Home Theatre People; I beckon thee

[RbSX]

Hey guys,

My parents are in the process of doing a renovation to their house, this includes adding a library, a computer room, and a media room.

They want to put a plasma in the library, as well as in the media room.

I wasn't really sure what sizes, I assume 36-42" would be fine for the library, as it's not exclusively being used for TV. Does this sound about right for size?

The biggest question was regarding the media room. It's about 14x12 feet, and I was wondering about screen size, my mom thought about a 42" but I thought that would be slightly small given the of the room, but I wasn't sure.

As wel I'm someone that loves crystal clear sound, I'm an audiophile (but that really only extends to my car as I don't have a house to deck out) and my experience with brands specializing in home audio is limited.

They also want to be able to hook up the desktop computer to the reciever to watch videos off of the desktop, as well as use the tv tuner on there and get some variation of TIVO.

Any recommendations?

Edit: The budget is probably somewhere between 18-22,000.

 

[biggestmuff]

What is the viewing distance? That will be more important for choosing the screen size. What will they be watching? Just SD cable or HD? Are they planning on purchasing an HD disc player?

 

[RbSX]

Originally posted by: biggestmuff
What is the viewing distance? That will be more important for choosing the screen size. What will they be watching? Just SD cable or HD? Are they planning on purchasing an HD disc player?

We're either getting a PS2 or an XBOX 360, and we have digital cable.

I am not sure what the viewing distance would be, since it will be an open room it's open to anything, I wasn't sure what optimal viewing distance would be for a room that size.

 

[biggestmuff]

Digital cable doesn't describe the quality of the picture. Is it Standard Definition or High Definition cable?

You guys don't know where the main seating area will be?

Start by going to a few different stores and checking out different makes and models of HDTVs. Look at the manufacturer's websites and begin narrowing your choices down. Check out reviews and ask around on ATOT on the narrowed down selection.

Do the same with speakers and A/V receivers. Speakers are the most critical factor in sound and should be chosen carefully.

There really isn't much of a difference in A/V receivers OF THE SAME PRICE RANGE. Stick to Onkyo, Denon, Yamaha and Harmon/Kardon. If you're picking up an A/V receiver for HDMI switching capabilities, ensure that it handles HDMI version 1.1 or higher.

Those are some basics I can think of right now.

 

[RbSX]

Originally posted by: biggestmuff
Digital cable doesn't describe the quality of the picture. Is it Standard Definition or High Definition cable?

You guys don't know where the main seating area will be?

Start by going to a few different stores and checking out different makes and models of HDTVs. Look at the manufacturer's websites and begin narrowing your choices down. Check out reviews and ask around on ATOT on the narrowed down selection.

Do the same with speakers and A/V receivers. Speakers are the most critical factor in sound and should be chosen carefully.

There really isn't much of a difference in A/V receivers OF THE SAME PRICE RANGE. Stick to Onkyo, Denon, Yamaha and Harmon/Kardon. If you're picking up an A/V receiver for HDMI switching capabilities, ensure that it handles HDMI version 1.1 or higher.

Those are some basics I can think of right now.

It's high definition.

Any specific TV brands you'd recommend to look at/stay away from? We had an LG in our hotel room in LA and it was nice.

I'll take a look at speakers, ultimately the choice is my parents and they will be doing the choosing which SCARES me because they don't value their sound nearly as much as I do, so again, any brand recommendatoins?

I'm sure the A/V guy they're hiring will be able to pick a reciever that will do everything they like but I don't want my parents to think that he' will do whats best for them, because he'll take advantage of their lack of know how and line his pocketbook.

 

[RbSX]

I'm also 4000km away right now so I can't exactly go with them.

 

[AlienCraft]

With all the products on the market now for distributing HD signal over cat5 wiring, May I suggest installing a couple more cat5 runs than you think you'll need ?
In my most recent install, just after covering the walls, the customer "found" devices he wanted to integrate into the system , but for lack of cat5 he was unable to enable the revised signal stream.

I would seriously advise writing out the signal flow on paper before starting and if there are any questions regarding device capabilities, get them answered or check it out first, before buying the gear, or covering walls.

Better to have too much wire in a wall, than not enough.

 

[MrChad]

If you want to go with a high-end plasma, Pioneer's Elite line is the way to go. The 50" PRO-1140HD or 60" PRO-1540HD would look great in that media room.

