Home Theater
 

Any one here into Home Theater?

I just picked up one of these signs for $30.00 I was wondering if anyone has one.. Are they any good? I guess it doesn't really matter at $30.00 as long as it doens't burn my house down.

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/a...ater/Rotel.jpg

I wish. I'm far too dumb with my money and fish tanks to have anything left over. What exactly is it? I have my home "theatre" setup to run off a PC which does my recording for me and that's about the extent of it, but one day I'd like to make it nice. What do these signs do, are they just something to look cool or something?

Just something cool to look at. Rotel is the brand name of my amps. I also want to pick up DTS & Dolby Digital signs, but I wanted to try one out first to see how they looked and worked.

I use my computer a fair amount for TV watching. I stream downloaded TV shows from the computer through my Xbox. We never watch shows when they are actually on.. I love having no comercials! :mrgreen:

Here is what it looks like unlit. I won't hang it from the chain though.

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/a...ter/Rotel2.jpg

I have DIY Home theatre... :) 92 inch Grey Wolf screen with Optoma projector. It's a few years old, so it's only EdTV (waiting for the price of the 1080 projectors to come down). The room is only 20 feet long, so running a 5.1 surround an dit's not tuned for THX or anything like that. It's also the room where my DT is so the lights from the DT is annoying! :)

I'm in the midst of upgrading mine. I got the amps yesterday and I have to pick at a new rec'ver so I can get the new codecs DD-HD and DTS-Master Audio. I have a 60" RCA for a TV that I plan to replace with a 1080p Projector. I'm hoping the TV lasts though, it's the last thing I want to replace. I'm running 7.1 right now with a mix of speakers, they are next on my list to replace, thinking about Swan Diva's

My tank is in the same room also. I don't mind it for everyday tv watching but I turn the lights off on the tank for movies.

Where did you get the sign from?

Do you notice a difference between 7.1 and 5.1? I've been on 5.1 for I guess pushing 10 years now so I understand it's "old school" but then again I honestly don't know if I would notice a huge difference. I still get annoyed when I think someone's behind me knocking stuff over on a shelf or something, or the doorbell rings, and then I realize it's what I'm watching. :lol:

Ya Tony the difference in 5.1 and 7.1 is

2 ROLMFAO:lol:

I bought it off EBAY

Tony,

It depends on the size of your room. If you have a small to meduim sized room there is zero reason to go to 7.1. I was 5.1 for years also until I bought my present house. The room I'm using now is much larger and I had holes in the sound as I didn't want to place the rear speakers on stands behind the sofa, they sit close to 14' from my ears.

Secondly there are very few 7.1 sound tracks out there at the moment, that is starting to change with the new audio codecs and Blu-Ray. Most movie tracks are mixed 5.1 so you aren't "missing" any sound when compairing 7.1 to 5.1 When listening to 7.1 the rec'er takes the 5.1 track and mixes it to 7.1

I agree... you can't really leverage the 7.1 unless you have a pretty large/long room... the 2 sides will be so close together, I would argue it may detract from the "imaging". And of all the movies I have, I only have 1 that's "6.1" with Lord of the Rings... none of the HD or Blue Ray stuff I got has it...

I think the whole 5.1, 6.1 and 7.1 was "marketing" drive to differentiate with "more"... not even sure if it'll take off...

Cool! I have a dolby digital gold plaque I bought a few years ago and loked at neon ones but they were a fortune. $30 sounded like a steal! :)

Here's a Dolby one for 15.00 but it costs another 15 to ship it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/DOLBY-DIGITAL-Ne...3286.m20.l1116

I was into home theater until my eheim HOB filter cracked and dripped water into my avr445...Who knew that harmon kardon warranty wont cover water damage!!

I do have 7.1, well 7.2 i guess. I have yet to see a movie that utilizes the rears...As far as i know DTS ex merges the "surounds" to the rears. Still sounds nice. Even nicer having a 12" and a 10" sub. Too bad i cheaped out my avr and didnt get the one with the dual sub outs.

