My Home Theater!

[Event-Horizon]

Hey guys, I’m pretty much finished with my home theater. Over the years I’ve had various components from KLH speakers, Sony DB930 receiver, and a 27” RCA TV. Most were left over’s from when I was in high school and college. Starting back in early 2005 I started to upgrade my HT. First I started off with the Polk speakers and a Denon 3805 receiver. Later, I felt that the Polk’s weren’t being pushed hard enough, like they were missing mid range. So I did the next best thing, traded in my 3805 in for a 4806. To me, the sound improvement was much better. I picked up the 3910 earlier this year. Makes a great all in one player and let me replace my old Sony 5 disk DVD changer, and 12 year old Sony CD player. Anyway, fast forward to today, and this is what I currently have.

My home theater consists of:

• Panasonic 50” Plasma TH-50PHD8UK with 8 series HDMI blade
• Denon AVR-4806 (Hope to send in to Denon service for HDMI and Ethernet update)
• Denon DVD-3910 (Updated to region free)
• Panamax 5510-Pro Surge protector (It was a REALLY good deal)
• Comcast 3412 Phase I Dual cable tuner
• Xbox360
• Polk Audio RTi10 Floor Standing
• Polk Audio CSi5 Center channel
• Polk Audio FXi3 Surrounds
• Polk Audio PSW404 Subwoofer

Everything is connected to the Panamax surge protector for protection. I try to use digital connections for everything. The DVD player uses a HDMI cable for video and the Denon Link for DVD/SACD audio. I use standard RCA interconnects when I listen to CD’s. The Comcast box is connected by component cables and a coaxial audio cable to the receiver. The Xbox360 also uses component cables and an optical cable for audio. The 4806 then converts the video signal to HDMI and passes it on to the TV. The 4806 makes a great video switch and allows me to have only one cable for video. Well, except that I have to use a standard video RCA cable to see the 4806’s on screen display. (The HDMI blade only accepts 480p and up ) The last piece that I’m hopping to update soon is my TV/Stereo stand as it’s starting to see some wear and tear. I’ve been looking at Salamander Designs for a little while and might end up going with one of their credenzas. Overall I’m extremely happy with my HT. Watching DVD’s or HD movies is pretty much like being in a real theater.

Hope you guys like it, let me know if you have any feedback, suggestions, or questions!

 

[majorloser]

Nice system!

Is it just me or is the center channel pointing upward? Can it point straight to the listening posistion?

 

[Event-Horizon]

The center channel has the option to point slightly upward. It does this in case you have it on a lower shelf so that the sound will seem to come from the screen. An example would be that the voices from a person on screen would seem to come from the screen and not the lower shelf. I tilted it upwards to give it this effect. Seems to work well.

 

[Sheep]

Very nice, and clean!

Have yo uconsidered a power amp for the RTi10s? They need some serious power, but when they get it, they sound VERY nice.

SheepStar

 

[Event-Horizon]

I've read and thought about it, but I've never really sat down and looked in to it. Are there any particular models that you had in mind Sheep?

 

[Sheep]

I've read and thought about it, but I've never really sat down and looked in to it. Are there any particular models that you had in mind Sheep?

Not really, anyting that can pump out 250watts x2 should suffice.

SheepStar

 

[Gatorchong]

Very nice system. It's rare that I would argue with Sheep but I would think that Denon has plenty of juice to push those Polk's. From what I read that thing is pretty stout, but as I haven't owned one I don't know. How do you like the sound?

 

[DDigitalguy06]

Nice speakers. How do u like the sound of the polk speaker system? and nice screen! take care of it..

 

[AVFOOL]

Event-Horizon and anyone
How do you connect your Denon 4806 to your Panasonic plasma TV. I own a Panasonic TH50PHD6 and thinking of buying Denon 4603 and wonder how I can connect the two for the best result? Thanks

 

[Bluesmoke]

Any burn-in issues with the 360 and plasma?

 

[Event-Horizon]

The Polk’s sound very nice. I’ve been quite happy with them. Like Sheep was saying they do take a bit of power to push. I noticed this with my Denon 3805 because they seemed to lack some mid range during movies and music. Once I moved up to the 4806 the problem seemed to go away. Maybe I can try bi-amping them one day and see if that makes a more noticeable difference.

Avfool, as far as your question goes, you’ll have to see what blades you can get for your Panasonic. Your only options might be either component video or DVI. However, I’m pretty sure that the 4306 has only one DVI input and no outputs. You could use a HDMI to DVI converted and connect the cable to your DVI blade that way. If you can find a DVI blade, I would go that route first, though if you can’t, component would be your next best choice.

As far as burn in goes, I haven’t noticed any. I broke my plasma in over 100 hours on a low brightness setting and watched only video sources that filled the entire screen. They say that this helps to prevent burn-in for the life of the display. I also set the display to “wobble”. This shifts the image 1 pixel in any direction while watching the display. This prevents a static image from sitting in one location for prolonged periods.

 

[agarwalro]

Awesome setup.

I recently purchased the TH-50PH9UK for Visual Apex (in transit).

Have you had the Panny ISF calibrated? If not, maybe that should be you next investment. If yes, can you comment on the before and after PQ.

 

[Event-Horizon]

No, I haven't had my display calibrated. Maybe someday I will. I setup my display using the Avia DVD.

Initially after I setup the display using the DVD I noticed that some TV shows appeared very dark and missing detail. I found that the brightness is a bit higher on the 3910 than on the Comcast box. I had to increase the brightness on the display to "-7" from "-11" so that video from the Comcast box wasn't so dark. I adjusted the brightness on the 3910's internal setup to "-4". This helped to even the brightness out between the two and they both produce nearly the same picture.