Aiden:I am going to buy a sytem in the next 6 months to replace my onkyo htib. My reciever is going to be the emotiva umc-1 with the xpa-5 or upa-7 amp?( any opions on this will be aprecciated as to which amp) i want to spend around 1750 for speakers. So here is my delima, I will use the system 70/30 movies to music and am lost if i should get the 4t system which got good reviews, the 5b sytem with the 8d sub or a custom kinda mix of 6b's in front with the 5c, and 4bs for surrounds with the 8d sub. my living room is abou 22x15 with a large opening (12ft) to the dining room. im not sure if the mix and match would work or not but i figure the 6bs up front with the 5b might offer better sounds as alot of the sound comes from these and the 4bs dont carry to much of the load, i am not a audio genius and this is my first venture at a good system. would it sound good or would one of the matched sets be better and if so which for my room size and budget?
Hello Aiden and welcome to the forum,
It's completely ridiculous!
Just kidding! I think you are on the right track, but for only 30% music I'm not sure that the 6Bs really make sense since that's what they excel at and in a fairly sizable room I don't think the 5Bs are going to be quite enough. So I'd recommend the 4Ts up front, paired with the 5C. For the surrounds the 4Bs should suffice provided they won't be much further than 4-6 feet from your sitting position. The 8D should blow away your HTIB sub, but in a space of that size with a large opening I usually recommend going with the 10D, really it's a question of your preference for how much bass you like. But a combo of 4Ts, 5c, 4Bs and an 8D hits your budget perfectly at $1759.
Hope that helps!
Jason Hicks
Aperion Audio Guru