Where do I start!?!


Greetings!
I recently moved and actually have a small 12'x13' listening area in my new house and wanted to fill it with amazing sounds.  I currently have a Denon AVR-4500H AV receiver hooked into a pair of Monitor Audio Silver RS6 speakers.  I lucked out and got the RS6's at a really good price about 10 years ago and they're easily the best speakers I've ever owned.  I used this setup for casually listening to lossless music from a central server and very much enjoyed it.  I made mention to my father a couple weeks ago that I would like to get a nice turntable and maybe upgrade my sound package a little and he tells me that he recently ran into a pair of Acoustat speakers that he recently fell in love with and bought that he had his older system in a warehouse collecting dust.  When I went to look at it I was amazed to find a pair of McIntosh MC1.2KW monoblocks with a pair of McIntosh XRT1K speakers and a Thorens TD309 turntable in the corner.  He said I could have them if I wanted them but I would need to find something to run the monoblocks (he kept his C1100 and MX160 setup).
My biggest question now is this:  What in the world do I do with these things!?  The speakers are MASSIVE (fortunately I have 10ft ceilings) and the monoblocks are like 150lbs each!  Is 12'x13' enough room for this setup?  I thought I had a list all laid out of what components I wanted to get and how I wanted to set everything up but I was not expecting anything close to this kind of setup and it's got me pretty overwhelmed with options.  I know I need a preamplifier for the turntable but where do I go with the monoblocks?  Can I just go with a preamplifier that has an XLR output (e.g. Pro-Ject Phono Box RS) directly into each monoblock or do I need to get an AV processor to handle that transition?  Out of fear for my sanity, I haven't even started looking at cables yet.  I'm sure that'll be fun too....
Thanks for reading and looking forward to reading the replies!
thomaswells02

Showing 2 responses by mcreyn

I agree with Elizabeth.  I also assume that selling the equipment your FIL just kindly gave you would be an insult.  

You will need some room treatment, especially behind the speakers as the speakers will closer to the rear wall than optimal.  GIK Acoustics makes some great diffuses and absorbers for very reasonable prices and will advise you as to your best treatment options.  Figure $500 to start. 

Once you look at a preamp, going balanced, your options start at $699 for a Schiit Freya S (an absolute steal at the price and a good preamp at any price) which you can add a Mani phono preamp for $129, and they go up from there.

Don't go spending a bunch of money on cables right now.  Blue Jeans makes great cables at fair prices.  For balanced, I like the "worlds best cables" on amazon made with Mogami wire (they also make great RCA's with Canare and Mogami).  Zu Audio also sells their older cables on Ebay for good prices.  Cables are like religion, but even the most ardent cable believer will tell you, Cables are the last step in the system after you have dialed everything else in.  

ENJOY.  Your FIL has given you a wonderful gift.