Speakers for new Home Theater 18x30x11 [WxLxH] setup (1 Viewer)

[rakeshth]

Hi everyone, I am new to this forum. I am having a 5.1.2 setup in my Living room with the following config

L&R - Focal Aria 926 (91dB, 8 ohms, 250 Watt)
Center - Focal Aria CC 900 (90dB, 8 ohms, 200 Watt)
Surround - Focal Aria SR 900 (90dB, 8 ohms, 120 Watt)
Atmos - Focal 300 ICW
Sub - Focal Air Sub
AVR - Denon X2500h

I like my Focal speakers. Now I am moving into a new home and there I am setting up a dedicated home theater with the dimensions 18x30x11 Feet. This time I want to take Pre/Pro route and set up a 9.2.6 with the following devices

Pre - Antham AVM 70
LCR Amp - Emotiva XPA-DR3
Surround/Atmos Amp - 2 x Emotiva BasX-A5
Surround back Amp - Emotiva BasX-A2
Subs - SVS SB2000/SB3000 x 2

My use case is 90% Movies and 10% music. The budget is 10,000-15,000 USD for audio components. I need help on the following things

~ Will Focal Aria 926 is good enough to fill the room with a 300-480 Watt Amp
~ Can i upgrade the center speaker to Focal Aria 926 and maintain this setup for 2-3 years ?
~ If not should i go with an In-wall speaker or Tower Speakers for this room size ?
~ I like Focal speakers, so should i go with Focal Kanta 3 ?
~ Can i reuse some/all of my Surround/Atmos speakers ?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Since you like the way those Focal speakers sound, probably best to stick w/ them for the foreseeable future and spend on the rest of the system instead, especially since your use case is 90% movies and only 10% music.

You could always spend more on the subs than just the SVS SB2000/3000 x 2 for that size room instead.

Too bad you need 9.2.6 for the prepro and can't consider going w/ a used Anthem AVM-60 (for $1.8-2K) instead of a new AVM-70 (for $3.8K) to save you anywhere from $1.8-2.2K (after taxes) while not necessarily compromising much, if anything, that might otherwise matter.

However, maybe it makes sense to consider a MRX-1140 AVR instead of the AVM-70 + those Emotiva BasX amps, especially since you've already missed Emotiva's holiday season promo. The MRX-1140 is only a tad more expensive than the AVM-70 and should probably do plenty well driving the surround and atmos speakers while you leave the bulk of the power demands to the Emotiva XPA-DR3 and better subs -- the subs probably demand the most power-wise, and I'd certainly rather spend on higher end subs than only additional Emotiva BasX amps (over what an Anthem AVR can do for the surrounds and/or atmos ceiling speakers)...

_Man_

 

[JohnRice]

Without going too deep into the weeds (which I can if you want) you might consider scaling back your system from 9.2.6 to 7.2.4. You could always wire it for 9.2.6 for future expansion if/when home Atmos capabilities expand in the future.

The fact is, home Atmos is somewhat limited, and it's debatable if you will gain anything going beyond 7.2.4 until/unless the capabilities are expanded in the future. Just realize that if you do go 9.2.6, you will often get nothing from the middle pair of surround and overhead speakers. There are potential solutions to that, but currently it's kind of a mess.

Expanding on Man's comment, I would definitely take some money you planned on the extra speakers and put it into subs. Those are just not up to the task in a room that size. In SVS, a pair of SB-16 Ultras would not be overkill

 

[rakeshth]

Thanks Man & John, maybe i need to take a step back and ask a more basic question. Do prepro make a significant difference for a Home Theather set up? I have seen many videos where people say that they saw day and night differences after they moved from an AVR to prepro. They say channel suppression is much better in the prepro. If it is not 100% true going to AVR makes much more sense. Can you please comment on this?

In India, Amotiva does not have a proper distribution network & after-sales support is poor. Instead, can I go with Denon X8500 or Maranz 8150, because Denon & Maranz is having a decent distribution network in my country.

If I go with AVR route do I need to have a power Amp for LCR alone or I need to get a power amp for surrounds as well.

As per Jonn's comments, i am planning to start my setup with 7.2.4. Coming to the number of channels, should i need to invest in 15 channel AVR/Pre-amp or 13 channels is good enough? Because there is a sharp increase in the price for just 2 additional channels.

For the Centar speaker should i need to update it and match it with my L&R speakers? Or my current 2-way speaker is good enough for my room size.

