# Specs for review by the experts here.



## bucky925 (Sep 13, 2009)

As I told everyone in my intro, I am a total newbie to the HT/media room technology. I had planned to make a weekend project of researching various components. But alas my youngest daughter broke her foot this morning. After getting back from the hospital (she is fine) and missing work, not being able to do much else but wait on her, I decided to get started. I called a buddy and we started looking. This is what I have come up with. Please don't worry about hurting my feelings, I want honest opinions. Understand this will be more of a "big game sports" room, but will also be used to watch movies. So here goes.

MITSUBISHI WD82837 82" DLP	
Onkyo TX-SR607 90 x 7 home theater receiver
ONKYO DVBD507 Blue-ray player
JAMO IW406 In wall speakers x2
JAMO IW425LRC In wall LCR Speaker x1
JAMO IC406 Ceiling speaker x2
JAMO SUB550B x 2 
UNIVERSAL REMOTE MX-810
PANAMAX M4300PM Power Conditioner
TOSHIBA 26AV502R the extra tv over the bar

critique away....really please.


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

Hi brent and welcome to the Shack... :T

Do you have your costs on all of these? Is there a total budget to work with?

I would recommend the MX-880 or 980, but the 810 is a pain to program and is not near as flexible. I own both the 880 and 980 and have had the 810. Significant difference.


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## bucky925 (Sep 13, 2009)

Budget? we don't need no stinkin budget. I'm kidding, yes very definitely a budget and I am very close to exceeding it without seating. My pricing for everything listed along with cables would be in the $7100 range. Is this a good price? like I say me looking at this is like a blind hog trying to a acorn.


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## lcaillo (May 2, 2006)

Ditto Sonnie's comments on the remote. I'd not bother with the power conditioner. You can get perfectly good protection from Panamax under $100. The Mits and Onkyo amp are good value products, but I'd go no bigger than the 73". I really am not familiar witht the Jamo products. I have not seen the Onkyo BR player.


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## Jungle Jack (Jul 28, 2009)

bucky925 said:


> As I told everyone in my intro, I am a total newbie to the HT/media room technology. I had planned to make a weekend project of researching various components. But alas my youngest daughter broke her foot this morning. After getting back from the hospital (she is fine) and missing work, not being able to do much else but wait on her, I decided to get started. I called a buddy and we started looking. This is what I have come up with. Please don't worry about hurting my feelings, I want honest opinions. Understand this will be more of a "big game sports" room, but will also be used to watch movies. So here goes.
> 
> MITSUBISHI WD82837 82" DLP
> Onkyo TX-SR607 90 x 7 home theater receiver
> ...


Hello,
Welcome to HomeTheaterShack. It looks like you have put some time in your research. I am still a big fan of microdisplay RPTV's like the Mitsubishi and think they offer amazing value. I am using a Sony SXRD Microdisplay myself. The great advantage to RPTV's as opposed to Front Projection is you can use a RPTV in a bright room and still have a useable picture.

Just looking at your proposed components, I would actually recommend the OPPO BDP-83 over the Onkyo Blu Ray player. The prices are about identical. The OPPO really has engendered a great deal of enthusiasm due to offering everything but the kitchen sink at a competitive price. In addition to offering tons of technology, the OPPO is one of the fastest loading if not the fastest loading Blu Ray player on the market. In addition, its DVD performance is absolutely top notch. Even Consumer Reports has rated it very highly which is a rare thing when videophiles and Consumer Reports are on the same page.

I am a huge fan of Onkyo AVR/SSP's and use one myself. I might recommend moving one model up the chain to a Onkyo model which offers preamp outputs. Jamo's are not the most efficient speakers out there and like power. Depending on your room size and listening habits, the TX-SR607 might not put out as much power as you desire. With the TX-SR707, you would get THX certification, Audyssey MultEQ which is a more advanced version of Audyssey's award winning room correction software, and has preamp outputs. In addition to having a more powerful amplifier section.

