Building a home theater, speaker recommendations

[vmaddela]

I just bought a new home and I am plan to convert one of the rooms in the basement into a home theater. The room measurements are 19.6*14.9*7.8ft. I am thinking of going for a 7.2.4 system with the Focal Chora 826-d or klipsch 8060fa (floor standing front and rear pairs) 2 bookshelfs and a center from either of those brands and 2 subwoofers Hsu VTF-2 MK5. Please let me know if there any other speakers that I need to consider or if there are other ways to improve on this configuration. Due to covid I haven't gotten a chance to try them in the showrooms, so mostly going by reviews, hence looking for feedback.

Edit : Attaching an image of the room, just to give a better idea of what I am looking to accomplish.

 

[stevenswall]

Think about vertical dispersion on the atmos speakers and ask yourself of a coaxial would help. If there's a wide horizontal area, I'd think about something that increases SPL off axis to make it so that you have a wider sweet spot. I think the Ohm Walsh does this.

 

[MZKM]

I would just skip the gimmick of upfiring Atmos modules, especially integrated ones where you can’t position them to fit your setup (adjusting the angle based on ceiling height and ceiling distance).

Some PoIk OWM speakers or similar mounted on the front wall as Front Heights would be so much better; example (should be as wide as the L & R mains though):

 

[Chrispy]

With limited showrooms you might check out a set of SVS speakers at home. You covering that floor?

 

[Bren Derlin]

I'd personally go with the regular floor standing speakers (sans the Atmos addition), then add height speakers, or speakers in the ceiling for the Atmos/height speakers.

I wouldn't spend too much on the surround or Atmos speakers ($100-$150 at most for each speaker), and put the rest of the speaker budget into the fronts, center and sub. You might even be able to get away with a phantom center if your room is only 14' wide, then add the center the following year. ...which is what I'm doing - going with a phantom center for the time being.

 

[vmaddela]

With limited showrooms you might check out a set of SVS speakers at home. You covering that floor?

I do intend to cover the floor and put some spikes on the subwoofer. Any suggestions on what to use to cover the floor.

 

[vmaddela]

SVS subs just went on sale, any huge differences between the pro and the regular versions of the svs subs? Do you think I should I go with these over the HSU?
PB 2000 - $599
SB 2000 - $499
PC 2000 - $749

 

[Chrispy]

The PB 2000 is a ported sub, SB is sealed, PC is ported column. The PB/PC are fairly equivalent except form factor. I'd prefer the ported unless size is an issue, then the SB might make more sense, altho the footprint of the PC is pretty small.

Floor covering I'd prefer to have nice padded wall to wall carpeting....any plans for room treatment acoustically otherwise?

 

[vmaddela]

The PB 2000 is a ported sub, SB is sealed, PC is ported column. The PB/PC are fairly equivalent except form factor. I'd prefer the ported unless size is an issue, then the SB might make more sense, altho the footprint of the PC is pretty small.

Floor covering I'd prefer to have nice padded wall to wall carpeting....any plans for room treatment acoustically otherwise?

Yes, I was looking at the ported sub from svs. Just trying to draw comparisons with the HSU, some people have reviewed the hsu to be a bit better than svs.
I am not familiar with acoustic treatments of the room. I can if it helps immensely.

 

[Chrispy]

I don't think you'd go wrong with either, but I'd think about the HSU VTF3 Mk5 rather than the 12" for a bit better value IMO.

 

[Head_Unit]

Focal Chora 826-d

I concur with the previous opinion, if you are making this serious effort then don't do the gimmicky upward-pointing Atmos add-on. Stick actual speakers up near or in the ceiling. Is that possible?

By the way the system I do the most serious listening is Focal. 936/CC900/SR900 plus a not very necessary SVS SB-2000 Pro. Impressively nice piece, though we run Audyssey and don't use it's room EQ functions. The 936 and CC900 are full-range but the sub adds a nice solidity. The Focal sound lovely on all manner of stuff, from Jimi Hendrix to King Crimson to Marillion to Diana Krall, Les Brown, Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Jethro Tull, Steely Dan...and these really nice titles among many classical pieces:
https://www.discogs.com/Harmen-Fraanje-Quartet-Featuring-Nelson-Veras-Sonatala/release/2493969
https://www.discogs.com/Edvard-Grie...ud-In-Autumn-Piano-Concerto-S/release/6756446
Hmmm, I wonder if you would be better spending the money on a "lesser" Aria...nope, seems only the bookshelf is the same price. If you can't warp your budget up to 936 or 926, another really great contender at your Chora price is the Monitor Audio Silver 300. I listened to all manner of music for an hour and an half, also at Upscale Audio where the 936 were purchased. They sounded lovely with all, even METAL which many speakers cannot handle without nasty distortion.