Home theater help from scratch 5.2 25k budget

Thank you all for your feed back. Am located in Baton Rouge. So am goin to reach out and have local to shops. The one guy I really like is pushing the triad line of speakers. Sliver LRC matching surrounds sets for rears around with denon 6500 to push it all installed calibration and the two svs 16 ultra for around 10k. He doesn’t have demos but can get me into a client hose to hear a bronze HT with the 6500 and two sealed sun fire subs. Also I really like the idea of the outlaws preamp and amp combo for little more money. I have a follow up question the two subs will be off a different 15 amp Circuit breaker But the TV pre amp amp and all the video game crap is on the same 15 amp circuit. I know 1800 watts is roughly 15amps of power so do y’all think I will need to drop a dedicated outlet to the pre amp/ amp ?

Wojo the Triads are okay, we have taken over Home Theaters using Triads the original Triad Golds were way better then the current Triad line unless they are the Platinums. 

Personally we would take ATC way over the Triads. 

Also no Denon receiver, you really need separates.

For roughly $6k you can get a fantastic Anthen AVM 60 which has Anthem's ARC room correction and an Audio Control either 5 or 7 channel power amplifier.

The Audio Control power amplifier is a marvel, it uses Class H amplification which genarates low heat, with high output and emmulates the smoothness of a Class  A power amplifer.

The only time we use a receiver is when there is no budget for seperates. 

The electronics are extmely important as the dynamics and clarity are the speakers being pushed by the electronics.

We are known for our Home Theaters, we were chosen to appear on Rev Runs Rennovation where we built a complete Home Theater from scratch.

http://audiodoctor.com/news/category/news/

You can see our work on the You tube section. 

Rev Runs Renovation Season 2 Episode Secret Cinema.

This is why we try to guide people way too many mediocre theater guys, we never, never, never, use a Receiver unless the budget doesn't allow.

In the case of Rev Run's Theater we had to use a receiver as they were not paying anything near the retail price of the theater, we gave them a $50k theater for way, way, less to get the TV exposure, we got edited out we had shot a lot of footage with their crew. Live and learn.

Please feel free to reach out to us for consulting we have many clients all over the country. 

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

I have to agree with audiotroy. If I’ve got that budget and building a home theater I’m going with ATC speakers and probably the Anthem AVM 60 too. I’d start with this nice used active C3C center...
https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lis9f6b5-atc-c3ca-speakers?refsource=hifishark
and add a couple active SCM 20 monitors. This way you’ll have superior (and matching) speakers and amps taken care of for about what you’d pay for the B&W front three alone without amplification. Add a decent pair of neutral powered monitors for the rear channels and you’re done. Sorry, but the ATCs will absolutely blow away the B&Ws in terms of a dynamic HT experience. Jump on that C3C before someone grabs it!

@wojo79

Since the setup is strictly for surround sound movies or HT I will have to agree with soix about getting good quality active powered speakers system and a very decent or great preamp surround processor. ATC & Meridian makes pretty awesome active powered speakers. All Meridian speakers system are all active powered anyways.

The Anthem AVM60 is a great choice and at $3k brand new retail price you can’t beat that in terms of surround audio performance, plus equipped with a spectacular ARC (Anthem Room Correction) which will make big difference when used for surrounds. Other 4K capable processors worth highly considering are : Marantz AV8805 (current) & AV8802 (discontinued); latest Krell Foundation 4K; NAD M17 v2 (4K capable); Classe Sigma SSP Mkii (the Mkii version supports 4K) but this model has been discontinued and from time to time can be found in used markets at massive discounts; Arcam AV860; Audio Control Maestro. The Arcam, Audio Control Maestro & NAD M17 v2 use a phenomenal Dirac Live room correction calibration. McIntosh MX122 processor might be worth looking at and it supports 4K.

As far as ATC active powered speakers system vs B&W 800 series D3 speaker system for surround (HT) applications I’m not sure which is better as I had never listened to the active powered ATC surround speakers system before so can’t comment. I have listened to some passive ATC driven by some Naim stereo separate gears for two-channel music before and was pretty impressed. They were very musical and I liked them better than any B&W but have no idea when used for surround sound movies (HT) using those active powered ATC.

You have a nice budget to play with and whatever gear you get will probably satisfy, especially since the emphasis is movies and gaming.  Music is more demanding to reproduce.  So my two cents...
1) Center channel is critical for dialogue 
2) I agree that given the constant changing In standards, seperates make sense, and you can afford it
3) Room correction can cure a lot of ills, and Anthem is the industry standard.
4) consider in walls for rears.  My marital bliss doubled when I went this route.  It would then be important to match the rears with the fronts so I would consider the same manufacturer for all speakers.  I use Paradigm, which mates nicely with my Anthem AVR