Some amplifier questions

Wemfan,

Just a few thoughts:

1. The Oppo 105- I bought mine at Crutchfield for $1,219 but free shipping. You can get it for $1,199 at Amazon and direct from Oppo but not with free shipping. When I bought at the end of Jan., this resulted in a net price that was $7 less from Crutchfield for me. You may have other incentives for buying elsewhere. so just an FYI.

2. Setup- Since you don't have an abundance of space, I would recommend wall mounting your 65" plasma. I mounted my 65" plasma in my living room system. The trick is mounting it at the right height, not too high or low. You want your head, from your viewing seat or bed in your case, to be at the same height as the middle of your tv screen. The middle of my screen, following this guideline, meant I mounted the middle of my tv 39" from the floor and this has worked out very well. You could measure the height of your eyes when on your laying in bed in a viewing position and then match the center of your tv to that height.

My mount (bought from Mounts Direct for $210) also telescopes out 36" from the wall, tilts several inches up and down and 90 degrees left and right. The movement up to 3ft closer may prove very useful for your situation.

3. Speakers(l+ c +r)and sub:

KEF LS50s- highly regarded spkrs but would require stands($100-200) and a subwoofer($800-1000). Matching center($300-800) could be wall mounted or set on stand. You'd probably want to bolt a door stop to the floor just before the LS50 stand to prevent tipping. Total spkr cost= $2,700-4,500(top price would include a 3rd LS50 as center).

Gallo Strata 2- Also highly regarded spkrs but would require wall mounting or stand mounting of speakers and a subwoofer($650-1000) is needed. Gallo Strata 2 custom stands are pricey at $450/pr. Door stop also would be good. Total spkr cost= $3,100-3,550.

Golden Ear Triton Three- Again, highly regarded spkrs but should eliminate the need for a sub. No stands required but matching centers are expensive($600-800). A floor door stop should also be used to prevent cosmetic damage. Total spkr cost=$2,600-2,800.

Honestly, I have not heard any of these speakers. But, from reading reviews and customer feedback, I am fairly certain any of these systems would meet or exceed your expectations. You could probably find local retailers to listen to the KEF and Gallo systems as well as other brands you may like. Golden Ear speakers, however, are sold direct with a home audition period so hearing them would be more difficult.

These options are not cheap so I'm sure you want to choose wisely. I'm retired with plenty of spare time, so I'm willing to help as much as I can. I have a very similar system to your projected one(Panasonic 65" plasma, Oppo 105 and surround setup) so I feel my experience may help you.

Plus, I'm really enjoying spending your money,
Tim

Since 90% of your time will be watching TV the center speaker will be of particular importance and I'd try to get the best one that fits your space and budget. Personally I like either using a monitor speaker (preferably matching the L/R speakers), but as this is not usually practical due to speaker height I'd choose a center with the tweeter located atop a dedicated midrange driver and then flanked by two midwoofs (I have been underwhelmed by center speakers that have two midwoofs flanking a single tweeter). Something like the Aperion Intimus 5C may be ideal as it comes in this configuration and is also less than 8" in height. Add their matching 5B bookshelves and an SVS PB1000 sub and you'd have the beginnings of a nice full-range system that's relatively economical and doesn't take up a lot of space. Paradigm also makes a Center1 speaker (and matching monitors) that would also fit your space and has a similar configuration, but at that price level I'd go with Aperion's silk dome tweeter over the Paradigm's metal dome, but that's personal preference. Given the size of your room I'm not sure I'd want to use tower speakers without a sub as they'd need to be pretty large to get bass near that of a subwoofer and may overwhelm your room visually and sonically.

As for electronics, an important consideration is the effectiveness of any room/speaker correction as that can make a big difference in what you ultimately hear especially in a smaller room. I'm not familiar with how the Oppo performs in this regard, but if it does well then maybe purchasing the Aperion speakers/SVS sub and the Emotiva amp mentioned above might make for an excellent combination for your situation/purposes (and I believe all offer nice in-home trial periods). If the Oppo doesn't do a good job with room correction it may be worth considering a decent AV receiver instead. Something like a Yamaha RXV475 should work perfectly fine for this application unless you want to spend considerably more for separates or a better AVR, but given this is mainly for lower volume TV watching I'm not sure it's worth the added expense. For whatever it's worth...

