[infiniteengine]

I've never been much of an audiophile but really want to set up a quality system in my crazily designed new apartment. I've done a lot of research on AVS and have an idea of what to go with but thought some additional advice couldn't hurt given my somewhat unique situation. I'll start with the floorplan to give you an idea of what I'm dealing with:

As you can see its pretty ridiculous, the inside is about 450sq. ft. and the decks are probably about 350sq.ft. each (they look bigger in the floorplan.) My 50" Panasonic G10 will be mounted on the all in the middle that separates the sleeping area from the living room. From wall to viewing area on the couch against the opposite wall there's about 11 feet. The ceilings are 11 feet as well.


Here are pictures of the actual apartment:

All that current furniture/clutter is going to be gone; the only furniture that will actually be there is a couch, a bar separating the kitchen from the living room, the bed, and a mounted media cabinet under the TV (hopefully) for my HTPC and cable box.


I think 5.1 would be more appropriate/practical than 7.1 in the living room/theatre area, especially since I do a lot more listening to music than movie watching.


The tricky part for me is figuring out what to do with the deck, where I may end up even more than the living room. Here are the pictures of the deck I plan to entertain on:

The side with the fence faces the street, and though I don't have to worry at all about being too loud it may be better not to blast music in that direction. I think I can get away with 2 speakers on the windowed side, but I have to compete with Manhattan street noise + the insanely loud, obnoxious music that comes from a rooftop club a few blocks away on weekends.


I like to think I listen to a pretty wide range of music, but most of the music I'm going to be playing when I have people over is going to be pretty heavy on bass, so thats a priority, inside and out.


Any reccomendations of how to set up this weird apartment would be greatly appreciated. I'd say the most I want to spend right now is $750 but my budget is really flexible, but would be fine using that to start off with only stereo sound in both locations and a receiver thats easy to add on to. I'd also really like to order something by today or tomorrow.


Thanks in advance!

 

[lewis26]

I would put the tv on the outside wall under those windows next to that small wall. that will allow you to center the system not have everything bouncing off the walls.

 

[mbyrnes]

You may be better doing two systems. I would do four speakers on the deck. 2 on the wall with the door and 2 on the opposite side. It would give you more sound without having to crank it all the time. You could use an old AVR that doesn't have HDMI, which are very cheap used. These speakers I have heard good things about. You could do the outside cheap and get good sound. Ebay and Craigslist can be good places for older, used gear that has plenty of power. They also make outdoor subs if you can get away with one.


Monoprice.com is a great place for speaker wire, mounting brackets (speakers and TV), and any other cables you might need.


Inside I would go listen to as many speakers as you can. Manhattan has a ton of A/V shops and I would go exploring. Bring your own music and take notes (seriously). this can help eliminate ones you don't like and limit the ones you need to re-listen to. Once you pick your speakers you can buy an AVR that can handle them and provide the features you want.


I would get the outside going now. We have hopefully 3-4 months of nice weather left. Take some time with the inside. Don't rush the speaker purchase. This is where more money is wasted in this hobby. Poor selections = Frequent upgrades. This isn't really true of the electronic end (new features = upgrade every 4-5 years). Don't overbuy an AVR you don't need. 1 year later new "must have" features will be out.


Good luck with your system. Awesome apartment. I would hate your rent payment!

 

[mbyrnes]

A receiver like THIS would be perfect. I actually own this unit (till tomorrow when sis gets it). Plenty of power and would easily handle outdoor duty. P.S. they are in Manhattan and want local pickup.

 

[infiniteengine]

Thanks for the replies, the two system suggestion sounds like it would be practical except for a few concerns I have. Like you said, this is the time to really make use of my outdoor space, so I'm in kindof a hurry to get that set up. My only concern is having two receivers connected to my primary/only A/V source, my HTPC. I have a eVGA 730i motherboard with one coaxial SPDIF output and one optical. Most of the time I'd want to be playing music inside and outside at the same time, depending on the number of people I have over.


Anyway, I bid on the receiver because I figure if I can get it fairly cheap its a worthwhile expense to avoid dumping too much cash into this project too hastily. I looked at those speakers the other day when I saw they were marked down to $40 but didn't get in on it quick enough and they're completely sold out unfortunately. Most of the related threads I've found focus on much higher price ranges, so I'm still looking for something around $50-100/pair.

 

[infiniteengine]

After thinking it over some more, I was thinking the way to go might be a mid-range receiver with a powered zone 2, but I'm still unsure about whether or not that makes sense. In an apartment this size, I don't think I'd need to upgrade ever once I have a mid-range setup.


I'm more of a computer guy, and have never really been into A/V stuff but since I got really into building HTPCs its been kindof a natural direction for me to go. Other than my Dad's 100K+ theatre I used to use years back when I was living at home, I've never really had a decent setup, so any 5.1 system is going to probably blow me away.


All that said, I'm currently considering a Pioneer 1019 or an Onkyo TX-SR607, both of which are total overkill for me at present, but seem like they'd hold up quite well in terms of whatever minor upgrades I may want to make down the line. The point here being that I can buy something right away to get the outdoor speakers going without worrying that I'm compromsing the quality of my eventual 5.1 indoor.


My main question now is what to get in terms of outdoor speakers. I'm looking at HTC QS65s, Energy Tempest IIs, and Yamaha AW390s. all around $130-150. The TSCs are all sold out, any reccomendations?


Edit: Ordered a pair of HTD QS65s, after seeing the company reccomended on another thread. They seem like they'll do the job, and the 5 year warranty is pretty reassuring. I'll eventually throw another set on the back wall, but I think this is a good start. I just need to settle on a receiver so I can actually make use of them...