Great -another newbee needing advice

[mikeharrison75]

Evening everyone. My name is Mike Harrison and I have lost my mind trying to make a decision on what to buy for my media room. We are currently building a home in Dallas (so there is a "rough" budget), and needing to get everything lined out. So without wasting any more time, here is what i have looked at.

Room is 19.5' x 16'
Projector: Looking at BenQ PE7700
Power Cleaner: Panamax
Speakers: Klipsch RF-5 or RF-7 Home Theater System

This is the part i need help with.

Seperate amp / pre-amp and receiver?
Or all in one?

A friend of mine is updating his and has offered to sell his Anthem MC3 (3x220w@4ohms) amp, B&K Ref amp (2@220w@4ohms), and B&K Ref 30 processor (7 channel) for about $2,250. Good deal?

Sorry to ask the question on my first post, but i stumbled my way in here and spent about 4 hours wondering around reading everyones post. I saw how you are helping Kid320 upgrade his room (i am sure your his mom's newest friends) and thought i would ask the question. Because I own a home security company, i can get Klipsch at cost and HarmonKardon at a great price also.

[mikeharrison75]

One more thing. Anyone know any good magazines that can help. I've picked up about 10 in the past couple of months, but they all seem to be over my head on the product side.

Dont get me wrong, i want a great sounding system, but my last name is not Gates.

[brendon]

Re; pre/ pro vs receiver

Hi Mike ,Welcome.
The accepted wisdom about seperates vs receivers goes along the line that seperates offer superior quality especially in the amplification side and the power amps dont go out of date so when a new must have like HDMI swtching or the latest Dolby what ever come out you are not replaceing the whole shebang.You will spend a lot of money to buy a receiver that matches a good seperate system and receivers drop their value like a lead ballon compared to good quality seperates but receivers in my opinion are quicker off the mark with the latest gadets.
Be aware that only a very few receivers make anything like thier claimed power outputs whereas power amps are usually close to the mark or will excede it.
as to the brands you mentioned I have no idea about the value of them second hand.
The main thing with the pre/pro would be to work out if it will switch enough sources for your home theater so you dont have to resort to external switching units and decide if you need it to upconvert video signals and what sort of signals you want to send to your PJ(this may only be useful if you still want to send S-VHS over component to your PJ as a DVD or set top box of good quality will upconvert for you anyway or you can let the pj do this.).depending on how old it is it may be limited in some of these respects.
A good source for reprinted magazine reviews is ecoustics.coms editorial reviews section which collates reviews from a number major magazines and you can search by date ,manufacturer etc.
Having said the above I expect the real gurus will now leap in and we will both learn something
Brendon

[P-Dub]

Hi Mike,

I'll have to agree with Brendon. Most receivers will have the very latest in "technology" I'm currently considering the Pioneer Elite line at the moment. But what tends to happen, this is a generalization, is the power from receivers are not up to their claims.

When going seperates, you will have quality power, and for the processor, the sky is the limit.

The good thing about the seperate route is that you could always find a receiver with pre-outs and connect your power amps and have the 'best' of both worlds. Latest technology, with quality power.

For you situation, if you haven't done so, I would google the B&K Ref 30. I'm sure you'll find some good/excellent reviews. I don't know much about it, but I seem to recall that B&K make quality equipment. The unit in question may be a couple of years old as I think they are at the Ref 50 now.

I'm not in the market, but the $2,250 sounds like a good deal. Some spend that much alone on one amp or on a processor, so getting 2 amps and a processor is a deal in my books.

What will be the real test is how you like the sound from the B&K, Anthem and Klipsch combo.

For the Klipsch, I would recommend going with the RF-5 combo. The reson is that the woofers would be the same size across all your speakers. This will provide a more seamless sound field. The Klipsch are very sensitive speakers, so you won't need a lot of power to drive these.

[mikeharrison75]

Thanks for the advice guys. I also noticed that Carada is a sponsor of the site. Is anyone in the forums associated with them? Since i am going to need one for the projector, i would like to support those who help.

Good idea on the RF-5 decision, i didnt recognize the woofer size.

Anyone a specialist on the video side of things that can help out?

Also, anyone have an opinion on the HarmonKardon AVR635?