I wanted to touch on something outside of the build, because I know there has been two or three posters that claim to have had a negative experience with the Erskine group. I'm not going to address what they claimed happened, because I wasn't a party to their dealings with Dennis or others, but instead want to talk about some of my experience, including budget issues.
What I don't want to do is have Rab or the other guy turn this into an EG bash thread. If they want to get into a back and forth, bump Mad's thread and we can do that there. Instead, I just want to lay out my experience, some good, some bad, as it relates to the equipment side, which is different than the room design/build.
First, I think it was Warren that I initially spoke to and had a couple conversations with, including discussing that I would have budget issues and likely would have to "skimp" on equipment in the early phase. I also said that I didn't know if I could do all the room acoustic treatment, and asked if it would be possible to identify the most critical pieces, in case I decided to stage the room treatment (quest panels). I was told that I could get the panels color coded (or otherwise coded) with the most critical, next most critical, etc. I don't remember for sure, but I don't think it was ever presented this way. Now, if that was the case (and I honestly don't remember as it's been over a years since we started this), it's also possible I could have re-requested that and got it specified that way.
I will say that I think there is a bit of a disconnect between what Warren told me (and what others have said Shawn has said) and what Dennis wants to do. I don't think it's anything sinister, but instead that Dennis wants the best sounding room, period. When he designs a room, whether they construct it or you have someone else or do it yourself, he wants it to sound great.
I think it's that mentality he has of making a great, if not perfect, sounding room, for everyone in the room, that creates a disconnect between what some people expect and what Dennis wants to spec. --- This is my opinion.
An example was when I asked about the sweet spot (in terms of audio) and how most of the time it would be just my wife and I in the middle two seats of the first row, and he said there is no sweet spot in home theater audio as compared to stereo music and that all the seats would sound great.
So, first with Warren, and then with Dennis, I pointed out budget would be an issue, and I would probably have to go cheap on equipment initially, and focus on the room -- things that can't be easily upgraded later. They both told me that was no problem. So, I want to focus on that part of it.
When it came to speakers. Everyone knows that Dennis now recommends and feels strongly about Procellas. It seems to be a consensus that people that have been in his designed/constructed rooms with Procellas rave about the experience, so I would say that his position is clearly a solid one. That said, not all of us can afford Procellas, which at MSRP would be something like $40,000 or so for a 7.5 system (two P18 subs and P10si balancing subs).
So, I told him that I could get a really good deal on Klipsch, and wanted to know if the THX Ultra II's for LCR, and KL-7800 for surrounds, along with some Klipsch subs (powered for behind the screen and reference in walls for the balancing subs) would do the trick. He told me they would be fine. If you have read much from Dennis, he's a big believer in horns/compression driver/etc for home theaters, because he doesn't feel 1" dome tweeters are effective at HT listening distances, especially with multiple rows. So, he never tried to force me into Procellas. I asked him about some Procella options and what the cost would be, but he told me the Klipsch would work.
Also, in one email exchange, where he momentarily mixed me up with another client he was working on, he said something about me keeping/using my Polk speakers, so again, he clearly is willing to work with clients speaker choices, but as clients we also have to understand that some of his control (being sure the room sounds like he wants it to) goes away when we dictate equipment.
Same with the projector, I said that I couldn't swing a $20k+ light cannon and talked about the JVC's and some other options. In one back and forth (via email) we were both going through the projector options, trying to find one that could handle my 22' or so throw, and still be bright enough for an 11' wide 2.35 screen. When I was leaning towards one of the JVC's, he recommend going with the $3500 Epson instead and pairing it with a good anamorphic lens, which would work with my next projector when I was ready to upgrade.
Now, don't get me wrong, there were times when I said I was leaning towards ____, like say a cheaper anamorphic lens that had a vertical slide, and I might get back a "well, it's your room" response. From there, I might have to ask him why he didn't think that was a good choice and then hear that not only is the lens possibly not as good, but that a vertical slide introduces issues in the hush box configuration, because typically dealing in the horizontal plan is easier than the vertical when designing home theaters (which often are height limited, there are air flow issues with hush boxes, etc.).
However, while he has VERY strong opinions on what will work and create a good sounding room, when we were first working on an equipment quote and talking about options, because I had previously mentioned budget concerns, he initially eliminated amps and QSC DSPs and instead had the speakers being driven by an Onkyo AVR, and instead of having a surround array (two left and two right surrounds), he talked about going with a single Dipole for each surround. This wasn't driven by equipment he could sell (I wasn't buying the Klipsch from him), but instead trying to come up with the best budget compromise based on the equipment/budget restrictions I had to work with.
Keep in mind, all of this was before I decided to use them to construct the room. This was still at the point where I just had the plans and said I would mostly likely have a local contractor do the build.
So, rather than telling me the only option was $40k (give or take MSRP) in Procellas, paired with $15k worth of amps and DSPs, and a $30k projector, etc. He talked about pairing my Klipsch with a highish end Onkyo receiver and a $3,500 Epson projector and a decent anamorphic lens that could be reused when I upgraded my projector.
Now, in my case, I asked if the Klipsch would work. I'm sure if I said, "go evaluate all the internet direct and other cheap speaker options and tell me which is the best fit for my room" he probably would have told me to think again. It's just not reasonable. We all know that you can't just go on manufacturers specs on a speaker, and if he hasn't tested/used these speakers in builds, how can he spec them? Projectors are different, because they are reviewed to more or less a standard, so you can do some fairly quick research and analysis, which he did for me on projectors.
Dennis' responses can some times be a bit terse, especially when he gets a question like, "hey, those Procellas really sound great, but couldn't I get just as good a result if I buy a parts kit from Parts Express...." While I was guilty of things like that, it really comes down to walking into the Mercedes dealership and asking for something at Kia prices.
In my case, round one, I will more than likely be having them create the room, which is what I didn't want to skimp on, but then taking major short cuts on the equipment, most notably speakers. That said, I'm getting speakers that Dennis has signed off on in terms of being able to create the SPL over distance required in my size room (although I think there was a caveat about mixed success in dealing with Klipsch in the past).
So, my experience is that while his ideal is for you to have equipment (screen, projector, speakers, amps, etc) that will make "his room" sound as good as it possibly can, he is also willing to work with the customer on building a properly designed home theater, but putting in equipment which would be a step down from ideal (including in many cases equipment that he isn't a dealer for).