Newbie with $1500 and a wife pushing for Bose

Sheesh. I overlooked that Eric already had a DVD/CD player. Maybe i need to read things a little better myself : )

Having said that, you can pocket the $80 that i recommended for the Panasonic DVD player or put that towards some new recordings to play on your new system. Either way, these are only my comments and they are worth exactly ( or slightly less than ) what you paid for them : ) Sean
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For my $1,500.00, here's what I would do:

Speaker System: Definitive Technology Pro Cinema 60 (everything's included, nothing extra to buy) -- $700.00.
Audio/Video Receiver: Denon AVR-2803 (D-PL, D-PLII, DTS, DTS-ES, 90W x 6, etc....) -- $800.00.
Cables: Monster Cable (all the way) -- No More Than $150.00.

Use your existing DVD Player. In the Definitive Technology Pro Cinema 60 System, everything's included (four satelites, center channel and powered subwoofer), and if you want to extract the maximum amount of weight and oomph from this system, I went with a Denon AVR-2803 because its warmer and more authoritive sound will get the best and the most out of the great but bright sounding Definitive Technology system. If the sound is too mushy and warm for you, and you prefer a more open and leaner sound, then you always substitute the Denon AVR-2803 in favor for a Yamaha RX-V740 (for $100.00 less). And for a little more than $1,500.00, you have can have a system that sounds great (to meet YOUR requirements) and can take up VERY little footprint (meaning space) at the same time (which meets the requirements of your spouse). And lastly, you'll end up with something sounds a lot better and is a lot more respectable than what you'll get from your wife's proposed Bose system.

In my humble opinion, this is high performance home theater simply done (it will definitely stomp the shit out of a HTIB system, that's for damn sure).

Good luck with that new home theater system!!!!!!!

--Charles--

This problem requires a multi-step approach, some patience, and faith. (1) Spend the entire $1500 on a subwoofer. (2)Spend an entire weekend trying to wire it to your boombox. (3)Give up, and let the subwoofer (hopefully a whopping huge one) sit there in the room doing nothing. You need to allow for at least 4 weeks of staring at $1500 dollars worth of useless equipment, whereupon, one evening she will ask "What else do you need to make that thing work?" Then, you win, and you become an audiogon legend.

Can we look at this logically without people getting upset with me for doing so?

Do you folks recommending the Def Tech ProCinema 60 realize how big this room is? Not only is it 16 x 20, it also has an 18+ foot ceiling. There's quite a few cubic feet there.

Do you realize that you're recommending the use of five 3.5" "woofers" with one 8" "sub-woofer" to try and pressurize this much space? It just ain't gonna do it. At least not very well or very low in frequency.

Do you realize that these speakers are nominally rated at 88 dB's and "somewhere" between 4 to 8 ohm loads according to the manufacturer? For most receivers, lower impedances are NOT an "easy load". Top it off with lower sensitivity and you'll have to drive the receiver even harder.

I'm not knocking this system as it might sound quite nice for what it is, i just don't think that it is a suitable candidate for this size room / specific type of installation.

For sake of comparison and so that you know where i'm coming from, the BIC Venturi system that i recommended has six 6" woofers with bigger cabinets for more extended bass, a more powerful 10" sub in a larger cabinet for more powerful bass, the system is rated at 90 dB's, which is measurably more sensitive and has an 8 ohm nominal impedance, making it an easier load.

Even though these speakers retail for over $1300, they can be bought for less money via the net than what the Def Tech's would be available for. If you're wondering why you can get SO much more speaker for less money ( larger 6.1 system vs smaller 5.1 system ), open up an audio or HT magazine and take a look. Somebody has to pay for those expensive two page ads that Def Tech runs.

If you bought the BIC system as it is, it would run circles around the Def Tech system in a situation like this. If you did the aforementioned mods that i recommended to it for about $25, i think that you would be amazed at how good it sounded. For the money, these speakers in this quantity are going to be hard to beat. While i don't have much faith in reviewers, read the reviews on their website. Sean
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Sean I totally agree with your assessment on room size and speaker/driver size. That is why I mention in my previous post the volume of the room and why I also mention that Athena system because of its 6.5 inch driver in the bookshelves and the 10 inch subwoofer. We are on the same page.
Regards,
Rich