# $2500 budget, what would you get?



## oclor (Oct 4, 2013)

Hello. I have $2000-2500 for my living room audio setup and need a lot of help. I have no clue how to wire anything, but feel like I could get better quality equipment at a better price if I did this project myself rather than hire an installer. Here's my situation:

-Brand new house, pre-wired for surround sound (cat6, 5e and audio cables behind the wall and ceiling) all leading to a closet where all the components will go. I will need help figuring out how to connect everything because I still don't really know what these cables do haha
-Components I already have: Directv box, apple tv, xbox 360, blueray player
-One condition: speakers must be in-wall/in-ceiling as I plan on selling the house in 3 years and want to leave the speaker in, also my wife doesn't want to look at bookshelf speakers 

Things I will need (and possibly there are other things that I haven't even realized I need yet):
-HDMI Balun
-Closet rack
-Receiver
-2x in-wall speakers
-1x center channel (in-wall or not doesn't matter)
-2x in-ceiling speakers (open floor plan)
-RF remote

So for absolutely no more that $2500 after tax what is the best setup you could think of? 
Also can someone explain to me like I am 5 years old what I will need to do once I have all this equipment to install everything? I don't know how to find the speaker wire over the ceiling (don't have attick access, went up there and it was all insullation)


...or, should I just bite the bullet and hire someone? The negative with that is that all the installers in my area seem to only install what they want to sell me themselves.


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## SoundMan83 (Dec 23, 2012)

I have 3 Moderno MCLR in wall Speakers, I was able to purchase them for around $25 a piece. They sound great but I have never actually mounted one in a wall. I built a TV stand that has a box for the center channel. If you can find some of these used/refurbished, could save some money. Overstock, cowboom and amazon are the places I would check.


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## lcaillo (May 2, 2006)

I used MTX in wall speakers and matched them all the way around. I think matching and placement wold be the priorities for me in a system like this. Add an Onkyo AVR and a Panasonic PDP and a small sub and you would have a very nice system which you should be able to do in that price range. You won't shake the neighbors walls but you will get respectable sound.


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## DocFJ (Apr 17, 2013)

On finding speaker wire, are you trying to just figure out which wire is which? If so, get a cheap multimeter, set it to find continuity (look in the manual for the right symbol), attach the ends of the multimeter to the speaker wire coming out of the wall, then go into the closet and touch the two ends of each wire together until you hear the multimeter beep, then you have found the wire; label it!

Hope this helps!


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## rab-byte (Feb 1, 2011)

You may end up needing a wireless kit for your sub, an in-wall sub, or a wireless sub unless you can place the sub at the location of your entertainment closet.


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