anybody else have a dedicated home theater (my pics inside)

[Yay-Boost]

With some help from friends I built the room myself in my basement. The sound is amazing. The T.V. is big enough since the room is 12 ft. wide.
Equipment
47 Panasonic CRT rear projector. In a room without alot of light CRT's kick ass.
Speakers Paradigm Reference all around.
Subwoofer SVS with a Adcom 555ii powering it 1000 watt RMS bridged at 4 ohm's
Receiver Pioner Elite 55txi 55 pound beast I thought might break the cabinet I built in the wall.
X-box
Panasonic rp-91 DVD player.
Here are some pictures:

 

[Newf]

I'll get you some more pics later...too damn tired tonight.

But, Infocus 4805
Draper M2500 High gain 110" screen
Axiom M80's tower floor standers ( www.axiomaudio.com)
Axiom VP-150 Center
Axiom QS8 Surrounds
HSU-VTF3 MK-II Sub
Just got rid of a Nad t773, and now have Yamaha Rx-V4600

Room isn't done yet. I am having a hard time finding all my wood for the trims, crown mouldings, and frame for screen.

For those of you with White walls and a front porjection .... BAD IDEA. You are really losing a lot of picture quality with white walls and white ceilings. Granted, very nice rooms though. Got some nice equipment here too guys!

 

[Hughes412]

Damn after 7yrs my RCA surround sound went out. I guess it's lasted a good while but I really didn't wont to have to repace it yet. I guess this would be a good time to up grade, it was heavey.

 

[Yay-Boost]

I'll get you some more pics later...too damn tired tonight.

But, Infocus 4805
Draper M2500 High gain 110" screen
Axiom M80's tower floor standers ( www.axiomaudio.com)
Axiom VP-150 Center
Axiom QS8 Surrounds
HSU-VTF3 MK-II Sub
Just got rid of a Nad t773, and now have Yamaha Rx-V4600

Room isn't done yet. I am having a hard time finding all my wood for the trims, crown mouldings, and frame for screen.

For those of you with White walls and a front porjection .... BAD IDEA. You are really losing a lot of picture quality with white walls and white ceilings. Granted, very nice rooms though. Got some nice equipment here too guys!

How do you like the Axiom speakers? I was looking hard at those when I bought my speakers. Actually I was looking at the HSU also. The center channel is what sold me on the Paradigms. It's spooky how natural the voices are. It sounds like people are right in the room talking.

 

[Newf]

I was originally looking at getting Paradigm Monitor 90p's, then went and auditioned the monitor lineup and left unimpressed. I wanted to hear the Studio line, 60's/100's and was willing to pay originally, but the dealer didn't want to chance getting them in just for me to say I didn't want them

Then, I was told about the Axioms. After Lots of reading, lots of people's opinions I took the plunge and tried the M80 towers on their free shipping/free 30 day trial. I had them for 10 mins, and I was sold and was ready to order the rest. I had found what I was looking for and then some and at a cheaper price then the studio's. Out of all the speakers I have tried, the Axioms were the only ones I was immediately in love with. Apparantly they sound very close to the studio 100's. You really need a good amp to get their full sound out though. I originally had them on Carver amps, which I still have on the older system upstairs. I was really hoping the NAD would have the sound Iwanted but was disappointed when I got it. Awesome power, but not the sound that "I" was looking for. And if I heard the Axiom's on the NAD at first, I would have never had bought them.

The HSU is a damn beast. I couldn't try the SVS. In Canada we get nailed with the duties/taxes on SVS but not HSU, and I don't think the woman would approve of the all mighty garbage can look From what I have read about them though they are worth every penney.

 

[Protege2K]

ummm i think about 2 hours maybe? im not to sure.....is that your wife/girlfriend in your sig pic. If so will she be there if we come (shady) (stash)

Yeah that is his wife. They are both very nice people to hang out with. He came over to my house to buy parts off the silver car and it monsooned that day so we got stuck hanging out at Wendy's until the flood waters calmed down in the neighborhood. She even bought me a Jr. bacon cheeseburger. (2thumbs)

 

[vxfilmer1000]

Yeah that is his wife. They are both very nice people to hang out with. He came over to my house to buy parts off the silver car and it monsooned that day so we got stuck hanging out at Wendy's until the flood waters calmed down in the neighborhood. She even bought me a Jr. bacon cheeseburger. (2thumbs)

sweet, if u ever go and chill with them or anything. give me a ring Greg.

 

[gimpo2]

all you guys are loaded! why are you driving mazdas? here's my uber l33t setup

my TV even has those super hi-tech things in the back for ambient lighting so it doesn't hurt your eyes... you know a lamp with colored light bulbs


if you look you can see my blurry GT4 wheel.

 

[bman]

nice setups, keep um rollin . i knew there had to be other enthustiasts on the forum.
vxfilmer 1000-ya she will be here! let me know if ya wanna come by sometime,no prob at all(pm me if interested and ill give ya my number).
thanks for the kind words Gregg, i will never forget that monsoon. i never seen anything like that.it was fun tho! and i got some killer seats!
hey Newf, does the 4805 have a problem with lightspill ? i am assuming that you watch widwscreen. mine is not that bad , but it still annoys me because i know its there. not sure how to go about building a sliding masking system yet,thats why my center is still on the floor.