Like this Best Demo DVD listing thread from Sound and Vision for disks that can really show off a system.

My favorite is the first battle scene from Master & Commander in DTS. that scene is crazy!

The road chase/battlescene from Transformers has GOT to be up there!

Yep, I agree there.

One of my favourites is the SAM in Behind Enemy Lines

I have a fairly decent setup 7.1 (orb audio rears, they are sweet check em out orbaudio.com) 8" sub, my friends and I were watching Transformers, and the initial scene where the helicopter transforms and then shoots of those big blasts was insane! It literally sent a sound wave through the carpet, we actually saw it ripple. It was nuts, wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it myself.

I'm loving blu-ray at the moment with the hidef audio codecs... I just need to upgrade my tv now(42" lg at the moment), Have my eyes on the Pioneer 50" Kuro, supposed to be an AMAZING tv. Saw it in the store, the black levels are unreal, and the pic looked 3d.

Yah Home theater is another one of my money burning hobbies havnt done any upgrades for a couple of years now still running 5.1 as I dont need 7.1 my room is to small and the sound tends to get a little muddy in a small room my Rec can run 7.1 but I think it would be too much of a good thing. As for running 2 subs be make sure you spend some time setting them up properly as they can cancel each other out and you actually get less bass then you would if you only had one sub. I sold off my second sub because of this. Mind you the sub I have is a PSB sub sonic 7 15 inch driver 1250 watts so I realy dont need a second sub. I would love a new rec. with HDMI inputs so I can get the full benefit of the new formats. Oh well one of these days

Geeze, how do you keep your teeth from rattling out of your head with that thing in a small room!

Do you have all PSB Speakers? The T65 is on my audition list.

I've got 5.1 upstairs with a mix of Mission and PSB. Downstairs on the projector is 7.1 with JBL Northgates, a 12" Velodyne sub and a DVDO iScan HD+.
As mentioned not much to utilize the 7.1
XBox 360 sounds pretty good digital.
Anybody else still have Laserdiscs?:biggrin:

No I run Energy the sub is my only PSB

Main Energy Connoisseur C9 towers
center Energy AC300
rears Energy EXL-R

I have a set of Mirage monitors that is what turned me on to Energy I dont know if you know this but Mirage and Energy are made by the same company. The sub is a monster my neighbour came over one Sunday morning to ask what movie I was whatching he said he could feel it in his living room :)

What are your opinions on bose speakers? I have the centre channel, i think vcs-10 or something like that. Most salesman i talk to hate them, but i think it sounds really nice. It has no tweeter but it hits all sounds i am after.

Yep, they also made the Athena line of speakers. I believe they shut down Athena last year. They got rave reviews comparing to anything double their price.

That right there is all that matters. What constitutes a good sounding speaker is so subjective.

Bose do sound decent but they are pricey you can buy a better speaker for the price of a Bose. But all that matters is you like them it is kind of like the Monster cable debate do they sound better or just a money grab marketing ploy I think they sound better but lots of people dont

So there I am in Costco checkout today and guy has a 72" Samsung DLP. He said was last in stock and was $2500. Figure it will go a ways to help out his HT experience.

And you didn't roll him in the parkig lot? :lol:

Wife and joked about it but problem was fitting it into her Yaris. Lucky for him we didn't have my truck.

I love my Home Theatre, plus I havent heard a better one out there.

Samsung 52" LCD tv
And almost everything else is form a company called audio trak. http://www.audiotrak.com/
.
At-9800 reciever
____________170w x 6 at 6ohms
____________LCD touch screen control panel
____________weights 80 lbs
.
AT-F2 speakers x5
________8ohms
________30-175w unclipped
.
Subs
________AT-F3
____________ Dual 12" subwoofer 500watts RMS Class D
.
PS3 for blueray with media link to my computer
.
Monster power station

If any one is thinking about making the move to a projector I found a cool Excel spreadsheet that might be of help.

