Atmos Reciever and Front Speakers recommendation

sharknice

sharknice

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I'm trying to decide what receiver and front speakers to get for my new basement home theater setup. I don't really have a budget, but I have Elac Debut speakers upstairs and I'm basically looking for that quality or better without spending a crazy amount more.
I just got my couch and got my TV, so I'm hoping to buy the speakers and receiver soon. They'll mostly be used for movie watching, but I also will do some gaming with them.

I'm really interested in an Atmos capable reciever. I have 6 Yamaha NSIC800WH in ceiling speakers as front, side, and rears. I would like to use the front ceiling speakers as atmos height speakers. I also have a Dayton Audio SUB-1500 that I could put pretty much anywhere.
I also need to get front left/right, and center speakers.

I've had my eyes on the YAMAHA RX-V6A 7.2 receiver, it's $600 it's been sold out everywhere I look. It supports Dolby Atmos, and says 7.2 but it also has an extra 2 connections for height speakers. Is there a better Atmos option for around the same price?
I also understand basically no recievers properly support HDMI 2.1, so I plan on running everything through the TV and just using ARC.

For the speakers I've been looking at the Elac Debut 2.0 F6.2 floorstanding for the left/rigth and the C6.2 for the center. Together they would be about $1200. I've heard they basically can't be beat for the price, but maybe that has changed recently, or maybe I could spend an extra $1000 and get something a lot better?


This is what my setup looks like so far.

setup.jpg


I'm going to have a media cabinet beneath the TV that will hold the center speaker, receiver, etc. The floor standing speakers will be on the side of the TV.
 
I went with Klipsch RF-820 speakers for my fronts, but I would recommend finding speakers that have similar timbre to the ceiling speakers you plan on keeping.
Pioneer Elite LX-102 is what I use, it was only $300 and works great for my little room. Running 5.2.1 Atmos.

Also, you have a nice large wall, have you thought about projection? Probably have space for a 135-150" screen

I went with a 100" screen with my setup, my projector can do 130" or so in my room but my towers are too tall and I can't space them further apart due to my desk.
IMG_0944.JPEG
 
Zepher said:
I went with Klipsch RF-820 speakers for my fronts, but I would recommend finding speakers that have similar timbre to the ceiling speakers you plan on keeping.
Pioneer Elite LX-102 is what I use, it was only $300 and works great for my little room. Running 5.2.1 Atmos.

Also, you have a nice large wall, have you thought about projection? Probably have space for a 135-150" screen

I went with a 100" screen with my setup, my projector can do 130" or so in my room but my towers are too tall and I can't space them further apart due to my desk.
View attachment 365935
Click to expand...

-1 for Klipsch (sorry, always hated Horn tweeters) but +2 for Captain Jack Harkness & Torchwood! 😜
 
sharknice said:
I'm trying to decide what receiver and front speakers to get for my new basement home theater setup. I don't really have a budget, but I have Elac Debut speakers upstairs and I'm basically looking for that quality or better without spending a crazy amount more.
I just got my couch and got my TV, so I'm hoping to buy the speakers and receiver soon. They'll mostly be used for movie watching, but I also will do some gaming with them.

I'm really interested in an Atmos capable reciever. I have 6 Yamaha NSIC800WH in ceiling speakers as front, side, and rears. I would like to use the front ceiling speakers as atmos height speakers. I also have a Dayton Audio SUB-1500 that I could put pretty much anywhere.
I also need to get front left/right, and center speakers.

I've had my eyes on the YAMAHA RX-V6A 7.2 receiver, it's $600 it's been sold out everywhere I look. It supports Dolby Atmos, and says 7.2 but it also has an extra 2 connections for height speakers. Is there a better Atmos option for around the same price?
I also understand basically no recievers properly support HDMI 2.1, so I plan on running everything through the TV and just using ARC.

For the speakers I've been looking at the Elac Debut 2.0 F6.2 floorstanding for the left/rigth and the C6.2 for the center. Together they would be about $1200. I've heard they basically can't be beat for the price, but maybe that has changed recently, or maybe I could spend an extra $1000 and get something a lot better?


This is what my setup looks like so far.

View attachment 365901

I'm going to have a media cabinet beneath the TV that will hold the center speaker, receiver, etc. The floor standing speakers will be on the side of the TV.
Click to expand...

