2. home-theater
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Ideas to improve my system

In short, I’m looking for ideas to improve to my system.


What do I want out of a system?

I would like to have a system that sounds great during both 2ch music and movies (think criterion not marvel).

I live in NYC and my living room does double duty as a listening area + home theatre. I am unlikely to be able to have a separate listening and watching space anytime soon. I primarily listen to music from records, Apple Music and Spotify and watch movies from an Apple TV 4K.


What do I currently use?

A bit of a hodgepodge/mess bought over the past 10+ years

Rega Planar 1 with Ortofon Blue (and a few other minor upgrades)

Musical Fidelity phono pre-amp

Sony DN1080 Receiver

B&W HTM6 S2 Center channel

Klipsch Hersey IV

4 Mirage Omnisat v2 speakers

The system also has a dedicated line

At my desk

Sony IER-M9 powered by a RME ADI-2 DAC with corrections from AutoEQ (I love this setup)


What do I not want?

I tried height speakers and they didn’t give me much.


What do I like?

I want my living room sound to feel exciting, visceral and something special. My desk setup is pretty perfect for me reference wise but I want the living room to be a bit different. I like the Hersey much more than expected and I want to generally build a cohesive system around them. They perform great in my apartment for music. For movies, they are actually great left/right speakers! They make string or brass soundtracks come alive. The B&W center channel isolates dialog pretty well and transitions between the Heresy and B&W rarely bother me or other listeners I’ve had in the space.


What isn’t going to fly

  • Going 2 channel. My girlfriend objects and likes the surround speakers (as do I).
  • Wall treatments. Not a lot I can do here unfortunately - I have thick rugs and a fair amount of furniture + books on walls.

Options considered

  • Add a sub like KEF KC62 (I can’t do 2 tho)
  • Match the center channel to the Hersey’s via Klipsch center
  • Upgrade the receiver (thinking something like the NAD t 778 or upcoming Yamaha RX-A6A)
  • Switch to separates (I’m very fond of the Anthem’s room correction but would need the AVM70 + a 5 channel amp)

Are there other things folks would recommend? If you had 3-5k to spend, where would you put it?


zamiang

Showing 3 responses by zamiang

zamiang OP
3 posts
 
This discussion has been super helpful!

I’m generally leaning in the separates or ht bypass direction. I like that I could get an amp that matches well with the Hersey as well.

For the separates approach it seems like the Anthem AVM 70 + Anthem MCA 525 Gen 2 (total is about 7500) would be a dream setup. That is a little out of my budget and I just am not as comfortable with the used market right now. Other options seem to be roughly in that ballpark. It seems folks use the budget-ish 5-7 channel amps (like the Outlaw MODEL 5000X) just for surrounds and front…meaning I would need 3 total components (processor and 2 amps which would basically erase the cost savings).

The HT BYPASS approach, I would need to upgrade the AVR (you are correct elliottbnewcombjr) but I could do that relatively affordably - it looks like the Yamaha RX-A6A has a great DAC, is $2,100 and has HT BYPASS. I could then get a relatively low powered 2ch amp that would work with the Hersey IV for ~1000-2000.

If I wanted to have some room correction on the 2 channel setup (debatable I know), can you keep room correction from the AVR on while using HT BYPASS? I imagine I would create a 2 channel profile with the AVR based on powering 2 speakers via the HT BYPASS, but my understanding is the HT BYPASS…bypasses the room correction/equalization? Or would I need to get a 2 channel amp that has some built in room correction?

Thanks!
zamiang OP
3 posts
 
Current direction I'm leaning:

Yamaha RX-A6A using the balanced front pre-out to connect to a Zen Decware  (https://www.decware.com/newsite/SE84CKCS.html) powering the Hersey IV

I believe the pre-outs are still corrected with dirac but I'm not 100% sure. The downside of the Zen is that it would not automatically turn on when my tv turns on. Are there others that I am missing?

The total cost there is around 4k.
zamiang OP
3 posts
 
Thanks elliottbnewcombjr2! Yea the AVR sets the non-Hersey speakers +6db. It definitely weird to have that much of a difference, but I’m a little unclear on exactly what issues that causes tho from an audio quality perspective. For correcting the sensitivity mismatch, could I get around that problem somewhat by having a separate power amp for the Hersey? Even if I replaced the center, my surrounds would still have the same problem. Right now they are a slightly bigger of a mismatch at 6.5db

Bass wise, things seem fine? I’d would love to try out a sub in the system and really experience the difference tho. It is likely that to knotscott’s point, it may just make the rest of the speakers sound a bit better.


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