New HT questions

[JeffR]

I have a Hitachi 57' Ultravision TV and want to turn my 11.5' by 14.5' living room into a dedicated home theater. I was looking at Denon and NAD receivers but am now leaning towards the Rotel RSX-1056. I plan to spend approximately $2000.00 on a 5.1 speaker system, use my XBox for discs and get a universal disc player later. There are no Rotel dealers in my area for me to compare alternatives but there is one installer. However, the installer said that I should spend more of my budget on speakers and recommended the $2800.00 M&K 750 Ultra THX system with the Denon 2805 receiver. I talked to three dealers (two Rotel dealers out-of-area and a local non-Rotel dealer) and they all said that the installer was wrong. They said that I should get the higher quality receiver and that $2000.00 would get me a fine speaker system

1) Which is the better approach? What is the current rule-of-thumb on budget allocation for receiver and speakers?

2) Wkat are some recommendations for speakers to go with the RSX-1056?

3) If I have to buy out-of-area, what would be involved in properly installing and setting up my system?

[purplepeople]

I checked and the specs on M&Ks LCRs are 80Hz-20kHz +/- 2dB. That is very, very good. For most material, you probably won't even notice when the sub is turned off.

But the dealer's advice is not without issue: The Denon 2805 is rated at 0.05% THD into 8 ohm speakers and 0.7% into 6 ohms. The M&Ks are 4 ohms which suggests that the distortion is going to be a lot higher than 1%.

On paper it looks like a bit of a mismatch.

ensen.

[rick c]

Personaly i would get what i really want like the rsx1056.You can get some fine speakers for 2,000.Even if your doing it peice by peice.I got the rotel rsx1056 then changed my front three to B&W(603s3 & lcr600) for less than 2,500.00.I will be upgrading my surrounds to 601s3 later.Already priced at about 340.00 for the pr.I'll have my system complete for less than 2,900.00.What i'm getting at is get what you really want and not just settle on something that way you won't second guess yourself later.

[John Holmes]

Hello Jeff and Welcome to the Guide!

IMO, Getting what you really like and want is paramount! I also believe that getting the best speakers (of course this would be tailored to the ones that sound best to you within your budget) is probably better than getting the best surround sound unit and lesser speakers.

While I do enjoy my M&K speakers, they are (as stated above) a 4 ohm load so, mating them with a capable unit is important. I use an Elite receiver from Pioneer to drive mine (which is 6 ohm stable). I've been using it for yrs without any issues, driving them to theater levels often. Just fantastic sound. Also, the M&K 750's are THX Select not Ultra (if that matters). I also would like to add that, M&K's are very neutral sounding speakers. This sound is not everyones cup of tea. So if you haven't done so already, you may want to give them a good demo.

I Have heard/read a lot of good things about Rotel gear. Though I'm not up on how well the RSX-1056 will handle a 4 ohm load, I'm sure all the Rotel guys here can! :B

Hope this helps.