mars73

Which cables are American? Seems like most of the ones mentioned here are British...

Thanks, which shops will carry these speakers that you mentioned. I don't recall coming across them.

Thanks. I never thought I would need to audition the cables as well... Where can I do that? Will the shops in Adelphi do that? I went down to Adelphi today for a quick look see as I had a bit of spare time. Didn't manage to try the Yamaha but listened to the Onkyo and Denon 1911. Onkyo was better in my opinion. I'm not sure if I have to worry about HDMI splitting cos essentially I only have 1 main TV. Listened to some speakers as well. The ProCinema 600s were not very good. 800 was better. Tannoy Arena was very good. Also listened to the B&W M1 (pretty good) and 685 (excellent). I am inclined to spend more on front speakers (bookshelf or floor standing), but these are all speaker sets which come in a package (except the 685). One problem I have is that with my living and dining room set up, I was advised that I would have to either ceiling mount my rear speakers, or put them on speaker stands (with wiring on the floor). The latter is a big no-no for my wife. For ceiling mount, most of them said that it is not ideal, and there are very limited choices. I'm not sure why there are limited choices for ceiling mounted speakers. Is weight the problem? Or is it the lack of proper mountings? My ID told me that they can reinforce the false ceiling so weight shouldn't be a problem. I've also seen large speakers mounted on the ceiling before so I'm not sure what is the problem. Can anyone advise, please? Or would it be ok for me to get separate speakers (instead of a set) - book shelf/floorstanding front speakers, with small rear speakers (or even those mounted into the ceiling type). Thanks.

Thanks, what if I up my budget to $3.3k for speakers? Any chance I can get reasonably decent box speakers? Or what would be the minimum budget for a set of decent 5.1 box speakers (for the front 2 at least)?

Oh dear, this is depressing. What if I just spend the $2.3k on the front 3 speakers plus sub? Then buy the rear 2 later?

Hi all I'm abit of a noob when it comes to HTS. I'll be moving to my new place and want to do up my place properly for Home Theatre in the living room. First, abit of info about the dimensions of my living and dining room (it's one continuous rectangular space). It is about 4m wide in front and has a 'depth' of 6m, including the dining area. Excluding the dining area, it is about 3.5m deep. Ceiling height is about 2.9m. I have a budget of abt $3k max for the AVR and speakers. Intend to hang on to my PS3 as a blu-ray player for the time being. Will upgrade the player when I have more budget later. Intend to use the set for 60% movies and 40% music. I'm looking at a 5.1 setup. Seems like the advice is to spend more on speakers as they are less prone to obsolescence, and in particular the front 3 speakers and sub. Would appreciate some help with the following: 1. Where should I place the rear speakers? I have 2 options (a) hanging from the ceiling in the 'middle' of the room behind the sofa (b) Off the ceiling/wall at the 'rear end' of the room behind the dining area 2. I intend to ask the contractor to pre-lay the cables for the speakers. What kind of cables should I use to be 'future proof'? Don't want to hack out the ceiling later. 3. For the AVR, I'm looking at either the Onkyo 608 or the Yamaha 667. Probably the Onkyo. Am I right to estimate about $700 for the Onkyo? Based on the balance of $2300 max for speakers, would appreciate some recommendations on the options for speakers I should be looking at. Thanks very much for reading and your help!