New Member, set-up advice...opinoins (1 Viewer)

[StanM3]

Thank you for the membership first off! I recently bought a home in Dec '19 and created a "theatre" in my living room. I am slowly upgrading everything but my current set up is as follows. A wall mounted 75in Samsung 4K tv, Yamaha RX-A1040 receiver, Focal Chorus 716.S floor speakers, Infinity Kappa center, surround and sub. I used iVanky HDMI cables, gold-plated Kobel Direkt fiber optic cable with 16g wire to everything.

I want to upgrade my sub, center and rear speakers although in a dilemma. I listen to all genres of music as well as watch alot of movies. My living room is roughly 20x15 in size. I would sometime in the future also upgrade to a Dobly Atmos receiver also.

Any and all the help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Since your keeping the 716’s, other speakers from the Chrous line would be ideal, such as the SR700 or 706 for surrounds and CC700 for center.

For subs, several internet-direct brands are popular – Monoprice, Hsu, SVS, Rythmik, Power Sound.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[StanM3]

Thank you for the fast response. With this being my first house and so big into music and audio I just really want to do the best I can with the budget I have.

In regards to the center and surround speakers, is it better to all have the same brand or does it matter? I started looking into the Focal series surround sound and center speakers from both there home page and also a few online shops. They have very high reviews and very interested in them. As for the surround speakers, what is the difference with bookshelf vs surround rear speakers. Like for example with Focal the bookshelf speakers Focal Dome Flax vs Focal Aria SR900? Very high end speakers which reflects in the price although I would rather save and wait to purchase great sound instead of rush and get average sound with less expensive speakers.

And the final question is about powered subs. When is it enough, not enough or too much for watts? Also is there a difference whether it is firing down or to the front of the sub?

Thank you for everything, I am like a sponge with all of this and just taking in as much info as possible

 

[John Dirk]

The answers to most of your questions depend on your environment, such as spousal acceptance factor [SAF] if applicable, listening habits and room characteristics. Since you're using your living room I would not expect you want too powerful of a sub but maybe you do. I would spend some time at the SVS site for more information regarding options in that category. Even if you decide to go with a competitor, there's still a lot of good information there.

Your front 3 speakers should ideally be from the same manufacturer and same line within that manufacturer. The others aren't as important. Just make sure you get speakers capable of producing as close to full-range dynamics as possible. The Kappa series is usually pretty capable already so I don't know if an upgrade there is really even needed. You may also want to consider a dipole design for your surrounds, again, depending on your preferences and environment. Here's a YouTube video that explains this in greater detail.

Most would agree there is really no practical thing as too many watts but too few can definitely be a problem. You just need to pay close attention to the manufacturers specs and be careful with 4 ohm designs unless you're willing to spend a little more to properly power them. If a speaker has a nominal impedance of 4 ohms then it's actual impedance at certain frequencies can dip much lower, which is not something lesser amplifiers always handle well.

Happy hunting!