Looking for advice on surround speakers and receiver...

[Syldan]

Hi all. I am slowly building a home theater room, and was hoping to get some advice from fellow forum members on some component selections. I recently purchased three RM30's for my front speakers (left, right, and center) after finding a great deal on them ($130 each), and am now looking to find some surrounds to go with them, as well as a receiver to hook them up to. I am not a huge audiophile, so I don't need top of the line. Just something that is better than your standard off the shelf stuff you would find in your local electronics store. The room is 10' x 15', and I already ran wires in the drywall for a 7.1 setup, although I don't know if anything above a 5.1 is really necessary since most movies are 5.1 from what I understand. It looks like the RM101 and RM201 are supposed to be paired with the RM30's for surround. If you would recommend those, would the RM101 be big enough? Also, any suggestions for a receiver would be appreciated as well. I plan to top off the room with a projector (maybe the Mitsubishi HC1600) and either a pull down screen or build my own screen (http://www.goosystems.com). Thanks for you advice! :)

[MikeC78]

The RM101 will suit you just fine for surround duty.

Let us know some more information on the rest of your system, do you need HDMI? If so, I think the Onkyo 606 would work just fine and is reasonably priced on Amazon for about $350. If you want something a step further, the Denon 988 is a going steal for $599 there also. BTW, if you want to hear the lower octaves, you're going to need a subwoofer. Just something to keep in mind...

Mike

[Syldan]

Thanks Mike. Yes, I am definitely going with HDMI as I have already run an HDMI cable in my ceiling over to the closet where I plan to put the receiver/blueray player (both of which are on my to buy list), and cable TV box. Oh and yes, a subwoofer will definitely be used as well. I bought a Yamaha YST-SW012 before getting the Polks (again, another deal I found), so we'll see how that sounds with the Polk setup. Thanks again for the advice! I'll look into the Onkyo and Denon you suggested. Any other thoughts or suggestions are welcome.

[tx_polkhead]

I ordered a Pioneer Elite VSX-90TXV, it is a replacement for a Harmon Kardon that died last week. The Pioneer MSRP was $650 and most online retailers list it for $480-$580 but Vanns.com has it for $299.88 delivered, I'm sure you can find an AVR with more features and greater reputation but "Elite' quality, 2 year warranty, I couldn't say no. I'll let you know next week what it sounds like. If you've got deep pocket by all mean spend away. Dennon or Marantz are on my wish list but for now I'll make do with the Pioneer Elite VSX-90TXV. BTW your Sub should do the trick for now, 8" is a little on the small side but 10'X15' is not a huge space, most people tend to have their subs set way too high. When you listen to the THX sweep, a properly set up Sub should take the sound hand-off seamlessly from your main speakers.

[Syldan]

That Pioneer Elite VSX-90TXV from Vanns for $300 looks like a great deal. I noticed that one of the reviews says "One thing to note the only shortcoming of this reciever is that it does not process the digital sound from the HDMI inputs. You have to run a digital audio cable get the sound to be processed." Is this a big deal, or is it just an inconvenience in that you have to purchase additional audio cables to run from your HDMI devices (BlueRay, DVD, cable box, etc) to the receiver? Would it be better to find a receiver that processes the audio through HDMI, or would that dramatically increase the cost? Thanks again for the suggestions. :)