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Home Theater?

R

RaiseUp

Banned
In our new house, we are finally getting the basement done. It is going to be broken down into a Home theater, exercise room, game room(I think) , and then theres a bathroom. What is some good Home theater equipment? Like speakers, TV's , seats?
 
Veldoyne sub, NHT bookshelf speakers, reciever is argueable and entirely dependent on how much you want to spend.

NHTs are hard to beat for the ~$400/speaker range.
 
Well, I don't know how much really needs to be spent on speakers, because I was told to research all this. What's a good TV? We have Toshiba's, Zenith's , and Sony's upstairs.
 
Originally posted by: RaiseUp
Well, I don't know how much really needs to be spent on speakers, because I was told to research all this. What's a good TV? We have Toshiba's, Zenith's , and Sony's upstairs.
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CNET reviews are good for the home audio stuff they feature.

TV depends on the type. If you like flat screen then Zenith or Sony, standard tube the 32" Toshibas with 750 scan lines are impressive. If you're going HDTV you might want to wait a couple months until some of the standards are codified. In general, avoid plasmas and projectors.
 
Here are some links that will help you out:
Hometheaterspot.com
AVSforums
Onecall

Do some looking around on those sites so you can get an idea of what's good and how much it costs.
Basically you'll need to figure out what your budget is for all of the equipment... then decide what kind of TV you want... RPTV, projector, LCD, plasma, etc.
 
I have a HSU stf-2, an Onkyo SR601, Axiom M60Ti's and VP150 and some weak Aiwas for sorrounds I'm really happy with my setup. I had an Infocus X1 projector but just bought a 53" panasonic projection TV and I'm not really sure what to do with the projector....
 
Don't forget about hometheaterforum.com . If you can figure out a budget for each piece, we'll be better equipped (sp?) to help you out. Should be fun 🙂
 
If you are doing it in your basement, and you want this to be a home theater just for moving viewing, you really ought to go with front projection. $1000 will get you a great DLP projector and you could have a 60-70" screen. Combine that with the pitch blackness of a basement, and a good 5.1 surround system, and you'll be set.
 
I dunno if this helps, the walls are around 10 feet tall, and I don't know the Sq. Footage of the Basement, the house is 5000 sq ft if that helps any.
 
Originally posted by: Kremlar
In general, avoid plasmas and projectors.
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Huh???

What's a good TV?
Click to expand...

What are you looking for exactly? Size? Price range? Will you be watching in darkness, or while there's a substantial amount of light?
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<--Poster formerly known as Bush (which was a joke I'm not really a republican). Apparently you can't have a politically themed name and all my posts are gone from the forum.

Anyway...grayscale sucks on plasmas and they burnout. Projectors suffer from washout unless you want to drop a ton of cash, and then of course you have to find somewhere to put it, run wires etc etc.

Something to give serious consideration to is a Pinnacle Show Center Digital Wireless Media Reciever. It uses a wireless computer network to hookup with your home theater system. Allows you to stream video, images, sound etc to your whole system from any computer.
 
10 foot ceilings...that'll be quite nice to work with. Drywall all the way around or drop ceiling? (Incase you do get an FP, prewiring would be a lot easier to do before the ceiling was finished...duh 😛)
 
Originally posted by: RaiseUp
Thanks, I don't think money will be that big of a problem. I will look at those forums.
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Money can become an issue real quick... Ive presonally seen theaters in person that cost over 100k to build. Its my other hobby. Mine was about 3k (see sig) and I did everything by getting alot of used equipment.
 
I think we are going to do drywall all the way. My dad couldn't decide what to do when he was building the house a few months ago, so he just waited till now. He also told me to ask what would be a good kind of paint color to do in a Theater room?
 
ok, well first, i would get a nice set of components, preferably 3 way, maybe more if you can afford it, get some input on some good tweeters, and mids, and mid-range speakers, have someone design you a custom crossover, www.madi-sound.com does this. then get a nice H/T subwoofer, adire audio has some nice ones, build a box for it, give it about 300 watts, get another plate amp, power the components with it, get a nice denon receiver, get a projector, or LCD tv. get some pro-audio equalizers, get all the necessary wires fuses, etc. and have yourself one hell of a H/T setup, for less than some of the expensive brands, that will not match this setup if done right.

MIKE
 
Originally posted by: RaiseUp
I think we are going to do drywall all the way. My dad couldn't decide what to do when he was building the house a few months ago, so he just waited till now. He also told me to ask what would be a good kind of paint color to do in a Theater room?
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Not pure white. Too reflective.
 
Quite honestly...I would just go to a local high-end dealer and have them take you through the paces. It's so easy to listen to all these online people you've never met and don't trust with thousands of your [parents'] dollars. You'll probably end up paying more through retail than you would otherwise, but you'll more than likely get a better finished product, unless you have a good head for what's ahead of you and are handy around the house (if you're doing all DIY). Wiring stuff together is simple, but getting a real home theater is not.

This coming from someone who would rather do most of everything himself, despite being one of those aforementioned high-end retailers. I've just gotten used to all the weird knowledge that AT supplies...I've tried helping people here and there, only to have some smartass google everything I say and report back a website as being the be-all-end-all truth. Do your research, yes, don't let the salesman push you around...but at the same time, don't let the online community supply all of your information either. If you are going to rely mostly on the web, do most of that relying at the dedicated sites like HTF, AVS, HTS and whatnot. Otherwise, that's just too dangerous.

I'm sure you must have a friend or family friend that knows about this stuff...at least one person in the group dabbles in HT/home audio these days.

And I'm sure I'll regret having said this too.
 
Anyway...grayscale sucks on plasmas and they burnout. Projectors suffer from washout unless you want to drop a ton of cash, and then of course you have to find somewhere to put it, run wires etc etc.
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Plasmas do not 'burn out' in a short amount of time - there is so much misinformation on these its not even funny. And I don't know what the heck you're talking about with the 'washout' comment, unless you mean that LCD front projectors don't have good black level, which is true.

If you're watching in darkness and want a true theater-like experience, definitely go with front projection. There are many DLP options starting from $900 on up that give an excellent picture.

Check out www.avsforum.com - best home theater forum out there.
 
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