Home theater help from scratch 5.2 25k budget

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.

Thank you all for your feed back. Am located in Baton Rouge. So am goin to reach out and have local to shops. The one guy I really like is pushing the triad line of speakers. Sliver LRC matching surrounds sets for rears around with denon 6500 to push it all installed calibration and the two svs 16 ultra for around 10k. He doesn’t have demos but can get me into a client hose to hear a bronze HT with the 6500 and two sealed sun fire subs. Also I really like the idea of the outlaws preamp and amp combo for little more money. I have a follow up question the two subs will be off a different 15 amp Circuit breaker But the TV pre amp amp and all the video game crap is on the same 15 amp circuit. I know 1800 watts is roughly 15amps of power so do y’all think I will need to drop a dedicated outlet to the pre amp/ amp ?