Sound for my new theater?

First priority is music but this is a full blown custom built theater with 12 seats and a fairly large volume. I've been an audiophile junkie for most of my adult life. I cleared out all my high end stuff (Roland Research pre and mono amps with B&W 801s, Sota vacuum table with EMT air bearing arm and numerous cartridges) in the mid 90s due to a lack of usability at the time. The kids were young and the only room was the main living area. They made noise during the day and I couldn't make noise at night. I've had Maggies in the 70s, Acoustats, Vandersteens and B&Ws in the 80s and 90s. Got into the Linn stuff a few years ago but really didn't have a very good room until now. Almost anyway, it should be finished in about a month.

As for budget, I really don't want to spend more than $5k or so on the main speakers plus whatever additional $$ for the center and surrounds. Would like to stay around $5k for a pre-pro although I'm intrigued by the Anthem. Maybe $5k or so on amps. I'm concerned about committing to deeply to the Linn approach especially considering that the Unidisk SC doesn't support HDMI and lossless codecs. The system would be somewhat obsolete from the start.

I'm willing to start from scratch but I haven't really kept up with the audiophile equipment for a long time and would like a very musical combined HT system. And as we all know, there aren't as many Audiophile shops around as there used to be.

I think the Linn 5140 is a great speaker (I owned two pairs active with 5105's powering them and a 5120 center, also active) but they do not output the volume needed for larger rooms,especially for HT. They were great in my condo, but not enough for my home so I would look elsewhere.

Next week the Oppo digital BluRay player comes out that will, eventually, do all discs including SACD and DVD-Audio, so wait and buy that. Then since you have a nice budget, I would go all Maggie speakers with Bryston amps, a Rel B1 sub, and Cary 11a and 11v home theater processor.

Thanks, that was fun to spend your money!!

I would also add a Scoutmaster Sig turntable with and ARC 5 phono preamp.

Man, that's a nice system. Can I come over and watch/listen????

All Magggie 7.1 systems sounds interesting. You are going to need some bass reinforcement and big amps to pull it off. I would consult the maggie crowd for amp recommendations.

Soundstage liked them.

http://www.hometheatersound.com/equipment/magnepan_mmgw_mmgc.htm

I got my dad into the Anthem AVM50 and he loves it. It has HDMI switching, and he felt that was the future standard. They provide some upgrade paths in the design as well to avoid obsolescence.

Wow. Nice size room and screen! Yayy you. 12 seats? You’re the proud father of a very large family, or you will be entertaining. Congrats either way.

I’d think the biggest obstacle in erecting a good to excellent HT system, is when someone wants to mitigate the intended aim or goals of an actual home theater rig. Namely by adding this item to their designs , “… and for music as well”.

That simgle compromise confounds me, and I’m quite guilty of making it. My answer was provided me by separating things into individual systems. In your case perhaps via a ‘pass thru’ option in the pre/proc.. in mine, just separates entirely will suffice… and maybe a tube CDP or TT.

I’m sure you get this but I’ll add it in to be sure. Audio and theater rigs are in fact very different animals. Only the components seem to indicate some correlations… though not the actual content of each. HT wants snap crackle, and BANG! Music wants sizzle, slam, and smooth extension. Occasionally some of the HT attributes yet in a different context

It’s pretty hard to have breaking glass, gun shots, helicopters, missles, lightening, monsters and rain sound like they should when played in a musical system with the same impact they have in theater systems… the ‘jump’ factor is a prerequisite for HT!

I’ve never employed panels at all. My observations & auditions of them however don’t lend them to providing HT excellence though IMHO. I say go cones throughout. I’d say too, rethink the sub or subs for that size room. I believe two will be your best bet. I do like my DD 15 in an < 2800 cu ft. closed off room. I’d also think about dipole surrounds to lessen the point source info and increase the information those sitting off prime real estate positions will receive.

Anthem does a good job with their pre/procs. I’d go with other amp (s) though. Krell amps offer much for HT SUCCESS. I’d also look for a pre/proc with MACROS, so you can configure all the lights, projector, amps, etc to initiate sequentially for a stunning presentation. Triggering on & off this and that, lights, curtains, screen deployment, etc. with but a single button push of the master remote sure makes you look like the expert you are… and the cool factor is off the scale.

My Onkyo receiver will do that so I assume a good processor should too.

HDMI 2.0 is now on the scene in limited fashion, so at least go with 1.3a there. A nice Blue Ray player isn’t a lot of money now either. A good item there can do all the decoding for you via analog anyways. HDMI DOES give you great sound and video though too… and saves $$$. I run a 26 ft HDMI cable to my PJ without any issues at all. $60 - $75 via Blue Jeans incld ship. Also for other components at $12 - $20 depending on the lengths you may need. Only until I get well into my IC cables does the sound improve noticeably… and I do mean well into… HT Magic IIs, SR Resolution Refs, Nirvana SX, etc. I’ve found Audio art a tuff to improve upon calbe, until you get well into the $400 > $500 per set range.

Personally keeping the Lynn speakers and adding to them if they are in fact acceptable is where I’d start, unless you just want a change. I’d focus on good strong amps, subs, cabling, and ease of operation.

Had you thought of built in wall speakers? The resultant cosmetic is super clean and expands the overall room size by not subtracting speaker foot prints and their resultant configurations. I’d strongly think that way were I to do it all over again… or on the scale your’s is headed.

With all HDMI cabling through out, power cords can become quite the thing at each end of the signal train… sources or amps.

I’m very happy with what my HT array supplies me, and it’s not a full on HT rig. The Silverlines do very, very well in HT but save some impact from the most leading edge of information, given their Dyn Audio drivers. Musically however as the result, they remain quite enjoyable… with SS power. Better with tubes though for sure. The DD sub makes all the difference in the whole of things I’ve always felt that they did have a great effect with HT RIGS AND SHOULD SOME COMPROMISES BE NEEDED, LOOK ELSWEWHERE THEN AT THE SUB WOOFERS TO GET IT..

For me to improve overall, only adding a 3ch amp, and maybe thereafter a dedicated processor would be required to really elevate things. BTW I used Canare 4s11 speaker wire and am impressed, especially with a couple runs of near 40 ft to the rears which the Onkyo receiver runs now with out issue driving Silverline SR 15s on Sound anchor stands.

Given your screen size, the audio does need to be as congruent as possible to fill out the effect. Pretty good duynamic speakers with good to very good amounts of power and a great sub or two, should do the trick.

One last note… it’s more of an embarrassment to explain why something isn’t just right in the audio or video end when I’m entertaining someone, so do spend time in there getting all the bugs out, and instructing yourself on exhibiting a seamless presentation for your guests by previewing the proposed content before they arrive… by setting .volumes mostly so you are hands free during the event when the lights go down.

Very good luck.