So... my basement was flooded, and now I have to start over

[fudun]

My basement was flooded a month ago, and everything was destroyed. Furniture, amps, speakers, computers, clothes, the works. Everything a gadget geek and part time audiophile owns. AVR, Power amps and the miniDSP was on the floor among other things. Even floors and walls have to be ripped out now. Some of my DIY coaxial speakers survived. I was in the process of either rebuilding their crossovers or making them active with a Hypex plate amp, so they were standing on a tall desk.

But now I get the opportunity to start from scratch, so I am thinking I could do something completely different for a while.

New floor plan (****** sketch with sort of accurate measurements, furniture is a work in progress as well):

Until now I had one large man cave with everything from covid home gym, brewery, office and home cinema all in one. I am thinking I could split the room into a more waffy lounge with a tv and a 2.x speaker setup and move all my geeky stuff to a separate office/dog for when I reek of whisky and cigars and won't be admitted to the master bedroom upstairs.

The lounge

Anti-social mode

So I was hoping to pick the brain of you forum rats to get some ideas for the audio in this room. I am thinking I could do this in stages, so let's start with the first:

Stage 1: Wall mounted front speakers

• On each side of a wall mounted LG 77" Oled
• Connected to a MiniDSP (Flex HT to get the HDMI input?) for integrating subs later on
• I am thinking powered and maybe monitors. Monitors should be ok for sweet spot in front of the TV, but for the couch way back it won't be as sweet I guess.
• Should be something than can stay at or close to the wall.
• I am thinking a budget of about 5000 USD should do for the entire 2.0 setup
• So what speakers?

Stage 2: Subs

• We'll get to that later...

 

[bodhi]

If I could start over I'd get LS60s and be done with it. Maybe add a subwoofer, maybe not.

 

[fudun]

If I could start over I'd get LS60s and be done with it. Maybe add a subwoofer, maybe not.

I was actually just looking at those! Someone just put a used pair in grey out - sadly I don't have room for them yet. They are probably the only floorstanders I would consider. I should get to a store and listen soon. I have all the time in the world, though. It might take a year before the basement is back up.

One other reason I might look at something more compact, beyond the obvious WAF, is that I could use them on my temporary office desk as overkill computer speakers until my basement is back.

 

[bodhi]

I was actually just looking at those! Someone just put a used pair in grey out - sadly I don't have room for them yet. They are probably the only floorstanders I would consider. I should get to a store and listen soon. I have all the time in the world, though. It might take a year before the basement is back up.

One other reason I might look at something more compact, beyond the obvious WAF, is that I could use them on my temporary office desk as overkill computer speakers until my basement is back.

The LS50 Wireless IIs provide the same ease of use and do just fine on a desk. In that case the sub might not be optional though.

You can just place the L60s right next to your desk anyways. It's not that they wouldn't work near field.

 

[fudun]

The LS50 Wireless IIs provide the same ease of use and do just fine on a desk. In that case the sub might not be optional though.

You can just place the L60s right next to your desk anyways. It's not that they wouldn't work near field.

I listened to LS50 II when they came, and I was a bit underwhelmed. I tried a couple of other options in the price range too. Ended up getting a miniDSP DDRC with Dirac and modified my old DIY Seas Coax speakers to sound so much better. But my two NAD 216 amps died in the flood, and it setup is way to large for my temporary office anyway. The same goes for floorstanders, there is just not enough room. I am currently drooling at the iLoud Precision MTM for the desktop.