Home Theatre

[AUDIOPHILE34]

Hey Guys,

I'm Trying To Build A Home Theater But I Have No Idea Where To Start. I Currently Have A Sony Bravia 52" But I'm Looking To Upgrade That As Well. Any Suggestions Would Be Greatly Appreciated. Thanks In Advance.

 

[Soundman]

Hey Guys,

I'm Trying To Build A Home Theater But I Have No Idea Where To Start. I Currently Have A Sony Bravia 52" But I'm Looking To Upgrade That As Well. Any Suggestions Would Be Greatly Appreciated. Thanks In Advance.

We need more info. What's your budget? What is your goal for the room? What are your listening/viewing habbits? Movies? Games? Music? What kind of music? Esthetics? Is this a dedicated room? Is front projection an option? Can the room be light controlled? What's the WAF meter looking like?????

 

[AUDIOPHILE34]

We need more info. What's your budget? What is your goal for the room? What are your listening/viewing habbits? Movies? Games? Music? What kind of music? Esthetics? Is this a dedicated room? Is front projection an option? Can the room be light controlled? What's the WAF meter looking like?????

Well my budget was previously thought to be about $1000 because I wanted to get an Onkyo HTIB. But after much deliberation I've decided to build one piece by piece so I don't have a set budget. I don't want to spend millions but I'd like the best movie experience I can get. Now, to answer your questions, I mainly watch films and do a little gaming. This is not a dedicated room, it's an informal living room so front projection is not an option. And although the installed lighting can be controlled at night, I have windows all over the room so there's plenty of sunshine during the day which translates to plenty of glare. I'm not sure what you mean by WAF meter. If you need any more info, let me know. Again, I really appreciate your input.

 

[lsiberian]

Well my budget was previously thought to be about $1000 because I wanted to get an Onkyo HTIB. But after much deliberation I've decided to build one piece by piece so I don't have a set budget. I don't want to spend millions but I'd like the best movie experience I can get. Now, to answer your questions, I mainly watch films and do a little gaming. This is not a dedicated room, it's an informal living room so front projection is not an option. And although the installed lighting can be controlled at night, I have windows all over the room so there's plenty of sunshine during the day which translates to plenty of glare. I'm not sure what you mean by WAF meter. If you need any more info, let me know. Again, I really appreciate your input.

Without a budget we can't tell you what the best movie experience you can get will be.

For 1000 bucks on a theater I'd suggest an SVS set. They come with a sub and 5 speakers.

 

[Soundman]

Well my budget was previously thought to be about $1000 because I wanted to get an Onkyo HTIB. But after much deliberation I've decided to build one piece by piece so I don't have a set budget. I don't want to spend millions but I'd like the best movie experience I can get. Now, to answer your questions, I mainly watch films and do a little gaming. This is not a dedicated room, it's an informal living room so front projection is not an option. And although the installed lighting can be controlled at night, I have windows all over the room so there's plenty of sunshine during the day which translates to plenty of glare. I'm not sure what you mean by WAF meter. If you need any more info, let me know. Again, I really appreciate your input.

I would suggest you upgrade your speakers first since you already have a TV you can use. If you aren't satisfied with the picture quality, you can always save up and get a better display. Do you have a receiver? If not, you may want to look at getting a mid level receiver and a pair of bookshelves to start. Then later, you can move the bookshelves to be used for surround duty when you upgrade your mains later on. However, depending on the size of your room, you may be perfectly happy with the bookshelves as mains. I would also recommend the SVS package if this system is mainly for movies and games. http://www.svsound.com/products-sys-sbs_black.cfm I think you'd be pretty happy with it. ...Unless you need to allocate some of this $1,000 for a receiver. Then I would suggest something different.

...BTW....WAF=Wife Acceptance/Approval Factor. Good luck!

 

[AUDIOPHILE34]

I would suggest you upgrade your speakers first since you already have a TV you can use. If you aren't satisfied with the picture quality, you can always save up and get a better display. Do you have a receiver? If not, you may want to look at getting a mid level receiver and a pair of bookshelves to start. Then later, you can move the bookshelves to be used for surround duty when you upgrade your mains later on. However, depending on the size of your room, you may be perfectly happy with the bookshelves as mains. I would also recommend the SVS package if this system is mainly for movies and games. http://www.svsound.com/products-sys-sbs_black.cfm I think you'd be pretty happy with it. ...Unless you need to allocate some of this $1,000 for a receiver. Then I would suggest something different.

...BTW....WAF=Wife Acceptance/Approval Factor. Good luck!

