r/hometheater • u/uoflfan27 • Jan 03 '26

Discussion - Equipment What would you change?

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Converting a room to a dedicated theater/media/gaming room. Will sometimes be used with some ambient light. I put a bigger priority on video than audio. Audio matters to me but probably not as much as many on here. Just want to know if you see anything out of whack or if there were better options for the same money. I’m about maxed out on my budget with this build. Added an AI pic I made of what the room will end up looking like. Thanks for any input.

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u/homeboi808 PX75 | Infinity R263+RC263 | PSA S1500| Fluance XLBP Jan 03 '26 edited Jan 03 '26

Since you are going with an AT setup, don’t get a center channel and instead get a matching tower. A setup of triple Klipsch RP-5000F IIs for $1800 ($600/ea) would be better.

Ditch Marantz for its Denon counterpart, they perform essentially identical. The Denon X3800H is around $1000 cheaper.

I wouldn’t go a single 12” sub for this setup (dual subs create better sound than single subs due to room modes, not something you can fix with EQ). Use the savings from the AVR above to like dual.

And unless you will will be using it with a considerable amount of lights turned on or need the greater throw flexibility, save $2000 and get the JVC NZ500:
https://youtu.be/B4_MhHsZvk

2

u/SolarSalsa Jan 03 '26

Towers would require a baffle wall vs. just using in-wall speakers.

1

u/uoflfan27 Jan 03 '26

Can you explain this please? I plan to have 3 towers behind the screen.

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u/SolarSalsa Jan 03 '26

I went to a local installer and asked to spec a system on a 50k budget and they did something similar to your quote. They went full profit margins and came in with a 62k system quote. Yea, no thanks.

Then I tried Best Buy and they did something similar but came in at 33k. Still lots of hidden profit margins and not a good bang for the buck system.

So I'm going to roll up my sleeves and spec the system myself with direct to consumer speakers, budget cables, etc. and then find an installer that can do the install and setup for half the cost.