I decided to upgrade my receiver and give my old one to my parents. I spent last night wiring their house, with all the equipment in a closet, and set them up with some Onkyo speakers I had and my Integra receiver. I hooked it up to a 36" proscan that a customer gave me last week. Holy hell was it heavy. Thank god it wasn't a sony or my back would be broken now. Anyway, I decided to get myself a nice Marantz receiver. I have been dealing quite a bit with them in the last couple months, and I can hear a difference in sound quality from just about any other brand in the same price range. With my Energy speakers, I can definitely hear a difference going from my Integra to the Marantz without messing with any settings. It is very crisp and sounds full. Something I did not think the Integra did well. My parents really will not hear a difference. I am not sure if they have ever heard a full movie in surround sound before, so they will enjoy it. I was going to go with the SR5001 with has multi-zone capabilities and a few other features, but I would not utilize them in my apartment, so I went with the SR4001 which essentially is the same unit, with minor differences. Of course the best part is buying it at dealer cost. Anyway, I just wanted to reiterate (at least I think reiterate, I am pretty sure I recommended them before here) that Marantz puts out a great receiver, that is very reliable and has great sound quality. If you are in the market, if you get a chance, check them out.

 

So, do you have any tips for wiring the rear channel speakers from the ceiling? Do I have to go out and get those flexible drill bits, wire wall plates and such?

 

Well it depends on the house. If you do not have access to run the wires without cutting sheetrock, then what I would do is cut a small access panel on the wall, and a small one on the ceiling that meet each other at the corner of the wall and ceiling. Then use a paddle bit, maybe a 1 inch if you want a decent amount of space, and just drill into the wood a couple inches deep. Keep drilling holes so that they all interconnect, so you create a channel. Then you run the wires through that. Get yourself some nail plates (metal plates that protect the wire from having a screw catch it), nail them into place to protect the wire. Then place the pieces of sheetrock back and screw them into the wood, to the side so you do not hit the nail plate. If you know how to tape and patch sheetrock then go ahead and do that or you can hire someone to do it. This is of course if there is no other access. There are other ways sometimes, so it really depends on the house. Sometimes you just have to cut and patch though.

 

+1

my parents bought a home with a home theather built and, and has an incredible setup. Their reciever is like 4 years old, but AMAZING...3 zones, beautiful audio, and tons and tons of inputs