[vangorp]

I am in the beginning stages of setting up a family flex room/watching tv and movie room. I believe I am going with either a 77" Sony OLED, or the 85" x900H. I have been researching speakers and AVR's and am torn on what direction to go regarding budget. The area is 20x20, open in the back leading to a hall way to the other basement rooms and the stairs leading upstairs.

I am looking at the following setup:

4-PSA MTM-110-M for the fronts and the surround speakers
A PSA MTM-210C-M center channel
2-PSA TV1512 subs
AVR-TBD

The cost for this will be roughly $6200 minus the AVR. My question regarding this system is whether or not it is overkill for the intended use? I know there is no such thing as overkill!! Are there other options I should be considering to receive a better bang for the $$, or is this pretty much the best bang for the $$. This will be my first real system, so regardless of what I do it will be better than anything I have ever had previously.

I am attaching some pictures of the space for some reference in hopes that it helps to show the space I am trying to fill.

I appreciate any advice/guidance you may be able to provide!

 

[CervicalCBD]

I’m new as well but I think you should use the AVR to power your center channel and surrounds and get an amp for your front towers. Also, that flooring looks identical to mine haha.

 

[sigpig]

An AVR is all you would need to power those speakers.
There is no such thing as "overkill" on AVS.
That will be an amazing system. If you ever feel the urge, a pair of MTM-210s could replace the 110s, and they could move to rear surround duty.
Are you considering Atmos channels too?

 

[Zorba922]

I am in the beginning stages of setting up a family flex room/watching tv and movie room. I believe I am going with either a 77" Sony OLED, or the 85" x900H. I have been researching speakers and AVR's and am torn on what direction to go regarding budget. The area is 20x20, open in the back leading to a hall way to the other basement rooms and the stairs leading upstairs.

I am looking at the following setup:

4-PSA MTM-110-M for the fronts and the surround speakers
A PSA MTM-210C-M center channel
2-PSA TV1512 subs
AVR-TBD

The cost for this will be roughly $6200 minus the AVR. My question regarding this system is whether or not it is overkill for the intended use? I know there is no such thing as overkill!! Are there other options I should be considering to receive a better bang for the $$, or is this pretty much the best bang for the $$. This will be my first real system, so regardless of what I do it will be better than anything I have ever had previously.

I am attaching some pictures of the space for some reference in hopes that it helps to show the space I am trying to fill.

I appreciate any advice/guidance you may be able to provide!

I can't think of anything bad to say about PSA speakers, other than that I'd be too cheap to pay for them.

However, you are brave enough to ask about "overkill" so I will explore that (sacrilegious) possibility:

1. LOUDNESS ... if you listen in the typical 60-75db range and
2. LISTENING DISTANCE ... if you sit no more than 12feet away from the screen

then YES, you'd be paying for capabilities that you'll never use.

Akin to buying a Porsche that you use to commute to work in 35mph gridlocked freeway traffic, where a Civic could get the job done just as well.

But, Porsches sure are nice cars. If someone gave me one, I wouldn't exactly turn them down.

 

[RayGuy]

That will be a nice system for that large room. One thing to consider would be to add some budget for room treatments. All the hard surfaces in that room will result in an echo chamber effect, and that will degrade the sound quality significantly. To get the most from your investment, contact a company like GIK Acoustics and have them spec out a set of room treatments for you (design is free). Note that the treatments can be disguised as any artwork you choose, if WAF is an issue.

 

[vangorp]

An AVR is all you would need to power those speakers.
There is no such thing as "overkill" on AVS.
That will be an amazing system. If you ever feel the urge, a pair of MTM-210s could replace the 110s, and they could move to rear surround duty.
Are you considering Atmos channels too?

I haven’t gotten that far yet, but yes will more than likely add 4 atmos speakers! So I will need at least a 9 channel amp.

I have also thought about doing 210’s out of the gate for up front as well!

 

[vangorp]

I can't think of anything bad to say about PSA speakers, other than that I'd be too cheap to pay for them.

