Is buildiing a HT around the speakers a good start


I just bought a new house with a gorgeous library. I thought it was perfect for my dream of building a home theater. The room size is: 19’L x 11.2’W x 8’H. My listening habit is 80% Movies and 20% Music. The biggest challenge is the speaker placement. The library covers three walls. The front wall has a bay window incorporated into the shelving. My wife would be quite irate if were to “clog up” the front with speakers. To resolve the issue I am thinking of the Thiel PoerPoints for all five speakers. This will be my first try at building a HT. Am I on the right track? Do I now buy components that work well with the speakers? Does anyone have thoughts on which components would work well? It should be noted that the PoerPoints have limited bass extension, in this case a lower limit of 75 Hz. Thus, a subwoofer is mandatory.
I am thinking of one of the following 3 processors, as they are in my price range: a) Krell Showcase b) Parasound C-2 c) Aragon Stage 1
captaincapitalism

Showing 2 responses by rsbeck

If I could add to Jeff's thoughts -- two front speakers
plus a Center channel and sub-woof will provide you
with 90% of the sound you need for home theatre.
If you listen to music in two channel and movies in
surround and you have a wife to consider -- you might
be able to add rear surrounds by buying some of those tiny little speakers you can hide -- or consider sinking
the rear surrounds into your ceiling or walls. It ain't
ideal, but it might be a workable compromise. For
your sub-woof, check out some of those little Sunfire
jobs. They're small, but effective.
Also, since your preference is 80% movies, check out
the Lexicon MC12b surround processor. The new version uses the 32 bit Sharc chips.