I went with Andrew Jones Pioneer Elite SP-EFS73, EBS73, EC73 and Velodyne ULD-18 in a 9.1 setup. Would have gotten the Elac except that their Atmos unit is not integrated into the tower and have to sit on top of the speaker. Can't really go wrong with an Andrew Jones setup though.

As to HDMI 2.1, I'm just going to forget about it until my next receiver upgrade in a few years. I just run HDMI 2.1 from laptop into input 4 then eArc to the receiver.

With your in ceiling Yamahas, You should consider just using the Yamahas for height and get a pair of DB62 for rear. I'm a firm believer that your front, center, rear should have the same sound characteristic.

Using the old sound system formula (back when a system would consist of a turntable) that 50% of the budget should be spent on speakers and since we're looking at over $2000 of speakers between the Elacs, Yamahas and sub. I would budget at least $1000-$1500 for the receiver if not more.

IMG_8797 (1).jpg
 
Last edited:
Wiz33 said:
I went with Andrew Jones Pioneer Elite SP-EFS73, EBS73, EC73 and Velodyne ULD-18 in a 9.1 setup. Would have gotten the Elac except that their Atmos unit is not integrated into the tower and have to sit on top of the speaker. Can't really go wrong with an Andrew Jones setup though.

As to HDMI 2.1, I'm just going to forget about it until my next receiver upgrade in a few years. I just run HDMI 2.1 from laptop into input 4 then eArc to the receiver.

With your in ceiling Yamahas, You should consider just using the Yamahas for height and get a pair of DB62 for rear. I'm a firm believer that your front, center, rear should have the same sound characteristic.

Using the old sound system formula (back when a system would consist of a turntable) that 50% of the budget should be spent on speakers and since we're looking at over $2000 of speakers between the Elacs, Yamahas and sub. I would budget at least $1000-$1500 for the receiver if not more.
Click to expand...
I really wanted regular rear and side speakers but my wife wouldn't go for it. But we plan on putting a table with stools behind the entire length of the couch so after that happens I think I could convince her and get some rear speakers on there.

I actually bought the receiver yesterday because it was just $400 at costco so I guess I'm stuck with that for now. When real hdmi 2.1 receivers come out I'll see if I can upgrade to something that can simultaneously support 5.1 plus 6 height speakers.

I'm waiting for the speakers to go on sale, and will probably just bring down the upstairs speakers until then. They often go for 25% off, or even 50% off if I'm patient enough to wait for black friday. I bought all the ceiling speakers for $120 a pair, and the sub was $170.
 
I got the Elac Debut 2.0 F6.2 you're looking at for $215/each black friday 2018. I'm very happy with them; I don't have a center because there's never a good place to put one :(
 
sharknice said:
I really wanted regular rear and side speakers but my wife wouldn't go for it. But we plan on putting a table with stools behind the entire length of the couch so after that happens I think I could convince her and get some rear speakers on there.

I actually bought the receiver yesterday because it was just $400 at costco so I guess I'm stuck with that for now. When real hdmi 2.1 receivers come out I'll see if I can upgrade to something that can simultaneously support 5.1 plus 6 height speakers.

I'm waiting for the speakers to go on sale, and will probably just bring down the upstairs speakers until then. They often go for 25% off, or even 50% off if I'm patient enough to wait for black friday. I bought all the ceiling speakers for $120 a pair, and the sub was $170.
Click to expand...

If you do see them on sale, I would go with the Uni-Fi 2.0 setup as I love the imaging you get from the Concentric Tweeter.
 
toast0 said:
I don't have a center because there's never a good place to put one :(
Click to expand...
Best place to put a center channel speaker is right smack dab in the middle of an acoustic transparent projector screen like this!
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...eakers-in-commercial-project.310/#post-435727

