Help with media room setup

It's finally time! I get to set up my media room. The room is 15x18 (Floorplan here). If you click bonus/media room it shows you the layout of the room.

I want to keep the budget as little as possible but also not sacrifice quality. I've decided that I don't need a 4K TV and the price difference isn't really worth it. For a TV, I really like the Samsung UN60J6200.

For speakers I've been looking at the Definitive Technology ProCinema 600 series for speakers. We heard them today and they sounded good, although at BestBuy they didn't have a subwoofer setup at the time for that series. My problem is that I went to an AV forum and people are saying they are underpowered and don't pack a huge punch. BestBuy people love it, AVS people say it's lacking. I understand the passion and the money the AVS people have so wondering if they are nit-picking a lot more than a normal guy like me would. The package that I linked at BestBuy includes a nice Yamaha receiver and goes for $1k. A pretty decent savings rather than buying the pieces seperately, but I'm also roped in to getting exactly what they are selling without substitution. I'm not sure if this is a really bad idea.

Is this a decent setup for around $2K? Should I spend more (I originally had a set budget of $3K) to get a higher end setup? Will the sound of the ProCinema 600 be swallowed up in the room?

Thanks guys

Do you have the chair picked out?

It's a 2-story ceiling in that space? I will say that bass is a very subjective experience and in part it depends what kind of system you're coming from.

That said, the Definitive/Yamaha deal is a total bust--way too much of the cost is for the receiver, and hardly any for the speakers. You want to reverse that. The worst thing is the sub in that package, which has a pair of 8" drivers. In a 18' x 15' x 15'+ ft ceilings, I don't think you're going to feel the bass much at all, unless you're sitting very close to the sub, and its bass is not going to extend very low, either.

To really feel the bass in a room of that size, you'll need at least pretty powerful 12" sub, if not 15". I would look at SVS, probably the PB-2000. If that's pushing your budget SVS has a good deal on a 5.1 package though with a sealed 12" sub that will do better than the Definitive package, though it would definitely not have the oomph of the PB-2000.

For the receiver, you don't need to spend more than $300 IMO. I'd go for something like this Denon instead. Then spend about $1000-1500 on speakers (at least $500 of that on the sub) and the rest on the TV. You could save $100 on the TV by going with a 60" Vizio E-series, which rtings.com gave the same rating as the Samsung (last year's model-a new one just launched so keep in mind the score might be different).

I would echo all of Mao's advice particularly on the audio side.

1 story ceiling. The media room is on the 2nd floor, above the living room. Thank you for the advice. I knew coming here was the right idea I'll have to review the suggestions and see if I can make something work. It sounds like I don't need to go absolutely nuts with the budget but definitely have to reconsider what I planned on spending.

DeThroned wrote:

1 story ceiling. The media room is on the 2nd floor, above the living room. Thank you for the advice. I knew coming here was the right idea I'll have to review the suggestions and see if I can make something work. It sounds like I don't need to go absolutely nuts with the budget but definitely have to reconsider what I planned on spending.

Oh that's good news. How high is the ceiling? The SVS 5.1 package might work pretty well for you. Also they offer free shipping both ways and 45 days to return them. It's pretty much a win-win.

I believe the 2nd floor is 9ft ceilings.

EDIT: Another question. Would it be worth it to upgrade to a 7.1 system? The only thing I can think of that would hinder this is the door and that the speaker would be placed either above the door or at a weird angle. I'm thinking 5.1 is sufficient for now but figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.

DeThroned wrote:

I believe the 2nd floor is 9ft ceilings.

EDIT: Another question. Would it be worth it to upgrade to a 7.1 system? The only thing I can think of that would hinder this is the door and that the speaker would be placed either above the door or at a weird angle. I'm thinking 5.1 is sufficient for now but figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.

I've never had a 7.1 system, but if it fits your budget and you can figure out speaker arrangement, I'd say it's a worthwhile investment. There are even some reasonably priced Dolby Atmos-compatible receivers you can look into if you want the latest and greatest.

