Hello all,

I am a newb to all of this and please forgive any ignorance (of which there is much when it comes to high tech AV). I am putting in a new system at home and really need some help.

I have a Denon 3801 reciever that I never used to its potential in that it never was set up correctly.

I also have a full set of Klipsch RF-7 speakers that (please don't beat on me for this, I get enough at home...) will be relegated to my basement as the wife says that there is no way I am getting to put my towers in her new living room / family room. I think I am going for some proficient in wall speakers but not sure yet (I like the c850's as the have a pivoting tweeter that may be of use in that I will not be able to completely balance the distance of my rears due to an overhang constraint).

I have a sweet 20" Klipsch subwoofer that will stay, possibly over her dead body.

And I am getting a pioneer elite 50" plasma display.

I will be hooking up VCR, DVD, and would like to be able to access my pc ext harddrive for a mp3 jukebox system that I could pipe through the house.

Now here is where I need help.

I want to hide all of the equipment in a nearby closet (again at the shrew's... I mean wife's insistance), so I need some advice on a relay type of setup.

Also, is my reciever going to cut it? I wish it were the 3805 withthe sweet mic in setup but alas... Can I hook an external mic up to the 3801 and make it work? This amp works in 7.1 but is really 6.1... never understood that. I am hoping that I will be able to switch channels and power a whole house speaker system for piped in music as well (far from audiophile quality).

The question is do I keep the 3801 upstairs with this system or does it also head down to the basement... Before you get too teary eyed over the fate of my RF-7 Klipsches, please know that the basement is my music room where my band leaves its equiptment and such. They will be well utilized and loved down there... I have plans for making the basement a real home theater in the future, but not yet.

Any advice onthe speakers? I want to go in-wall / in-ceiling for my wifes sake. I like the sound of these c850's but haven't had time to test a lot of in-walls.

Finally an issue of connectivity. My pioneer plasma has a separate tuner that is connected to the TV via a dci cable i believe. Do I need to run DCI all the way from my reciever to the tuner as well?

SO many questions.... Thank you all for bearing through this laboriously long email and I thank you in advance for an insights and help.

Peace all!!!!

gratefool1

Where to start?

There is no substitute for listening to speakers when it comes to choosing... Most people just take the installers advice, but if you care about sound quality, you'll have to do some foot work. I assume you mean the Pioneer PRO-1120HD plasma display. You will need a special proprietary cable from the Pioneer 'media center' to the display. It comes with a ten footer... Not familiar with the 3801, but as long as it's not a total piece of junk you should keep it and invest in good speakers... you can always upgrade the receiver later, but you only get one shot at the in-walls...
It's usually easier to use a separate two-channel receiver to run the music in the rest of the house.

Oh, and it's DVI, not DCI...;)

Good luck,

Norm

Oh yes, distance from tv to recieve / amp will be about twenty feet of cable (running down to basement back up to tv).

Here's a link for the cable... I'm pretty sure you'll have to find someone else to sell it to you, as they don't sell direct (I think)

EDIT:

Never mind the link didn't work, but go to

http://www.keydigital.com

then choose accessories, and DVI cables

Answering your question on control of everything.

You'll want to pick one of the capable programmable RF remotes. Depending on your taste for More Hard Buttons vs. Fully Configurable Touchscreen, you can go several ways.

If you like lots of Hard Buttons, the MX-850 would fill the bill, with the added RF unit. For a Fully Configurable Touchscreen, the ProntoPro TSU6000 with its RF accessory is equally nice. You can't go wrong with either... just depends on your preference!

There are plenty of other choices if your budget doesn't allow those, look for a unit that supports an RF bridge.

Looks like you have some pretty good advice here. Only one item was missed, which is that a subwoofer should be placed in such a way that when the woofer pushes on the air, the air pushing back on the woofer does not move the cabinet. If the cabinet moves, it will emit sound in some fashion different from what the manufacturer intended. That is pretty much the definition of distortion (except when the manufacturer intends distortion).

The "over the dead body mount" is not really good in that respect. It often solves the problem of acceptance and general positioning but allows an overall degradation of sound quality to creep in. One simply cannot get a subwoofer to keep from moving when positioned thusly. The "not in my living room" (or back yard, house, marriage or planet) approach is actually preferable from a high fidelity point of view. The drawback is that then the entire system must also go to that alternate location. Otherwise one will have a 5 or 7 system in one location with an unacceptable but definitely high fidelity 0.1 system in another location.

As far as the inwalls go I am now using Triad In wall Bronze for these types of installs. I can't hype them enough. As long as the 3801 has Dolby Digital capabilities or a 6.1 input for a recent DVD player it should do for now.

Oh
My
Gosh!!!!

That killed me Ernie =). Ty all for your advice, I realy appreciate your time, patience and humor!
I am heading to listen to some of the in-walls on Monday. I have a b&w dealer nearby. Have not been able to find the triads though. The precisions I heard on someone else's system and I liked, but still open on that.
How much room between walls do most of these inwalls need for clearance? I am guessing it depends on the speaker. I think I have about eight inches.
The RF stuff, how does it actually work? I point at the relay device and the signal transmits to an IR source near my equiptment?
Yes, I am talking about the Pioneer pro-1120 hd. Best screen I have seen although getting any of the dealers to show analog on them is impossible. I guess it doesn't matter since I have digital cable.
The 3801 is the predecessor of the 3805 from two years ago. It is a 6.1 system that is built to handle 7.1... I do not know what is entailed when you go from 6.1 to 7.1 and I am not sure it matters as I don't think I am putting in the middle speakers right now.
Thanks fo the thought on the second reciever, I think that is waht I am going to do for the whole house thing.
Thank you all again and i hope you hae a great weekend!
gratefool1

It works via RF... so no pointing is needed! IR requires line of sight, RF does not. RF remotes by definition receive the highest rating on the MTFB test, as you can be totally covered, without the remote even exposed, and the RF is transmitted and received.

The RF receiver has emitters that can be stuck onto the IR window of the devices to be controlled. Some gear includes rear panel IR inputs meant to connect directly without the IR as well.

Read Daniel Tonks review on this site of the MX-800. The 850 is a slightly newer version, but is almost identical in capability to the 800.

This is exactly what i needed thank you so much for pointing me in the right direction! Again, I want to say thank you to all on this forum... I can't believe how much I have already picked up just trolling through these posts. Great site and great folks =)
Gratefool1

Not sure how your budget is going, but if the larger sub remains an issue, Sunfire makes some quite capable smaller subs. Not the cheapest, though.

The 3801 receiver should be just great. Very popular line. The newer ones have newer features, but that isn't always a great reason to upgrade. The basic stuff is certainly there, good amp, Dolby, DTS, etc. All depends on budget, of course.