first home theater, need a guide

[ajtyeh]

im searching and searching... but for goodness sakes, i cant filter through the plethora of stickies and guides on AVS forums or online to find a beginners guide to setup their first home theater. any suggestions or links anyone?

the sticky here on av forums on anantech dont really tell you what you need to know to setup your equipment, such as required cables, maybe do's and dont's so you dont short anything. i dunno... im quite clueless

fyi i bought:

DENON AVR 790 $318
ENERGY TAKE 5 $132
POLK PSW110 $125

 

[mshan]

Avia Guide to Home Theater (this has video segments about various aspects of home theater) or Digital Video Essentials calibration dvds?

 

[sivart]

#1 Rule -- Don't buy Monster cables, don't buy from local retailers. Buy from someplace like monoprice.com

 

[kalrith]

Do you have any sources for your equipment (i.e. DVR, PC, console, etc.)? For just what you bought, you need enough speaker wire for all 5 speakers. There's a lot of debate on this, but you probably won't notice much of a difference between 12- and 14-gauge speaker wire, but you can go with 12-gauge if you have the money to spend and want to be on the safe side. If you want to save some money, then go with 14-gauge. Don't get anything smaller than that.

You might need something for your surround speakers, like speaker stands, wall mounts, in-wall speaker wire, etc., but that all depends on how you'll be setting those up. You'll also need an RCA cable for connecting your sub. Like sivart said, order everything from monoprice.com. You can spend $30 there or $300 at Best Buy and notice no difference whatsoever in quality between the cables.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

First of all, I apologize that the switch to vBulletin kind of screwed up my HT guide. I'm planning on eventually making an easier to follow and better organized version. I don't have a specific timeframe for that, but it's on my to-do list.

For physically placing speakers, check out Dolby's guide here
http://www.dolby.com/consumer/setup/index.html
It looks like they've added a wire / connections section too, but I haven't looked through it yet.

The big picture is:

1. Physically place everything where you want it in the room
2. Make your connections for speakers / sub
3. Connect your source components to your receiver
4. Assign inputs / connection types / labels in your Denon
5. Optimize placement of speakers / sub
6. Run Audyssey on your Denon
7. Final tweaks / check the Audyssey results

(Not necessarily in that order)

I can walk you through any of those steps if you want help with it.

It would help to know what your room looks like / how much freedom you have to get placement right.
What cables do you have now?
What source components are you going to be connecting?

How much effort do you want to put into this? Are you a really big tweaker, or do you just want the quick version that gets you most of the way there?

 

[s44]

Nice AVR! My advice: save up for a better subwoofer.

Seriously, hooking your sources up with HDMI cables (from Monoprice) should be about it. That and finding a sufficiently long RG59/RG6 cable for the sub.

 

[RKS]

im searching and searching... but for goodness sakes, i cant filter through the plethora of stickies and guides on AVS forums or online to find a beginners guide to setup their first home theater. any suggestions or links anyone?

the sticky here on av forums on anantech dont really tell you what you need to know to setup your equipment, such as required cables, maybe do's and dont's so you dont short anything. i dunno... im quite clueless

fyi i bought:

DENON AVR 790 $318
ENERGY TAKE 5 $132
POLK PSW110 $125

Where did you get the AVR 790 for $318?

I have the Take 5s ($120) and the Energy ESW-8HG ($99). I can get the Denon 1910 for $450 but it essentially the same as the AVR 790 so I wouldn't mind saving over $100.

 

[Nimloth]

I have the exact same setup, except for the sub - I got ESW-8HG.

I believe we both got the Denon AVR 790 receiver @ overstock .
My order went through when there were 6 left, so I doubt they still have it.
( http://www.overstock.com/Electronics...1/product.html )

Got my takes just before the new year, and decided not to wait until the sub/receiver get here and get a head start on the '50 hour break-in' with my old receiver (Sherwood RD-6500).
Sound was nothing short of amazing... But then I noticed that one of the satellites was sounding 'weird'. Sure enough, after removing the grille - the rubber(?) surround on the driver had an odd shape to it.

I'm now in process of RMA with newegg.. hopefully they'll be able to replace that sat, or send me a whole new set.

 

[RKS]

I have the exact same setup, except for the sub - I got ESW-8HG.

