Topic: Home theater research and tips

[raVen]

Im planning on setting up a dedicated home theater and starting my research.

Please recommend some sites you guys have used for equipment reviews/recommendations.

Any other tips and things to consider will be appreciated as well.

[mephisto_kur]

I am interested in this as well and have no idea where to start.

[Smoke]

are you guys starting from scratch or integrating your lcd and disc player with a speaker setup.really depends on budget vs quality vs output.some good all in one systems out there for cheap i'm sure.but most any audiophile would reccomend buying a stand alone amp/receiver and getting the speker setup seperate.watch out for power consumption,some of them pull a ton from the wall.all i can reccomend is wall speakers mounted and run internally,no exposed wires.that shit drove me nuts,fucking wires everywhere around the room.

[Trlgg]

Cables: www.monoprice.com

http://www.avsforum.com/

[dj]

If you want great sound quality, then as Smoke said getting separate components is the way to go.  There's a lot of marketing hype about 99999.1 surround.  Keep in mind that the majority of programming is 5.1.  The extra speakers are just playing an upmix.

Good quality cables are important, but there are lots of cables that are ridiculously overpriced.  I've got my cables running through plastic channels along the molding and trim.  Label you cables, and be consistent with using the same color for +/- on all your speakers.  Where all your cables come together near the receiver, use wire ties to keep things neat, and leave enough slack so you can pull the receiver out without having to disconnect anything.

crutchfield.com has lots of good information.

[Majorpain4U]

The real question is how much money are you looking to spend , I don't know if you remember or not but a while back I built a dedicated theater room. I even went so far as to have the fiber optic star field in the ceiling. DJ and Smoke are right , buy your components separately but make sure you research the compatibility. One big thing that makes a huge difference is room acoustics and the dimensions of the room you are using.
This is a partial view of the theater room I built
 

this was back in 05 as you can see and was pre flat screen days. At the time that TV was the tops, it is also a 70"' those are bose towers I used as front channels a bose center speaker and had bose cubes as the surrounds.
the reciever was a 1000W Sony ES digital drive, I had a 500W sony 12inch dual sub, one forward firing and one downfiring. it literally shook things loose in the other rooms of the house. When I built the room i used special sound dampening sheet rock. and of course the kick ass movie theater carpet 

I will see if I can dig up a few of the forums that I joined to do my research, and post them for you

[Majorpain4U]

http://www.audioholics.com/

Very good equipment review site

[Majorpain4U]

Oh yeah back half of the room

[raVen]

Thanks guys.

Here is my progress and  rationale, please critique.


I have been reading a lot on the avsforum,crutchfield,audioholics as you guys posted. At this point Im planning to go with individual component instead of a boxed version.

The room I plan to set it up for the home theater will be a multi purpose room. Living room/Media room kind of a thing, As much as I would like to, sound proofing it like Major is not an option. I know that means poorer room acoustics but Im not shooting for the purest experience.

Based on research and listening to some speakers in the local frys, I have narrowed my choice to having a all Polk speakers. esp their Rti series.
http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/rtia/index.php

so the current plan is for  7.2 polk  system with.

2 Rti3 book shelf speakers for fronts [Sounds better than the tower and smaller foot print]
CSi A6 for center speakers.
4 surrounds with the inwall RC85i speakers.[2 would be sufficient, but heck why not]
2 PSW111 sub woofers.

amazon is having a Polk special now. Free Polk Subwoofer When You Buy $499 or More of Select Polk Speakers.   Running until Jan 7th.

The subwoofers are not the greatest. By buying this setup + a couple of outdoor speakers  as 2 seperate transactions thru amazon. I get the subs for free  .  A 7.2 Speaker set + 2 outdoor speakers for $1100ish seems like good value to me [Correct me if Im wrong].


What Im agonizing over now is the A/V Reciever. My 'wants' are

1, Decent power to drive the above setup. atleast 100W per channel.
2, Dual HDMI output. [I would eventually like to add a projector to the  setup. Without loosing the TV option ]
3, Support for 3D [Future proofing]
4, Network connectivity. Native support for Pandora/Rhapsody, Media streaming from computer.
5,Multi zone support. Im planning to have speakers on the deck and the living room. [Note to self, Do not enable Zone 2/3 audio when watching porn. ]

The one which fits my list and  I like  is the YAMAHA RX-A3000 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882115277 but it is EXPENSIVE. It was $800 on newegg a couple of days ago and Im kicking my self for not pulling the trigger.

Now im looking at it's newer but lesser cousin YAMAHA RX-A810BL http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882115343.  Has the same function  but with lesser power and only zone 2.

Decisions.. Decisions..

I will keep this thread updated.

[Majorpain4U]

You can't go wrong with those Polks, and if your going to run 2 sub's then you will be fine, just put them in the corners if possible. also make sure you add some curtains or some type of sound dampening panels (they sell them pre made) on the opposite side of the room opposite facing the direction your speakers are facing. If you are going to do a multiple use room the addition of some acoustic material will make a big difference, you are going to have a lot of objects for the sound to bounce off of and may make the sound quality suffer a bit.
The different zone thing is not that big of an issue unless you plan on listening to something different on the patio and in the media room at the same time. A simple speaker switch or if the receiver has A/B speakers then you will be fine. There is however no substitute for power, yeah you should kick yourself for not buying the Yamaha for $800 that's a $1400 receiver.
You should look at the Denon AVR-2312CI , it's about $900 and it has many if not all of the features you are looking for.

[dj]

I have a Polk csi30 for my center channel and am happy with it.

Personally I think two subs is overkill unless your room is very very large.  I would take the money you were spending on the 2nd sub and use it to get one sub of better quality.

I've read good and bad things about Yamaha and Denon, but don't have any personal experience with either brand.

[raVen]

Sound dampening is a great idea Major. Looks like there are a lot of options for sound dampening without messing up with the aesthetics of the room. Which is great.

Im still unsure about the reciever, I have been exclusively focusing on  Yamaha's Avantage line  will check out  Denon.

Dj, you are right 2 subs might be just silly. Im getting them becuase they come free with the Amazon deal.  I might just sell those 2 subs and get one nice sub. The common consensus on the internetz is  that dedicated speaker companies suck at subwoofer making and you better deals from Internet direct sub makers. SVS, Outlaw, Hsu seem like popular choices.

Im looking on Craigslist to see if I can get a good deal on a nice SUB.

[Trlgg]

Personally I think two subs is overkill unless your room is very very large.  I would take the money you were spending on the 2nd sub and use it to get one sub of better quality.

"I get the subs for free  "

[raVen]

lol Trigg.

But to Dj's point a good sub is better than 2 avg subs. I have the option of keeping two sub par subs or selling them and getting a good one. I think I will be taking DJ's recommendation and selling the 2 subs to get one which sounds  better.

The argument of "Are 2 subs of smaller size and quality better than one larger sub of better quality?" seems to be a popular one.

[Smoke]

the sub isnt all that important imo.it uses the most power and plays across the smallest of the sound spectrum.in a small to medium size room most any ht style sub will be fine.unless you just want to rattle windows and piss off the neighbors.but i would go the single better sub route than 2 avg ones.you could probably save a ton of $ if you built the speakers and sub yourself.just buy the drivers then cut some wood paint and mount.better drivers for less that way.thats what i would do if starting from scratch.