gump

Hello everybody hows it going? We are in the process of building a new house and I am needing some advice on setting up my home theater system. I have read tons of articles online but I like first-hand experiences better.

I currently have a 5.1 but plan on upgrading to a 7.1 in the new house. Right now my speakers aren't set up the best because of the shape of my room however the new place I will have a 18' x 18' room (I already heard square rooms aren't as good as "slimmer" rooms) to set up in.

My questions:

Speaker placement and height
Receivers I need a new one. (Really don't need anything to fancy)

... and for future use what about the best bang for your buck projector and screen? I looked at a couple at some local shops but couldn't tell the difference between a $5k and a $2k.

Thanks in advance

Willravel

I like putting the speakers at the level of the head when seated.

I'd reccomend an Oknyo receiver. They have been, in my experience, the best for the price by far.

ASU2003

I have the Mitsubishi MC4900 projector. There is a lot of info on it over at the AVSfourm. But it was a better deal with the $500 rebate that they used to have (I paid $1300).

The difference between them are the black levels and brightness. My projector has gray bars when watching 2.35:1 movies. When watching normal TV (or movies with black velvet masking), the blacks look really black (when bright things are one the screen it fools your eyes.).

Is the $5k projector worth it...I don't think so personally. But, I haven't actually seen one, but it can't be that much better than mine since it is close to perfect.

Hain

You'll find more than enough information at HydrogenAudio Forums about audio equipment and setups.

__________________

////\\// IRONSKY.NET \\//\\\\

MontanaXVI

I have to 2nd the above and say check into the Onkyo line, talk about bang for your buck I don't think you can find a receiver with the options, quality, and output that you can with Onkyo for the price.

You can always look into a reference line of products, and there are also many find receivers out there from Yamaha, Harmon Kardon, and Pioneer to name a few but I have always like Onkyo for some reason.

__________________
Spank you very much

ASU2003

The other thing to consider is how big of a screen you are going to get, where you are going to mount the projector at, and how bright it will be. If you are building this room, is it going to be a basement or a windowless room? Have you thought about where you will place all of the receivers, DVD players, etc... at? Are they going to be in the wall with proper air flow, in a closet, or behind or to the side of the couch. Remember that they put off light and it should be controlled.

Please build in cable runs behind the walls. Also, I would recommend either getting speakers in the wall or pre-running all of the audio cable and having face plates installed around the room just like an electrical outlet. (Just remember that audio cable should be a fair distance away from the power cables, but you probably knew that.)

freelod

I just upgraded Mitsubishi HC1500 projector from my old InFocus, By comparison, the HC1500 is much brighter, quieter, and more crisp. It also fit my existing ceiling mount, which was very convenient. and i got it at a deal price of $780

http://www.dealstudio.com/searchdeal...d=94660&ru=290

I'd say it is really worth a serious look - especially at the street pricing you'll find on this model. It's absolutely mind-blowing to me that we live in a time when a projector can be had for this price possessing the level of features and amenities that come with the HC1500.

gump

Eventually I would like to get a 108" screen which with a 18' long room should be ok...? everything will get prewired in pvc tubing before the sheetrock is hung. If I have to adjust something it shouldnt be a huge deal because its going to be an open atic. How far from the celing should I mount/hang the speakers? About head level?

Looks like Onkyo has the best bang for your buck receiver wise I just have to decide on one. Thanks for the comments!

ubertuber

Another thing you may want to budget for is sound treatment. The thing that kills audio quality (and thus the cheapest, easiest upgrade) is uncontrolled sound reflection causing phase cancellation, standing waves, and resonance "hot spots". You probably don't realize how much better even your existing sound system could perform. This will be even more true in a square room.

For less than the difference in the price of those projectors you can really really maximize the audio quality you get from the system without buying more expensive components.

__________________
Cogito ergo spud -- I think, therefore I yam

vanblah

Since you are building from scratch you have all kinds of options. Auralex, Real Traps etc.

Also, eveyone is correct about square rooms ... right angles (corners) build up standing waves (especially bass); parallel surfaces (walls) create flutter echoes and phase cancellation.

If you have the option you might want to see if you can find someone to design the room for you with as few right angles and parallel surfaces as possible. I don't know how far along you are or what your budget is.

The more speakers you have the worse your phase issues become. Which is why I think 7.1 is more of a pain in the ass than anything ('cept 9.1 or anything with more than one sub; geez, talk about phase issues). My opinion is not gospel though ...

gump

Hey everybody .... Well I got 99% of my cables ran yesterday. Only have a couple more to run then time to slap the sheetrock on. I went ahead and ran a cat5e to each tv just incase I want to do something later. Thanks for all the comments.