I believe we both got the Denon AVR 790 receiver @ overstock .
My order went through when there were 6 left, so I doubt they still have it.
( http://www.overstock.com/Electronics...1/product.html )

Got my takes just before the new year, and decided not to wait until the sub/receiver get here and get a head start on the '50 hour break-in' with my old receiver (Sherwood RD-6500).
Sound was nothing short of amazing... But then I noticed that one of the satellites was sounding 'weird'. Sure enough, after removing the grille - the rubber(?) surround on the driver had an odd shape to it.

I'm now in process of RMA with newegg.. hopefully they'll be able to replace that sat, or send me a whole new set.

I found that a day to late. I'll have to wait a few more weeks but the 790 seems like a real good bargain.

 

[ajtyeh]

First of all, I apologize that the switch to vBulletin kind of screwed up my HT guide. I'm planning on eventually making an easier to follow and better organized version. I don't have a specific timeframe for that, but it's on my to-do list.

For physically placing speakers, check out Dolby's guide here
http://www.dolby.com/consumer/setup/index.html
It looks like they've added a wire / connections section too, but I haven't looked through it yet.

The big picture is:

1. Physically place everything where you want it in the room
2. Make your connections for speakers / sub
3. Connect your source components to your receiver
4. Assign inputs / connection types / labels in your Denon
5. Optimize placement of speakers / sub
6. Run Audyssey on your Denon
7. Final tweaks / check the Audyssey results

(Not necessarily in that order)

I can walk you through any of those steps if you want help with it.

It would help to know what your room looks like / how much freedom you have to get placement right.
What cables do you have now?
What source components are you going to be connecting?

How much effort do you want to put into this? Are you a really big tweaker, or do you just want the quick version that gets you most of the way there?

-I have a small apartment 20x40foot studio. my tv watching area is like 10x10 feet.
-i own 0 (nada) cables).
-i will be using an HTPC and that will be all.

-i want to bit the minimum level of effort to get a pretty decent sound. I am not a big tweaker.

THanks in advance.

 

[Nimloth]

I have the exact same setup, except for the sub - I got ESW-8HG.

I believe we both got the Denon AVR 790 receiver @ overstock .
My order went through when there were 6 left, so I doubt they still have it.
( http://www.overstock.com/Electronics...1/product.html )

Got my takes just before the new year, and decided not to wait until the sub/receiver get here and get a head start on the '50 hour break-in' with my old receiver (Sherwood RD-6500).
Sound was nothing short of amazing... But then I noticed that one of the satellites was sounding 'weird'. Sure enough, after removing the grille - the rubber(?) surround on the driver had an odd shape to it.

I'm now in process of RMA with newegg.. hopefully they'll be able to replace that sat, or send me a whole new set.

this looks to be back in stock @ $350 shipped. Promo code is no longer working, but some people claim that Bing cashback worked for 'em.

 

[RKS]

this looks to be back in stock @ $350 shipped. Promo code is no longer working, but some people claim that Bing cashback worked for 'em.

thanks for the heads-up. i just got a 10% coupon this morning so I was able to get it for $315.

 

[Nimloth]

-I have a small apartment 20x40foot studio. my tv watching area is like 10x10 feet.
-i own 0 (nada) cables).
-i will be using an HTPC and that will be all.

-i want to bit the minimum level of effort to get a pretty decent sound. I am not a big tweaker.

THanks in advance.

I think you'd want speaker cable from monoprice, and maybe some speaker stands...
Also, depending on whether or not you'd want surround sound in anything other than movies and your soundcard you might want a few 3.5 to RCA cables. Otherwise go with optical (toslink) / coax (RCA) cable for s/pdif out on your HTPC.

 

[chrisrich]

For physically placing speakers, check out Dolby's guide here
http://www.dolby.com/consumer/setup/index.html

Thanks for posting that link, it's helpful to me as I am a bit of a noob still

Didn't know about monoprice either so thanks again!!


Cheers, Chris

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

-I have a small apartment 20x40foot studio. my tv watching area is like 10x10 feet.
-i own 0 (nada) cables).
-i will be using an HTPC and that will be all.

-i want to bit the minimum level of effort to get a pretty decent sound. I am not a big tweaker.

THanks in advance.

Based on the dolby guide, are you going to be able to do something like that in your space?

For the HTPC, do you have a videocard that has native HDMI support? If so, does it do audio over HDMI too?

The cables you'll need to connect the HTPC to your receiver are going to depend on the connectivity of your specific HTPC.

Is this for movies / video / music only, or gaming too?

