[raztec]

Hello,

My apologies if this has been asked before.

I'm turning my low ceiling basement into a theatre room. It's a 22'x11' room with a 6'4" ceiling height. The couch will be almost exactly in the middle of the room. The rear wall cannot be used because a small kitchenette may go there in the future.

I've got about $2000 to spend on speakers and $1000 on an amplifier.

I was wondering what you guys would recommend in terms of:

1. Speakers
2. 5.1 or 7.1 or ....
3. Ceiling vs. wall mount
4. Distribution of speakers if I go with a 5.1 or 7.1.
5. A friend recommended the Panasonic XR-55/57 as AMP which I probably will get unless anyone here has strong reasons for me not to.

Thanks very much for your advice.

Raz

BTW, I'm pretty well a newbie when it comes to hi-fi. My last real system was an Onkyo receiver and Kef speakers purchased about 10 years ago and stolen within the first year. Since then, I've been completely out of the loop.

[JLM]

Welcome raztec,

Your answer will be primarily found in providing ceiling treatments.  If its a suspended ceiling in 2ft x 2ft or 2ft x 4ft grid you're better off because the tile can be replaced with diffusion (preferred) or absorption panels.  Start by adding treatment at the first reflection point on the ceiling (roughly half way between the speakers and the listener).  Decware sells such diffusion panels.  If you go the cheaper absorption route stick with known acoustical vendors.  Check out the acoustics circle below.

The THX standard calls for speakers with controlled/limited vertical dispersion, so you might look for THX certified speakers (M&K for one makes them, but they ain't cheap and they have a very analytical sound that IMO works better for studio work or HT).