Sound is more difficult to pick. Your budget is quite high; high enough that I would recommend foregoing the typical A/V receiver brands (Denon, H/K, Yamaha, etc.) and looking at separate pre-amp and amplifier options. Take a look at Marantz or Integra.

 

[Fiat1]

Speakers?
Subwoofer ?
AV Receiver ?
Up converting DVD ?

 

[mrrman]

Also if buying cables, check out monoprice.com the stores rip you off on those as they are highly marked up

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

If they don't really care about sound and all, why are they spending $18k - $22k?

So they're setting up three rooms?

Does each room get a
display
receiver
speakers
sub

It would be easier to get an idea of what to recommend researching if the total budget was divided up into the number of systems required.

If some rooms would be just music, then a 2.0/2.1 set of speakers would be a better way to go than a surround sound system.

Is there one room that is going to get the bulk of the budget compared to the other rooms? I guess I don't see the point of having several lesser HT systems when you could have one that is superior.

 

[RbSX]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
If they don't really care about sound and all, why are they spending $18k - $22k?

So they're setting up three rooms?

Does each room get a
display
receiver
speakers
sub

It would be easier to get an idea of what to recommend researching if the total budget was divided up into the number of systems required.

If some rooms would be just music, then a 2.0/2.1 set of speakers would be a better way to go than a surround sound system.

Is there one room that is going to get the bulk of the budget compared to the other rooms? I guess I don't see the point of having several lesser HT systems when you could have one that is superior.

Okay we need this:

Library: Plasma/LCD TV (Budget is probably around 3-3500 for this room)
Media Room: LCD/Plasma, Reciever, Soundsystem, TIVO, (Xbox/PS2), etc. (12-15k for this room)

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: RyanSengara

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
If they don't really care about sound and all, why are they spending $18k - $22k?

So they're setting up three rooms?

Does each room get a
display
receiver
speakers
sub

It would be easier to get an idea of what to recommend researching if the total budget was divided up into the number of systems required.

If some rooms would be just music, then a 2.0/2.1 set of speakers would be a better way to go than a surround sound system.

Is there one room that is going to get the bulk of the budget compared to the other rooms? I guess I don't see the point of having several lesser HT systems when you could have one that is superior.

Okay we need this:

Library: Plasma/LCD TV (Budget is probably around 3-3500 for this room)
Media Room: LCD/Plasma, Reciever, Soundsystem, TIVO, (Xbox/PS2), etc. (12-15k for this room)

What's the seating distance going to be in the Media Room? This is going to be the biggest factor for what screen size you want to get. To get something really "cinematic", it's pretty hard to get that with an LCD/Plasma unless you're sitting really close to it. I've been very happy with my own front projection results, but I realize it's not for everyone. With a budget like that, you could get a nice 1080p projector going and really get a good viewing angle going if that's something they'd want to do.

Do you think they'd want to do something like split the budget 50/50 for video/sound?

What are the goals here? Are they going for something that's very minimal and gets out of the way, or would they be ok with some large speakers in the room?

What kind of stuff are they going to be watching in the media room?

Does this budget include seating and everything else that goes into the room?

Would room treatments be a possibility in there? Not sure if they'll care if they really don't care about sound, but with a budget like this, that will help you get the most out of the sound system chosen.

 

[RbSX]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: RyanSengara

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
If they don't really care about sound and all, why are they spending $18k - $22k?

So they're setting up three rooms?

Does each room get a
display
receiver
speakers
sub

It would be easier to get an idea of what to recommend researching if the total budget was divided up into the number of systems required.

If some rooms would be just music, then a 2.0/2.1 set of speakers would be a better way to go than a surround sound system.

Is there one room that is going to get the bulk of the budget compared to the other rooms? I guess I don't see the point of having several lesser HT systems when you could have one that is superior.

Okay we need this:

Library: Plasma/LCD TV (Budget is probably around 3-3500 for this room)
Media Room: LCD/Plasma, Reciever, Soundsystem, TIVO, (Xbox/PS2), etc. (12-15k for this room)

What's the seating distance going to be in the Media Room? This is going to be the biggest factor for what screen size you want to get. To get something really "cinematic", it's pretty hard to get that with an LCD/Plasma unless you're sitting really close to it. I've been very happy with my own front projection results, but I realize it's not for everyone. With a budget like that, you could get a nice 1080p projector going and really get a good viewing angle going if that's something they'd want to do.