However, you are brave enough to ask about "overkill" so I will explore that (sacrilegious) possibility:

1. LOUDNESS ... if you listen in the typical 60-75db range and
2. LISTENING DISTANCE ... if you sit no more than 12feet away from the screen

then YES, you'd be paying for capabilities that you'll never use.

Akin to buying a Porsche that you use to commute to work in 35mph gridlocked freeway traffic, where a Civic could get the job done just as well.

But, Porsches sure are nice cars. If someone gave me one, I wouldn't exactly turn them down.

That’s partially part of my concern is that I’m overbuying a system to get what I want when in reality I don’t know what I need because I currently have nothing. I just want to do it right and have no regrets!! I stopped at a local store here the other day that carries Monitor Audio and listened to a bronze setup, and while it sounded good it was still kinda meh!! The center channel and the subs just didn’t seem to mesh for the $$. That system with 2 subs was roughly $3300.

 

[Zorba922]

That’s partially part of my concern is that I’m overbuying a system to get what I want when in reality I don’t know what I need because I currently have nothing. I just want to do it right and have no regrets!! I stopped at a local store here the other day that carries Monitor Audio and listened to a bronze setup, and while it sounded good it was still kinda meh!! The center channel and the subs just didn’t seem to mesh for the $$. That system with 2 subs was roughly $3300.

Well, if you HONESTLY want to see just HOW LITTLE you might actually need, instead of blowing $6K in one fell swoop it would make more sense to do it in steps and test out maybe 2-3 different stereo pairs, send back the losers, and then order the rest of the speakers from the winner.

So what I'd do if I were starting with nothing and had no idea exactly what I like or need, is this:

1. Start by buying an entry level but decent receiver so you have something to test the speakers with. The $400 Yamaha TSR-700 or 7850 from Costco would be my pick, esp. since you get the easiest return policy around in case you get a lemon or decide you need something better.

2. Start with a mid-level sub that you can easily buy a second of if needed. Your room looks like it'd be well served by a pair of Hsu VTF-3, so I'd start with one and add the second later if you need to.

3. Start with speakers in the 90db sensitivity range (the PSA are a whopping 97b plus) ... a good comparison would be a pair of Ascend 340SE and a pair of Klipsch RP-600M. The Ascends will cost around $100 to ship back, the Klipsch $10 if bought from Crutchfield.com

This comparison will tell you 3 things:

A. LOUDNESS needs: If neither of these play satisfyingly LOUD enough for you cleanly (no distortion) then definitely move on to the PSAs. If you find that they are already more than loud ENOUGH, then I'd cross the PSA off your list.

B. LARGENESS needs: If neither of these speakers play BIG (dynamics, scale, soundstage) enough for you, THEN stay focused on tower speakers and cross bookshelf speakers off your list.

C. TONALITY preferences: If YOUR ears find the Klipsch's treble to be overpowering, you can conclude that your ears prefer a more "neutral" presentation, which the Ascends would have. If both speakers sound too trebly for you, then you can conclude that your ears lean more towards the "warm" side of things in which case a flat tweeter (Emotiva, Martin Logan, Ascend Sierra with RAAL, Wharfedale Evo, Chane, etc.) speaker might be the best fit.

C will be much more important if your priority is 2 channel music listening rather than general movies/TV/gaming usage. The latter will be mainly about A & B, and generally you'll find yourself much easier to please than if you were a big music person.

The process I'm laying out will require a good bit more work, which you may or may not enjoy (I find it fun, personally) but you may end up spending $2K instead of $6K and be fully happy. If the $4K difference doesn't particularly matter to you, that's fine too...you'd be supporting a very nice US based company in PSA.

 

[head_unit]

I appreciate any advice/guidance you may be able to provide

Buy low, sell high.
You're welcome.