For Subs, i too feel 2000/3000 is small, but my vendor is pushing to go with 2000x2 as he feels 3000x2 is overkill. I am not sure why he is telling me that. Can you please share your thoughts on this? Also if i need to upgrade my subs, should i go with PB4000x2 vs SB-16x2 ?

I think I am asking too many questions, please don't mind

 

[Wardog555]

You want ported subwoofers not sealed for movies and TV series. For svs is PB rather than SB

 

[Al.Anderson]

Most of the advantages of a pre/pro is power in the amp, and connectivity and advanced signal processing in the pre-amp. I don't think you're going to need more power with the Focal Aria's having 92 sensitivity. You'll definitely want the subs though.
I would try your current system (with the new subs) in the new location and decide if it's loud enough. If it is, just get a new receiver that can handle whatever Atmos level you decide on. (The Atmos speaker will add some volume, but not much in the scheme of things, they're mostly for effects.)

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

IF you're going w/ the Marantz SR8015 (or Anthem MRX-1140... or the comparable Denon for that matter), you could always add the dedicated amp for LCR later, if you find you need/want the extra power.

My understanding is the Anthem offers better room correction, but it doesn't come w/ HDMI 2.1, if you need/want that -- that costs substantial extra to upgrade.

You probably don't really need to get the Emotiva XPA-DR3 in that case. Their XPA-3 (Gen 3) may be plenty good enough (and cost $800 less than the DR3) -- it will already provide a good deal more power to the LCRs than any of those AVRs, especially in a full atmos setup, and should allow cleaner power (and headroom) to the surrounds/height channels once the AVR isn't still driving the LCRs...

But sure, if you wanna play it safer and don't mind spending the extra, you could add the DR3 at that point instead of XPA3...

And as Al suggested above, probably makes good sense to try going w/ just AVR alone first knowing you can always add the amp for LCRs later... especially if it's difficult for you to get a good amp (and/or acceptable service) where you are...

_Man_

 

[JohnRice]

That whole ported vs sealed argument has been repeated for decades. A lot has changed in that time with subwoofer design and options and it simply is no longer correct.

Over the last 2-3 years I switched from all ported subs to all sealed ones and will never look back. In the old days, ported meant more bass and sealed meant cleaner bass, but there are several options today that offer plenty of both, but that can only be achieved in a sealed design. I think I'll compose a follow-up in my SB-16 Review to go into it in more detail. Give me some time.

 

[JohnRice]

Thanks Man & John, maybe i need to take a step back and ask a more basic question. Do prepro make a significant difference for a Home Theather set up? I have seen many videos where people say that they saw day and night differences after they moved from an AVR to prepro. They say channel suppression is much better in the prepro. If it is not 100% true going to AVR makes much more sense. Can you please comment on this?

In India, Amotiva does not have a proper distribution network & after-sales support is poor. Instead, can I go with Denon X8500 or Maranz 8150, because Denon & Maranz is having a decent distribution network in my country.

If I go with AVR route do I need to have a power Amp for LCR alone or I need to get a power amp for surrounds as well.

As per Jonn's comments, i am planning to start my setup with 7.2.4. Coming to the number of channels, should i need to invest in 15 channel AVR/Pre-amp or 13 channels is good enough? Because there is a sharp increase in the price for just 2 additional channels.

For the Centar speaker should i need to update it and match it with my L&R speakers? Or my current 2-way speaker is good enough for my room size.

For Subs, i too feel 2000/3000 is small, but my vendor is pushing to go with 2000x2 as he feels 3000x2 is overkill. I am not sure why he is telling me that. Can you please share your thoughts on this? Also if i need to upgrade my subs, should i go with PB4000x2 vs SB-16x2 ?

I think I am asking too many questions, please don't mind

I definitely agree with the suggestion of using a receiver with the anticipation of adding an amp at least for the front three channels in the future. Again, an amp is more a refining measure after you get others things up to par. And, it's really not about how "loud" the system is, but how dynamic it is. With that said, I'd hesitate to spend the $ for an 8xxx series receiver. That's just a lot of money that I believe can be spent better elsewhere. A Denon 6xxx or Marantz 7xxx series and an amp makes more sense to me.

To repeat my last post, I've been beating my head against that "you must have a ported sub" wall for a few years now. It's just not the case. A top notch sealed sub will always provide the best of all characteristics.