Do you think they'd want to do something like split the budget 50/50 for video/sound?

What are the goals here? Are they going for something that's very minimal and gets out of the way, or would they be ok with some large speakers in the room?

What kind of stuff are they going to be watching in the media room?

Does this budget include seating and everything else that goes into the room?

Would room treatments be a possibility in there? Not sure if they'll care if they really don't care about sound, but with a budget like this, that will help you get the most out of the sound system chosen.

I think the budget for the TV will probably be around 3000-3500, I and am sure they don't want projection, it's simply too cumbersome and complicated for people that aren't that technologically savvy they just wanna be able to hit on switches to on and watch stuff. Of course we want some more advanced features because my brother and I will be able to use them.

We don't really want a cinematic thing, we don't want a minimovie theatre. It doesn't have to be minimal and movable, as I said this is a big renovation, by the end this will be more room than we will know what to do with. It's a safe assumption that the couch will be atleast 8 feet from the TV as it will be a pull out couch (this is doubling as a guest room when we have them).

This room will predominantly be used by my younger brother to play video games and hang out with friends, eat pizza and kick back and watch the hockey game kind of things.

Room treatments are an option here, I told them to be 100% prepared to soundproof the walls amongst other things.

The budget f or the electronics alone is probably between 8000-9000 bucks, maybe hitting 10 or 11. I'll have to talk to my parents.

I want to be able to go to them with 1 or 2 proposals at the two different price points.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

By soundproof, do you mean that the room would be isolated from the other rooms for sound? That would be very hard to do and be quite expensive to get something that works fairly well.

For room treatments I was meaning more along the lines of cutting down on the sound reflections that happen to reduce sound quality in a room rather than trying to isolate the room from the rest of the house.

A good universal remote (like a logitech harmony) is probably a good thing to put on the list of things to buy. It can make even a quite complicated setup easy to use with the activity based selections. Just hit "watch DVD" and everything needed will turn on and set itself to the right settings. (after the initial remote setup of course )

Do you think your parents will want to go out and do some demo-ing of different sound options to see what kind of sound they like?
If they really don't want to put any effort into it at all and you think they'll be happy with whatever, I'm tempted to just agree with Fiat1 for the AV123 speaker selection. I'm quite happy with mine as far as performance goes, they have some great deals right now since they are moving their main location, and I think they have a pretty high WAF for what they are

A ~$2500 set of 5.0 rockets, a decent sub to fill a 14x12 foot room from SVS or HSU, and then a reciever of their choice from one of the typical retail brands will come in well under budget and should offer very good results.

There are a lot of great options out there though as far as speakers are concerned though and since sound preference is such a personal thing, it would great if you could go out with them and listen to some different options to get an idea of what they want to do.

 

[RbSX]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
By soundproof, do you mean that the room would be isolated from the other rooms for sound? That would be very hard to do and be quite expensive to get something that works fairly well.

For room treatments I was meaning more along the lines of cutting down on the sound reflections that happen to reduce sound quality in a room rather than trying to isolate the room from the rest of the house.

A good universal remote (like a logitech harmony) is probably a good thing to put on the list of things to buy. It can make even a quite complicated setup easy to use with the activity based selections. Just hit "watch DVD" and everything needed will turn on and set itself to the right settings. (after the initial remote setup of course )

Do you think your parents will want to go out and do some demo-ing of different sound options to see what kind of sound they like?
If they really don't want to put any effort into it at all and you think they'll be happy with whatever, I'm tempted to just agree with Fiat1 for the AV123 speaker selection. I'm quite happy with mine as far as performance goes, they have some great deals right now since they are moving their main location, and I think they have a pretty high WAF for what they are

A ~$2500 set of 5.0 rockets, a decent sub to fill a 14x12 foot room from SVS or HSU, and then a reciever of their choice from one of the typical retail brands will come in well under budget and should offer very good results.

There are a lot of great options out there though as far as speakers are concerned though and since sound preference is such a personal thing, it would great if you could go out with them and listen to some different options to get an idea of what they want to do.

I don't think they will want to go out and demo stuff, like I said they're hiring an a/v guy that will put a prepackaged system together for them (unless he's an acoustical engineer, but I doubt that). I don't want another off the shelve system, they have the money to buy a good one and I want a good one because I can appreciate it. Maybe I'll go out and try some stuff out to recommend to them, because I'm not gonna let them waste their time doing this half assed.