At the bare minimum for cables, you'll need
- Audio / video cables from HTPC to receiver (or video straight to display depending on how you want to run things)
- Speaker wire for connecting each speaker to the receiver
- A subwoofer cable for connecting the sub to the receiver

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Thanks for posting that link, it's helpful to me as I am a bit of a noob still

Didn't know about monoprice either so thanks again!!


Cheers, Chris

No problem.

 

[ajtyeh]

Based on the dolby guide, are you going to be able to do something like that in your space?

For the HTPC, do you have a videocard that has native HDMI support? If so, does it do audio over HDMI too?

The cables you'll need to connect the HTPC to your receiver are going to depend on the connectivity of your specific HTPC.

Is this for movies / video / music only, or gaming too?

At the bare minimum for cables, you'll need
- Audio / video cables from HTPC to receiver (or video straight to display depending on how you want to run things)
- Speaker wire for connecting each speaker to the receiver
- A subwoofer cable for connecting the sub to the receiver

This is for video/movies/music. no games. i have an HD 4830 with native HMDI support. I do not know if it does audio over HDMI, i will look into it.

For the speaker wire. Should i get 100ft or 50ft. Which gauage? Thanks again

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

If you know where your speakers are going to go, you can measure out (with string or something) how long the wires need to be to get to the back of your receiver.

Depending on how fancy you want to get with routing wires along the boarder of the room to hide them, or going under rugs, etc. the surround speakers might need fairly long runs.

If it's only a 10'x10' area, you probably wont need a whole lot. 50 feet might be enough? Speaker wire is cheap enough that just getting 100 feet wouldn't be a bad idea though.

12 or 14 gauge would be good and leave yourself from second guessing things. With short runs though, you can really get by with thinner stuff though. Once you figure out how long your longest run is going to be for your 8-ohm speakers, you can consult this.
http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm
100 feet of 16 or 14 gauge is probably a good bet.

If I remember correctly, you're in good shape for audio over HDMI with the 4830 too.

To connect your HTPC, all you'd need is an HDMI cable from HTPC to receiver, and then a second HDMI cable from receiver to your display.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

#1 Rule -- Don't buy Monster cables, don't buy from local retailers. Buy from someplace like monoprice.com

+1 on Monoprice!

 

[ajtyeh]

I think you'd want speaker cable from monoprice, and maybe some speaker stands...
Also, depending on whether or not you'd want surround sound in anything other than movies and your soundcard you might want a few 3.5 to RCA cables. Otherwise go with optical (toslink) / coax (RCA) cable for s/pdif out on your HTPC.

is the HDMI out from my HD 4830 not good enough that i will need "optical (toslink) / coax (RCA) cable for s/pdif"?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

is the HDMI out from my HD 4830 not good enough that i will need "optical (toslink) / coax (RCA) cable for s/pdif"?

For doing games, a digital connection doesn't always work right. If you're only doing music / games, then some kind of digital connection should put you in good shape.

I believe your 4830 is all you should need, but you should try to research that to see if the audio over HDMI actually works as advertised according to users.

I think the Anandtech review of it was positive, as was the 43XX and 45XX cards regarding their audio.

 

[ajtyeh]

banana speaker plugs seem unnecssary as i heard, but they are on front page of slickdeals for a dollar a pair. i might pick up 5 pairs for shits and giggles i suppose

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

banana speaker plugs seem unnecssary as i heard, but they are on front page of slickdeals for a dollar a pair. i might pick up 5 pairs for shits and giggles i suppose

You can if you want to. Keep in mind that if you want to use them on both the receiver end and the speaker end, you'll need 10 pairs. Also, make sure your speakers are compatible with them first.

 

[ajtyeh]

PID Qty. Product Name Price Line Total
2801 10 1 PAIR OF High-Quality Copper Speaker Banana Plugs - Closed Screw Type [JX-74043] $0.97 $9.70

620 1 12ft Coaxial Audio/Video RCA Cable M/M RG59U 75ohm (for S/PDIF, Digital Coax, Subwoofer & Composite Video) $1.87 $1.87

2793 1 16AWG Enhanced Loud Oxygen-Free Copper Speaker Wire Cable - 100ft $12.01 $12.01



SubTotal $23.58
Shipping Method Selected
Overnite Express S&H Cost
$4.73
9.75% California Sales Tax $2.76
Grand Total $31.07


this is my order. enough cables for my setup

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Do you have HDMI cables already?

Is that subwoofer cable long enough for you to test your subwoofer in all acceptable placement locations?