Perfect home threater setup

[NA9D]

Re: Perfect home threater setup

Tin,

$3K is not a lot as the TV is going to eat into at least half of that, IMHO. My Bose speakers that I mentioned earlier cost about $300 each. So for 3 speakers that's $900 there. Now, this is a good time of year to buy as it is end of the model year in AV equipment. All the new TVs have already come out so as to be ready for the start of the fall TV system, but the rest of the components seem to lag behind and come out in the start of the 4th quarter. So you might be able to get some deals.

The Bose speakers you have may be a good choice at this point. If you like how they sound, then I would stay with them if they look good and are in good shape. Bose tends to have a particularly tight sound that take a bit of getting used to, but once you do get used to it, I think they sound very natural. They are a good middle of the road speaker system.

Now, if you keep the speakers you have then it will give you more cash to get other aspects like a new receiver. Personally, for middle of the line equipment, I like Yamaha quite a bit. They have nice receivers starting probably around $300 to $400 and going up from there into the several thousand dollar range. Starting at $600 or so, Denon is another very good brand.

If you spend say, $1500 on the TV, and say $500 on the receiver, then you have $100 left to spend on speakers or other "toys" for your setup. Other toys include the obligatory DVD player, DVR, Audio player, etc.

Upconverting DVD players can be had for $100 or less easily. In DVRs if I was starting out today, I would buy the new Tivo HD models. You can get upgraded ones from DVRUpgrade.com with larger hard drives. The base TivoHD starts at $299. I know I'll take flack from my Replay buddies like Ed or Max for recommending this, but lets face it, Replay doesn't do HD. This new Tivo does and it's affordable. Plus the Tivo has cable card slots which allow for you to directly tune and record all your digital cable channels w/o a cable box (more on this later). For an audio player, I would get either a Squeezebox or a Roku Soundbridge. Given that Patrick came from SlimDevices, you might want to go the Squeezebox route but regardless, it's awesome to have a box that connects to your audio library or to internet radio that you can then stream music to over your home stereo system. Or another option is the new Netgear Digital Entertainer HD for a video driven system (the Soundbridge/Squeezebox don't use the TV for their display) that not only plays music but plays video files, shows photos, etc. It's a nice new product as well. A media player will cost your around $250 or so for audio only to something like $400 for the NetgearHD box.

Cable Card:

Whatever you do, make sure you get a TV that accepts cable cards. With a cable card you do NOT need a cable box. It takes care of all the channel decrypting and authorization. Cable companies do not advertise these but by law they must provide you one if you ask. They will want you to rent their box but you don't have to. Now, their box will give you additional features like channel menus and Video on Demand. Oh yeah, wait a minute, we don't need VoD with Vudu! Well, yeah, you still do as there's a lot of network TV shows that are available on demand after they air and it's nice in case you have a conflict with your DVR, etc. Anyhow, the cable card plugs into the TV and gives you all the channels. I have one on my LG and I also have a cable box. That way I can record one thing and watch another at the same time.


So how does that sound?

Jon

Re: Perfect home threater setup

Own. single story house. It's a large room... combination kitchen, family room, dining room.. we knocked down the wall between kitchen and family room. Total size is around 30x20, although one corner is kitchen (18x12). Wide open space. So acoustic is kinda bad.

I have to turn the TV sound down at night, or use head phones because the sound can be heard in the kids bedrooms.

But during other time, I would not mind being able to enjoy a movie experience.

[Nded]

Re: Perfect home threater setup

Do you rent or own your housing? That will impact whether you can go with in-the-wall speakers or stand alone speakers.

Re: Perfect home threater setup

Can you be more specific about what "a lot of money" is in your philosophy? If you can say how much your willing to spend, we can probably give you some good advise on how to get the best bang for your bucks. I've worked with all types of budgets - once you set the budget, the other pieces will fall together fairly easily.

It's kinda hard to be specific. Let's say I have budgeted up to $3K for this holiday on large screen HDTV plus sound system (I have none, as I use the speakers on my dinky 20" Vizio LCD TV).

So if the price come down enough, I might shoot for a 42-46" LCD, what's left is the "sound system"... whatever that may be.

I do have hand-me-down Bose speakers (AM5 - large bass and 2 small wall mount speakers) and a pair of L+R Bose 30X (?) from my brother.

[mhausig]

Re: Perfect home threater setup

L+R and Center are important. You can probably balance the cost of a sub by getting smaller front speakers. Its a good idea to get a center speaker that is the same brand as the fronts as they sound profiles tend to match up better. As far as brand, I would avoid brands where your target price is in the range of either the cheapest or most expensive model offered.

[NA9D]

Re: Perfect home threater setup

Max is right, you need a good center speaker. And I would definitely get a Sub-Woofer. DD5.1 movies have an "LFE" content which really adds the rumble to things. LFE is "Low Frequency Effect." The subs handle this much better than the speakers. And a sub is non-directional. Mine is in the back of my family room....

[MaxH]

Re: Perfect home threater setup

I feel the center channel is very important, as it carries most of the dialog. I've lived without a subwoofer because my Sony floor speakers can shake the walls pretty well, so if you HAVE to do it piecemeal, I'd hold off on the subwoofer first, unless your DVDs are mostly war movies (explosions, etc). But I have a little trouble hearing some frequencies, including most speech, in one ear.