Very funny. I'm a bachelor so I don't have a WAF to worry about. I'd been cosnidering the Onkyo HT-S9100 THX certified system. How does this compare with the SVS? As for the main room where I'm setting up, it's an open concept design and it flows seamlessly into the kitchen, formal and informal dining rooms as well as the formal living room. Meaning there aren't many walls separating these rooms. Just a counter, pillars and a fireplace. The size of the tv room would be 20x20 I presume.

 

[alexsabree]

Very funny. I'm a bachelor so I don't have a WAF to worry about. I'd been cosnidering the Onkyo HT-S9100 THX certified system. How does this compare with the SVS? As for the main room where I'm setting up, it's an open concept design and it flows seamlessly into the kitchen, formal and informal dining rooms as well as the formal living room. Meaning there aren't many walls separating these rooms. Just a counter, pillars and a fireplace. The size of the tv room would be 20x20 I presume.

SVS > Sony/Onkyo/Klipsch HTIB .... by far.

They aren't even comparable.

 

[Highbar]

The SVS setups are going to blow a HTIB any time. They are designed by speaker designers only, while the other companies design many things. Now you will also need to buy a receiver with the SVS setup but I would go that way. Also the Sub in the SVS will blow away any of those subs in the HTIB and that is a pretty big area to fill with bass. The have the MTS series also, they are a nicer looking higher end model, but cost more.

 

[AUDIOPHILE34]

I would suggest you upgrade your speakers first since you already have a TV you can use. If you aren't satisfied with the picture quality, you can always save up and get a better display. Do you have a receiver? If not, you may want to look at getting a mid level receiver and a pair of bookshelves to start. Then later, you can move the bookshelves to be used for surround duty when you upgrade your mains later on. However, depending on the size of your room, you may be perfectly happy with the bookshelves as mains. I would also recommend the SVS package if this system is mainly for movies and games. http://www.svsound.com/products-sys-sbs_black.cfm I think you'd be pretty happy with it. ...Unless you need to allocate some of this $1,000 for a receiver. Then I would suggest something different.

...BTW....WAF=Wife Acceptance/Approval Factor. Good luck!

Say I choose to go with a couple of mains a receiver and a center speaker. What are my choices then?

 

[Soundman]

Very funny. I'm a bachelor so I don't have a WAF to worry about. I'd been cosnidering the Onkyo HT-S9100 THX certified system. How does this compare with the SVS? As for the main room where I'm setting up, it's an open concept design and it flows seamlessly into the kitchen, formal and informal dining rooms as well as the formal living room. Meaning there aren't many walls separating these rooms. Just a counter, pillars and a fireplace. The size of the tv room would be 20x20 I presume.

Ha! No WAF!! Well then, your options are limitlesss. Oh yeah, you do have a budget. Well, of everything that's been mentioned so far, the SVS setup is the best. Also, since you have a decent size space, the SVS, with the great sub is really going to help out a lot.

 

[armaraas]

I got paged a little early this morning after not much sleep, so hopefully my comprehension is okay...
I think a couple of additional questions might help-
Do you have local audio stores to go audition speakers at, or do you plan on buying online?
Do you have a preference between towers for mains or bookshelves?
Will you be listening to a lot of music too or not?

You mentioned getting the mains and center and receiver first, does that mean you're willing to wait on the sub purchase a bit until you have more funds?

If you have around a $1000 budget for just mains center and receiver, that's a pretty good start. If you want to include the sub the SVS package is a good option. Aperion Audio and Axiom Audio are a couple of well known online brands with in home demo options. Bookshelf options from them would be (examples)-
http://www.aperionaudio.com/product/Intimus-6B-Bookshelf-Speaker,111,20,257.aspx
http://www.axiomaudio.com/m22.html

Then you could match up a center to those. If you'll be using them for music through out the house, with the larger room you won't want to get too small of mains though.
I don't have any ideas off the top of my head for receivers, but new versions come out regularly, so the best bang for your buck will probably be to look at last years models that are being clearanced. For that, you'll need to know requirements such as needing a certain number of HDMI connections, require video upscaling or not, do you have a blu ray player or plan on getting one, plan on using 5 or 7 speakers eventually, etc.

 

[jostenmeat]

Hey Guys,

I'm Trying To Build A Home Theater But I Have No Idea Where To Start. I Currently Have A Sony Bravia 52" But I'm Looking To Upgrade That As Well. Any Suggestions Would Be Greatly Appreciated. Thanks In Advance.

Studio monitors will fit into budget easily. Are you ok without having grilles?

If grilles are a must, an idea comes to mind, of course it's only 1 out of a million possibilities.