I missed this one. I just finnished putting togeather a home theater/bar in my basement room.

Tony asked is it worth it to go from 5.1 to 7.1 hell ya. a huge differance even in a small to medium area, but I guess it would depend also on how you set up your system.

I was going to go with a projector, 92" screen, and a big expensive sound system, but the other renos started to eat into my fund and I ended up down sizing.

went with a 60" LG plasma TV and I got a Onkyo HST7100 7.1. now alot of you purests are going to shun a Home theater in a box but this one realy isn't the same as other HTIBs as the reciver is a Onkyo 606 and to make the package they added speakers and a ipod dock. I did a lot of review reading and bang for buck this was the best out there as originaly I woas going to go with yamaha. all in all instead of paying 7-8K for my HT I did some belt tightining and ended up spending 3500.00 so far, well a bit more as I added a new blueray player, new Shaw HT box with PVR extender.

I still have to find a cheep but good IR extender as my equipment is going to be mounted in the bar area and I have to get two more bookshelf speakers so I can run both zones whenI am having a few drinks with friends and cranking up the music.

Also I need to find a HDMI switch or splitter as I am also mounting a 32" LCD above the Bar so if we are bellied up having drinks I can have something playing on that TV as you can't see the big one from the bar.

Steve

Post up some pictures!

Here is an old picture of my set-up. The 60" rear projection is on it's way out. The image is starting to blur, I can barley read the in game menus for the X-box

I'm thinking of going with the Panasonic projector with a 146" screen with an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 It will be awhile before I get it up and running, I need to get saving for it! lol

I started fixing a few of the wall blemishes last night so I'm about finished the prep for paint. The screen wall will be Chocolate Fondue and the rest of the room will be Bleaker Beige. My stair well is off to the left so I'll be building the media rack to fit under the stairs built into the wall.

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/a...r/IMG_2073.jpg

Parker, what did you end up going with on speakers? I have a 5.1 setup with a Harmon Kardon receiver and all PSB's. I have the same PSB sub as mentioned previously in this thread and boy do they rock, even though they really can't be set up in my current house properly.

We hoping to break ground on a new house next month and in that we will have a dedicated theatre room where these speakers will get a chance to stretch their legs.

I thought my tv was going also.. turns out I needed glasses :mrgreen:

ya I have a few. not done yet, so the equipment is on the floor till I get the bar counter all done. TV and some of the speakers are mounted.. just got to figure out how to hide a few wires now.

here are two pics of what was there when I bought the house this summer. the family room and bar area are a "L" shape. so if you are looking at the fireplace in the family room the bar area is to the right.

http://www.members.shaw.ca/s.l.s/Fam...yroomstart.jpg

http://www.members.shaw.ca/s.l.s/Fam...m/barstart.jpg

so here are the stage they are at now.. keep in mind there is still a lot of work to do, but this gives you the idea.

http://www.members.shaw.ca/s.l.s/Fam...mfloordone.jpg

http://www.members.shaw.ca/s.l.s/Familyroom/bar2.jpg

http://www.members.shaw.ca/s.l.s/Familyroom/bar1.jpg

and finaly the TV :mrgreen:

http://www.members.shaw.ca/s.l.s/Familyroom/tv.jpg

Steve

I'll let you know when I make up my mind! lol. I was dead set on Axiom's but the QS8's wouldn't work in my situation. I've had a really hard time trying narrow it down again. Call it a man thing but I'm really looking for a manufacturer that makes a pretty large center channel. One for astetics, I plan to have pretty large screen so I want it to look like it has some bulk to it - stupid really. Second is that the room I'm using is 4,500+ cubic feet.

sub $1000 1080P projectors
 

ok USD...

http://gizmodo.com/5381731/1000-1080...ivitek-h1080fd