New setup from scratch, need equipment advice. (1 Viewer)

[Goosey]

Hello all!

We've recently sold our home so I'm building an equipment list for the media room in our new home.

Our current house has a great dedicated HT setup built by the previous owners. 100" screen, ceiling mounted projector and speakers, HT seating with a 2nd row riser, dark paint, etc.

So far I've really only picked out the video part, going with a BenQ HT3550 and a 120" screen. I'll also use this for my gaming needs and require a 4K receiver. I've always had Onkyo but it looks like the latest generations have issues with the HDMI and 4K.

I think I'm going to go with a Denon AVR-S740H but would like recommendations.
As for speakers, I'd like to go with a 7.1 setup but have zero clue on brands or anything else really. I'm a noob when it comes to audio.

Not looking to break the bank, and any high-end sound would probably be wasted on me but would love to hear any suggestions and advice you could provide.

Also, not sure if I really need other components like an amp or power conditioner?

Thanks!
Tim

 

[JohnRice]

My initial impression is that spending 5x as much on the projector as the receiver is way out of proportion. Is audio of that little importance for you?

 

[Goosey]

Kind of, but I can be persuaded

The only movies that get watched are for family movie nights, and the wife and kids don't like it loud unfortunetly.
For myself, I don't watch any movies only play games. I'm a big gamer with over 1600 physical games in my collection so the 4K is important there. When I am playing a game I usually keep it relatively quite as not to rattle the house.

I would LOVE to have a quaility audio system that helps immerse me into my games but I worry that it'll be wasted money for my usage.

Maybe if I had a quaility audio setup the "loud" would really just be more clear and clean than loud. I dunno, I'm a complete audio noob.

Thanks for the response btw! I'm really looking forward to getting a nice setup going.

 

[JohnRice]

There's a LOT more to quality audio than just "loud". The problem is, you might invest in a quality system, then find it just isn't your priority. What I find a lot of the time is that "quality" in audio isn't what so many people think it is. They can get a genuinely better system, but "better" isn't what they expected, and they aren't happy until/unless at some point it hits them how the system is better. I know, it should be obvious, but it isn't. That's why Bose has been so successful for decades selling grossly overpriced garbage.

For some specific suggestions, let's say you were willing to spend $2-2.5K on an audio system. Right now you can get a Marantz SR7012 on closeout for $1K. That's more than 50% off, and when they're gone, they're gone. It's the previous year's model, and might be overkill, but at the moment it's the best bargain out there. Denon closeouts are more common and frequent, and generally less expensive. You just look at the previous year models when the new ones come out.

In my book, the best value in affordable speakers right now is the ELAC Debut v2 line. There are also frequent deals on them. Last year the B6.2 speakers were 1/2 price. six of those, with the matching center channel (you could go with the 5.2 center to save some $) would make a seriously nice system. Then you just decide how important a subwoofer is. You have the BIC F-12 at the bargain end, as well as some of the Dayton models at $200 or less. To get anything significantly better, you need to go HSU or SVS, probably, at $500 or more.