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The original was posted on /r/hometheater by /u/LiteratureInternal89 on 2024-01-18 21:40:35+00:00.
This forum has been AMAZINGLY helpful as I begin my mission to create a solid HT setup. Now it's time to ask questions. Feel free to answer in detail. I learn a ton from you all!
THE SPACE:
We're in the US. Near Los Angeles. Our open living room is about 14ft wide x 28ft deep with the couch (MLP) sitting about 10-12ft from the TV and about 15ft or so of space behind the couch where it opens up to the kitchen (so there's no room for bookshelf speakers behind us). Ceilings are about 8ft. Drywall. No acoustic treatment. Harwood floors. We ARE open to in-ceiling speakers.
THE CHAOS:
We have 3 kids and there's always tons of other kids running around all the time. This is not the quiet secluded home theater room. Think Cheaper by the Dozen.
THE SPEAKERS/AVR:
L&R: The house came with 2 x in-wall SpeakerCraft MT6 One speakers on either side of the TV as the L&R speakers (about 6-7ft apart). We have a 77" LG OLED TV. My wife ideally wants to keep our speakers in-wall if possible. Absolutely NO tower speakers.
CENTER: I just found a Kef R2c speaker on sale, barely used for $400 so I jumped on it immediately. It's big but my wife was big on "can't hear the dialogue" so I jumped on this one after reading about Kef. Now I'm looking to make it all more immersive.
SUB: I picked up a used SVS SB12-NSD for $300. This was my first purchase. There are better ones but I had to start somewhere and this seemed like a solid start to get us rolling. Set it up to crossover at 80Hz.
AVR: We have a Sony STR-DH590 receiver. I know there's lots of other better ones but we didn't have the budget for a new one after we moved. We'd like to keep it for now, but in the near future I was looking into Sony AN1000 or a good deal on an Onkyo RZ50. But if I can stretch my DH590 for a bit that'd be ideal.
That's it. We have no other speakers currently. Already it sounds way better than just the two in-wall speakers alone. But I'm hoping to get creative and
THE BUDGET: One speaker at a time. Trying to get a couple L&R speakers plus maybe 2 rear or side in-ceiling speakers to have a nice surround setup. AVR might have to come later. I don't know. Budget is $1000 but I might be able to stretch it to $1500 with some sweet talking. :) But again...I'm patient and open to used speakers in good condition. Got the Kef R2c for $400 and it's "like new" and would retail for triple that.
THE QUESTIONS:
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I'm looking to get L&R speakers, ideally in-wall. What do you recommend? Or should I keep what I have? I found a good deal on a couple new Kef ci200QL in-wall speakers for $600 for both. Would those work okay with the R2c? (My wife and I like that they're rectangular. While they're not the same R series as the R2c, they're the same Kef brand and the Q series is no slouch. Bookshelf? Eh, again, my wife really doesn't wanna go that route if at all possible.)
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To complete our surround setup, where should we put our other speakers? I found a good deal on a couple of Kef ci200ER ceiling speakers for $200 for the pair. Same Kef brand, not quite as good as the Q series or R series but since they'd be for the surround/rear/side speakers, is that okay? If not, what should I do? I could try to get 4 of them and still be under that $1k budget with the above L&R speakers. Again, there's no place behind our couch for rear speakers since that's open to the kitchen so we figured ceiling speakers would be best. And my wife would rather do in-ceiling speakers vs hanging a speaker from the walls or ceiling.
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One option...I could just get 2 ceiling speakers these and keep the SpeakerCraft in-walls that I have as my L&R and put all that money towards a better AVR like the ones I mentioned above. I'm leaning towards getting the speakers right now though. Thoughts?
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With my current Sony receiver, I've never done a speaker calibration. I didn't even know it came with a calibration mic. I think I threw it away thinking it was an FM antenna or something. Lol. But the Sony ECM-AC2 mic seems to be under $30 so I suppose I could try again. One day we'll get a better receiver, but I'm looking to get the speakers first if possible. Should I buy this and run Sony's auto-calibrate?
Thank you all!