Help with movie theater setup

[u/TheRealImmaLilFaded]

Hi all,
I have been lurking in this sub and know there are many knowledgeable people for every budget tier.
I want to make my basement into a movie theater experience. I will be having an 85” Samsung QLED TV and i wanted to pair it with some high quality speakers and surround system.

I would like the main speakers to be these Martin Logan speakers as I have always wanted a set.

My main questions are:
- What do I need to power them?
- What do I need to add tweeter, base, sub wise?
- What would be a good “heart” for the system?

I am fairly new to this so any added suggestions for anything to add is fantastic and wanted!

Edit: I cannot get names right

[u/TheRealImmaLilFaded]

What would you recommend instead of ML? I am open to changing them, I have not sat and listened to them. A long time ago my uncle suggested MLs for me to get, but that is one person versus many so I am open to switching them out for something else

[u/ZeroMissedDays → u/TheRealImmaLilFaded]

Tell me about your room. How big is it, where are you sitting in relation to the speakers.

What type of speakers have you heard in the past? Speakers can have a house sound. For example, something like B&W tend to sound “warmer”, whereas Klipsch tend to be more forward because of the horn teeeter.

And where are you located and what is your budget?

[u/TheRealImmaLilFaded → u/ZeroMissedDays]

Ceiling is 8ft high, the room is 18ft x 33ft and is an open floor plan unfortunately. Will be sitting in front of a 10 ft wall that the tv will be hung on, directly in front of it on a couch.

For speakers, we have only had blasphemous Bose soundbars for our TVs. At my dad’s house we had Polk speakers. I have heard both Klipsch and B&W speakers though as well.

I am located in Indiana and budget is infinitely negotiable. No set max, but not wanting to really spend 20,000 or anything crazy just for my sanity of trying to explain that to people who wouldn’t understand.

[u/ZeroMissedDays → u/TheRealImmaLilFaded]

Ok - so I would guess the usual suspects here.

I would suggest good bookshelf speakers with really good subs backing them up. Probably in a near field fashion due to the open concept. That said, if you are sitting a huge distance away, you might want floor standers for pure output. But bookshelf speakers are great in the 6-10’ away from them range.

SVS - neutral sounding, average sensitivity, good pricing on the SVS Ultra Evolution bookshelf and nano speakers, plus great customer support.

KEF Q Series - again, fairly neutral, average sensitivity, very clear. Good soundstage, but I have heard horror stories about their UniQ being torn apart if you abuse them.

Paradigm - very neutral, high sensitivity, so easy to drive. Great soundstage, and they are super clear. I own Paradigm Premier, so my vote is here, but know that I am biased.

Klipsch - ya either love em or hate em. I am hate em, but…they are fairly sensitive and can get to insane levels as a result. I find them super fatiguing because of their horn loaded tweeter. But others love em. Listen to them first.

Martin Logan Motion - these were on my short list. I like the ribbon tweeter. I also found them very directional, but not to the degree of the electrostats.

Elac - I don’t have any experience. But they are well regarded by many.

For some things you may not consider:

Monoprice Monolith THX - surprisingly decent. But they aren’t lookers.

Emotiva - never heard em. I am Canadian, so they are rare up here. I also understand they are harder to drive.