Any home theater people here?

Looking to finish setting up the theater room in my Dads house, and need some advice with the surround sound. What systems do you guys recommend? While we are going reasonable on the TV (a 75 until the larger ones come down a little more), the speakers we would rather do once. A little help?

A Sony 85" from the 850 series, is only $2500. The 98" is a BIG step up ($60k)

Also if its a dedicated room, with complete ambient light control, you could consider a projector.

I would suggest that you outline a budget, when you say you want to buy a "home theater", its like saying "I want to buy a car", and it could be a Kia, or a Pagani. They are both cars, but obviously require different levels of resources. Home theater electronics packages can have huge budget swings as well.

RustyRodder said:

(a 75 until the larger ones come down a little more),

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I have an 85" 850 series in my master bedroon. Overkill, yes. Kinda fits my style though. Go big or go home.

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specracer said:

A Sony 85" from the 850 series, is only $2500. The 98" is a BIG step up ($60k)

Also if its a dedicated room, with complete ambient light control, you could consider a projector.

I would suggest that you outline a budget, when you say you want to buy a "home theater", its like saying "I want to buy a car", and it could be a Kia, or a Pagani. They are both cars, but obviously require different levels of resources. Home theater electronics packages can have huge budget swings as well.

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Its all wired for a projector already- he built the house with the speakers prewired and the projector wires already there. But since the grandkids will be using the room too, he wants something that can be used with the lights on. I'll look up the Sony 850- right now we are eyeballing the Samsung 75, and go up in a few years. easier to stomach a 1200 dollar TV being replaced in 2-3 years than a 4k tv.

For speakers, budget is around 1000-1200

TV-wise, I'm as good as illiterate so I can't help there. Sound-wise, I have a 22 year old Pioneer Elite VSX receiver and 7.1 Polk system that sound incredible. I don't remember the RMS wattage off hand but 25% output is enough to go deaf. Technology changes but good sound is good sound. You can easily spend a fortune buying a high end receiver and 5.1/7.1/9.2/11.2 speakers, or find some lightly used ones for a fraction of the price. Also don't get duped into super high wattage. Output and perceived volume aren't linear.

Look up the Pioneer Elite 11.2 SC-LX901 as an example. Marantz is another brand that has stood the test of time.

With that being said, I've been really impressed with lower cost soundbar systems. I'm not a fan of bluetooth due to latency and how friggin' finnicky it is but my in-laws have a bluetooth surround system that is actually pretty impressive, especially considering the overall cost they got it for.

Really depends on what you want. My father went for a "make the neighbors 1/4 mile away hear Terminator 2 explosion scenes" in the 90's and it was crazy. Now, I'm more about a good quality sound at a moderate-low volume.

RustyRodder said:

For speakers, budget is around 1000-1200

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You're on the right track: don't worry about the display too much. That technology is rapidly changing and what's $5k right now will be less than half of that price in a short time.

Sound, on the other hand, is pretty stable (stale?) from an innovation standpoint. I would do it right the first time around, as the speakers, amp, etc will not be changed unless something fails.

Is the $1,000 - $1,200 budget for speakers only? Does that include receiver, sub, wires, cables, etc also?

For that budget, take a good look at online direct places such as: SVS (would be my first choice for your price range), Aperion, Emotiva, ELAC. For subs: HSU, SVS, Rythmik.

To be honest, you may want to start with a 2.0 or 2.1 (meaning front speakers only and sub if possible) and add on the surround components as budget allows.

If you're interested, I've got a set of home theater speakers that I replaced (needed speakers to blend with the walls).
Klipsch Quintet (black) with stands for the fronts and rears. The middle speaker was mounted on the wall. 5-speaker system. I paid $440.00 for the set back in April of 2014. Good sound and they don't take up a lot of space. I'm in central CT so we're about 110 miles from each other. If you're interested, we could maybe meet halfway near the CT/MA border. I would sell them for $75.00 (plus shipping or $25 if we meet halfway) and I'll throw in the black wrinkle finish metal stands.


I also have a Denon XVR-2000 receiver bought in May of 2014. I paid $399.00 for it. It's yours for $50.00 (no shipping cost if you take the speakers, too, and we meet halfway. So basically the receiver plus the speakers ends up costing you $125 plus shipping. Great deal. Everything is in really nice condition.

• 7.1 channel, 95 watts, 7 channel power (8 ohms, 20Hz - 20 kHz, THD 0.08%
• 185 watts per channel maximum power (6 ohm, 1kHz, THD 10%, 1 channel driven)
• Networking with AirPlay, Pandora, & Spotify
• Dolby Pro Logic IIz, 4K Ultra HD scaling and pass through

I like Paradigm speakers, but I'm not sure you could run those with that budget. Check out SVS, they started with subs but now they have a line of speakers.

Home Theater / Stereo

Home Audio Speakers, Subwoofers and Cables | SVS

Check out a Dolby ATMOS speaker system.

