Re: I'm about to embark on the dedicated home theater/music room build.
I'm building a house right now as well, hopefully my budget holds out and I can get my room together the way I want it. I already have 90% of my equipment and I have to say that I've been incredibly happy with my Emotiva XPA-5 Gen 2 amp. They make incredible stuff. I would highly recommend going with a surround processor. I bought one refurbished from Accessories 4 Less, a Marantz AV7701 that I'm also really happy with, but it is not an Atmos model. The new Atmos models are much more expensive, but you can get the Emotiva XMC-1 for around $3k with the upgrades for Atmos, or one of the Marantz models for around the same. Keep in mind that you can use the analog pre-outs from the Oppo straight to an amp if you don't want Atmos yet.
The XPA or BasX series will do just fine as far as amplification. I'd get an XPA-5 Gen 3 for your fronts and surrounds and then get two BasX stereo amps for the four Atmos speakers, at least that's what I plan on doing.
For the surrounds I would go with the Sierra Satellite speakers that are due to come out some time towards the end of this year (hopefully if the next prototype is up to snuff) instead of the Sierra 2. They are front slot ported instead of rear ported, and they are much smaller. They'll be much easier to use for surround duties.
If you want In-Ceiling speakers you can either mount the Ascend HTM 200 SE in the ceiling as one forum member has done (tknice) or you can get an In-Ceiling speaker from JBL or GoldenEar or some other company. I've heard that matching Atmos speakers to your fronts and surrounds isn't entirely necessary, but I'm certainly going to stay with Ascend when I go that route.
Most of us are using Rythmik subs here since that is what Dave recommends and they are solidly engineered. I have two F12 subs in my setup and they're fantastic. Insanely deep and tight bass. I'd say buy two of whatever version you can afford and fits your tastes. Two of their big ported subs might be the trick for that room. The servo technology really makes sense for subs, I don't get why there aren't more of them out there, probably because the engineering isn't straightforward. It allows for much tighter and deeper bass to my ears, especially when you turn the rumble filter on. It makes every other sub sound terrible to me now.
For cabling I can't recommend Blue Jeans Cable highly enough. Their cables are very reasonably priced and are the highest build quality you can hope to find. They're made in Seattle and come in plain fed ex boxes instead of hundreds of dollars in packaging and marketing materials. Solid engineering to back it all up, just like Dave does with Ascend.
Finally, and most importantly, you need to treat your room with acoustic treatments. Go to GIK Acoustics and fill out their form. They'll recommend what you need and from everything I've read it'll make a drastic difference in your room. It'll likely cost in the $1k to $2k region, but you can do the basics and add on more treatments later. It's important to at least treat the first reflections and any major bass problems you might have. http://www.gikacoustics.com/acoustic-advice-form/
Last edited by sludgeogre; 08-30-2016 at 08:05 PM.
-Alex
PS4/Nvidia Shield --> Emotiva XMC-1 --> Emotiva XPA-5 --> Ascend Acoustics Sierra Towers and Horizon Center w/ RAAL tweeters (L/C/R), HTM-200 SE (Surrounds), 2x Rythmik F12 subwoofers