If you want lame advice DON'T do this!

It’s always a good idea to NOT make recommendations without knowing more about the context in which the recommended component will be operating.

I agree the result can often be money wasted, depending on exactly how one goes about it. The main thing is to buy things that can be returned or resold cost effectively if needed because you never know for sure until its operating in YOUR room.

Given that, the smart thing for even high end affectionados to do is try less costly products that have good chance of doing the job well first before trying to go for broke.  You can always make a change as needed.  Otherwise you may be spending a lot for something that might have been achieved for much less.

How many here actually do that?  Don't know except that I do.

@newbee

And the bigger question is, perhaps, who is going to train these folks?

I wouldn’t want to send out a drivers ed student in a Rolls Royce. If you are Joe Six pack just install big subwoofers and hit the only switch you will ever need (full blast). Next there are certified calibrators that will calibrate a TV or a listening room (see CEDIA and https://homeacoustics.org/haa-training/)

For the astute members that have already invested in a system it isn’t a big deal to buy a mic and measure.

@mapman 

It’s always a good idea to NOT make recommendations without knowing more

Thank you, 👍

@nonoise

Funny you should mention BestBuy

I know, I know, the first three words of English you learned was "attention K-Mart shoppers". my bad.

Forget the link I posted for you to get professional help, use this one instead.

As per my personal preferences for my room setup the Toole uses the same setup as me (right down to using a center height channel and using front and rear book shelves as height channels AND a VOG channel):

Abbey road studios mixing Pink Floyd immersive audio, same. I also use active speakers for bed channels and have active speakers mounted high as height channels, sounds better and save a lot of space and money. They are using Neumann active monitors, I use Paradigm Active Reference 40 and 20's:

Here is a takeaway about acoustics from both setups, notice the MLP is equidistant from the front and back of the room. This was a HUGE improvement in my room when I moved my MLP to same and NOT the one listed in the dolby specs which is closer to the rear wall FWIW.

@mahgister 

I dont recommend to anybody to listen to anyone FIRST but i recommend reading serious acoustic articles and creating their own set of experiments in their dedicated room or in their living room FIRST ... For fun, learning is more fun than buying...

Bingo, you nailed it AND there are some good videos available on you tube like the one I linked to by Anthony Grimani.