Home Theater Suggestions

Good morning all,

Wife and I would like to make our basement into a home theater. We already have a top of the line Samsung tv so I am in need of help when it comes to the sound.

Looking for something middle of the road but will sound good and the bass will knock your socks off. Plus, it will be easy for me to hardwire everything.

Room is about 250-500 sq ft. Depending on how I want to enclose it.

Open to suggestions.


Thanks!

Currently using an Onkyo TX-NR4100 av amp. This is a 7.2 system that I use as 5.1. For a sub I have a Dayton Audio 12”. Also using Dayton Audio B452 for the front and back side speakers. Center is an Acoustic Audio AA32CB. This is strictly a mid-level system, but blows away any sound bar system out there.

One important key to get the kind of base I like is to set the sub’s crossover to the lowest option possible. Most subs out there have adjustable crossovers, so just experiment until you get the sound you want.

MoeTE87 wrote

Good morning all,

Wife and I would like to make our basement into a home theater. We already have a top of the line Samsung tv so I am in need of help when it comes to the sound.

Looking for something middle of the road but will sound good and the bass will knock your socks off. Plus, it will be easy for me to hardwire everything.

Room is about 250-500 sq ft. Depending on how I want to enclose it.

Open to suggestions.


Thanks!

What's your price target? Do you want to maximize sound quality or component aesthetic integration? Do you want a musical system as well or just movies? Do you want a simple out of the box type of system or discreet components you can upgrade/individually change out later? Lots of ways to go, but a little more info would help narrow down the possibilities

Well, this could go south fast...

But, as someone who has spent years and years at this pursuit and who currently has a 9.4.6 system (9 base level, 4 subs, 6 overhead speakers). Here's my 2 cents worth.

Bar none, the hardest thing is to get the bass right. To that goal, a single big subwoofer is a NO NO! Use multiple smaller subs, preferably four, one in each corner. Then comes the bass management, the job of your receiver. For this, it's Denon, hands down. Marantz is the same electronics as Denon for more money, get Denon. Best value is the AVR-x3800h. Around 1200 on sale (accessories4less is good, Safe and Sound another, shop refurbs or open box).

The Denon can individually run 4 subs. Plus you have a choice of room correction tools. The free built in Audessey or the optional Dirac, up to the best-in-the-business Dirac ART (an $800 software add on). You WILL need room correction, and those are the best (affordable) in the business.

Beyond that, decide if you want a basic 5.x system (front left, center, front right and surround left, right). This gets you most of the way there. For movie watching the most important speaker is your center channel. I'd base my speaker selection around this choice. You want your front row to be timbre matched as much as possible, so left and right should be from the same vendor and same class as the center. Center should be three-way with tweeter above midrange, woofers either side.

I'd start with a 5.x system, then decide later if you want to add rear surrounds (not that noticeable) or overheads for Dolby Atmos. The 3800 will support those configurations.

I'll stop here, speaker vendor selection is wild. I prefer Revel, KEF is good, there are a bunch.

Plus read these

This won't let me add attachments for some reason

Josh-PA wrote

What's your price target? Do you want to maximize sound quality or component aesthetic integration? Do you want a musical system as well or just movies? Do you want a simple out of the box type of system or discreet components you can upgrade/individually change out later? Lots of ways to go, but a little more info would help narrow down the possibilities

I would say around $5k - 7k.

ctjalsma wrote

Well, this could go south fast...

But, as someone who has spent years and years at this pursuit and who currently has a 9.4.6 system (9 base level, 4 subs, 6 overhead speakers). Here's my 2 cents worth.

Bar none, the hardest thing is to get the bass right. To that goal, a single big subwoofer is a NO NO! Use multiple smaller subs, preferably four, one in each corner. Then comes the bass management, the job of your receiver. For this, it's Denon, hands down. Marantz is the same electronics as Denon for more money, get Denon. Best value is the AVR-x3800h. Around 1200 on sale (accessories4less is good, Safe and Sound another, shop refurbs or open box).

The Denon can individually run 4 subs. Plus you have a choice of room correction tools. The free built in Audessey or the optional Dirac, up to the best-in-the-business Dirac ART (an $800 software add on). You WILL need room correction, and those are the best (affordable) in the business.

Beyond that, decide if you want a basic 5.x system (front left, center, front right and surround left, right). This gets you most of the way there. For movie watching the most important speaker is your center channel. I'd base my speaker selection around this choice. You want your front row to be timbre matched as much as possible, so left and right should be from the same vendor and same class as the center. Center should be three-way with tweeter above midrange, woofers either side.

I'd start with a 5.x system, then decide later if you want to add rear surrounds (not that noticeable) or overheads for Dolby Atmos. The 3800 will support those configurations.

I'll stop here, speaker vendor selection is wild. I prefer Revel, KEF is good, there are a bunch.

Plus read these

This won't let me add attachments for some reason

Lots of great info here! Appreciate it! I will need to do some research as well!

Do your research but don't let it overwhelm you. In the end, find something that makes you happy. There will always be something out there that'll be "better".

With that said, there are two companies I think you should take a look: Emotiva and SVS.

https://emotiva.com/
https://www.svsound.com/

Both have a direct to consumer model. Both companies have been around for a long time. With Emotiva, I have personal experience with them from when they first hit the market with their amplifiers. I still run their first gen XPA-2 two channel power amp in my main A/V system. I recently purchased their BASX A2l+ to use with a Carver CT-17 I have laying around. They have great customer service and have branched out into many different products to include speakers, receivers, CD players, and surround processors. You can always get a hold of someone there via phone and they're more than happy to talk things over with you before buying to make sure you're getting what you want.

SVS has also been around for a long time. They built their reputation on the subwoofers but have also branched out. I don't have personal experience with them other than listening to a system that was set up at the owner/president of the company's home. By that time, I had already built out my home systems so didn't need anything they had to offer.

One thing I will say is your room is the most critical part of how your system will ultimately sound. Many people forget this and don't factor it in. It really depends on how picky you want to be. I spent the time, money, and effort in having a room built out for my main A/V system which includes acoustical treatments. You mention bass being a priority. Having a sub(s) will get you there. Positioning of the sub(s) is critical in the bass performance. Moving a sub into a corner of the room will provide the benefit of helping boost bass in certain frequency ranges. Being able to move a sub around the room to get the best performance is one step. With the room correction technologies now present in lots of surround processors/receivers and even the subs themselves, this makes fine tuning the ultimate sound so much easier. And if you want to go another step further, adding acoustical treatments in the form of bass traps will also help get you there.