New Member--B&W Help Please!!!!!!!!!

[Grady]

Greetings!!!!

I am new to the world of home theater and would greatly appreciate your help. We are under construction of a new family room (in framing-can install wiring and in ceiling or in-wall speakers easily) and are considering putting in a home theater system. The room will be 14' X 20' with hardwood floors, an opening to and an attached kitchen (therefore only 3 walls and relatively live acustics). We will use the system 50% for video and 50% for audio (classical, rock and contemporary). My wife, a designer ( :roll: ), wants to have speakers put in the ceiling while the walls are open. I rushed down to a local home theater center to inquire about options while we were under construction. The dealer recommended B&W speakers (they were the only ones they carried that were in-wall). I tried to do some web research to get up to speed, but got thoroughly confused!! The set up he recommended was a 6.1 system with the following B&W speakers:

2 front speakers: LM1
1 center speaker: LCR3
1 center in ceiling: (model not specified- price $349)
2 rear speakers 6" OR 8" in-ceiling speakers
1 sub woofer 158(?)
Yamaha RXV 2400 receiver

My questions are:

1. This speaker arrangement is towards the high end of my budget, is it worth it?
2. I've read that in ceiling speakers produce poor sound relative to enclosed speakers, therefore, am I waisting $$ going with in wall speakers for high end speakers?
3. Trying to get up to speed on home theater quickly has produced a monster headhache....Is there an unbiased source of info that gives good recommendations on setups so one doesn't "overengineer?"
4. Despite much research, I haven't been able to adequately compare B&W speakers to other manufacturers. Having been suggested by a dealer, I want to research. Are they as good as they appear, or given my setup, should I go for JBL or other less expensive speakers? Are there other B&W speakers I should consider?
5. If B&W is the way to go, they seem to be fairly fixed price. Is there typically negotiating room on the part of dealers?
6. Any recommendations on B&W or alternatives given my situation?????????

Thank you for any and all input. I really appreciate it.

[Aussie Geoff]

Grady,

Try this LINK for more information on the Leisure Monitor range which is being used for the Fronts.

They are well respected speakers with good reviews - but are more used where people want a balance of good looks, small size, value and sound...

Listen and let your ears decide. Certainly it is hard to get better sound for the $ in the small size they are....

In terms of in ceiling speakers - don't use them for the fronts' especially don't mix the centre with in ceiling (you get a weird sound stage) however they can be very effective as rears and centre rears. B&W have some of the best sounding ceiling speakers you can get....

Geoff

[Dr C]

Hi Grady - to each his own but for my $0.02, I would prefer speakers with enclosures anytime over in-wall or in-ceiling speakers. Reason being that the speaker boxes have been optimised for the speakers they are housing. Furthermore, if you intend to (sometime in the future ?) use full range surround speakers (DVD-A etc), then ceiling speakers will fall short.

Take care that sound from your wall (and especially ceiling) mounted speakers do not filter out into another room, You've got to spend a fair amount of effort and $$$ to ideally isolate your in ceiling speakers sonically

Am confused as to why you have 2 center channel speakers or is that a "this or that" option ?

Be careful when you go for satellites cos the frequency response may not go low enough to seamlessly blend with your subwoofer. Not having heard the LM1 I'm not sure this is the case though. My recommendation is to go for slightly larger stand mount speakers with more grunt. Go for a good subwoofer cos your room size is quite large and you will need to shift a lot of air ...