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If money is no problem.... (1 Viewer)

ChrisHeflen

Supporting Actor
Joined
Sep 9, 2002
Messages
912
If this is just for a stereo for the house or something to hook up to the tv in the room off the kitchen then go get some top of the line reciever and call it good.
Don't go buy Revel speakers and then power them with a Denon (or whatever) reciever. That's like buying a Porsche and only using it for getting the mail at the end of the driveway. You have to match the whole system.
But if not, then Chu is right.
He should go to a professional installer and have them come and look at the house listen to what he wants and then figure out what he needs.
We can all throw out ideas and maufactures of cool equipment, but that's just what it is. It's not really gonna help becuase there is so much out there. Reality is he needs to find a reputable dealer/installer? and let them help him.
Does he want whole house automation? Does he want music in everyroom? Is he gonna have a dedicated theater?
$50,000.00 is not that much in that case.
 

Scott Oliver

Screenwriter
Joined
Aug 30, 2000
Messages
1,159
Try this on for size:

TAD 2404 Monitors (~$8,000) for the front speakers

TAD makes the best drivers in the world, and this is their best monitor speaker using their best drivers. Most drivers cost hundreds of dollars, TAD drivers cost several thousand.


For a source I would go with one of the newest multi-players, I think my top choice would be the Linn Unidisk 2.1 (~$8,000). It will play everything equally well, is getting good reviews for its music playback abilities, and can of course decode all formats.
Linn Unidisk
Other companies making good multi-format players are Lexicon, McCormack, Micromega, Luxman, and Bel Canto.

Connect the player via its analog oututs to a top-notch multi-channel analog preamplifier. My first choice would be the EMM Labs Switchman-2 ($3,200) So the Linn could be connected to it and then you would still have 3 other 6-channel inputs to use for whatever other source you wanted - tuner, phono, etc.

Then to power the front speakers I would personally want to add some tubes to the chain, however the TAD's would like at least 100 watts. Two good tubed choices would be the Art Audio Opus Ten ($14,500)


or you could save some money and go with the Antique Sound Lab Hurricane 200 DT's ($4,400)


For video, I would go with the JVC DLA-SX21 D-ILA front projector (~$11,000) matched up with a silver or grey screen to slightly improve black levels. Screen will cost
 

gregD

Second Unit
Joined
Jan 16, 2003
Messages
420

Absolutely... especially if the house is currently under construction... there is no better time to properly run cables, and anticipate any basic electrical issues.

Furthermore, in a $10 mil house, there may well be a directive to hide components and speakers from view, i.e., in-wall speakers... I would never have them in my home, but it should be known that there is at least one upscale maker of in-walls to consider: http://www.jamesloudspeaker.com/

I would start with assessing the room acoustics and what will likely be a prominent TV of one sort or the other... then choose speakers, and work back from there... at this level, do not even consider a receiver... ease of use is no different from a receiver to a pre-pro... power amps can be hidden from view if need be... and most importantly, separates will perform much better.
 

Andrew Pratt

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Dec 8, 1998
Messages
3,806
My list would be something along the lines of the following.

Rotel 1098 pre amp
Rotel 1090 2 channel amp * 6
Denon 5900 DVD player
Sony HS20 projector (or something similar)
Stewart Firehawk screen
Philips pronto pro remote
Martin logan speakers all round
Custom built IB subwoofer

That gear list isn't outrageously expensive in comparison to what you could spend on gear but it'll get you very close to the top and leave lot of budget for the room, furiture and funds to hire someone that knows acoustics to design the room.
 

Rich Wenzel

Supporting Actor
Joined
Aug 9, 2002
Messages
556
given 50k for speakers and pre/pro...ignoroing all other aspects (dvd player, scaler, projector, screen, wiring, room treatments, dedicated cd player, etc..)

Pre/Pro = AVM20 (like the upgradability, ill assume video is passed directly to a scaler) with consideration to Marsh, Cary, Bryston, Rotel....$3.5k

2 channel front classe 201 ($3k) (runner ups, Mccormack 225, Marsh a400, BAT 250, BAT 600)
5 channel amplifier, classe cav-180 $4k (runners up, Cary Cinema 5, BAT 6200)

This assumes a 7 channel setup, total $10.5 on pre and amps.

Leaves $40k for speakers

first on my list would be revel and vandersteen...i would also include thiel, audio physics, kef, B&W, snell, & dynaudio...

If the $50k included everything...

I would do
pre/pro - AVM 20 ($3.5k)
amp - Cary Cinema 5 ($4K)

DVD - Marantz DV8400 ($1.2k) (this over the denon 2900 due to the DVI output)

Scaler - Lumagen Vision or Focus ($1k)

Projector - Marantz v3 ($12k) or BenQ 8700 ($5k)

Screen - $2k

Total before speakers - $22k with Marantz, $15k with BenQ

This leaves $28k or $35k...

I would go straight to Revel...Im more 2 channel, so I would look at the salons first and leave the rest for my sub and surrounds...I would also look at Dynaudio in this range and Vandersteen...

Rich
 

Kevin. W

Screenwriter
Joined
Oct 27, 1999
Messages
1,534
Are you guys crazy buying all that expensive junk when you can buy these.



JUST KIDDING

Actually if money was no limit I would put it towards a dedicated HT room in my basement. No matter how much you spend on gear it only sounds as good as your room accoustics will allow it.

Kevin
 

Stelios

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Nov 19, 2003
Messages
115
Thanks guys for all the info. Finally I took the advise of several people here,to hiring someone pro to do his layout. As it was not possible to find a guy in Cyprus, he is flying a guy in from London to design the place. I will give this guy all the info we gathered here so he can choose the best. I will let you know eventually what the final set up is going to be.

Stelios

P.S. george_k distixos exei ena gio tora molis 7 xronom. Ke oute adelfi exei...
 

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