Hello all, I’ve been reading here for about 6 months. First of all - thank you all for the advice and quality content on this forum, I’ve spent many hours reading and poking around and its helped tremendously in formulating my plans so far!
I’m of the opinion that the thought, research, and discussion that go into a large purchase are often just as much fun as the actual purchase itself. So I’m going to use this thread to document the research, purchase, assembly, and calibration of my first (but likely not my last) home theater setup. During this process I’d love to get comments, suggestions, and advice from you all. I will post pictures and my impressions of products as things progress, frequency response curves, and any key articles or lessons learned here as well.
So here are my plans so far. My wife and I have started building a larger home a few miles north of where I currently live in Fort Worth TX. After a few months of working on (um, I mean discussing with) her I finally got the WAF necessary to put in space for a home theater room over the garage. Below are my drawings of the available space and where in general I’m planning on placing equipment, speakers, furniture, etc. These were done in Visio for those who are curious- it’s a fairly decent 2D layout package.
The views show some cabinetry – I plan on building this myself once I get the equipment in. It helps greatly with the WAF and also gives me a place to hide the electronics and most of the wiring. Fortunately I have a nice workshop and a little know-how – the builder quoted almost $4k to put this in, I can do it for around 10-15% of that.
You can also see it’s a slightly odd-shaped room in profile. This is because of the roofline / front elevation and cannot be changed. I’m no room mode expert, but it seems to me that perhaps this arrangement may help reduce the effects of some resonance front-to-back in the room. Also, the placement of the window forces me to use the room sideways as opposed to lengthwise. The window is there for the WAF and will be completely covered during regular viewing. Not ideal, but definitely workable.
You may also notice I haven’t placed the sub yet- I’m planning on the back right corner but will wait until I have some chance to play with placement to finalize.
At this point I should mention that I have two young children (5 and less than 1), and the wife is a stay-at-home mom, which places the two main constraints on the design-
#1: relatively limited budget (more on that below)
#2: equipment must be out of the way for WAF and practical protection purposes. While I’d love a set of monstrous towers for the fronts my heart (and wallet) could not take a damaged woofer or broken electronics from an errant soccerball / curious hands / foot. While this is a constraint, there’s the side benefit that hidden equipment and bookshelf speakers greatly increase the WAF and therefore my freedom in purchasing the equipment in the first place.
Onto the equipment I’m looking at, and the associated budgets. These by no means represent the final decisions, but are the ones that passed the budget, WAF, and “good reviews” criteria. I’d love to hear comments and suggestions!
Projector ($1500-$2000): I will be watching a mix of HD and DVD with occasional SD thrown in, so I’m looking at WXGA (1280 x 720). The viewing distance will be 10’ and I’m looking for a screen width of around 75” in 16:9 format. Based on comments here and the good folks over at projectorcentral.com, I’m looking at the Panasonic PT-AE700U or Z3. It seems that at this point LCD is whupping up on the DLP crowd in price/performance. Right now I’m leaning toward the Panny, but I haven’t had a chance to compare it to the Z3.
Screen: ($100)- I know, you can’t get a real screen at this price. I’m planning on a DIY for the time being until I can put together a real screen. I’ve seen a number of DIY screens with commercial and specialty paints on hardboard and I’ve been impressed with what can be done for next to nothing.
Receiver ($350-$550): My predominant application here is home theater. I’d love to go separates but the budget simply won’t allow it at this point. I’d be running a DVD player, Xbox through this on day one, and eventually will run a cable box and HTPC. I need 3 component video inputs and video conversion from composite and S-video to component. Very high on the desired features is a way to calibrate and equalize as well. Right now I’m looking at the Denon 2805 and the Yamaha RX-V2500. Both have pre-out sections so if I want to do a separate amp later down the road I can. I’ve listened to both and was pleased. The Yammy has a few more HT processing options but it’s also hard to find under $650.
DVD Player (already have): Right now I have a Denon 1710 which is their low-end progressive player. Eventually this will probably get moved to the family room to make way for something a little nicer but for now it gets the job done.
Room treatments ($0 for now): Wow can you go crazy here, but I want a working system first and budget doesn’t allow for it just yet. The walls are drywall, the floor is a medium carpet. I’m hoping that between that and the shape I don’t have too much issue with room modes or the “clap test”. I’d love any input out there as to the best way to treat a room on a budget (and with WAF).
Sub equalization ($100): Since this is a small room and I don’t have the budget to drop thousands on room treatments I will likely have to do some active EQ to tame some low frequency room modes. I’ve read a number of great things about the Behringer Feedback Destroyer (BFD), so this is on the shopping list.
Speakers ($850): I’m going to start with a 5.1 system based on budget and eventually move up to 7.1. As mentioned above I’m looking at bookshelves all the way around. I’ve done a little listening at local HT shops (and the major electronics chains) and I tend to be drawn toward a neutral speaker (i.e. not too bright, which I’m assuming means favoring high frequencies, and not too warm, which I’m assuming means favoring mid-low frequencies). To keep it in budget I’m looking at Ascend CBM-170s, Atlantic Technology T90 or 920s, Aperion 522Ds, and Axiom M3tis. Based on reviews and forum comments I’m very heavily leaning toward the Ascends but will try and find someone local so I can demo before throwing down the cash. This is the one component that I go back and forth the most on.
Subwoofer: ($450): A HT without LF extension is not HT in my opinion. I want to feel it through the floor and in my chest. I want to be able to jiggle knick-knacks off the shelves when the wife and kids are away. I spent a bit of time trying to cheapen this component up in the budget but when I went to audition I was completely disappointed by most everything below $350 - not enough extension, not enough cajones (SPL), or sounding like the same note was playing over and over regardless of the actual input. I’m leaning toward the SVS PB10-ISD but am keeping my eye on the Hsu lines as well in the same price point. I’ve seen occasionally people comment that this sub is not “tight enough” but at this point extension is worth more than pure musicality. I’m hoping to tame that somewhat with EQ.
Remote ($125) / IR Repeater ($75): All equipment is going into a cabinet at the front of the room that will be closed during operation for noise and light purposes. For WAF (and cool factor) I’m looking at the Logitech / Harmony 676 remote and have already purchased a sexy little repeater which simply replaces a battery in the remote with a wireless transmitter that talks to a base-station / IR repeater in the equipment cabinet.
Interconnects / Wiring: I have little interest (or money for) snake-oil and snobbery. I’m going with some basic interconnects that maintain the transmission line impedance well and some 16 AWG from home depot.
Calibration / Equalization: I already own a copy of Avia and the Rat-shack analog SPL meter. Haven’t really played with them much yet, but I may play with them soon on my current HT setup.
All in I’m hoping to build this system for around $3500 minus furniture and my own blood,sweat, and tears. I know this is what some of you may spend on a good set of front speakers or an automation system, but hey, it’s a start!
The home is in its early construction phases – they are just now completing the rough framing and starting on the electrical wiring and HVAC. In a few weeks after the electrical inspection I’ll be going in to place my speaker wire, subwoofer cable and component video cable in the walls.
One last note – I just lifted myself out of the dregs of credit card debt and will not go there again – so financing for the system will have to come from incremental savings and the occasional bonus. Between this room and furnishing the rest of the house I’m hoping to get this all done in one shot in early 2006.
Your comments and suggestions are welcome and encouraged. In a few days I’ll try and get some construction update photos. I may also try and calibrate my current HT setup with the Avia / RS SPL meter just for fun/practice.
~Josh
