Home theater setup recommendations?

Yeah, I think before all of us start answering questions (which happened fast here), we need to know how much money you are looking at investing.  Is it $1,000?  $2,000?  $5,000?   You can probably get a decent setup for any of these amounts, but of course it will be better with more money investment.  Without knowing your budget, it's really a pie in the sky, because suggestions could very easily get up into the "over $10,000 level" and even potentially in the "over $20,000 level".  At the bottom $1,000 level, you are probably looking at some sort of used Yamaha receiver with some entry level speakers (maybe like Elac or similar).

---
As far as your first question, you can probably get a way with a 3-channel system.  A Center Channel speaker is probably the most important (in addition to the left/right).  Without a center channel, the dialogue and sound will have an "echo" effect because the left/right speakers have to produce the main dialogue as well as the reverberation from the dialogue. 

----
Surround speakers will add some ambience and also add depth and immersion.  If you're looking at budget, these are somewhat important, but no where near as important as a center channel.  So, 3 speakers is absolute minimum.  5 speakers is better.  You don't need to look past that (these 7 speaker, or 11-speaker plus Dolby Atmos systems are just more junk you have to buy, but they do offer more "special effects" type of thing).

Okay, so an AV Receiver is going to be your target. One thing to know with these is that it is best if you buy the biggest and most powerful one you can. Ignore the fact that it’s a “11 channel receiver”. I recommend buying the biggest because you will get the largest transformer and power supply section (which are important, as you probably know). That being said, even the biggest receiver will not have as good of a power supply as a nice 2-channel amplifier (such as Parasound A21 or similar).

Anthem makes some good receivers. You can get a used MRX710 on ebay for $1100-1500 range. Many love them. Anthem is probably the cleanest and fastest sounding AV receiver. However, I think the Anthem is a bit hard edged in the highs, but it will definitely be an exciting sound for movies. I would definitely suggest using gold-plated terminations on any speaker wire and even putting in a Isoclean gold-plated fuse or a Hi-Fi Tuning Supreme “Cu” copper fuse to take the edge off the highs.

Yamaha makes nice natural sounding receivers. You can get a used Yamaha RX-A3070 for $1300. New for $1500. It’s just one generation old. I have had extremely good results when adding a Furutech fuse into the Yamaha receivers. I usually recommend getting into the Yamaha advanced menu to set the speaker type to “6 ohm”. This changes the circuit in the Yamaha and performs better. With a speaker that has impedance drops down to 3-4, the receiver will sound weak in the bass/midbass/midrange area when set at the default “8 ohm” setting.

Marantz has good stuff, but it is definitely warm sounding with soft/rolled-off highs. Marantz has good body and impact. However, if your audience are not audiophiles that understand what they are hearing, they may think the Marantz sounds dull. One of the good things about Marantz is they have a fully discrete analog output stage in the preamp section. You can find the Marantz SR7011 and SR7012 receivers on ebay for $1300-$1600 new. They may work out if you put a fast Hi-Fi Tuning Supreme silver fuse in and/or use silver-plated bananas/spades on your speaker wire.


Speakers are an entirely different thing and if you ask “what’s the best speaker” you will get 18 different answers on this forum. There are many different options and it becomes a very “personal preference” thing here. That being said, here are some thoughts:

For bargain basement, Elac Debut speakers seem to be one of the best. You’re looking at $500-800 for a pair of full range tower speakers.

Klipsch Reference speakers are nice as well. In the $700-$1600 range. They do have a horn loaded tweeter, which has its own unique sound. However, the Klipsch have the added benefit of being an extremely efficient speaker (like 96db) so you won’t need to use as much power from the receiver (which means you’re not starving the receiver power supply).

If you want a higher resolution speaker, I suggest looking into the Monitor Audio Silver series. New models are getting into the expensive area. It’s $1,500 for a pair of Silver 200, and $2,000 for a pair of Silver 300. You can get a previous generation Silver 6 for $1200 a pair from Crutchfield. Parts Connexion has a pair of Silver 6 in White Gloss new-in-box for $899 a pair.

david_ten has a suggestion, but I would like to point out that a soundbar is somewhat of a "final solution". You really can’t upgrade or expand that solution. It is designed for people who want a easy solution to just putting sound out for their tv. Soundbars can sound good, but you are restricted on speaker placement and you won’t get the imaging that you can when you can place/position your speakers manually.
-----
Also, we didn’t talk about speaker cable. If you go to usaudiomart site and do a search for "audioquest slate", there is a guy that’s selling a pair of 8 foot + a single 4 foot cable (for center). He’s asking $159, which is great for the value of this. Don’t know if the lengths will work and it means that the receiver needs to be very close to the center speaker, but it’s a nice option.

Hey guys, before we get too deep in sound bar options and single TV options, shadowcat specifically said he wanted to build a good sounding "low end audiphile" HT system.  As good a sound bars are, I don't think that's the direction he really wants to go.  As he said, he wants to "impress" his daughter as to what a real audiophile type system can do.  A "Bose" type system is also not what he wants to do.

The Vandersteen have a very unique warm/dry type of sound, mostly due to the combination of a poly mid (warm sounding) and the coated metal tweeter (contributing to the dry sound). If you love that sound, that’s great! The Vandersteen 2c looks to have a used value of $500-600 a pair. The 2ce looks to be $1400-1600 a pair. You don’t necessarily have to use a full range speaker for surrounds, but it definitely doesn’t hurt. You could use two of the VCC-1 center channel speakers for surrounds, but they are $850 each, so you are actually doing better by getting a set of 2ce for surrounds. So, four 2ce speakers would be very nice, and since they are perfectly matching, the sound will be very cohesive around the entire room. As long as you get a matching VCC-1 or VCC-2 center, you are good.

---
That being said, the 2ce is a rather low efficency speaker -- it’s only 86db efficient. Also, the impedance drops down to 4 ohms in the sub bass area (30-60hz):
https://www.stereophile.com/content/vandersteen-2ce-signature-ii-loudspeaker-measurements
--
If you wanted to go the Vandersteen route, I would highly suggest getting a really good external 5-channel amp because the receiver just won’t have the power supply to push these Vandersteen effectively. Essentially, the receiver won’t get the volume and will suffer in bass power/strength (this may cause you to think you need subs).
For these specific speakers, you really want to get a 5-channel amp that has a massive power supply. I would also not recommend a warm sounding amp because you want the most amount of attack/resolution for home theater (and the fact that the Vandy are warm sounding already). The smaller amps (such as 100 x 5) would not be as good, in my opinion.

Looking at new, the Emotiva XPA-5 Gen 3 is probably the best you will do for the money at $1599. Used, there are options, but they can definitely get expensive. The Emotiva Gen 3 uses switching power supply, but it does have enough current to drive your Vandersteen.


There’s a Krell Showcase 5 on audiogon/tmraudio for $1599. It will definitely be fast and resolving, but may not have the power supply to give you good strong bass.  We can discuss more if you want to explore this direction.