Home theater help from scratch 5.2 25k budget

Fwiw, for that amount of $$$ you can build one heck of a great HT. I'm in the seperates camp. I suggest you look into "demo" gear from authorized dealers.
Full warranty comes with this type of purchase. I highly recommend tonality matched speakers, a upscale processor, upscale amplifier and a decent source component.
For comparison my HT is 23x15x8 5.1 no atmos wanted
Processor Acurus Act4 @4800 "demo" SRP 7900
Speakers B&W 803d2 front @6000 SRP 12000 "demo", B&W center @350 SRP 800, Polk rear 500 vintage SRP 450 JL F112 v2 Sub @2700 SRP 3700"demo"
Amp Emotiva Gen3 5Ch @1900 new (the Krell died unexpectedly )
Oppo 103 @459, Hitachi 65" 4k flat screen @ 579
Assorted cabling approx 4500 to 5000 all purchased used
Total HT cost 22238 approximately on the high side, does not include room treatment or aesthetics. 

It totally is the cats meow which I enjoy daily for both movies and music.
Shop wisely and never ever pay SRP.

Monitor Audio Platinum and Anthem HT receiver.

Its just TV, I think your going way overboard. 

   My receiver based HT was last upgraded when Pioneer was still selling Elite Kuro plasmas. I wouldn't go back to 5.x despite the disparity in 7.x content I find the surround from 7.x matrixing can be more discrete than dipoles and generally more enveloping. Give any thought to powered speakers?
   My analog based tube stereo is in a dedicated room and its delicate soundstage is totally compromised with a giant display behind the speakers.  
    Video and some multichannel music content through the HTs "whiz bang effects" are simply outstandingly fun. I use seven identical speakers at ear level as close to a perfect circle as possible needs a minimal amount of room correction and provides a fabulous surround effect. If the bottom of your display is 50" from the floor you've got room to spare and no need for a center channel unless you use all vertically mounted centers.
   I prefer modern manual option DSP in subwoofers, auto EQ is merely a starting point. I think SVS offers some method of a manual Q adjustment, frequency and level? In any case I'd go with sealed versions in mono, one DSP and slave a non DSP from a non LF sub output in crawl tested room locations. Have fun with it.

Please contact us we actually build theaters.

There is a lot more to this then you think.


Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

I'm a big home theater guy and I disagree with millercarbon that a 2-channel rig in "phantom center" mode will sound as good as discrete 3 channels.  It will sound nice, of course, but you will not have the directional aspect of a true center channel.  Even though 2 stereo speakers can be made to "simulate" a center channel, the acoustics will still sound like 2 widely placed stereo speakers.  You are also challenged with speaker location, so a 2-channel "phantom center" is not going to work well in my opinion.

I love the B&W D3 and I have the exact same speaker you are planning.  It is my opinion that in HT, the front 3 speakers need to be exactly the same or as close as possible (i.e. same manufacture/series such as all D3).  The surrounds do not need to be exactly the same, but they should be close.  For example, I am still running old Focal Cobalt speaker for my surrounds and they do just fine.  However, I have had different front speakers and it is definitely a problem when you have a center speaker that is voiced differently than left/right speakers.

Consider buying used?  There is a 1-month old 805 D3 pair on audiogon for $4600. 

As far as receiver vs separates.  You will always do much better with separates, but it can be a little more costly depending.  The B&W D3 will like a solid high current amp much better than a receiver.  There is a huge difference in amplifier capability between a receiver and a dedicated amp.  I would suggest looking at Outlaw Audio for a budget level separates.  Their 7700 amp is conservatively priced at $2500 and will be significantly better than pretty much all receivers.  Their 976 pre/pro is under $1k and have 4 HDMI 4K/UHD inputs.  Unnless you really need 6 HDMI inputs supporting full 4K, this is a good deal.  Otherwise, maybe look at the Emotiva XMC-2 for $3k.  Or much better, look for a used Krell Foundation 4K.

There are other amplifier choices and pre/pros.

Like I said, separates will typically be engineered for sound quality, so technology upgrades may not be as fast.  However, if your primary concern is 4K UHD and don't really care about bells and whistles (such as atmos, internet radio, bluetooth, etc.), the separates route will always yield better results.