Preamp outputs are important in the case that you need more power, you can easily add an outboard amplifier. Outboard amplifiers offer much more power and companies like Emotiva offer lots of power for unbelievably cheap prices. 

Are you 100% committed to In Wall Speakers? I completely understand that In Wall Speakers are most Wives dream solution, but performance wise, cannot compare to free standing speakers.
If you are committed to going with an In Wall solution, I would recommend listening to as many different Speaker Companies as you can. Once they are up there, they are up there.

The good news is that many companies are now offering In Wall Speakers and some of those companies are the best in the business. I would recommend auditioning Martin Logan, Dynaudio, and especially PSB. I recommend PSB because their prices are lower than the other two I recommended and still offer excellent performance.

It looks like you are well on your way to a really neat setup. I would again recommend purchasing a receiver with preamp outputs. When I worked in a Home Audio Store in College, I had a number of Clients who went the In Wall route and purchased receivers without preamp outputs that were fairly low powered. At least 75% called asking why their receiver kept shutting down (thermal protection from overdriving the amplifiers) and asked how to rectify this. In these situations, without preamp outs, the answer was never what they wanted to hear which was to buy a new receiver. As a corollary, it tends to be the lowest powered models which do not offer the provision of preamp outputs.

And sorry to read that your Daughter broke her Foot and wish her the speediest of recoveries.

Cheers,
JJ


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## Jon Liu (May 21, 2007)

I used to be a big fan of Mitsubishi TVs, so I don't think you can go wrong with the choice you made already.

The Onkyo is a pretty good choice, although I am curious as to why you wouldn't want to jump to the 707 or the 807.

JJ, makes a good suggestion on the blu-ray player. The Oppo is by far the best Blu-ray player that I've used to date. Of all the blu-ray players that I've owned, its had the least problems, the fastest loading, the best quality, the best support (if ever there was any problems), and it does the most for your money.

I'm not too familiar with Jamo, but for speakers, if they sound good to you, then go with them. Don't rule out other speakers until you listen to them either. Also, if you have the chance, go out and listen to as many different brands and tiers within each brand to see which one best fits what you want. Listen with an unbiased opinion.

Panamax makes good power conditioners. I used one in my system. That's not to say that a good power conditioner won't do much of the same things for less.

For Universal remotes, how tech savvy are you? More importantly, how much time do you want to spend setting it up? I am tech savvy, but I ended up deciding that I'd rather have convenience over massive customizability, so I chose a Logitech Harmony remote. I've owned 3 different iterations and I cannot recommend them enough. If you are set on the MX, I would listen to Sonnie's suggestion, since he's tried a couple.

Hope this helps!


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## Wayne A. Pflughaupt (Apr 13, 2006)

Re the in-wall speakers, if it's a "wife thing," maybe you could do free-standing for the front three speakers, and in-wall for the rear surrounds.

Regards,
Wayne


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## eugovector (Sep 4, 2006)

Ditto on the Oppo, do step up to at least the Onkyo 707 if you can, do trade in your power conditioner for a less expensive good surge protector (I like Tripp lite).

How far away will you be sitting? That will help determine the appropriate screen size.

Get your cables, splitters, etc. from monoprice to save money. How about Acoustic Treatment? I know you said this would be less of a movie space, but depending on how many soft surfaces you have in your room, you may still get quite a bit of benefit.


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## lcaillo (May 2, 2006)

My thoughts were the same on the Oppo. I just don't have any experience with the Onkyo to compare. It could be a great unit, though I doubt it compares all that favorably to the Oppo. Onkyo is likely not as seriously dedicated to disc technology and is probably making a "me-too" player.


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## Jon Liu (May 21, 2007)

Definitely check out monoprice for your cable needs. Another good place to go (not quite as cheap) is bluejeanscable.com.


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## Jungle Jack (Jul 28, 2009)

Hello,
Actually, the Onkyo BDP is even worse than you think. The player is actually made on the same platform and shares almost everything with the 99.99 Magnavox BDP you can pick up at your friendly Wal Mart.

The above two players and believe it or not, Denon's lower end models are all made by a Chinese Company named Funai who makes tons of OEM digital players for various manufacturers.

