I am currently putting together a 7.1 system for a dedicated theater. The room is 12'X24' and the receiver is a Denon 3806. The theater will beused for 80/20 movies/music.

I have pretty much decided to go with the Focal Chorus 800's as my speakers, but looking for alittle more advice.

Here is the speaker combination I am thinking of.

Front LR: 816V, 826V or 836V
Center: CC 800V
Surrounds: SR 800V
Rear Surrounds: SR 800V, 806V or 807V
Sub: TBD

First question: Since I will be running a sub to take care of the lower frequency's, is there any advantage to going with the 836 over the 826 over the 816? The only difference I can see, besides wattage, is the lower end of the frequency range and that the 816 is a 2.5 way.
Second question: For the rear surrounds, which would be a better choice? Are bi-directional's better than the bookshelfs?

i would use 2 subs and 6 x 807v plus the cc800v

I am currently putting together a 7.1 system for a dedicated theater. The room is 12'X24' and the receiver is a Denon 3806. The theater will be about 80/20 movies/music.

I have pretty much decided to go with the Focal Chorus 800's as my speakers, but looking for alittle more advice.

Here is the speaker combination I am thinking of.

Front LR: 816V, 826V or 836V
Center: CC 800V
Surrounds: SR 800V
Rear Surrounds: SR 800V, 806V or 807V
Sub: TBD

First question: Since I will be running a sub to take care of the lower frequency's, is there any advantage to going with the 836 over the 826 over the 816? The only difference I can see it to lower end of the frequency range and that the 816 is a 2.5 way.
Second question: For the rear surrounds, which would be a better choice? Are bi-directional's better than the bookshelfs?

The 836s are more sensitive and will have a little higher power handling capability. The 816 is not a true 3-way like the 826 or 836, so you might lose a tiny bit of detail in that area.

If you want my advice, go with the 826s and use the extra money towards purchasing a separate amp. The Denon will not do the trick! Being that you are doing mostly home theater, I would do the wall mountable "bi-directional" speakers.

Subwoofer. Go with Velodyne, or JL audio if you want to spend the dough. Good choice in speakers!

I had been using Chorus 707S fronts, CC700 center, 700 sub, and cache in-walls in a 6.1 system. They were running on a NAD T763. Our room is 17x19 with a 17 ft ceiling and the room is open to a hall on one side and the kitchen/dining on another. The system had a decent sound - but it got better when I added the Adcom 555 I used to use on my old Maggie MGIIs. The NAD could not do anything in the way of decent HT volume with good sound. The power increase really helped. We liked the Chorus setup but it didn't give the impact we were looking for. We're moving the Chorus setup into the bedroom. We listened to the 826V and 836V recently thought they were okay but decided they wouldn't do the job in our room. If you don't have a huge ceiling I would go with AudioArchitect's advice on the 826V - I think you'll benefit in an HT setup - also- plan on doing something different for the fronts and the center than the Denon if you like any volume - power really makes a huge difference :) Also - don't go with the Focal sub - it just won't get the job done. Just my experience and opinion.

Ken

focal jm lab subs are good from electra series up

also when play loud the chorus or the older cobalt series are not that good. you will need electra or utopia series

First of all, congradulations on an outstanding choice :) imho, the focal 826v is the best $2000 speaker on the market right now (and that comes after a couple weeks of in home listening to most of the competition).

AudioArchitect--I'm looking for an amp to help out my Denon 2105 in driving the 826v's...what would you recommend?

Thanks

First of all, congradulations on an outstanding choice :) imho, the focal 826v is the best $2000 speaker on the market right now (and that comes after a couple weeks of in home listening to most of the competition).

AudioArchitect--I'm looking for an amp to help out my Denon 2105 in driving the 826v's...what would you recommend?

Thanks

Dollar for dollar I dont think theres any finer amp than Parasound stuff. The new Classic line is a great product as well as their Halo stuff. Im a big believer in the more power, the better. The Classic 5250 would sound incredible with the Focal 826 setup.

Thanks for all the feedback guys. Good advice.

also when play loud the chorus or the older cobalt series are not that good. you will need electra or utopia series

What do you mean by loud? Like rock concert make me deaf loud or turned up for enjoyable listening loud? :confused:

What do you mean by load? Like rock concert make me deaf load or turned up for enjoyable listening load? :confused:

if you do a/b comparison you may notice the electra and utopia series give you a more relaxed sound when playing complex passages or at 80+db. that is why the drivers are different and demand higher prices

The 836s are more sensitive and will have a little higher power handling capability. The 816 is not a true 3-way like the 826 or 836, so you might lose a tiny bit of detail in that area.

If you want my advice, go with the 826s and use the extra money towards purchasing a separate amp. The Denon will not do the trick! Being that you are doing mostly home theater, I would do the wall mountable "bi-directional" speakers.

Subwoofer. Go with Velodyne, or JL audio if you want to spend the dough. Good choice in speakers!

*******************
I disagree with the above recommendation regarding the separate amp. Don't waist your hard earned money. I have the Denon 3806 and even with the volume not turned that high it has more rich power and dynamics than my medium to large size room can take. You would have to have some seriously inefficient speakers and/or using a highschool gym sized room as your listening room, not to get enough power out of this receiver.

If it were my money, without thinking twice I would stick with the Denon 3806 and splurge on the speakers.

the amp section of 3806 is no match for external amp

i support AA's ideas

I also have Chorus S 707s (bookshelves) and a good amp makes a world of diffrence. Of course, I'm in an purely stereo steup, and if the new Focal drivers are anything like the old ones, I'd stay away from the 7" drivers...


SUGGESTION: I'm in the market for new speakers, and auditionned some Dynaudio Audience 52s and the Monitor Audio RS6 not even 5h ago. The MA's tend to be a little forceful, but this could definately play to your advantage in an HT setup. Worth a try anyway.

I myself have yet to try the 826's, which might be my next pair of speakers.

Another suggestion: Dali Ikons are apparently good, but haven't heard them.

I am also considering the 826.
But my dealer only has high end class A to try.

What about pairing the 826 with Rotel 1092 or 1080?

any opinion ?