Hope you don't mind if I pop in for advice too. I am finishing my basement this year and I was hoping for some guidance. It is roughly a 12X15 room with an 8-9 foot ceiling. I think I will be sitting roughly 8-ish feet away (looking to maybe add a platform behind a 2-person theater seat to place another 2-seater for quasi-stadium seating). I am looking for the whole set up, not 100% sure on the budget yet, but here are some of my thoughts:

TV - Samsung-UN65JS8500-65 4K. This is a BB Black Friday deal for $2,000, so it may not happen but this seemed pretty reasonable for the quality (Thanks Mao for the rtings.com link, that was very helpful!) If I just want to stay 1080p, I thought this one for $1,400 at BB again Samsung-UN65J6300-65-Inch-1080p.

Speakers - BB has some Klipsch speakers on sale (again, Black Friday) for 50% off. Not high end by any means, but probably good enough for me (thinking two towers or bookshelfs for front, a Center, 2-4 surrounds (not sure if I can pull off 5.1 or 7.1) and a Sub. I have seen many people here recommend SVS, so that is an option too. The link Mao had for the package deal via SVS looked interesting, but do people usually use all of the same speaker for every part of the set up?

Receiver - Two were already linked above and both looked pretty good. Depends if I want to future-proof a bit for Atmos.

Seating - Any suggestions? I have looked around at local store's websites and I think I just need to sit my butt in a few to decide.

Accessories - 16 gauge wire still preferable for running speaker wire? Probably need some plates to hook all if it up behind the wall so I can just plug in the speakers (banana plugs still the thing?) and an HDMI cord for the TV.

Thanks in advance, I am extremely overwhelmed by all of the choices and I am afraid I will just go "Ooo Shiny!" and buy stuff that doesn't make sense.

Skippy1997 wrote:

Hope you don't mind if I pop in for advice too. I am finishing my basement this year and I was hoping for some guidance. It is roughly a 12X15 room with an 8-9 foot ceiling. I think I will be sitting roughly 8-ish feet away (looking to maybe add a platform behind a 2-person theater seat to place another 2-seater for quasi-stadium seating). I am looking for the whole set up, not 100% sure on the budget yet, but here are some of my thoughts:

TV - Samsung-UN65JS8500-65 4K. This is a BB Black Friday deal for $2,000, so it may not happen but this seemed pretty reasonable for the quality (Thanks Mao for the rtings.com link, that was very helpful!) If I just want to stay 1080p, I thought this one for $1,400 at BB again Samsung-UN65J6300-65-Inch-1080p.

Speakers - BB has some Klipsch speakers on sale (again, Black Friday) for 50% off. Not high end by any means, but probably good enough for me (thinking two towers or bookshelfs for front, a Center, 2-4 surrounds (not sure if I can pull off 5.1 or 7.1) and a Sub. I have seen many people here recommend SVS, so that is an option too. The link Mao had for the package deal via SVS looked interesting, but do people usually use all of the same speaker for every part of the set up?

Receiver - Two were already linked above and both looked pretty good. Depends if I want to future-proof a bit for Atmos.

Seating - Any suggestions? I have looked around at local store's websites and I think I just need to sit my butt in a few to decide.

Accessories - 16 gauge wire still preferable for running speaker wire? Probably need some plates to hook all if it up behind the wall so I can just plug in the speakers (banana plugs still the thing?) and an HDMI cord for the TV.

Thanks in advance, I am extremely overwhelmed by all of the choices and I am afraid I will just go "Ooo Shiny!" and buy stuff that doesn't make sense.

Just to keep things in one place, I'm responding to your questions over here.

Ok, budget change has occurred (that was bound to happen)

My wife and I love the SVS system and will be purchasing it so thank you for that recommendation. We are now stuck on the TV. The 3 we are looking at are:

Samsung UN60-JS7000 - $1299 on Black Friday
Samsung UN65-JS8500 - $1999 on BF
Sony X850C - $1999 on BF

The Vizio looks like a great TV but I am looking at spending more to future proof the TV and give us one that we will be really happy with. The UN60 has a great picture and one that we were happy with. However, and this could just be because we were viewing the TVs in the store, the UN65 we kept coming back to out of all the TVs that we saw. The Sony and the UN65 are both amazing TVs and reading reviews online it seems like I'm asking "Which is better, Coke or Pepsi?". There doesn't seem to be a clear cut answer.

So my question is this - Is it worth the money to buy a better TV if the budget allows? I know the picture is better on the more expensive sets but trying to figure out that if I just had 1 TV to look and not a wall of TVs, would I really notice a difference between a Vizio, Mid-range, and the higher end TVs? My heart is telling me to get the Samsung UN65. My wallet says I should ask for a 2nd opinion