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r/hometheater•
Aztin

Finishing basement, looking for help planning my set up

Buying Advice CAN

Hi all, first time posting on here but I've done lots of research and browsing lately. I'm finishing my basement throughout this year and planning my home theater set up so I can get everything wired in wall. Current set up is a crappy soundbar, looking to get to 5.1.

The space is 19' x 11.5' with the tv on the long wall unfortunately, not open to changing the layout much as I want the open space for VR as well as an area for the kids on one end of the room.

I have a picture of the rough layout:

https://i.imgur.com/z4ZALoX.jpg

I know this doesn't leave me much space for the L/Rs to be properly spaced but that's just something I'll have to deal with. I'll probably mount the TV with a stand underneath to hold all my devices

Current Rough Plan:

TV - LG 65" C9 OLED

AVR - Denon X2600H

L/R - HTD Level Three Bookshelves

Center - HTD Level Three Center

Surrounds - TBD

Subwoofer - BIC America F12

Devices hooked up: Fire TV Cube, Cable TV Box, Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch, Chromecast Ultra, Possibly UHD Blu Ray player

I'm fairly set on the TV, open to opinions on everything though. I was planning Micca bookshelves but read some bad reviews so these HTD seem decent for the price but I'm far from set on them. Surrounds to come later, may get cheaper bookshelves for the initial 3.1 which I can then migrate to surrounds and get proper L/R.

I've been confused on how this is all going to interface. If it's best to run everything to the AVR and one video out to the TV or if that can cause issues having multiple video settings (ex: game mode for the consoles and other for tv/movies). I read about eARC which apparently the C9 supports but that just seemed to complicate things more. With brand new consoles coming up I don't want to bottleneck myself too much if it can be helped.

This also ties into some concerns I have on the AVR, is the X2600h overkill and should I look at the X1600h? Or is it actually not enough?

Open to any and all suggestions, I'm in Canada by the way. No set budget but more expensive just means longer to piece together so I don't want to go super high end.

Posted Feb 18, 2020, 11:01 PM UTC · edited

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AutoModeratorMOD•

99.9% of the time Soundbars or HTiB (Home Theater in a Box) systems are not a good investment of your time and money. It is the general consensus of r/hometheater not to recommend these things and instead simply steer a user toward a 2.0 or 2.1 system made of quality, Audio-Centric name brand components which are easy to assemble and cheap enough for low budget or space conscious buyers. Most can be expanded to 5.1 if you buy the correct items in the correct order. For further explanation please read Why You Shouldn't Buy a Soundbar Please be aware r/Soundbars exists as well as you will be met with opposition to posting about soundbars here.

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TyGamer125LG 55B7A + Jamo S803 5.0 + 2x HSU VTF2-MK5 + Denon x1400h•

Seems solid only change I would make would be swap out the Bic for an SVS sub. And yes run everything through the receiver that way your not getting compressed audio. Unless you need the extra features of the x2600h the x1600h but I don't think either of those support HDMI 2.1 so it might be worth waiting for the x1700h which likely will have it. The extra power should be plenty since the htd level 3s are 88db sensitivity meaning with 1 W of power at 1 m away they will play 88db of volume. Depending on how you have your current sound bar hooked up you might be able to hook up the svs sub with it and use that as a upgrade to the sound bar until the new receivers come out. This would give you a huge upgrade over what your current sound bar sub as the subwoofer and center channel are the two most important speakers in a setup.

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Spaded217.2.4 BenQ/Marantz/HTD/Micca/SVS•

I started with Miccas all around and then upgraded to HTD Level Three for my LCR. I still use the Miccas for surrounds and rears and they do the job just fine.

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truth720720•

Can’t go wrong with a klipsch 5.2 or 7.2 system. Best bang for your buck IMO. Pairs well with the Denon AVR too. I got a great package deal from World Wide Stereo via Amazon including the AVR.

Strongly recommend upgrading to the 77” LG if you can. You can snag a C877 for less than $4,000 if you watch the prices (although inventory is dwindling.) Almost identical specs to the C9.

Run everything through the AVR and turn off all the video processing and up scaling on the AVR and let the LG handle all that. I use one hdmi for tv tv/movie content and then another for my Xbox. The LG video settings are set per each HDMI input so my “Xbox” input is always on game mode. Works great.

If your AVR doesn’t offer two outputs you just install an hdmi switch (aka splitter) behind the tv and it will work just as well (that’s what I had to do because one of my in wall hdmi cables died so I only had one working cable after construction completed (that sucked.) splitter worked like a charm.

Good luck!

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