Less seminal thoughts:

• The most important aspect of a subwoofer is REMOTE LEVEL CONTROL oh that is so so so nice on an SVS SB-2000 Pro we got, you can fine-tune for different masterings and different volume levels.
• I think the Power Sound Audio products are pretty efficient, so unless you are trying to recreate Iron Maiden's World Slavery Tour in your living room, an AVR should be fine. Just in case, newer Denons/Marantz let you turn off internal L/R amps and just use the preouts, so get that feature.
• Nothing against PSA or any others but I can say the Focal Aria is really nice based on many many hours listening to a 936/CC900/SR900 setup (now plus the SVS).
• If you are even "thinking" about it, and spending a goodly chunk of $$$, please just do the 210s out of the gate and don't be wondering/regretting.
• Definitely your room sound will improve with treatment, that and room correction software (Dirac and Audyssey more sophisticated than others) can make as much difference as your speakers. Get your spouse involved to put in attractive stuff.
• Speaking of spouse, Power Sound Audio stuff is un-pretty industrial (because often hidden out of sight). Is that an issue? I wouldn't want to be looking at that stuff all day and heck I'm a loudspeaker engineer!
• Speaking of your room, and your ears, be sure whatever you get has a reasonable return policy. YOU may not like even the "Greatest" speakers, and you don't even matter, you want your SPOUSE to like the setup heh heh.

 

[Suntan]

Make sure to add some money in for actual light blocking shades.

 

[vangorp]

Make sure to add some money in for actual light blocking shades.

It is on the list!

 

[vangorp]

Buy low, sell high.
You're welcome.

Less seminal thoughts:

• The most important aspect of a subwoofer is REMOTE LEVEL CONTROL oh that is so so so nice on an SVS SB-2000 Pro we got, you can fine-tune for different masterings and different volume levels.
• I think the Power Sound Audio products are pretty efficient, so unless you are trying to recreate Iron Maiden's World Slavery Tour in your living room, an AVR should be fine. Just in case, newer Denons/Marantz let you turn off internal L/R amps and just use the preouts, so get that feature.
• Nothing against PSA or any others but I can say the Focal Aria is really nice based on many many hours listening to a 936/CC900/SR900 setup (now plus the SVS).
• If you are even "thinking" about it, and spending a goodly chunk of $$$, please just do the 210s out of the gate and don't be wondering/regretting.
• Definitely your room sound will improve with treatment, that and room correction software (Dirac and Audyssey more sophisticated than others) can make as much difference as your speakers. Get your spouse involved to put in attractive stuff.
• Speaking of spouse, Power Sound Audio stuff is un-pretty industrial (because often hidden out of sight). Is that an issue? I wouldn't want to be looking at that stuff all day and heck I'm a loudspeaker engineer!
• Speaking of your room, and your ears, be sure whatever you get has a reasonable return policy. YOU may not like even the "Greatest" speakers, and you don't even matter, you want your SPOUSE to like the setup heh heh.

Thanks for the guidance! Things I haven’t thought of.

 

[vangorp]

Well, if you HONESTLY want to see just HOW LITTLE you might actually need, instead of blowing $6K in one fell swoop it would make more sense to do it in steps and test out maybe 2-3 different stereo pairs, send back the losers, and then order the rest of the speakers from the winner.

So what I'd do if I were starting with nothing and had no idea exactly what I like or need, is this:

1. Start by buying an entry level but decent receiver so you have something to test the speakers with. The $400 Yamaha TSR-700 or 7850 from Costco would be my pick, esp. since you get the easiest return policy around in case you get a lemon or decide you need something better.

2. Start with a mid-level sub that you can easily buy a second of if needed. Your room looks like it'd be well served by a pair of Hsu VTF-3, so I'd start with one and add the second later if you need to.

3. Start with speakers in the 90db sensitivity range (the PSA are a whopping 97b plus) ... a good comparison would be a pair of Ascend 340SE and a pair of Klipsch RP-600M. The Ascends will cost around $100 to ship back, the Klipsch $10 if bought from Crutchfield.com

This comparison will tell you 3 things:

A. LOUDNESS needs: If neither of these play satisfyingly LOUD enough for you cleanly (no distortion) then definitely move on to the PSAs. If you find that they are already more than loud ENOUGH, then I'd cross the PSA off your list.

