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Empty canvas: recommendations on blending audio and moving watching

I am in the process of finishing my basement, including a room approximately 20' x 25'x that I plan to use for both TV/movie watching and audio listening.

I enjoy an occasional streaming program on HBO or Netflix and in my current TV room I have the TV connected to a set of stand-mount speakers driven by a small amp - more than use the TV speakers, but not a big 5.1 surround sound set up (something I've never been that interested in).

For the new room I am excited to finally move forward with a tube-based system (my prior years have all been SS) with speakers such as Devore O/96 (or Gibbon Super 9).  My question is, if this is the audio configuration, what to do with the TV audio?  Running TV audio through sensitive speakers like Devore doesn't seem like a good idea.  Would a speaker bar for the TV suffice?  Or is there another configuration for the TV sound that would be better.

Recommendations welcome!
kba_8040
maxwave's avatar
maxwave
1,031 posts
 
+1 on big__greg  response

What will be the main usage ? Music or movies ?You will choose your gears according to this.These usages are very different.The cables will have to match the quality of those gearsWhat is your budget ?
Will you need room acoustic treatment ?
The center speaker should have the same timber than the front 
speakers. Etc , etc....

Post removed 
soix
10,178 posts
 
The toughest part is trying to incorporate a tube amp into this setup.  Messing with splitters, A/B switchers, etc. is not optimal as they can compromise critical 2-channel performance.  And using a tube amp for TV watching isn’t a great situation either unless you like burning $ on replacing tubes. 

The best compromise might be to use a tube stereo preamp with solid state amplification or a hybrid stereo integrated with a tube preamp section.  This way you still get some tube influence in your sound but don’t have the disadvantages of using a tube amp.  There are some tube preamps that can have their HT bypass functioning without tubes receiving power (maybe Rogue, VAC, Backert?) that would work well for your situation.  And companies like Unison Research, Pathos, and some others make nice hybrid integrateds.  Combine one of these options with a decent AVR to handle HT processing and powering center/surround speakers and you’d be in business.  Anyway, hope this helps and best of luck with your new room. 
big_greg
6,715 posts
 
I'm not sure that I agree with the argument against using a tube amp in a home theater system. I have tube mono blocks for my home theater / two channel system. If I'm just watching the news or something on TV I don't even turn them on, I just listen through the center channel. The times I do have them on if I wasn't watching a movie or something I'd be listening to music so the usage is about the same amount.
noble100's avatar
noble100
2,419 posts
 
+1 big_greg.

     There are some generally agreed upon compromising guidelines in this hobby but very few absolutes and system freedom generally reigns.  Most decisions just come down to personal budget, performance, convenience and preference factors.

Tim
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