The Breitling Watch Source Forums

I've got physical space for 7.1, the problem that I have is that my layout is relatively open plan and speakers end up sitting in the middle of an open space - doesn't always go down well with management I also have hardwood everywhere so it's drilling holes in the floor for cabling. I also think that with the same budget I would be better off with a 5.1 set up and just add another pair later - add an amp if needed.

No experience with Zu, will have to try and seek some out. Maybe I should just buy two pairs of dominance as mains and surround and I'll be good to go

On the TV--Panasonic is getting out of the Plasma business--get one if you still can. Just beautiful sets. We have a 60 and it sent my Pioneer plasma into my home office

Audio--I'm sort of retired, the family would never accept my "stuff" in the family room because my "stuff" is Magneplanars. It's really more for audio vs. HT, but the soundstage is fantastic. I ran a B&O turntable and receiver, though my next step was to get an old NAD 3020 (as good a phono preamp as ever made) and figure out something on the amp and tuner side.

But then...I'm retired. I do watches now.

_________________
Scott

AP Royal Oak 15400, silver
Zenith Chronomaster El Primero Classic Cars
Vintage gold Corum
Rolex DJ 36 TT, oyster dial, oyster/smooth
Baume & Mercier Riviera 200m, silver dial/aquamarine bezel
Breitling Superocean 57, rose/stainless

No that simply won't work. You need the front three to be the same so you need 5 of them. Time to sell some watches or not!

If I had to do it all over I am not sure I'd even go with 7.1 over 5.1. There are a few scenes in a few movies where it really makes you duck or say daaaag that was crazy, but for 90+% the proper mix is just not there. On the other hand you only live once. You are dead on in your assessment that it can always be added later. I actually wired the room for both 6.1 and 7.1 (really 7.2) had the processor and added the speaker(s) amp later. 6.1 was just noise in the back. 7.1 as I said in the right situation is pretty slick, but 5.1 with all good equipment is more than adequate.

Fun process enjoy the ride. Are you into vinyl at all? If not don't start...finding just the right version of an LP is an obsession worthy of Fred's vintage antics. A black hole of time, effort, money, etc. But when it clicks there is nothing like it on the planet.

Not quite the same - you would have to lay the 5th dominance on its side, otherwise it's not a centre

Not into vinyl, consciously for the exact reasons that you say. The vast majority of my music is lossless digital (FLAC mainly) and a good portion is 24/192 because my portable set up can handle that - close to a terabyte of music

It really stinks that high end audio stores have gone the way of the dinosaurs. Almost impossible to find a place with 2 or 3 brands you might be interested in and give some critical listening. Just think if something existed for audio equipment that was like a really good watch shop. Endless brands and every model under the sun, in every configuration.

This might seem a bit crazy, it was for me at first, but lots of people are really passionate about their systems and spouses typically are not - so they don't have anyone to share them with. You might want to look at some of those fanboy sites and see if anyone in a reasonable distance would be willing to let you swing by and check things out. I've opened my house to guys from 3 different states that I only knew via online. They brought their own music, I played some of my favorites for them. Granted they were long time members of AV forums I frequented and I had a pretty good feel that they were not going to chop my wife and I up into tiny bits and spread our remains up and down the east coast. Kind of like I think you did with the other watch nerds in AZ a while back, no? Might be a long shot up in your neck of the woods but something to consider. If you are in the D.C. area you are welcome at my place...but don't think you are interested in speakers the size of a refrigerator. I'd never be able to swing my system in a "common" part of the house. I've also been to a couple of different guys houses and it really is a great way to sample mega-dollar systems without buying totally blind. That is how I found my amp and pre amp from small boutique places in California and Michigan.

As for your dilemma with putting three dominance speakers up front; just make sure your display is high enough on the wall. You don't need a dedicated center channel you just need a really, really good speaker. I had to buy a pair to get my desired center then sold one. The dialogue will be anchored to the center of the scene no matter what the orientation/placement/type of the speaker is. In previous houses I have had my center channel above and below the display; horizontal and vertical. They all worked just fine. Getting them perfectly matched or as close as possible is much more important than the location within reason. Then again, today, most designed for HT already have that figured out if you are looking in the same line/brand of speakers. I'd guess that $$$ might be more of an issue with 5 of those high end Zus than placement...but maybe not.

