All,
I've been lurking for a few months in hopes that I would one day be able to begin putting together a nice HT system. The reviews on Axiom speakers have me leaning toward an Epic 80-500 set of speakers. I love the look of the M80 tower as one of my big requirements is that my hair be pushed back in 2-channel stereo. Anyway...I'm now having a hard time coming up with what to drive the beasts with. I've looked at the new Yamaha z7, Rotel separates, Marantz 8002 and I still don't know which way is up. I have about $3500 to spend on AVR & Disk Players (prefer blu-ray I think) and am looking for advice from some seasoned pros. I will try to provide more specifics on room size and whatever else you ask for as it comes in.

Looks like I posted this in a bad forum...can someone move it to a more appropriate locale?

Thanks,
poolman

Welcome to the forum poolman,

You have a really big budget for your amplification. You will get a lot of good suggestions. I will keep it simple and suggest one of Denons high end avrs such as the 2809ci, 3808ci and 4308ci (I think these are the current models?). It will drive the M80's to very loud levels and also provide you with all the current features.

For Blu-ray players I would suggest players from Panasonic and Oppo. The Panasonic BD35, BD55, BD60, BD80 as well as the Oppo BDP S83.

Have fun shopping!

Welcome, Poolman!

How big is the room?

I (and many others) use a denon 3808 with the m80's. you can get one for about $1099 from 6ave.com if you call and ask for their special pricing.

A1400-2 and a BR should be $3500, you just need a cheapish receiver to use as a pre pro this way and the A1400-2 would suit the bill for extreme 2 channel use, while the avr can run the rest for movies.

Denon has a number of good choices, as noted, also Sherwood Newcastle and HK could be considered. That's a large(!) budget you've set aside for the AVR/BD, if it were me, I would take a few hundred off of that and add a couple more surrounds to your speaker budget if your room is medium or larger. You should be able to get a nice AVR/BD combo for less than $2G easily.

Oh, sorry, forgot to say Welcome!!

P, welcome. You haven't given us an adequate description of your hair so that we can precisely analyse the technical specs necessary to meet your stated requirement.

However, in the meantime, if you presently have a receiver with a rating anywhere in the 100 watt area you might try that first before planning for a replacement. Yes, factors such as room size and more importantly listening distance would be helpful if described. As a generality, well-featured and powerful units such as the Denon 3808 and Onkyo 876 should be considered.

You gonna 'splain the math for that?

Mark says:



Mark,
The room isn't exactly ideal for a HT. I have a "transitional" floorplan so there is no divider between the TV room and the kitchen and only a partial wall before the room opens into a 2-story foyer. The "viewing" area is probably about 16' x 14'x 9' with the TV sitting on the 16' wall.

Adrian says:



Thanks for the suggestion...I just don't think I can get away with 8 speakers in my room's configuration. I'm planning to spend a bit more in the amplification in hopes that I may build a home one day that has a dedicated HT room.

David says:

David,
What's the special pricing on a 4308? Looks like $600 off the 3808...same for the higher end mod?

Doc says:

Doc,
Is the Oppo BD-player out yet? Do you know when it is planned for release and a relative price?

Thanks

The OPPO should have a list price of $499 USD. They were hoping for a mid April release.

Thanks for the info.

Welcome!

That certainly is a great combo of speakers. You can't go wrong with that.

For 'blow your hair back' performance in a larger room you're going to need serious amplification. You knew that already. But 16x14x9 is not that big of a room, ~2000cu/ft. I'd think that many popular AVR's ought to be capable of lighting your hair on fire in a room that size. The extremely popular Denon 3808 is a wise choice. I'm a fan of Pioneer Elite gear so I have to put in a plug for the SC-05 and SC-07. Either would be capable of driving your proposed system to your desired level, are very lovely AVR's, and can often be found at steep discounts (<$1k).

The A1400-2/8's are amazing amps, but they're not cheap. If you never want to buy another amp, they're a great choice. But there are many other manufactures out there that make very good amplifiers at slightly lower price points.

I would say to take a peek at Outlaw Audio's offerings. They are pretty highly respected by many. Very good amps.

I would also tentatively recommend Emotiva amps. Though I know others here will disagree. There have been some problems with a few of Emo's amps and a few M80's - so some hesitation is warranted. My LPA-1 has been flawless and is capable of "blowing back my hair" when required, and my room is just a couple hundred cubic feet larger than your room. I would have to think that a UPA-7 (successor to the LPA-1) would be equally able to power an Epic 500 system quite nicely.

If past performance is any indication, the Oppo BluRay player is *the* one that you should get. It may be a hundred bucks or so more expensive than other brick-and-mortar BR players, but it will have features that should put it on the level with multi-thousand dollar flagship BR players.

Oppo's players enjoy an absolutely stellar reputation. I don't think it would be too much of a stretch to say that their BR player is one of the most eagerly anticipated devices in the AV world right now.

I have a vote for Rotel, you could go with the RSP-1570 new pre/pro and RMB-1075. Which would run the 80's and you would have room to grow.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions...I'll have to continue to explore my options. No big rush I guess...I've waited this long.