We've already looked into getting a remote like a logitech harmony, my grandparents went out and got an hdtv and surround sound setup and honestly got screwed, when watching tv only the front speakers work which is jokes, I Don't want to see this happen to my rentz as well.

 

[Quasmo]

Projectors are as easy to use as TV ESPECIALLY if you get a nice remote, Harmony 880 anyone? I suggest a 1080P Projector just like YoyoYo. Once it's all setup (and you can set the remote up for them over the net, they just login and hook up their remote via usb, it'll download what it needs.

 

[RbSX]

Originally posted by: Quasmo
Projectors are as easy to use as TV ESPECIALLY if you get a nice remote, Harmony 880 anyone? I suggest a 1080P Projector just like YoyoYo. Once it's all setup (and you can set the remote up for them over the net, they just login and hook up their remote via usb, it'll download what it needs.

Parents won't like the projector idea which is why I nixed it.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: RyanSengara

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
By soundproof, do you mean that the room would be isolated from the other rooms for sound? That would be very hard to do and be quite expensive to get something that works fairly well.

For room treatments I was meaning more along the lines of cutting down on the sound reflections that happen to reduce sound quality in a room rather than trying to isolate the room from the rest of the house.

A good universal remote (like a logitech harmony) is probably a good thing to put on the list of things to buy. It can make even a quite complicated setup easy to use with the activity based selections. Just hit "watch DVD" and everything needed will turn on and set itself to the right settings. (after the initial remote setup of course )

Do you think your parents will want to go out and do some demo-ing of different sound options to see what kind of sound they like?
If they really don't want to put any effort into it at all and you think they'll be happy with whatever, I'm tempted to just agree with Fiat1 for the AV123 speaker selection. I'm quite happy with mine as far as performance goes, they have some great deals right now since they are moving their main location, and I think they have a pretty high WAF for what they are

A ~$2500 set of 5.0 rockets, a decent sub to fill a 14x12 foot room from SVS or HSU, and then a reciever of their choice from one of the typical retail brands will come in well under budget and should offer very good results.

There are a lot of great options out there though as far as speakers are concerned though and since sound preference is such a personal thing, it would great if you could go out with them and listen to some different options to get an idea of what they want to do.

I don't think they will want to go out and demo stuff, like I said they're hiring an a/v guy that will put a prepackaged system together for them (unless he's an acoustical engineer, but I doubt that). I don't want another off the shelve system, they have the money to buy a good one and I want a good one because I can appreciate it. Maybe I'll go out and try some stuff out to recommend to them, because I'm not gonna let them waste their time doing this half assed.

We've already looked into getting a remote like a logitech harmony, my grandparents went out and got an hdtv and surround sound setup and honestly got screwed, when watching tv only the front speakers work which is jokes, I Don't want to see this happen to my rentz as well.

Well for your grandparents, they're probably watching a stereo source then. Keeping it stereo or enabling PLII (or another DSP) would be how to have all the speakers play. Just changing the mode the receiver kicks into with the harmony will fix that problem. If the system should be getting a 5.1 signal, maybe the HDTV tuner is not hooked up digitally? Either way, this sounds like a job that would take less than 5 minutes to figure out and "fix"

I guess if your own parents don't want to go out and try stuff, I would say the rockets would be a very strong choice. The center channel is pretty much the most important speaker for HT use, and the RSC200 is quite a good one. They came out with a new crossover for it just a couple weeks ago so it's better than ever

The RS850 or RS760 package deals ( link again ) are very good 5.0 options imo. I know the kind of quality that $2000-$2500 5.0 systems tend to be in retail stores, and I really doubt you'll find a better set as far as quality goes. The only thing that could "go wrong" is if they might have liked a different sound better (something brighter / more forward for example). Without them going out to demo anything though, I don't know how you could figure that out.

If they would like to demo some different options in their own home, something they could do is buy a few pairs of speakers and try them out. Take advantage of in-home trial periods and return the sets that they don't like. Build up the rest of the sytem around the "winner"

Just wondering - how do you know your parents wont like a projector? My own parents are looking for a new display to get sometime in the spring and I've tried to keep all options open to them. I've tried to explain the advantages and disadvantages of each one and we've gone out to look at some in person. I think we're pretty set on a 42" to 50" Plasma for them (waiting for prices to come down a bit more before they go for it), but we considered all the options first.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

oh well