Help,I'm a relative Newbie and I need some opinions. I've done some research, including some posting on this forum and think I know what I want to do. A lot of you out there know far more about this than I, so please give me your thoughts.

Here's what I have: A family room that is about 10 x20 with a Hitachi 53" RPTV on
the front (10') wall and a fireplace on the rear wall. Sony DVD Changer and Sony HiFi
VHS. Main seating toward the rear (15-18' back) along the side, 20' wall (not perfect,
I know). I have Paradigm Reference 20s for the fronts, mounted on top of my entertainment ctr, aiming down toward seating and Paradigm Atoms for the rear.

What I'm thinking: A Denon 2801 receiver to power the Reference 20s in front and
the atoms in the back on stands - that will hopefully allow me to adjust the rears to
lessen the affect of the seating arrangement. However stands mean they will be
mounted lower than on the wall and lower than the fronts. Will this matter?? No
basement or attic, so I'll run the RCA Flat speaker wire under the wall to wall carpet
for the rears. The 2801 will also power "b" channel speakers in a different room
during music only. My center will be the matched reference center channel. And I
need some advice on a sub, but I'm thinking a good quality, but inexpensive 8"or 10"
sub - don't need to stick with paradigm for this, do I?.

What do you think? Is my room and seating just too wacky? Is the Denon powerful
enough for this room? I'm missing something? Would you do something different?
The only things I own are the tv, 20s and the atoms--everything else is changeable.
Thanks.

Everything sounds nice, but I'm questioning the positioning of the Reference 20's in the front. They will, more than likely, sound 10x's better on a nice set of stands in the front then aimed down from above as you make it sound. I think you'd get much better effects from having the tweeters at ear level directed towards the listening position. This is the way the speakers were designed...anyhow as far as equipment goes it sounds pretty good. I'm not as familiar with Denon as I am with other brands but from what I have seen they make great gear. Good choice on the center channel as well.

As far as a subwoofer goes HSU subs have been VERY highly regaurded as some of the best money can buy and they are no where near stellar in price. $499 for the VTF-2 with built in amp. For that though you could easily buy a decent Paradigm sub as well. Basically you just want the best/tightest low end for the money. Bag End is also a good subwoofer company, but I think they're really expensive. If you just want one that will do the job nicely check out www.harmanoutlet.com you should be able to get a good deal on an Infinity or JBL sub there. Good luck.

thanks for the feedback. Your point on the fronts is well taken, however, i have no choice. The front wall has door the left and the entertainment ctr and RPTV take up the rest of the front wall. No room for stands.

Yikes. I can't believe with all the opinioned people on these forums, I didn't get more thoughts on this set-up

One more piece to add to the puzzle: Thinking about the Sony WM40 for a good, but inexpensive sub. Folks on this and other forums seem to like it. Any thoughts on how it would mesh with my proposed system? Also,need some thoughts on Stands vrs Wall mounts for my rears.

thanks

i'll jump in a little here. you are getting great speakers with a pretty darn good receiver. do you really want a sony sub?

it is a good sub - actually a great sub for the money. good for HT and for music. but it is still a 150 dollar Sony. your other response mentioned the HSU sub. thats my choice.

i was very tempted to buy the Sony, even after i ordered the HSU. I even went to BB and picked one up to test out. i happened to get my hsu in the next day. at first the sony sounded very good. if i was in the market for a sub and could only spend <200 i would have kept it.

the hsu was far better. got down a lot lower then the Sony did. with the sony it "sounded" like the bass was very good. with the hsu i felt how good it was. it was totally different.

i just dont want to see you buy the Sony and then 6 months down the road you decide its not enough for you.

the hsu is regarded as the best sub in its price class, and better then most subs up to 1k. much better then the paradagm in the similar price class (i tested the par.).

i am also under the beleife that your sub is very, very important. its either going to drag down a good system, or make a weak speaker system better. right now i have 5 sony speakers from my old pro-logic system running on my current set-up. i am waiting to upgrade my current speakers. the sony speakers always sounded decent, but you cant imagine what it di to my system when i added the HSU. worth every penny. IMO.

SoSpacey, thanks for jumping in. I'm trying not to be brand snob, if you know what I mean (I'm not implying you or anyone else here is) and just want a sub that will do the job for as little as possible. While money isn't really an obstacle, I do like to get great value. And, since my HT started as DVD player, which then demonstrated that my TV really was too small, which showed that better sound would really ehance that big scree RPTV, which ... you get the picture.

My thinking was to try to stay under 200 for a sub. The postings here and elsewhere seem to love the Sony. On the other hand, don't want to bring a great system down for a few bucks.

btw, any thoughts on my rear speaker placement options, in the inital post.