[Nded]

Re: Perfect home threater setup

Can you be more specific about what "a lot of money" is in your philosophy? If you can say how much your willing to spend, we can probably give you some good advise on how to get the best bang for your bucks. I've worked with all types of budgets - once you set the budget, the other pieces will fall together fairly easily.

Re: Perfect home threater setup

Let's say I don't want to spend a lot of money up front to build that perfect audio system.

So, how many and what type of speakers should I get?

One "large" bass, two left+right speakers, two rear and a center?

That's 6 speakers.

Can I start with less speakers and add later? What are the must have speakers (base, center, etc. - not talking about brand).

Thanks.

[NA9D]

Re: Perfect home threater setup

He does tend to respond to Steve's offerings like a well trained monkey, butt we won't hold that against him. After all, he's spending his money and not yours or mine.

Kaching.

I may be a well trained Apple monkey butt the XtremeMac products are not produced by Apple. They are an independent company that has just supported the iPod and now AppleTV market, but the cables are the nicest out there for the money.

[Nded]

Re: Perfect home threater setup

You had to get the word Mac in there somewhere eh Jon

He does tend to respond to Steve's offerings like a well trained monkey, butt we won't hold that against him. After all, he's spending his money and not yours or mine.

Kaching.

[RonV]

Re: Perfect home threater setup

You had to get the word Mac in there somewhere eh Jon

[NA9D]

Re: Perfect home threater setup

A sub from a dedicated subwoofer company like Hsu, SVS or Velodyne won't let you down and will allow you to cut back a little on the size of speakers. By a little, I mean you don't need a 12-inch woofer, not that you can go with tiny cubes. Its critical to focus on how the midrange and mid-bass sounds since this is where a lot of speakers don't deliver.

Agreed 100%. Very good point.

Finally, it shouldn't need to be said but, don't buy expensive cables. From an engineering perspective shifting half an inch in your seat will have a greater effect.

Again, great point. BestBuy and Circuit City make all their profit on HDMI and component video cables. I prefer Monoprice.com for their HDMI cables. At $5.00 they are a good price. RonV has stated he doesn't like them as they aren't certified to HDMI bit rates. That's a good point. If you want a certified cable go with ones from XtremeMac: http://www.xtrememac.com/audio/av_cables/index.php

These cables are outstanding in quality and only about $20 - you'd pay $100 for the same cable with the name "Monster" on it at BestBuy.

Personally, I like the KEF line of speakers YMMV.
Subwoofer Velodynes DD series is very good and has room equalization built in.

The Kef's are nice. I have a set of DCM's that I really liked as well. They are in storage cause we don't have room for them right now and the wife wanted bookshelf speakers which is why I got the 301 series from Bose http://www.bose.com/controller?event...ookshelf_index along with the VCS-10 center speaker: http://www.bose.com/controller?event...0_center_index. The work very well. Oh yeah, and I have a DCM TB2 powered subwoofer: http://www.dcmspeakers.com/products/psubs/tb2.htm

[RonV]

Re: Perfect home threater setup

Tin,

Very good summary. Again everyone will have suggestions but its you that has to live with it. Make sure where you purchase the equipment has a return policy since what you will see at the store will not match what you have at home.

Just to recap what I've learned so far.

1. Quality equipment - make sure to get quality equipment. Stay away from mass consumer electronics stores when looking for good advice.


2. Audio is important - do not forget good sound system.

• Good speakers is a part of a good sound system.

3. Room layout, the furniture, the audio (acoustic?) all have an affect on the quality of the experience.

Did I miss anything or got something not quite right?

[mhausig]

Re: Perfect home threater setup

A lot really depends on the space you have available. At the center of your system is the receiver or preamp. The most recent lineups have HDMI switching, auto-EQ and the ability to handle all of the current and near future video and audio formats. There is some benefit to using separates (pre-amp and amp) in that heat production is spaced out more and noise may be slightly reduced. I don't think its too big a deal, but if you go with separate amplifiers, pro equipment provides the best price to quality ratio.

Speakers are a personal thing. Its better if you can test drive them at home, but at the very least listen to your favorite music or movies on them. Good subwoofers are less subjective. A sub from a dedicated subwoofer company like Hsu, SVS or Velodyne won't let you down and will allow you to cut back a little on the size of speakers. By a little, I mean you don't need a 12-inch woofer, not that you can go with tiny cubes. Its critical to focus on how the midrange and mid-bass sounds since this is where a lot of speakers don't deliver.

Displays are dependent on tons of factors including budget, space and source material. www.avsforum.com is a good source for research on the different brands and formats.

Finally, it shouldn't need to be said but, don't buy expensive cables. From an engineering perspective shifting half an inch in your seat will have a greater effect.

Of what's on the market now the following is what I would consider to be a pretty decent home theater setup.
Preamp Integra 9.8 (has all the latest features, pro equipment quality)
Amps any decent pro brand
TV I like Samsung's latest DLP line with LED backlighting
Speakers Personally, I like the KEF line of speakers YMMV.
Subwoofer Velodynes DD series is very good and has room equalization built in.