Soix, I hate to admit it but I have no idea what room/speaker correction is on an audio amp. I am only going to have 3 spaces below the television to put gear. A center speaker, blu-ray and what ever amp/preamp goes in the last slot unless I can double something up. I will have a look at the Aperion speakers. Thanks...

Tim, I don't want to mount the televison on the wall and have ordered a rack that will put the tv at just the right height for watching in bed. I'm glad you are enjoying spending my money because many times I don't buy because I just don't know what to get. I have been watching this bedroom tv and listening to the stock speakers for 2 1/2 years so I am ready to do something. I really appreciate all of the info I have received on this thread. I have some info to work with and I have learned several things. Once the rack gets here I plan to have made decisions on the amps and speakers. I will update this thread as I go along.

Here's a link with a brief description of what room correction does. If you go to the bottom and click the FAQ section there will be answers to many other questions you may find helpful as well. In a nutshell, even getting stereo speakers to sound balanced in a room can be a challenge, but add to that a center channel and a sub and the task gets exponentially harder -- especially regarding integrating the sub properly. These programs can be very helpful in setting the proper levels for each speaker while also taming a room's particular influence on the sound -- one of the most neglected and important aspects of achieving really great sound.

http://www.audyssey.com/technologies/multeq/how-to

One of the gold standards right now is Audyssey MultEQ XT32, but you'd have to pay up a bit to get that right now and as this is not a super-critical listening environment you have to decide whether this is worth it. Given your application here I'm not so sure it is and that one of the very good mid-level correction programs in the cheaper receivers/prepros wouldn't be more than fine. There are many out there (me included) who will say room correction along with speaker selection will have the biggest absolute impact on what you ultimately hear. Not that everything isn't important -- it most certainly is from an ultimate qualitative standpoint -- but in terms of the magnitude of impact on what you ultimately hear this has been my experience.

Wemfan,

Ok, it sounds like you have made some decisions:

You have a rack ordered with 3 shelf positions that will hold a yet to be determined center spkr, the Oppo 105 and a yet to be determined amp or a/v receiver. I'm not certain, but it sounds like the rack will also accommodate your 65" plasma either setting atop or attached to some built in structure.

Soix has raised some good points that deserve addressing:

1. Cost- Couldn't you just use an a/v receiver, with Audyssey or other room control capacity, along with a left, center and right speakers and possible sub?

The short answer is yes, you could, and this would give you sound quality far beyond your Panasonic's internal speakers and would be the least expensive option. However, I (and I think Rlwainwright and Dbphd, too) thought you were willing to pay more for sound quality a few steps beyond mass market consumer electronics and speakers, which is why we suggested higher end solutions.

Given your situation, sound goals and budget, your decision to buy the Oppo 105 is an excellent choice/solution. This unit has features that I'm not sure Soix is aware of:

It eliminates the need for an a/v receiver since it can be used as a limited input preamp (that works well for your requirements), surround sound processor for 3.1 to 7.1 configuration as well as high quality audio/video processors and dacs for music, movies and ota, cable and satellite hdtv. All you need to add is the amplifier and speakers.

It is true the Oppo lacks the sophisticated room correction software (Audyssey,etc) that some newer a/v receivers have but it does have a more basic speaker setup capacity that I think is ample for your purposes using a 3.0 or 3.1 setup. The Oppo's speaker configuration menu has a test tone generator that lets you balance your speakers manually by ear. You initially enter the distance in feet that your spkrs(l,c, r and sub) are from your listening position. If the system's algorithm settings are not to your liking, you can adjust each spkrs level up or down until you achieve the most balanced results to your ears.

The Oppo, along with a high quality 3-channel amp, likely gives you audio performance beyond almost any a/v receiver and light yrs ahead of the sound you currently have.

2. Equipment-Couldn't you just buy a simple setup consisting of a left, center and right speakers with a sub (like Axiom spkrs with a SVC sub)?

Again, the answer is yes you could. It all comes down to your budget and sound quality goals. Dbphd, Rlwainwright and I all offered options that are, admittedly, on the hi-end of the sound quality and cost spectrum that may be better suited to someone's main a/v system than a bedroom setup.

Are our suggestions 'overkill' and Soix's suggestion more appropriate and reasonable? Absolutely, but its your money and you just need to decide how much better sound is worth to you and how much your willing to spend. Only you, of course, can answer this.

You do have lots of options.

Have fun and enjoy the search,
Tim