RustyRodder said:

Looking to finish setting up the theater room in my Dads house, and need some advice with the surround sound. What systems do you guys recommend? While we are going reasonable on the TV (a 75 until the larger ones come down a little more), the speakers we would rather do once. A little help?

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Ask 100 people and you'll get 100 different answers if you just ask for their recommended brand with no additional info. You're better off asking what brand fits your preferred sound. For instance, do you like brighter speakers that sound great for rock? Or do you prefer warmer sounding speakers? Are you more focused on music, home theater, or a combination?

Damnit....this thread has me thinking about buying a sub, again.

Coiled03 said:

Damnit....this thread has me thinking about buying a sub, again.

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I resisted a sub for a long time on my stereo setup. Glad I did have haven't looked back since. So....get a sub (or two like me).

08mojo said:

I resisted a sub for a long time on my stereo setup. Glad I did have haven't looked back since. So....get a sub (or two like me).

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I actually already have a Velodyne sub. But, it's too big for my current situation, and it's not wireless. I was hoping to get a smaller SVS at some point.

Coiled03 said:

I actually already have a Velodyne sub. But, it's too big for my current situation, and it's not wireless. I was hoping to get a smaller SVS at some point.

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Too big? No such thing... I'm running two SVS SB13s for the stereo setup.

On a serious note: which voldyne sub is it? Do you plan to sell it? I'm going to be in the market soon for new setup.

08mojo said:

Too big? No such thing... I'm running two SVS SB13s for the stereo setup.

On a serious note: which voldyne sub is it? Do you plan to sell it? I'm going to be in the market soon for new setup.

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It's an older model; a 1012-X. It's an active, forward facing 10" sub with a passive, downward firing 12". Here's the manual, I think:

VELODYNE VA 1012 OWNER'S MANUAL Pdf Download.

I would sell it for the right price. I tried to sell it on Craigslist but only got scammers and tire kickers.

It's going to be tough to come up with a setup good enough for a theater room on that speaker budget. You could spend thousands on just a sub.

I would also recommend SVS and Klipsch. Just please anything but Bose.

Just bought polk center twin speaker set up, two tower speakers and a sub to go with the unknown built in side and rear speakers in the theater room of the house i'm renting. They sound super clear, but have a touch more bass than i wanted. (Granted, i haven't adjusted the sound yet, it is just whatever the set up microphone decided what was best). Those 4 speakers and a 7.2 reciever only cost me about $800, so price is right up what you are looking for to add the other 4 speakers.

....edit, the center speaker is the t30, the two tower speakers are t50, and the sub is psw 108. The reciever is an onkyo tx nr686.

Call Crutchfield. Tell them what you want and your budget.

Crutchfield: Car Stereo, Speakers, Home Theater, Pro Audio, 4k TV

I don't know how they stay in business in this "save $5 on Amazon" world, but I still buy everything I can from them within reason. Good advice, good customer service, and good return policy. I have built a few systems over the last couple of years and tend to stick with Denon on receivers and Polk on speakers (excluding subs). I go with full floor standing speakers (because mid-range rocks). If I was in the sub-woofer market, I would look at SVS.

I have the AVR-X2000 in my main home theater and it is a solid unit. (the one in CobraBob's picture, check your model number Bob)

CobraBob said:

If you're interested, I've got a set of home theater speakers that I replaced (needed speakers to blend with the walls).
Klipsch Quintet (black) with stands for the fronts and rears. The middle speaker was mounted on the wall. 5-speaker system. I paid $440.00 for the set back in April of 2014. Good sound and they don't take up a lot of space. I'm in central CT so we're about 110 miles from each other. If you're interested, we could maybe meet halfway near the CT/MA border. I would sell them for $100.00 (plus shipping or $25 if we meet halfway) and I'll throw in the black wrinkle finish metal stands.
View attachment 1595564

I also have a Denon XVR-2000 receiver bought in May of 2014. I paid $399.00 for it. It's yours for $75.00 (no shipping cost if you take the speakers, too, and we meet halfway. So basically the receiver plus the speakers ends up costing you $200. Great deal. Everything is in really nice condition.

• 7.1 channel, 95 watts, 7 channel power (8 ohms, 20Hz - 20 kHz, THD 0.08%
• 185 watts per channel maximum power (6 ohm, 1kHz, THD 10%, 1 channel driven)
• Networking with AirPlay, Pandora, & Spotify
• Dolby Pro Logic IIz, 4K Ultra HD scaling and pass through

View attachment 1595565

Click to expand...

Coiled03 said:

It's an older model; a 1012-X. It's an active, forward facing 10" sub with a passive, downward firing 12". Here's the manual, I think:

VELODYNE VA 1012 OWNER'S MANUAL Pdf Download.

I would sell it for the right price. I tried to sell it on Craigslist but only got scammers and tire kickers.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. It's not going to be enough sub for what I need.

08mojo said:

Thanks for the info. It's not going to be enough sub for what I need.

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I like that attitude!