Advice on an audio setup for an open plan TV room

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Alpine

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Oct 16, 2013
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Hi fellow forumers

So here is the dilemma I have:
1. I have an open plan TV-room/lounge/dining room around 4mx6m
2. I have a laptop, DSTV, OpenViewHD, Playstation, AppleTV and I like to stream music from my phone, so Bluetooth is a must.
3. I predominantly (around 80%) listen to music and around 20% of the time would watch a movie.
4. I was looking to get a decent sound bar (JBL SB450), as I am not a huge fan of trying to run wires to the side walls for the surround sound and wires to the subwoofer (but this can still be done if needs be), but heard that this aint great for music.
5. This led me to rather buy an decent AV receiver and slowly build up a system. To start off, I have a pair of Wharfedale Diamond 10.1 bookshelf speakers (donated from my dad), which I can use until I upgrade the speakers.
6. I was looking to spend no more than R13k for an av receiver, and for a decent speaker package, I was toying between either buying a complete 5.1 (saw some Yamaha and Boston Acoustic sets, but have not heard them as yet) set for around R10k, or taking longer with my build and starting off with a good pair of floor standers and a sub (maybe Monitor audio Bronze 5's), then over a few months buying the centres and then the surrounds.
7. The receivers I seem to like are the:
a) Yamaha RX V581 (I believe Yamaha has the ability to emulate 5.1 by having all the speakers at the front, so to temporarily prevent me running wires to the back speakers) Not sure about the stereo sound quality for music though.
b) Denon X2300W - Read some good reviews on this receiver, but not sure if it can emulate surround sound.
c) Marantz NR1506 - Really love the slimline factor of this receiver, and heard that its really good for music. Not sure about the 50W per channel power output if I upgrade to bigger speakers, and I have heard that this receiver's interface is a bit old and due for an upgrade soon with the NR1508. Also, not sure of the

So now the advice from you good people.

1. What receiver would you recommend for my situation (or would you recommend a sound bar)?
2. What would you recommend for speakers.

I would like to keep my total expenditure to under R20k if possible.

Thank you all in advance for your advice and input.
 
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