Home Theaters

[Bobby Bass]

Any one else have a Home Theater, looking to share ideas.

[End of the Line]

I have had a couple of them over the years. It's really nice if you wire it in the walls before building. I also reccommend smaller speaker sizes if you get them just to keep the room looking cleaner.

[SteveWilson]

Mine's fairly boring but works for me. I've downsized the power section a bit but it's more than plenty for the room it's in. Besides I can use the spare amps for other purposes (some floor monitors).

Toshiba 55" HDTV Plasma (best picture in a higher ambient light environment I've seen for under $10K)

NAD T-763 receiver

NAD DVD

Sony VHS

NAD cassette (I've had it for years but it's still going strong)

NAD CD

Canton CTS-100 main speakers (oldies but goodies - excelent voice for picture and killer for stereo)

NHT subwoofer and amp

Canton mini's for surround (I could upgrade these but they do the job fairly well).

Paradigm center channel speaker (timbre is more in line with my older Canton's than the new Canton center channel)

cabling appropriate for the equipment

Monster Power conditioner (nice unit - not in the same league as the balanced power unit I use for recording but fairly decent)

[JohnMickish]

Stadium seating. 'Nuff said on that. More power than you think you need and lots of $$$ spent on speakers. I've wired in lots of them and the more spent the better the result. From my experience if you are looking at a mind blowing theater your looking at 10K minimum. Don't forget to use sound deadening insulation in the walls and ceiling. This is really an area that you have to dicide how good you want it even before you spend the first dime. I've wired in some pretty high buck stuff and some low buck stuff as well. If your picky spend the cash, you will enjoy it.

[sparkyaber]

two good web sites to start are hometheaterforum.com and avs.com. They helped me out alot when I was building mine. Some of those guys are insane and obsessed, like some others with fishing . Just search, or join and ask specific questions, they will be more than willing to help.

[JohnMickish]

Sparkyaber, you ever do any houses? Years ago I did one that had a driving range in the basement and this home theater system that would make your heart stop if you turned it up enough. Totally crazy. It has two 18" subs under the TV pointed right at you and I swear it would blow your hair around.

Like I said, it depends on what you want. If you are looking to recreat the theater experience it's gonna cost some dough. If you just want a "nice sounding system" you can get by with much less, and for the 10K I was counting the TV.

[sparkyaber]

mnfishinguy- it's really easy to spend a ton of money on HT equipment! I had to "cheap out" and I still spent about 6K$ on my system. I have a friend who owns a A/V store in Ritchfield, an some of those speakers will blow your mind! 15K$ a pair!! To rich for my blood. I wanted to hide everything in my HT area, (downstairs livingroom/bar) so I was very limited to what I could use for speakers, TV etc. I actually had the Entertainment Center built for my tv, speakers so you really don't see them.

General rule of thumb- Bose sucks!!!!!!! (not really that bad, but way,way,way overpriced for what you get). Also, stay away from big box stores i.e. Best Buy and Circuit City, all junk. My advice- Research, REsearch, RESEARCH!.

Find what you like and then go and find the best deal on it.

Good luck, and if you have more specific questions don't be afraid to ask.

[Bobby Bass]

I am real happy with how mine came out and for less then 2000 bucks. I converted a downstairs bedroom that we had already sound proofed as it was a bedroom so I was ahead of the game there. I then added a InFocus projector and it gives me a 90" diagonal screen. I first tried the free screen that came with the unit but went with a 4x8 sheet of sheet rock that we screwed directly to the wall. With ideas from the Home Theater forum I bought some silver screen paint from Home Depot and two coats of it gave me a screen that is better then the drop down screen. Hung black velvet drapes on the screen wall and two side walls. I put in bass catches in the screen corners and a sand trap for under my subwoofer. I added a pioneer surround sound and for the room 10x14 it fills it nicely. Add rope lighting on a dimmer around the ceiling and I have my theater. For seating we have a double leather recliner/love seat and some big throw pillows for the floor. Buying an air pressure meter was a must to balance the sound system out. Come fall and football season I will add a hi def box as my projector will handle Hi def TV Now I just enjoy my DVD movies and cable on it. I am sure there will be improvements made but for now I am pleased.

[McGurk]

I have been ammassing equipment for a few years, and refinished/insulated my basement and have it set up pretty nice (IMHO) and have less than $6,000 invested. If I were you I'd look into a projector if you have a light contolled environment (Not just blinds, but a blacked out room). It can be had for less than the price of most HD TVs and get a much larger (and potentially better) picture. Good Info at projectorcentral(dot)com.

Shoot me an email if you have some questions, but I am by no means an expert, and I am not affiliated with a supplier but have installed a few systems and used to sell/install professionally.

Good Luck! McGurk

bduits(at)ci(dot)bloomington(dot)mn(dot)us

[slabberknocker]

My wife worked for Canton for 7 and a half years and they are by far the best sounding speaker on the market. The sound is so crisp and clear. We have the surrounds, two floor standing, a center and woofer all from canton. If I remember off hand the floor standings are ergo's and the center is the AV 700. The surrounds are the Plus XL's. We have all Dennon equipment (reciever, dvd player and vcr) The tv is a 55" Mitsubishi HD Gold Series. Then upstairs we have 3 pairs of Canton in-ceiling (2 in the kitchen, 2 in the living room and 2 in the master bedroom), again all powered by Dennon equipment. The nice part also about canton is their warranty and their service dept. is right here in Minneapolis (which you would probly never need). The people are very knowledable and friendly to work with and can get you in the right system for you. She got to go to Germany (where the are manufactured) a couple of years ago and Canton is one of the only speakers you will see in houses.

Sparky- I agrree- BOSE SUCK.

SLAB

[McGurk]

BobbyBass, I wholeheartedly agree with the projector and the hard screen, I used a 4x8 sheet of 1/2" MDF instead of drywall, but they will both work fine. I think $2000 is a little misleading for all of the mentioned product, though. Could you elaborate on the decor/ furniture/ accessories? Thanks, McGurk

[Bobby Bass]

McGurk- Sure can I bought a recondition InFocus direct from the factory. Reason being that a new one and a old one both only warranty their bulbs for 90 days so why pay the extra 300.00 With the extra 300.00 I bought a Pioneer surround sound for 200.00 next a Pioneer DVD player online for 85.00 Bass catches and sand box for the sub woofer put me back 15.00 Sheet rock and paint for the screen was another 20.00 Curtain rods and black velvet was 60.00 the double leather recliner was bought at close out for 400.00 paint for the room 20.00 and rope lightning was another 20.00 I was already ahead of the game by having a sound proof room and it was already carpeted. Add 40.00 for a sound meter and there you have it. It can be done for actually under 1700.00 as I add this up. Hardest thing to find was the black velvet for the drapes as I found out that is a seasonal item sold at Christmas time. I run a digital cable box and come fall and football I will upgrade to hi def as the projector will support that. So for the price of a hi def TV I have a home theater. Better add 40.00 for cables, forgot that. Decorating is an on going thing. But now family and friends have a theme in gift giving. My daughter was out in CA. this spring and brought me back a movie clapper from universal studios. On the wall it went. One more thing rather then paying 200.00 from the factory for a mount for the projector I built my own shelf. I have the projector on that and also next to it I have a room air cleaner. This keeps the room clean and reduces the dust that collects on the projector screens to almost nothing. I also built a stand for the equipment to sit on. Just pine and the spray paint it flat non reflective black as you would paint the bass catches and sand box. When the lights are dimmed they just disappear. So add up the little extras and we are at about 1800 for my little theater.