could set up.

 

i have been considering upgrading as well I have a 75inch Samsung but its a few years old about 5 years old I have been wanting to go bigger and switch up to the Qled but prices are crazy once you go past 75"inches I been looking at some 85"inch tvs from 65" to 70" only about $300 dollar difference but when you go from 75" to 85" its like a $2,000 dollar difference

 

I own my own audio/video company.

IMO you would be best with floor standing speakers and or monitors and dual subwoofers.

Check out a company called Emotiva, I integrate with their products often. Very budget minded and great performance for the price.

Let me know if you have any questions. Post some pics of your room so I know what you’re working with.

Skip the klipcsh and skip the Boes. Spend some more money and you’ll be happy

 

Good setup. I have a 140” motorized screen innovations at my house. Epson 5040, Martin Logan vanquish all the way around and a power sound audio dual 18” ported subs. Pretty epic setup

I like bowers, and Rels is great. Upgrade your subs to power sound audio. Half the price as REL and at least double the performance

 

I have B&W 600 series tower speakers for my front 3 speakers, the sides are some cheaper tower speakers. I have an old Onkyo pre-amp that feeds to 2 Emotiva XPA5 amps. The front stage is all bi-amped. I have a defintitive technologies 10" sub.

If you are wanting smaller speakers, there are may options, but they will be bigger than the Bose cubes.

Since you are in San Antonio, have you gone over to Bjorns? I got all my speakers from there, my father did as well

 

Another option if you’re on a budget. Get a solid processor and separate amp, start with two speakers and a subwoofer. Add the second subwoofer and center/surrounds when the funds clear up

 

Yep, and the new QLEDs have different "chips" from what I've been able to look into. From Q6F to Q9F, higher the more expensive, but I haven't been able to really find out what the difference is.

This is the TV I've been looking at: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/samsun...rt-4k-uhd-tv-with-hdr/6202115.p?skuId=6202115

The 82" would be nice, but it's $800 more for only 7". Humm..

 

haha! most of the time i'm in the same mindset. if a 5 yr old can't do it, then i probably won't be able to.

if i had a smaller room, and sonos didn't have alexis embedded, i'd go that route. i've heard their setup with the soundbar, sub and surrounds. sounds great.

 

No I haven't been anywhere yet. Just doing some research online. Bjorns would probably be cool to see everything, but I've always heard they are way over priced. Maybe not..

 

https://emotiva.com/cart

https://www.powersoundaudio.com/products/S1811

$4,364 for professor, separate amp, 5 speakers, 18” sub.

This system would be unbeatable. It will rival 20k plus systems. I have personally installed over a dozen of this exact setup and the results are astonishingly good. Will you make you feel silly for spending money on bowers or Martin Logan etc.

Screw the TV. Get the audio going and a shitty TV will seem like it’s 10x better

Should be noted all of this has a 30 day free in home trial. Unbeatable

 

They run some good sales. Two or three times a year they will run buy one get one 50% off, that is when i bought my B&W's and sub - 7 years ago. When my dad bought his def tech speakers (2 years ago), it was a package deal they put together that was around 20% off.

 

Buy Internet direct and DIY. You will save thousands of dollars.

 

I couldn't see your cart from Emotiva.

 

Airmotiv 5 channel speaker bundle
MC-700 processor
A-500 5 channel amp

 

Cannot see the emotiva cart, but I would guess it is the mc-700 processor and A500 amp plus their speakers. I got my first emotiva amp almost 8 years. Ago now

 

To my knowledge, they only have Alexis in their Play1’s, and they sell versions both with and without it. At least that’s how it was when I got mine.

 

I LOVE Emotiva. I have XPA1 for my front 3 and an XPA2 for the surrounds. Run an XMC as well. I’ve owned just about everything they have made. Only bad crop was the UMC-1.

If I didn’t get free Martin Logan stuff I’d own their speakers as well.

I did a blind comparison with an Emotiva xmc1 and xpa1 stereo against a 40k McIntosh setup and it won 3 out of 5. To me there was no discernible difference.

I make hardly any money on Emotiva, but when people want the best and on a budget I just sell that. Never disappointed.

 

My plan was to add 2 XPA1s for my front towers and the XPA5 power the rest, but I got a deal on a 2nd XPA5, so I bi-amped the front 3, power my side towers and 2 channel's are for zone 2 feeding my outdoor patio speakers. If I add rear speakers, I will get an A200 for the outdoor speakers.

 

The xpa5 is the best amp they ever made. Huge amounts of power and dirt cheap. Good decision going with Emotiva bud

 

Wow.. the Emotiva stuff looks awesome.. But yeah, maybe a little more then I thought I wanted to spend, ha. I'm not sure I'm that hardcore, but they look amazing, humm.. I'm just really not wanting to do tower speakers, and not sure my wife will be happy with that, ha. My other problem is it's an open living room/kitchen design, so I dont have a back wall to mount rear speakers. Right now I just have some Sony speakers on stands on each side of the couch.

So the MC-700 Processor basically is the same as my current receiver. Video and Audio in from my (DirecTV, PS4, X1) and out to the TV and speakers. The Amp, just amplifies the sound coming from the processor, right? So the Amp isn't absolutely necessary, as of now, huh?

If I were to still use my Onkyo receiver, what would you recommend?

 

Yes. You could use your Onkyo and not buy a processor and amp. However, the processor and amp are going to clean up your sound dramatically. Think of your onkyo like a
V6 inside your tundra. And a processor/amp is like the 5.7 liter.

You could go tower speakers for the left and right and center channel. Then add in cieling speakers for your surround sounds. Placement on in ceiling speakers is critical.

 

Amps/Processing
1.) the cheapest receiver you that fits your needs (with pre-outs)
2.) Emotiva amps for 5-7 speakers you are going to run
3.) Crown/Berringer for your subs (2 minimum, more the better)

Speakers
1.) https://www.diysoundgroup.com/ (fab your own)
2.) https://www.powersoundaudio.com/ good value
3.) http://www.ascendacoustics.com/ finish is amazing

Subs
1.) Fab your own through DIY sound group
2.) HSU Research

I have 2 subs from HSU and then wanted some 18s so I fabbed my own. Pretty easy, need access to a table saw, and a router.





Get a minidsp too. And check out AVSForum.com. You will dump money just like tundras, haha!

 

I think the best option for the price and great sound go with Bose you wont be disappointed I love my Bose system I would like to get that emotiva system but I really enjoy how easy it is to set up my Bose and speakers a small and not that noticeable I have had my bose system for about 6 years no issues ever I had had Samsung and sony in the past but they never sounded half as good as Bose does

 

Awesome build! HSU are really good too. I have dual power sound audio V3600s that compress my rib cage. 72” of driver. It gets intense.

 

So this is all I have on me as far as living room photos. In the first photo you can see on the left where the tv would be, I have it mounted on the wall. You can see my little surround speakers, ha.

The second photo is what is behind me. Guess I could mount the rear speakers high up on the wall? Humm...

 

In wall for the left center and right. And in cieling for the surrounds behind your couch. Problem solved and minimal look. Just get good speakers. Martin Logan ELIW and ELIC

 

In wall would be nice, and take up less space. Not sure how to go about running speaker wire to them though, ha. Sorry I have no clue about any of this stuff. I know the basics, but I know it's far beyond my current knowledge.

 

Do you have crawl space above that room? The front 3 are super easy. Just fish the wires through from behind that entertainment center to the speaker locations. Map out where you want the speakers and go ahead and cut the space needed for the speaker so you have access points.

Getting the surround wires may be a little more difficult if there is no access above the room. You may just have to cut small access points and patch it up.