sharknice,
I use CBT Line Array speakers and like them and recommend them strongly - this after visiting and experiencing well over 100 home theater enthusiast rooms -- but looks like they'd probably be too big for your room. With that setup, and the couch hugging the wall like that, I'd probably consider in-walls. I know it's a dirty word for some, but I've heard a few decent quality in wall-systems, and your guests won't be bumping their head or shoulder on them when they sit down. I'm a tremendous fan of all matching speakers for Atmos audio. So If you could get the same speaker for all speakers great. With Atmos a coded object sound (many objects) moves around your room at the sound engineers will, and with all matching speakers the sound stays identical as it moves around your room (IE in the scene below George Clooney's voice sounds the same as it floats around the room in Dolby Atmos). I don't think front height Atmos speakers (at least as laid out in your space right over the TV) will work very well. They'll probably be completely inaudible in the context of the rest of your system, because the driver is most likely way out of it's ideal dispersion characteristics at your main listening seat.
As to what I might recommend you look at in your stated pricerange. From Axpona trade show, in the more entry categories where you could buy three or five speakers for $1200, I really liked ELAC, I like SVS, and I like Andrew Jones designs. Klipsch isn't my personal favorite, but they do good job for the money spent.
Do you want to listen loud in your home theater? Approach reference? You might consider PA speakers. If you want to listen to quieter SPL levels, then lots of typical tower options, from many different companies will fit the ask -- but the cheaper home theater speakers won't do reference volume levels cleanly. (they'll distort and break up)

All matching speakers, even of just a base competency and a fantastic sub, goes a heck of a long way for an incredible cinema experience. I had 13 Mackie C200 PA speaker previous to my current system. I bought them on sale for less than $200 each, and they made an excellent home theater cinema experience.

As to AVRs - check out Onkyo. They've got a real value proposition. They used to have HDMI issues, but those are pretty much solved, and they give you a LOT of Bells and Whistles for the money. I bought an Onkyo 686 for my living room space last year on close out for $250 from BestBuy and my family and I using it nearly daily since, I can attest it provides a tremendous value. Very similar in function to my former flagship Denon x7200wa that retails for many times more (or my current x6700h Denon) -- the main practical difference being the channel count supported.

1623955048194.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Archaea said:
Best place to put a center channel speaker is right smack dab in the middle of an acoustic transparent projector screen like this!
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...eakers-in-commercial-project.310/#post-435727

sharknice,
I use CBT Line Array speakers and like them and recommend them strongly - this after visiting and experiencing well over 100 home theater enthusiast rooms -- but looks like they'd probably be too big for your room. With that setup, and the couch hugging the wall like that, I'd probably consider in-walls. I know it's a dirty word for some, but I've heard a few decent quality in wall-systems, and your guests won't be bumping their head or shoulder on them when they sit down. I'm a tremendous fan of all matching speakers for Atmos audio. So If you could get the same speaker for all speakers great. With Atmos a coded object sound (many objects) moves around your room at the sound engineers will, and with all matching speakers the sound stays identical as it moves around your room (IE in the scene below George Clooney's voice sounds the same as it floats around the room in Dolby Atmos). I don't think front height Atmos speakers (at least as laid out in your space right over the TV) will work very well. They'll probably be completely inaudible in the context of the rest of your system, because the driver is most likely way out of it's ideal dispersion characteristics at your main listening seat.
As to what I might recommend you look at in your stated pricerange. From Axpona trade show, in the more entry categories where you could buy three or five speakers for $1200, I really liked ELAC, I like SVS, and I like Andrew Jones designs. Klipsch isn't my personal favorite, but they do good job for the money spent.
Do you want to listen loud in your home theater? Approach reference? You might consider PA speakers. If you want to listen to quieter SPL levels, then lots of typical tower options, from many different companies will fit the ask -- but the cheaper home theater speakers won't do reference volume levels cleanly. (they'll distort and break up)

All matching speakers, even of just a base competency and a fantastic sub, goes a heck of a long way for an incredible cinema experience. I had 13 Mackie C200 PA speaker previous to my current system. I bought them on sale for less than $200 each, and they made an excellent home theater cinema experience.

As to AVRs - check out Onkyo. They've got a real value proposition. They used to have HDMI issues, but those are pretty much solved, and they give you a LOT of Bells and Whistles for the money. I bought an Onkyo 686 for my living room space last year on close out for $250 from BestBuy and my family and I using it nearly daily since, I can attest it provides a tremendous value. Very similar in function to my former flagship Denon x7200wa that retails for many times more (or my current x6700h Denon) -- the main practical difference being the channel count supported.

View attachment 367025
Click to expand...

Unfortunately projector still have a ways to go for day time use out of a basement or room with blackout curtains and black level usually sucks.
 
Yeah in the picture is the LG GX 77”.
I considered projectors, but the good ones cost way more than I wanted to spend. Also it's a walk-out basement so I get a lot of light and want to enjoy some daylight while being able to use the tv.
 
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