B. LARGENESS needs: If neither of these speakers play BIG (dynamics, scale, soundstage) enough for you, THEN stay focused on tower speakers and cross bookshelf speakers off your list.

C. TONALITY preferences: If YOUR ears find the Klipsch's treble to be overpowering, you can conclude that your ears prefer a more "neutral" presentation, which the Ascends would have. If both speakers sound too trebly for you, then you can conclude that your ears lean more towards the "warm" side of things in which case a flat tweeter (Emotiva, Martin Logan, Ascend Sierra with RAAL, Wharfedale Evo, Chane, etc.) speaker might be the best fit.

C will be much more important if your priority is 2 channel music listening rather than general movies/TV/gaming usage. The latter will be mainly about A & B, and generally you'll find yourself much easier to please than if you were a big music person.

The process I'm laying out will require a good bit more work, which you may or may not enjoy (I find it fun, personally) but you may end up spending $2K instead of $6K and be fully happy. If the $4K difference doesn't particularly matter to you, that's fine too...you'd be supporting a very nice US based company in PSA.

This advice helps greatly as I ponder through this process!! Thank you!!!

 

[Suntan]

• The most important aspect of a subwoofer is REMOTE LEVEL CONTROL

"Most important" seems like a high pedestal to put that claim on. With even the most rudimentary AVRs having the capability to adjust individual speaker levels, what benefit is there to having separate remote level control at the sub?

If your sub is well integrated and balanced in with your other speakers, why would you want to manually adjust just the sub levels from media to media? If a person is worried about big booms while watching late at night, wouldn't it be more advantageous to make use of an AVRs dynamic range compression methods instead of just dropping the sub channel?

 

[jrmtz85]

Can't say I'm an expert in any way whatsoever on speakers. Did some digging over the summer into redoing my setup, whose speakers originated in an old Onkyo HTIB from about 2009. Wound up with an MTM210C and 2x MTM110s for L-R. Did some KEF Q50as for surrounds, as well as front heights. Using my old Denon 2400, and got a TV1812 as well to shake the house. Still dialing it all in, but gotta say, everything sounds phenomenal! I could have gone with a less expensive system for sure, but I want these to be my speakers for the next 20 years, and spending a little extra now, vs having the upgrade bug and regrets in 2-3 years seemed worth it. I don't see myself ever needing to change these at all (except for the AVR of course). That's my 2 cents on your situation.

 

[mdildine]

"Most important" seems like a high pedestal to put that claim on. With even the most rudimentary AVRs having the capability to adjust individual speaker levels, what benefit is there to having separate remote level control at the sub?

If your sub is well integrated and balanced in with your other speakers, why would you want to manually adjust just the sub levels from media to media? If a person is worried about big booms while watching late at night, wouldn't it be more advantageous to make use of an AVRs dynamic range compression methods instead of just dropping the sub channel?

I as will have found the SVS remote capability to be in the "now that I have it I will never go back" category. I switch remote settings at least twice a day. When listening to music I use the music setting on the app, with movies obviously the movie setting. Where I find it most worthwhile is when my wife is watchin along with me, her tolerance for deeper bass is very low, now instead of climbing behind my subs to turn the gain down or fishing through my Marantz receiver menus to reduce the subwoofer gain I simply open the app and turn the gain down. I understand this feature is not that useful for many but for me I will never go back.

 

[Jakegsxr11]

I agree that adjusting the sub output is nice. I however use the AVR to do it. It's very readily accessible on the web interface.

 

[Suntan]

I agree that adjusting the sub output is nice. I however use the AVR to do it. It's very readily accessible on the web interface.

Yeah. It's fine if a person wants to just outright dump the bass for whatever reason. I guess I was just puzzled by the claim that this was the "most important" feature, when you can already do it on pretty much every AVR. Surely cost, size, output, lowest frequency, etc. etc. at least compete for "most important."

At best I would think it should be viewed as "maybe kinda nice to have" for the vast majority of sub shoppers.