Mine is a slight compromise because my room is first and foremost for music. My mains have to be in a corner and sealed up tightly to the walls to extend the folded bass horn out into the room. I modded the center channel to have the same tweeter, midrange driver and crossover networks. The mid horn is slightly different. No real practical way to have three exactly the same up front given the special needs of my mains. Still it does "okay" Below is a picture from several years ago. Not too much has changed. I am lucky that I was able to treat the room with absorption and diffusion elements.

The room is pretty hard to photograph because the ceiling and front wall are painted black and the sides dark red. It looks a lot nicer in person

Nice set up for sure! I am going to have a flat front wall that is open to the house at one end and joins to an outside wall at the other end so will likely have my mains and centre pretty much on that wall - seating will be 15+ feet back. Sub will obviously be somewhere in that mix as well, likely have floor standing mains and a centre at whatever height I need it - have a wood shop in the basement so can make something up.

I think that 5x dominance may be a slight financial issue - for management at least

Sorry Roff, I missed the follow up discussion and I'd like to help out some more. First off, rplace is correct. If you have the space and money, going with separates and speakers solely for 2 channel audio and other speakers for home audio is great. The 3 front channels, it is argued should always be the same speakers to match tone and timbre, but I chose to do otherwise because I felt the difference in HT audio would not be compromised enough to warrant the additional speakers. My set up is in a family room that opens up to large kitchen. The plasma was put on a wall that faces into the kitchen. My center channel matches the trim on the plasma and is mounted directly below the plasma on the wall. I could have bought the matching center channel with my towers, but I just wanted something not as large and obtrusive. In the end I just didn't find that much difference with the sound and my wife loved the look of the slimmer center channel. Note--the women in our life don't seem to love the tower speakers in the family room.

As for a tv, if the ambient light in the room is not too bad, always go for the plasma. The Panasonic plasmas are as good as it gets right now. If lighting in the room is bad(meaning too much) then go for the LCD. Also, whichever technology you choose try and make sure the TV has enough settings that allows for a calibrator to do their magic. Some have multiple settings that allow a calibrator to make the picture fantastic, while others have minimal settings and limits what can be done with the picture.

As for buying the amps processors etc., some of the higher end receivers from Denon(mainstream type receivers) have great video processors in them. Once again I agree with all of rplace's comments, but make sure you can actually see the difference. On the other hand, it is nice to have all this wonderful equipment sitting on a shelf.

I have done this twice in the last 9 years to two homes and it is so much fun, but it can be nerve-wracking with the multitude of choices you are facing. Good luck.

I've done this twice to 2 homes in the last 9 years and while its fun, it can also be a little nerve-warcking.

Thanks Irish95!

Two sides of the family room are effectively glass so it will need to be LCD for sure, early reviews of the new Sony 4Ks sound great but want to wait until some real world reviews come in before committing there, but fairly comfortable that whatever TV and processor combination I go with the video won't be a problem.

I think that the biggest challenge that I will have with the tower speakers is preventing them from becoming plant stands

Then buy taller speakers. Just kidding. My wife actually came on board once the towers were delivered and set up. I think it's in their DNA to object. The speakers being sold now have such beautiful cabinets that they look like furniture.

If you are looking at the high-end LCD's it is really hard to go wrong. Based on all your knowledge of watches, my guess is you take the same amount of time in researching a TV. It's a sickness you know. I hate to be redundant, but I would strongly recommend an independent calibrator to come out to your home and fine-tune your whole system once it is all set up. AVS forums has a whole list of guys who you can hire. The guy I used came all the way from Texas to my home(Chicago suburbs), and did a fantastic job. They usually have "tour dates" when they are available. My total cost was around 450.00. It was well worth the money. Have fun.

Agree on the calibration, I know of a ISF and THX certified guy that is based only about 90 minutes from me so hoping that will work out.

