Home theaters......

[Tim Cole]

Just curious who all is into home theater? I have a low buck theater in my basement which I'd like to upgrade sometime in the future. Right now just stereo sound (sounds better than the 5.1 stuff I have) though 3 way speakers with 18" subs.... Older projector, and a 9.5 foot screen. The screen size will change once I upgrade my projector from to a newer one that wont be 4:3 native.

[MJ5150]

There are quite a few guys here who are into it. I've installed a few home theater and whole house audio systems recently, cool stuff for sure.

I'll get around to mounting some speakers in my ceiling and in the walls sometime this spring. Not much of a fan of the big thumping subs, so I'll leave those out.

-Mike

[Chunk-O-Funk]

I have a respectable setup, although not an actual "home theater". What I have is your typical living room setup. I'd love to have the room for a basement theater.

I'm still running my older Sony Wega 42" rear projection wide-screen, and I just got a Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-Ray player.

I put a fairly decent 5.1 sound system together. In my small to medium sized room it's capable of shaking things up a bit. Literally.

Marantz SR7002 receiver.
http://us.marantz.com/Products/2205.asp

A pair of Polk RTi8's and a CSi3 for the front three speakers.
http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/rti8/
http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/csi3/

For the surrounds I have a set of Axiom QS8's.
These have a great design as a quad polar speaker.
http://www.axiomaudio.com/qs8.html

For the sub I have a HSU VTF-1
One of their smaller models, but it performs great in my room.
http://www.hsuresearch.com/products/vtf-1.html



Maybe if things start looking better around tax return time I may start looking into a newer display, but for now I enjoy movie time at the O'Funk house.

[Tim Cole]

Originally Posted by MJ5150

There are quite a few guys here who are into it. I've installed a few home theater and whole house audio systems recently, cool stuff for sure.

I'll get around to mounting some speakers in my ceiling and in the walls sometime this spring. Not much of a fan of the big thumping subs, so I'll leave those out.

-Mike

I got a steal of a deal on the 18 cabs, and I tend to like the hard hitting bass.....really brings the movie to life if they are in a club, or something explodes.

[Kenbuntu]

i want to get a cheap projector. then ill be set.
i've been looking at those DIY one's. You get an overhead projector, take a part and LCD screen, put it on, and watch. not sure how good it'll be though.

[Chunk-O-Funk]

Originally Posted by Tim Cole

and I tend to like the hard hitting bass.....really brings the movie to life if they are in a club, or something explodes.

I agree. If you're into watching any type of action flic having a sub adds a whole other dimension to the movie. A good example of hard hitting bass is the cannon fodder in the movie Master and Commander (Russell Crowe). It actually made me jump the first time I heard it with my new system. The first time I heard it was when I had a Sony HT in a box system. Not quite the same.

[hbarcat]

In most cases, $200-$300 worth of sound treatment in your room (a couple each of diffusors, absorbers and bass traps) are worth more than most other upgrades you can do in speakers, amps or electronics.

[Tim Cole]

Originally Posted by Kenneth Faria

i want to get a cheap projector. then ill be set.
i've been looking at those DIY one's. You get an overhead projector, take a part and LCD screen, put it on, and watch. not sure how good it'll be though.

I wouldn't mess with that to be truthful. I have some kind of infocus projector, I think it is about 1000 lumens. I got it used off ebay, and it turned out to be a bargain.....I got it for 250, and it's been running great for a year or so of once a week or so use. The problem is, bulbs are about 350 bucks, so definitely risky buying used. I am waiting for this bulb to die, so I can go buy something HD capable.

[Tim Cole]

Originally Posted by hbarcat

In most cases, $200-$300 worth of sound treatment in your room (a couple each of diffusors, absorbers and bass traps) are worth more than most other upgrades you can do in speakers, amps or electronics.

I actually used a low level loop carpet to cover the walls....it was the cheapest way to do it, and the sound absorption is awesome. Plus, it looks theaterish.

[Philbiker]

I've got a fairly modest "home theater", an old InFocus X1 and 96" screen. HDTV over-the-air looks fabulous, even though it's only projected at DVD resolution. If you have the room to accomodate it and the construction/tool wherewithal to design and build it, I highly recommend an inifite baffle subwoofer. Goodness gracious the bass in my room is astounding.

[pedroims]

I have a nice set up, specially when I play a blue ray disk with uncompressed sound . I dont remember the model numbers but here it goes:

TV. 52" Sharp aquos 1080p
Onkyo Receiver 7.1 THX
Speakers POLK: Two floor standing + 5 surround speakers
Velodyne 12" Subwoofer.
all speakers cables and HDMI are monster, dont asked me why

I use my PS3 to play my blue ray and an Oppo dvd player that scale the image to 1080.

You can feel it you can hear it

[Selta]

Don't have a dedicated home theatre, but I do have a listening room. I'm much more in the A in A/V than the V . Once I have a bigger house though, I'll probably have a theatre in the basement...

[eleonn]

Originally Posted by pedroims

all speakers cables and HDMI are monster, dont asked me why

WHY??? WHY??? WHY???