Borla

I recently bought an Onkyo HT SR800. I absolutely love it. For a HTiB, it is probably the best you'll find.

After listening to mine, I know of at least two more people who went out and bought the exact same thing within a week. If you sign up to shoponkyo.com (you have to be signed in to view the best deals), they occasionally run specials on the unit from $299-349. That is for a refurbished one, but it will save you $200, and has the same warranty as new. Mine had absolutely no visible signs of being less than brand new.

PS - When it comes time to buy the cables you need to hook up your system, check out monoprice.com. I've found their prices are just INSANELY cheap, and cables are of extremely high quality.

__________________
Coimhéad fearg fhear na foighde!!!!

gump

Well I hope I havent forgot anything the sheetrock is going up as I type this. I plumbed in everything for a 7.1 and projector if that time ever comes. My electrician hung a box on the ceiling so I won't have to run power to the projector again if I decide to get one at some point. If you need to get cables monoprice.com is the place. They are DIRT CHEAP! They also have some good deals on inwall speakers which I'm getting as soon as they restock them.

Oh yea... I set the speaker height at 50" because that was the height of my current tv and just a little higher than head level if you were setting on my couch.

allmywebsite1

hmmm amazing i like to see ur fond about creative new sound system but why don't u try for the sony sound system bcoz sony 5.1 is enough for the home and it is equal to any other 7.1 system bcoz i have just tried it recently ok so go on

gump

I'm not a big fan of "box systems" (even though some do sound good). I decided to go ahead and upgrade to 7.1 because it was just two more wires to run and while there was no sheetrock was off it was the best time to do it. Construction almost done two weeks to move day!

Willravel

Will you post pics? I'll admit to being interested in seeing the finished product.

gump

Sure I'll post some.

MSD

If monoprice has it, you don't need it today, and you buy a different cable that costs more, you are a sucker and a rube unless you can prove to me that you need military-grade shielding from EM interference.

Bear Cub

God bless your soul for suggesting monoprice. Just ordered two new HDMI cables for the Samsung 37a450 I picked up, 6 feet each with gold plated connectors, $13.52 shipped. Un-friggin-believable.

__________________
Living in the United Socialist States of America.

gump

MSd - Not sure what you mean.... "If monoprice has it, you don't need it today" actually I needed them about 6 weeks ago when the sheetrock was still off.

Bear Cub - Their prices are the best. I order two of everything just incase one goes bad.

MontanaXVI

Read the entire first part, you took that out of context

"If monoprice has it, you don't need it today, and you buy a different cable that costs more, you are a sucker and a rube "

They are saying that if you don't need it right now, and monoprice.com has it you are a fool to buy it from a retail outlet. Order it and wait for it to show up and enjoy the savings.

__________________
Spank you very much

gump

ok i understand. getting closer to move day concrete got poured yesterday and paint should be done by tuesday. when the plumbing gets done just have to finish some tile work and flip on the juice.

gump

Ok well a little update on the setup. Finally got moved which was a huge mess and everything is still in boxes. Going to have to replace my subwoofer cable if I can't fix it someone stepped on it and broke it; plus the painter got paint all over the tip. Finally got a chance to open the box on my new 7.1 Onkyo and have a field test. Got everything hooked up and while going through the speaker setup found out the front left channel is shot. And of course its out of the 30 day warranty and have to send it back to Onkyo for a replacement; which sucks cause now I'm another 2-3 weeks out.

After two weeks of screwing with Charter Communications I just decided to go with Directv. Charter kept telling me I live to far off the road for cable but I can throw a rock twice and hit my neighbor's so I just don'tunderstand. Anyway Direct should be better and they have more HD channels any how. I'll take some pictures when I finally get the mess cleaned up and give a report on the upscalling HD option on the Onkyo.

kutulu

Holy shit I can't believe the prices they have. Amazing.

I just bought an LCD and I've been using component inputs because I didn't want to spend $50 on an HDMI cable. A 6ft HDMI cable is $9.50

Bear Cub

That's probably with the in-wall insulation. The normal ones are cheaper, like I said above, two of them for $13.50 shipped! Quality is pretty darn good, too, with the only exception being that the gold plating isn't as nice as some of the REALLY high end cables, i.e Kimber, etc. Picture quality, especially color tones, was instantly better than a pretty good set of component cables.

AT&T also noted that they wouldn't install HDMI cables on their boxes themselves, because they have issues with the picture freezing with quite a few different brands. This one has worked flawlessly.

__________________
Living in the United Socialist States of America.