Irish95, I too am a fan of Denon's AVRs. My "normal" system in my living room has 5 flush mounted in-wall speakers, a 55" plasma and a Denon AVR powering it. A DVD player too boot...so old skool. All the equipment is tucked away in another room so all you really see is the TV. The wife loves it and I don't have to fight her plant stand issues anymore. Funny how nice speakers always work out that way. Like all things in relationships there has to be some give and take. She put up with my gear piled up and speakers dominating the room for years. She likes to say the college dorm look is now over.

I just had the feeling Roff was looking a bit beyond what most would consider a standard set up based on his previous postings about his portable rig and Sonos being good for "background" music. I think Sonos is fantastic for what it is, but most people think Sonos is over the top and a single Breitling watch is crazy...let alone multiple ones. I'm sure you could spend thousands on fishing rod or a bowling ball...we all seem to have our obsessions.

I think the best audio advice I have ever heard is "If it sounds good to you, it is good". Listen to a lot of combinations and buy what you like/enjoy. Don't worry about the name or what others think.

rplace-deja vu all over again. I'm with you on all counts. I have Denon 3606. I had a custom cabinet built for below my tv by a friend of mine when we moved into our house. He had previously built custom cabinets all around a fireplace in our old house with one of the first Pioneer Elite plasmas installed above the fireplace. It was really nice. The only problem was that in the new house he took the dimensions off the blu ray player and it wasn't big enough for the rest of the gear. Since the cabinet was so beautiful and 10 feet long we decided to keep it. We just built stereo rack directly below it in the basement and put all the other equipment downstairs. Like you no one can see anything. Early on someone would open the cabinet and want to know where all the equipment was hiding. As much as I like the wall mounted TV, it can be a problem if there are any issues.

Regards to the speakers on the wall-we almost went that route. My problem was that the thin speakers for on the wall had not become financially friendly when I did the set up in 2006. Good flush mounted speakers that could handle music well were rare and expensive. My Def Tech flush mounted center channel was 400 plus back in 2006.

Its funny the "college dorm" comment came up in my home a lot when these projects started. I think it becomes a source of pride once the women hear the quality of both the audio and video. Sorry to semi hijack the thread Roff, but its always fun to listen and share these stories of building HT set ups.

No worries, I got more input than I expected and exposure to brands that weren't on my radar. I started all this as a project to remodel the entertainment area which the original home owners decided to build as a closet, I suspect that it's going to be a full scale addition to the house in lieu of a sunroom. I'm fine with that if it means more entertainment space

My wife is pretty good, she'll happily leave the decisions to me as to what works best and she'll trust my judgement. All joking aside the speakers are likely to get the most attention from the dogs when there is barking on the TV

@rplace, I'm trying not to go quite as crazy with my home setup as with my mobile, I'll freely admit that the portable setup is over the top, but by heck it sounds good!

I love music! A bit of an audiophile myself, sorry I'm late to the conversation. Many many good points already brought up so I won't bore you repeating them.

You mentioned Paradigm speakers. I absolutely love Paradigm! I listened to a great deal of different speakers and receivers before making my purchase. I used my music and really studied the selections. My set up of almost 10 years now(?) is still my favorite. Paradigm 5.1 (7.1 capable) with an Integra receiver. Integra is basically the high end of Onkyo which is already a good product. For music, as stated already, I use the two speaker not surround. But HT is great with the surrounds. Integra is a great quality unit. Lower wattage but less resistance, better quality sound. It is a great marriage.

I've got a newer set of Paridigm in my great room with a Marantz wifi receiver. It may be the larger room and smaller speakers but I don't like it as well as the older set up. I think the Integra just does a better job reproducing the music.

As for tv I agree with the LED for a room with a lot of light. Plasmas have the glossy glass front that shows a lot of reflection.

Happy hunting!

Oh! P.S. You said: "I think that the biggest challenge that I will have with the tower speakers is preventing them from becoming plant stands"
That's hilarious! I dont have many rules in my house but rules 1 thru 3 are: my speakers are Speakers; not tables, holders of cups, remotes or toys, and certainly not plants!