Home Theatres

“I'm preparing to build a home theatre. It will take some time, but the project is in the works.

Being that I waste so much time on here with you'all, I was just wondering if there are any other home theatre enthusiasts out there.

Maybe we can shoot the breeze.”

“Here's the projector I'm thinking of getting. The plan is to have a 120" screen and about 8 permanent seats, and 8 seats that can be added when needed.

http://www.benq.com/products/product.cfm?product=574

Any experience out there?”

“too cool :) No expirience here, i dont even have a tv LOL”

“i dont even have a tv LOL”
Spirit Coyote

by the amount of pointless threads you start, that much is apparent

:-P”

“:P Hey I have two gear threads today :P”

“Ok, so far we have 1 person without a television and one guy riding her. Not a lot of home theatre fans in the outdoor bunch I take it! LOL

(this is a sneaky attempt at a bump, by the way)”

“"one guy riding her"

I would like to point out i am not crazy mike”

“I'm going to read my steelejungle publication and go to bed.

Hopefully there's another videophile out there.

(crash ... I know what you're thinking ...don't go there!! LOL)”

“Bump for a new day.

There must be somebody out there!!

hmmph”

“I wish I could help ya, Sarge, but I'm ignorant about the subject, other than I'd like to have a home theatre too. But there's not enough room in our current place, so it will have to wait.”

“I'd like to have a recording studio.

Sorry, I'd prefer to blow up my TeeVee.”

“bit ... buddy! How's it going? That's ok, that's ok ... you're a computer dude ...

Have you looked into computer media stations for home theater's at all?

This is one thing I'm considering.

I am thinking a large hard drive and high-speed internet connection (wireless) to be able to stream from the web.

Also, add this for listening to CDs ...

http://www.soundspectrum.com/

Oh, and the ability to record. There are some good solutions for that nowadays, not requiring a subscription.
last edited: 6/29/05 8:45:53 AM”

“BTW - Since it's come up twice now, I'm not interested in using this to watch t.v., other than an occasional special broadcast - Like the Superbowl, or a presidential address or something.

My wife and I rarely watch television. This is really about watching movies for us.”

“I haven't looked at anything other than doing a little poking around, looking to improve the speakers on my current setup. But the thought of crawling up in my attic to place the satellite speakers probably gives me the heebie-jeebies.”

“I'm into the trailing edge of technology......

Vacuum Tube Amplification

Don't settle for anything less!!”

“CRTs are great MarkO. I'm a stickler for video quality and it's tough to not use a CRT, but the size is the issue. I want that "theater" feel, and it's impossible with a CRT unless you can convince everyone to sit reeeaaal close to the t.v.”

“Go with Klipsch speakers for your sound, alot of people like Bose but they are too power hungry. I had a pair of Klipsch La Scala Speakers as fronts and their standard 100 per speaker rears and centers, I think Optimas or something like that, ex made me sell the la scalas, big mistake.... They are horn speakers rather than standard speakers and so efficient I could run them off a cheap portable radio. I like Yamaha Receiver amps and my DVD player is a Sony 5 disc carousel that doubles as a CD player. The newer models even play MP3's! I am currently turning my small barn into a "Guy Space with a home theater. It's gonna be awesome when I am done!!”

“A whole barn to work with! Sweet!

I'd think the biggest problem with that would be it being too big for the sound, but with that kind of setting, who cares!? It would be nice to set up a bar-like lounge, smoke some cigars ... shoot a little pool, and watch a movie.”

“It's a small barn, it was a Jersey barn with only 15 stanchions. I am making part of it into a weight room for the boys and I and the other part is the theater. The dimensions on the barn are 18'W x 24'L perfect for a theater. The seats are going to be hand me down couches, with the exception of a 56 ford chopped in half with the rear doors and backseat still in place. That's gonna be the "balcony". I am looking at the Sony digital projector, but the funds just aren't there yet.”

“I was originally looking at the Sony too, the HS51, and the Panasonic AE-700U. Both get great reviews for their price. I think the Panasonic is cheaper.

That is a great size! Larger than what I have to work with by a few sq feet. That balcony idea is nice. I've heard of that before in a restaurant. I was trying to think of a way to make a balcony, but the height just isn't there.”

“No CRTs for me, I'm talkin' about Fenders!

Single-ended, push-pull, tube rectifcation, yada, yada......

If I can get my ass in gear I wanna build a push-pull stereo amp with 6BQ5's in the output stage.

That's a whoppin' 15 watts per channel!!!”

“I recommend those chairs that rock for balcony seating.

I wouldn't put in a very large music pit, perhaps something for 3 musician's, you know like ZZ Top.

Oh, be sure to get a good popcorn machine.”

“Have you thought of sound dampening on the walls? I am thinking about it to make it a dead room, all I can come up with are sheets of foam with raised eggs or some other type of pattern on them. I kinda want to do the walls in mossy oak panelling, but if I do the dampening I would just use 1/4" 4 x 8 sheets of chip board over high density styrofoam.”

“Absolutely! Not just for noise reduction to the rest of the house, but to control the sound in the room.

There are lots of solutions for this, some made specifically for home theatres. You should be able to find most of the stats on most materials you may be interested in using regarding how much noise reduction they actually result in. (N.R.C.)

This is one thing I haven't settled on. You can spend a lot of money on this. You have to weight thickness, NRC and costs.

The one thing to really consider is that for noise reduction, you can't allow any weak points. Your NR is only as good as the weakest point (for the most part), so for me this has taken the most time to research. Plus, trying to balance that with balancing the sound in the room, it's a lot to consider.

