New and need some 7.1 help (1 Viewer)

[familyguy]

hey everyone, i am in the process of getting my basement finished so i figured i should see what kind of audio i want because it will be easy to lay wires and such.

Anyways i have a budget around 1100 and would really like some thoughts of what recievers and speakers are the best. Also im planning to do 7.1 and wanted to know if the rear speakers are suppose to be a bit more powerful than the rear surround. Or should all 4 rear speakers be the exact same model.

Also planning on buying the speaker wire soon and will be going with 12 guage. However, do i need that special in wall speaker wire. Its more expensive of course but i dont know if its worth it. There are no temperature extremes in my basement so i dont see how the wires could get worn out. Any thoughts would be a real help

thanks

 

[familyguy]

anyone? also i know this might sound dumb but the receiver i want to get is 7.1 yet it has 9 speaker terminals on the back?

 

[mylan]

As far as the speaker wire, you do need a CL3 rated wire that has an outer jacket on it for fire code rating, 16G will do just fine, especially for surrounds IF you will be running it inside the walls. We need more info to further assist you concerning the other questions. Is the receiver in question a Yamaha? If so, those two extra terminals are for the front effects speakers, which are really optional. Ideally, all channels should have the same power. Is the $1,100 budgeted only for speakers or does that include the receiver?

 

[Arthur S]

familyguy

For about $1,100 I would look at a Pioneer receiver, like the 816, and speaker packages from AV123, BIC, or Premier.

Happy Holidays

 

[familyguy]

what about the back four speaker tho?

 

[frogpond]

Rears, fronts and center should match and be the same power. Although some get different speakers for the rear its always best to match the fronts. There are NO movies mastered in 7.1 so the extra channels would just be phantom. There is another thread on that subject around here somewhere. Some like 7.1 and others do not. Speakers are objective in that its what sounds good to you. Also try the SVS packages.