It is also heavily rumored that Denon's midrange players DVD-2500BDCI and DVD-3800BTCI were made by Funai. Don't get me wrong Denon specced very high quality parts for these players, but were not made in house.

However, with the Onkyo it is painfully close to being a clone of the Magnavox and mostly there to fill a void in Onkyo's lineup.

Very few companies actually made the infrastructure investment to actually build BDP's in house. Sony, Pioneer, Panasonic, OPPO, and maybe a few others actually make their players in house. Also, Denon's flagship is made in house. Now, many high end companies are using OPPO's platform to make their players. Lexicon and Theta are using OPPO's platform.
Cheers,
JJ


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## nova (Apr 30, 2006)

Hi Brent and welcome.
In general I agree with the advice you have received so far, except this :unbelievable:



Jungle Jack said:


> Are you 100% committed to In Wall Speakers? I completely understand that In Wall Speakers are most Wives dream solution, but performance wise, cannot compare to free standing speakers.
> If you are committed to going with an In Wall solution, I would recommend listening to as many different Speaker Companies as you can. Once they are up there, they are up there.


In-wall speakers can compete with free standing in-room speakers and in many cases out perform them. But, there is always a but :doh:, they will cost you :spend::spend::spend: and then a little more :spend::spend::spend: If you really really want/need in-wall speakers I'd suggest you increase your budget and look to proven performers such as:
Triad
Snell Acoustics
RBH Sound 
James Loudspeaker
I've said it before, there are a lot of in-wall speaker manufacturers but there are very few who do it well. If you are going to do in-walls, spend the extra cash, do it once, and be happy :T


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## lcaillo (May 2, 2006)

FYI, Funai is the company that owns the names Emerson, Sylvania, Magnavox, Symphonic, and now the rights to the Philips name in North America. They have made drives for many of the A/V companies for years and the products vary from very poor to better than average. They have made lots of TV and combo units for the more well known names as well. They were once a company to be clearly avoided and a real low end player, but in recent years have improved product quality a great deal.


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## Jon Liu (May 21, 2007)

I won't agree or disagree either way, but I just wanted to mention something in regards to in-wall vs free standing.

Speaker location is KEY. A speaker's location can make or break the sound it produces. Is it true that freestanding speakers will out perform in-wall? No. But, it's also true that in-wall speakers are limited to a single position and therefore may not sound good where it is placed. When I get new speakers, I always find myself toying with speaker placement in order to get the best response. I personally would not go with in-wall speakers just because of this. Partially because I want flexibility and partially because I like toying with speaker placement in general.


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## Jungle Jack (Jul 28, 2009)

Hello,
I am just not sure I will ever subscribe to the theory that In Wall Speakers can sound better than Free Standing Speakers if both are optimized. Could a high quality In Wall Speaker sound better than a sloppily setup, sub par pair of speakers? Most definitely.

I realize that there have been some great engineering and advancements made in In Wall Speakers, but I cannot see how acoustics do not win out.

Here is a thread from our forum discussing this: http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/home-audio-speakers/6637-wall-vs-free-standing-speakers.html
Cheers,
JJ


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## lcaillo (May 2, 2006)

I have in-wall speakers, and I have installed or worked on hundreds of systems with both. I have never heard a system with in-wall speakers that was better than similar speakers properly placed. Properly placed means getting them AWAY from the wall in almost all cases. For me, the placement in the wall trumped the sound quality, because we do little more than casual listening and HT these days.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

I also agree that stepping up to the Onkyo 707 will yield a much better outcome and gives you the added bonus of pre-outs for future upgrade of an external amp.


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## nova (Apr 30, 2006)

Sure, sure,... I agree free standing in-room speakers generally sound better and are much more flexible. I have also heard many in-wall HT installations that sound fantastic. I'm just saying they are definitely a viable option, but they must be done right. I suggest a healthy budget and the help of a professional.
BTW, I do not have any in-wall speakers either, I prefer my big 'ole floor standing towers


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