Hello All--

I am new to HT set up but am building a house and want to set this thing up right the first time. My budget is around $12K for all the components/wiring. If I can spend less then great but quality matters a lot. I've taken a couple of bids from some high end AV companies but have convinced myself that I can do this with the help of a couple of friends. The room for the home theater is 12 feet deep but 24' wide. A staircase separates the room into to halfs. The home theater system will be on the slightly wider side to get as much sitting space as possible. The couch will be pushed back as far as possible against the wall. So one of my main concerns is the positioning of the surrounds as they will be much closer to the listening area than all the other speakers. My plan is to mount some Axioum QS8's at around 54 inches. I am hoping that I will be able to calibrate the speakers so that there isn't a balance issue with the surrounds being too loud compared to the other speakers.

My other concerns and needs are:

1) Music is paramount. I have a huge collections of CD's and MP3's. I want the system to be very musical.. My interests include mostly hard rock/heavy metal/blues and some jazz. Pretty much anything that has great guitar work.

2) I want the system to be fully integrated with my computer system. I plan to have a dedicated server built to store all my MP3's, AVI's and can also be used for gaming. So any suggestions on video cards/sound cards that will work well with the following components will be greatly appreciated.

3) The system for the HT will be 5.1 due to the size of the room but I plan to buy a 7.1 system and use the extra 2 channels for my remote speakers around the house. There will be 10 sets of remote speakers. Mostly in ceiling.

4) I will be using a SlimDevices SqueezeBox to control my MP3's playing on the dedicated media server from around the house. If anyone has any experience with this unti, that would be great.

So as of today, I have narrowed the field to the following. Any comments or suggestions are really greatly appreciated.

Samsung HLN507W
Outlaw 950 Pre/Pro
Outlaw 770 Amp
Axiom M60 Front Speakers
Axiom VP150 Center
Axiom QS8 Surrounds
Axiom EP350 Sub(or possibly the Outlaw LFM-1 sub)

Denon DVD2900(not totally set on this) Any other suggestions welcome. It seems very expensive.

For cables and wiring I was going to go with the outlaw cables as they seem to be high caliber and a good value.

Another question is which of these has the best universal remote or do I need to buy a Harmony or Pronto type deal.

Thanks in advance for any responses.

CB

I agree that you can do it yourself. I'd get the builder to run wiring (or at least conduit) for speakers during construction, if you aren't already.

The Axioms are nice speakers -- I've been pretty pleased with the M3ti's I'm using as surrounds. I am still really fond of my Paradigm Reference speakers, but the Axioms are also very good. As for the sub, I'd probably go with the LFM-1 (it's a little less money than the EP350, and is a great sub for both movies and music).

The 770's extra channels should be aboe to handle the remote speakers, but some others around here may have some input on the specifics of hooking it all up -- there may be more involved than just connecting all ten pairs to the two channels.

The SlimDevices SqueezeBox is a really slick looking piece of equipment. I've experimented with their SlimServer software and been pretty pleased, but don't have any experience with the SqueezeBox itself.

Denon's DVD players have an excellent reputation. The Denon 2200 is very similar to the 2900 for about $400 less. There's also a universal player coming out for Yamaha this summer that will retail for $400 (the DVD-S1500). I'm hoping to try the Yamaha out, and will be reporting in to the forum when that happens.

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gonk -- 950 Review | LFM-1 Review | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | Saloon Links

As for universal remotes, the new Harmony has been getting good reviews but I also am still very pleased with my Home Theater Master MX-500. It and the MX-700 are great universal remotes. The 950's remote (an SL-9000) is less flexible than the Harmony and the MX-500, but I found it to be a pretty good universal remote as well. It would certainly be worth experimenting with a bit before deciding to invest in an additional remote.

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gonk -- 950 Review | LFM-1 Review | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | Saloon Links

Gonk--

Thanks for the reply. I am feeling pretty confident with my selections at this point. As of yesterday I was going to go with the Paradigm Studio 40's for my fronts but kept finding posts on Axiom and they seem to have quite a good reputation and value proposition.

Haven't heard of the Home Theater Master remotes but I'll check into them. The thing that attracted me to the Harmony was the fact that you could download the codes for each device off the internet which seems like a good idea to me and the price point is about 1/2 of the Pronto. I'll try the Outlaw remote first though like you suggested.

Thanks again.

If you buy the 950/770 combo, some great deals have just been announced in the latest newsletter ... the deal gets even sweeter when you add an LFM-1 or two.

[This message has been edited by bestbang4thebuck (edited May 18, 2004).]

I've got a review of the MX-500 on my site, if you're interested. It's available from several online distributors for $100.

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gonk -- 950 Review | LFM-1 Review | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | Saloon Links

Not to throw a wrench in here, but would he want to wait a few weeks until after the show to see what Outlaw unveils?

Won't be pulling the trigger for another couple of months.

Another question I have is what do I have to buy to control the various other speakers around the house. I will be buying the 770 and using the 2 extra channels(HT system will be 5.1) for my 10 sets of remote speakers. There will be keypads in each room to control volume and whatelse I'm not really sure. Is there an off switch on each keypad or does the amp constantly transmit music to those various units and you just adjust the volume up and down. If so, is 200 watts for 20 speakers enough.

Obviously, I haven't thought this part through yet.

cbell check out Niles and see what they have to offer. I feel they make solid products.