3x Ascend 170SE. (use identical speaker as center for best possible performance). If you can do any of the following, please do so: upright, same plane as mains, equidistant is icing on the cake. ~$500.
http://www.ascendacoustics.com/pages/products/speakers/cbm170/cbm170.html

Outlaw Audio LFM1 Compact subwoofer, sale ends in three days, $319, free shipping. (if you can extend budget at this very moment, the sub is where I'd throw extra cash; either LFM1 Plus or the EX).
http://www.outlawaudio.com/products/lfmcompact.html

Skimp at the receiver. If you must demand access to mch pcm over hdmi, then here is a list of superceded receivers that can do that. Won't accept the bitstream versions of lossless ht codecs. Granted, many will be impossible to find.

Onkyo 604
Marantz 4001
Yamaha 661
Yamaha HTR-6060
HK 247
Panasonic XR57
Sony STR-DG810
Denon 887
Denon 1908CI
Denon 788
Denon 2308CI

However, to keep within the budget for now, I say forget HDMI audio altogether. I can tell you, from personal experience, speaker improvements have about 100000x more impact than the difference between lossy and lossless codecs. Also, since the processors/receivers supercede faster than pretty much ANYTHING else in the world of AV, you can upgrade that in a couple of years.

That said, here is one 5.1 receiver, that handles dd/dts for $211.
http://www.amazon.com/Harman-Kardon-AVR-154-5-1-Channel-Receiver/dp/B0016BN5CM/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1254086690&sr=1-5

cue Mastercard advertisement

3.1 system: $1,050.

Getting a system based on Ascend Acoustics, Outlaw Audio, and Harmon Kardon over an HTIB: Priceless.

Lastly, if only as a crutch for a year or two, pick up some super cheapo garage sale speakers for the surrounds, if only for the time being. If your budget expands due to all the help you receive here, and you do go with Ascend, add a pair htm 200s for $278 minus the package discount they give you.

 

[skers_54]

Studio monitors will fit into budget easily. Are you ok without having grilles?

If grilles are a must, an idea comes to mind, of course it's only 1 out of a million possibilities.

3x Ascend 170SE. (use identical speaker as center for best possible performance). If you can do any of the following, please do so: upright, same plane as mains, equidistant is icing on the cake. ~$500.
http://www.ascendacoustics.com/pages/products/speakers/cbm170/cbm170.html

Outlaw Audio LFM1 Compact subwoofer, sale ends in three days, $319, free shipping. (if you can extend budget at this very moment, the sub is where I'd throw extra cash; either LFM1 Plus or the EX).
http://www.outlawaudio.com/products/lfmcompact.html

Skimp at the receiver. If you must demand access to mch pcm over hdmi, then here is a list of superceded receivers that can do that. Won't accept the bitstream versions of lossless ht codecs. Granted, many will be impossible to find.

Onkyo 604
Marantz 4001
Yamaha 661
Yamaha HTR-6060
HK 247
Panasonic XR57
Sony STR-DG810
Denon 887
Denon 1908CI
Denon 788
Denon 2308CI

However, to keep within the budget for now, I say forget HDMI audio altogether. I can tell you, from personal experience, speaker improvements have about 100000x more impact than the difference between lossy and lossless codecs. Also, since the processors/receivers supercede faster than pretty much ANYTHING else in the world of AV, you can upgrade that in a couple of years.

That said, here is one 5.1 receiver, that handles dd/dts for $211.
http://www.amazon.com/Harman-Kardon-AVR-154-5-1-Channel-Receiver/dp/B0016BN5CM/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1254086690&sr=1-5

cue Mastercard advertisement

3.1 system: $1,050.

Getting a system based on Ascend Acoustics, Outlaw Audio, and Harmon Kardon over an HTIB: Priceless.

Lastly, if only as a crutch for a year or two, pick up some super cheapo garage sale speakers for the surrounds, if only for the time being. If your budget expands due to all the help you receive here, and you do go with Ascend, add a pair htm 200s for $278 minus the package discount they give you.

Good suggestions, but I have a caveat to add about some of the early HDMI receivers. If you're going to send multichannel PCM from a BD player to it, you need to make sure the receiver can process 96 kHz audio signals in order to bass manage, apply delay settings, etc. My Marantz 4001 won't, which I found out after trying to run a phantom center with it. Adam and a couple others helped me work through it and we found that it will only pass 96 kHz signals without processing them (a la the analog multichannel inputs). This nugget was burried in the back of the manual at the bottom of a huge chart, so anyone interested in purchasing an older HDMI receiver needs to look carefully.

It's actually pretty hard to tell a difference with movies because nearly all low frequency information is encoded into the LFE channel. It's probably much more obvious with DVD-A, but I don't have any so I can't test it.

 

[irish]

Newbie here with some similar issues... How will a 3.1 system sound in comparison to 5.1? I know you won't hear effects behind/beside you but would it be a pretty good experience if space behind you is non-existent?

 

[AVRat]

Yes it will definitely enhance the HT experience.