Hi everyone, new GE customer and first time forum poster here! I would love some input from some existing GE customers as well as generally folks that have been in the HT game longer than I have. I've just built a new house (moving in 2 weeks from now!) and have made the bonus room above the 4 car garage a dedicated home theater (so decent sized room, although really about 3.25 car garage length because of full bath and wet bar in back of room). I've already decided on HTR7000 in-ceilings for the 2 rears and MPX in-walls for the 2 sides (because of room layout and appearance factors). At this point I'm considering my next upgrades.

I'll have to upgrade the system over time a bit, a common "problem" I assume. I'm considering source/power as well as speaker upgrades next, but assuming I stick with my Integra DTR 50.5 for now (like the sound, good features, good power for an integrated amp) I'm leaning heavily towards speakers. Currently I have B&W 685s bookshelves for LR and the matching Center. I actually still enjoy the LR's, I've always liked their sound, but the center has honestly left me somewhat wanting from day 1. My listening habits are probably 80-90% movies over music, and although when I do listen to music I'm quite critical, I have to weight purchase decisions towards HT performance.

I'm seriously considering my next purchase to be the new Supercenter XXL. I realize it's not a timbre matching speaker to my LR for the time being, but since generally most of the important sound comes from the center for most of a movie it seems reasonable to me to get the best Center I can with the money I have available currently. My next upgrade would then be Triton 5's for the LR, presumably 4-6 months or so afterward. Also, for what it's worth, I do run 2 subs in the system as well.

So, sorry for the long post, but I wanted to describe my current setup and situation because questions are kind of general; how does this plan sound? Any other plans sound better? Is the XXL too big for that room (no such thing ), etc. Any opinions, recommendations, thoughts, etc would be greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone!

I think you have a good setup and a good plan. I'm not 100% sure exactly how big your room is, but I'm assuming it's around 15'x20'? That's a decent sized room, and the XXL should not be too big at all. I think you should certainly go big in the front with the XXL and the Tritons. You probably have enough power given your 2 subs, so I'm thinking your setup is going to sound quite nice. Maybe you can keep the B&Ws for another purpose if you want to, but the Tritons are a good choice up front and then will match even better with the XXL if you buy that first.

Isu123,

Welcome to the forum and congrats on the new home and home theater. I also have an Integra receiver and spend approximately 80 to 90 percent of my time with my equipment for home theater. I've been a loyal Integra owner for about 10 years but have had recent issues with the dreaded HDMI boards. I love the warm and rich sound but would like a little more depth, openness, and transparency in my sound. I plan to upgrade to separates once I acquire all my speakers and get things set up.

If you go th planned route, you can upgrade as you go and add as many subs as you need. If your budget permits, I'd consider Triton Ones up front and an additional sub behind a couch in in the back half of the room. The T1s are amazing and put out a ton of LFE. In my experience, the integrated subs are easier to tune for a cohesive sound than an external sub but I'm extremely picky about my bass. I hate bloated dialogue with too much bass. It sounds artificial to me and is extremely distracting. My T1s and SCXL have been great. I do plan to upgrade to the SCXXL as I feel it will be a better match for the T1s.

Whatever you decide, I'm sure it will sound great. Please share your results with us as the project progresses. Happy hunting!

Cheers,

T Cobe

The dreaded HDMI issues. Yeah, our installers have gone almost exclusively away from Integra due to those issues, but most are still saying that the Integras are top-notch for residential. For professional purposes, they just could not afford the reliability issues due to the huge time sync.

It's disappointing. Any brand that has the same issue across several years and models without fixing the defect deserves to lose the business. It's completely unacceptable to me and I will never buy another Integra... Sorry, let me get off my soap box.

murphyslaw1978,

I don't have the plans in front of me at the moment, but it's more like 16x28. That's good to hear that the XXL is not too much speaker. I'm leaning pretty heavily at this point about making that purchase number 1 and then some matching Tritons as soon as possible! Thanks for your response and input!