Plus, acoustic paneling is another consideration.
last edited: 6/29/05 9:48:53 AM”

“Whatever you use for noise reduction, make sure its flame resistant. Good ol' egg-crate foam (mentioned by squirrelbait) will go up in 2 seconds flat. Remember the big club fire last year that killed 100 people - they weren't using fireproof foam. And in a smaller environment like a small barn you wouldn be lucky to get to the door before the room reached flashover.”

“Marantz SR7200, B&W 602 Front L/R and surrounds L/R, Pinnacle Widescreen center channel, SVS 25-31 Subwoofer. Marantz MA500 monoblock amp to power the sub. Never upgraded my screen though... still using the same Toshiba 32" I've had since '99. At least it has component imputs though. Now that I have a new house I may buy something to replace it. I'll be replacing the B&W's from the rear channels with in wall speakers mounted in the ceiling. I don't have room for those large speakers in the rears any more.”

“Heart of the system is the sub ;) I recommend anything from SVS.

http://www.svsubwoofers.com

The new version of my Marantz. AC4L are good guys. The 4xxx and 5xxx series can be had cheaper and are good receivers. I could go all day long listing receivers I like... but the low end Sony's are not one of them.

http://www.ac4l.com/Amazing/itemdesc.asp?CartId=105-EVEREST-13838TOZGN63&ic=MAR+SR7400%2FA&tpc=

You may not want to fork out the cabbage for the B&W spekaers.

http://www.bwspeakers.com/

Check out Home Theater Direct. Their speakers are NICE for the price. I set up a level 1 and a level 3 system for two seperate buddies. Great speakers. I have a pair of the Level 3's in my Office.

www.htd.com

Rocket speakers are nice too.

http://www.av123.com/”

“I appreciate this advice DeoreDX. The audio system is the only thing I haven't looked at (other than in stores). It's so subjective, I need to devote a good amount of time to look into it. These real-world experiences are very useful as compared to many magazine articles.”

“I had a friend who used Klipsch La Scala's for everything. 4 fronts, 2 sides, 1 center and 2 rears. They are big, HUGE speakers but the sound quality is out of this world.”

“You will find a lot of very usefull info on avsforum.com including a lot of construction tips and pictures.

I built my own theater. I am still a fan of rear projection CRT's for the best in HD picture with true blacks. These work best though if you can control the light in the room. Most will project a good 8' image, but some of the higher end ones will go 10' or more. I can recommend someone that rebuilds these if you decide to go that way.

I bought a set of 24 theater seats for $1 for all of them off E-bay from a theater that was upgrading deats. Sure I had to remove some gum and repaint/recover them, but you can't beat that deal. I built a 3 level riser with 2 buttkickers underneath. (This enables me to get the same effect without craking up the subwoofer so much.) It is still a work in progress.

Good Luck.”

“I have a Sony and love it. The thing shakes the house and holds five disks which is a must for me. It also plays SACDs (Super Audio Compact Disks) which is music CDs remastered for surround sound. It sounds like you are sitting on the stage! I saw a copy of Dark Side of the Moon on SACD I just might have to get.”

“Perfect timing on my earlier comments about making sure the sound proofing is flame resistant, the final recommendations for preventing another fire like the one in RI just came out.

http://robots.cnn.com/2005/US/06/30/club.fire.ap/index.html”

“Does anybody have a DVD-Recorder?

(not on your computer, for your television)

How do you like it? Can you write multiple times to the same DVD?”

“Two years later -

Ok, we've moved since I began this thread (about 2 months ago) and have a room dedicated to home theater. It's almost complete. I can't wait! The custom seating should be here any day now (6 weeks later).

Ended up going with a Panasonic 1000 with 1080p. It'll be a 10' screen - can't wait!!

Got wii hooked up too. Still deciding between PS3 and Xbox, but I'll wait on that decision.

Pics coming soon.”

“I'm still waiting on LCD displays to come down more. Just got a sound system, an Onkyo HT-SR800 Home Theater Audio in a box.
Good enought for TV sound.
.
last edited: 8/15/07 5:58:46 AM”

“That is a good sound system Stovie.

I was at Costco Monday night exchanging a iPod and noticed a number of LCD TV's under 1k. This is the first time I have seen 42 and 46" models this cheap.”

“There's a 46" Panasonic I have my eye on.
The Sony's look good too.”

“SS - I also got an Onkyo, the SR674 receiver, coupled with KEF 3005 speakers.”

“Guys, you should consider projection if you have the room. They're low cost, hi-quality these days - and BIG.”

“I may have the room when we move in 2-3 years. I would have to scope it out.

Not buying anything now.”

“I had an Onkyo amp that was at least 20 years old and worked great up until it went under salt water during the storm.”

“That salt water will do it every time!”

“"consider projection if you have the room" -Sarge

I may be taking a disability retirement soon.
If I do I'm going to sell or rent my big house (paid for) and move to a smaller place.”

“Too bad it wasn't freshwater, Stovie.”

“LOL”

“I saw 300 on pay per view last night. I bet that would be an awesome movie on a High Def big screen.”

“One of my friends (ex-agnostic-libbie-getting-baptised-over-the-holiday-thanks-to-our-3-years-of-long-walks-and-the-Holy-Spirit friend) said that about 300 the other day also. I'll have to check it out.”

“It's "R' rated, and the movie earned it, if that kind of thing bothers.
last edited: 8/15/07 8:37:00 AM”

“Stove - ordered 300 in Hi-Def off the HDPPV channel. We'll be watching that soon.

Got the screen up last night. It's looking sweet! Just waiting for the seating, then I can set up the sound system (it's working now, but not calibrated). We were supposed to get the seating last week, but they called and said it would be the week after the holiday due to a backorder on materials. SOAB

We watched The Incredibles last night and it was! Working on the screen frame and the masks next.”

“The Incredibles is the best DVD I have found so far to showcase a big-screen. Something about the video processing on that disc that just makes it pop off the screen. And its not even High-Def!”