"Best" 9.2/9.4 home theater/music speaker set-up for under $40,000...

You can't beat Bose! There in the best theaters here!

Hahahaha, good one. To the OP there is no best, it's all subjective. You can do wonderful things with 40k, just try to understand there is no single best product out there. There are fantastic products from different manufactures in every category. Some homework and lot of listening will get what you desire.

Remember this is your system and what sounds good to you may not sound the same to someone else. Only advise I can give is take your time and enjoy the ride.

CK

Does 40K include video or are you using an Apple iPad3 for your video?

I would definately look at JBL Synthesis systems in that price range... Their DSP/Room EQ is one of the best on the market too. (IMO)

What is the size of your room? What is your amplification? Do you prefer in-wall, on-wall, or floor standing speakers? What is your music/movie listening %?

I wish this were my project! I know I am enjoying my ride! This is a decision to take some time with & listen to a lot of systems. Enjoy. . .

"Best" depends on a bunch of things... first, room size and listening habits. The closer you are to the speakers, the more small monitors makes sense (drivers mounted closer together are usually easier to integrate into a single source, whereas larger speakers where the drivers are mounted further apart requires more of a distance to integrate well).

How much music, 2-ch, multi-ch, type of music?

What are you planning to use to drive all the speakers?

In other words, the more information you can give us, the better the answer will be.

We know nothing about your room, preferences, etc. Unless you have other budget already set aside for it, I would spend some of that nice budget on hiring a professional to design your home theater/listening space for you. That might mean just telling you how to treat an existing room, or how to build / remodel a room from the ground up.

+1

You can read these forums and all others until you are blue in the face and you may end up knowing more than you do now. But all you will get here is the individual responders preference. There are WAY too many unknown variables for anyone online to provide reasonable assistance. If I were in your shoes, I would contact some well respected consultants and have them assist. Without doing so, you have an outstanding opportunity of coming up way short of what $40,000 could provide.

Write a $40,000 check to Seaton sound with the note; "Go Nuts". My guess is that a bespoke solution will beat ANY standard product.

Dan

My suggestion is that you hire Dennis Erskine and get the room right first. Proper design and acoustics can make inexpensive speakers sound great and poor design will make $40k speakers sound like Bose.

Ironically, I posted a similar question to yours when I was building in 2010. Man, am I glad the AVSers guided me to Dennis. Here is my build thread http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1339780 if you want to see my journey.

BTW -- the photo that you posted of the theater you liked in your projector thread is a Dennis Erskine theater.

Yes do the room right first and get somebody like Dennis

Here is the best advice. Step back and book a trip to Cedia in Sep. You can check out and get info on just about everything you are interested in. I am sure you will also have the opportunity to talk to Dennis Erskine or Keith Yates if you so desire to have your room designed for you.


Last year at Cedia, I heard good things about speakers from a number of companies including Adam, JBL (IIRC Peter M spoke very highly of them), Seaton, etc.

Bespoke yes, but quested LT takes the cake.

Based on the attached picture, I deduce that he means your HT has to built under a pool for optimal performance.

I like that idea of writing a check to Mark Seaton or Dennis Eskrine and telling him to go crazy lol

Actually in my home theatre room i have this:

http://89.96.202.198/documents/Z1SF_NUL0000R60.pdf

The M2 model for the front, and the S218 as subwoofer.

This speakers are great!!! Even with the music!

Height Channel speakers.pdf 377k .pdf file


Penthouse QSB218-LT20h (3).pdf 62k .pdf file

The "Max" has gone pro. Not long ago he was a Dynaudio and Mark Levinson man...

Dynaudio acoustics is a copy of the original work of roger quested with soft domes. This 13.10/1 setup images at 5 meter instead of the 3 maximum enjoyable with the biggest quested soft domers, in fact they are supposed to sound uncannily alike one at 3 the other at 5-6 metres.


The amps are made by their neighbor MC2 who make some of the most respected studio amplfiers, also preferred by Dynaudio Acoustics.
Edited by CINERAMAX - 6/19/12 at 6:44am

you go Pro Boy!