 

[Newf]

there is a bit of light on the ceiling immediatly in front of the pj, but it's not bad. But my pj is literally 3" from the celing. When I had it in another room, it was on a 8" drop and wasn't so bad. My projector sits in a closet behind the room, and projects through a hole in the wall. Noise, light spill, none of it is a problem. Best thing I ever did vs what I was going to do, and that is mount it in the ceiling of the media room. I also saved tons of money on cables because the stereo stuff is only a few feet from the pj. And I use a RF remote to control everything.

 

[vindication]

newf and bman, how much did you guys spend on your home theater system, including a breakdown if you would please? not including sofas, chairs, paint, etc. just electronics

 

[solid_snake]

newf and bman, how much did you guys spend on your home theater system, including a breakdown if you would please? not including sofas, chairs, paint, etc. just electronics

$1.8K in the TV, and like $400 in the audio system

 

[Newf]

I can only give Canadian dollars

Infocus 4805 - 1440. Although it's cheaper now
M2500 screen material - 270
Screen frame - 120
Nad receiver which I returned for the YAmaha - 1900
Axiom m80 Fronts - 1350
Axiom rears/center - 800
HSU Sub - 910

playing xbox at 110"....priceless!


By the way, no matter how much a woman will be pissed at the money being spent at first. Out of everyone I know that does this, the women are the first ones wanting to get movies to watch and mine at least can never watch a movie anywhere else anymore because "home is better"

 

[bman]

newf and bman, how much did you guys spend on your home theater system, including a breakdown if you would please? not including sofas, chairs, paint, etc. just electronics

i have a infocus x1 projector=$680
denon 2105 theater reciever=$650
denon dvd player=$160
elite 120" screen=$135
polk audio euro t90e floor speakers=$350
polk audio fxi5 surround speakers=$450
polk audio csi5 center channel=$350
polk audio psw 404 subwoofer=$350
all over priced speaker,coax,optical cables=$200
but just starting out, it is possible to build a uber cheap set up for under a grand!!
and newf is so right about the women nagging how much money.but when its all done you wont get one complaint(kissass) ! the look on her face when she watched our wedding dvd for the first time at 120" was priceless! i bet mine was too when i played resident evil for the first time on it, and zombies moaning load as hell,extremely dark,and extremely big. (headbang)

 

[vindication]

mmmm soo nice. damn I hate being poor.

 

[DeanSweet]

Here's my old one, we just sold this house last May.
I bought all this stuff 4 years ago?

Toshiba 61H71 HD 61" Television
Onkyo TS-DX 787
Pioneer dv-434 progressive scan dvd
Mitsubishi 6-head VCR (yes, a VCR but it is cool, you can edit on the fly... )
Polk Audio's RM-75 Series satelites (w/rear center)
Polk PSW-650 and 450.
xBox
Ps2...

I built this room (framed, electrical, drywall, etc) along with the computer room to the left of the tv.
It's not quite as nice as some here but I like it. Sounds good, looks decent.

I have big plans for the new house. It's a little bigger. Going Projection this time.

-Dean

 

[chuyler1]

Can someone give me the run down on projectors? Pros and Cons etc. It sounds like they are cheaper than any other technology.

Are there HD projectors available yet?
How dark does the room have to be?
How far away does the projector have to be?

 

[Newf]

Price per inch, there is no comparison to a front projector.

You will have to turn down the lights some, but we did this even with a CRT TV. Your type of screen material can heavily effect how much light you can have on in the room. I have a High Gain, 2.5 gain screen. But my projector is technically a fairly low lumens ( light output ) PJ. Although it actually puts out a lot more light then the numbers suggest. Lumen ratings are similar to watts on an amp. They can be over rated in real world use.

for example, my projector is 750 lumens. which at first is low.

The other projector I was looking at was a AE700 Panny. It's a ~1100 on paper.

Now, my projector in Econo mode runs at 600. But it's calibrated output is actually 350-400.

That Panny, even though its rated 1100, it's real world rating is below 300. Now which one is brighter?

Bottom line, you have to read up on a pj before believing anything.

You also have to see what technology is better for your eyes.

There is DLP, and LCD

Also, there are home theater PJ's, and business PJ's and the difference is HUGE. I have access to dozens of business pj's at work as our dept takes care of them. So I've seen quite a few, high lumen pj's. But, where a home theater one has the advantage is in vibrant colors, and it's a no contest imho.

DLP has deeper blacks, better colors and contrast, but some people can see what is called a rainbow effect.

LCD has higher resolution for a decent price, not so good colors, and has a screen door effect.

You have to see which one YOU prefer. it's the only way

www.avsforum.com has a good section for under 3500.00 pj's.

www.projectorcentral.com is also a good start.

www.audioholics.com another great place.

How far a projector has to be is dependant on it's lens.

My 4805 has to be 17' back from screen to get a 110" screen without using the zoom. Using the zoom, I can cut that down to ~13-14. the manufactures like infocus.com have distance calulators online to determine where you should place it.Generally, you don't want to use the zoom too much.

something like the Panny AE700 again has a much better lens and you can place them much closer to a screen.

 

[DeanSweet]

My buddy has a projector (brand/model escapes me right now) one and it gets Extremely warm and replacement bulbs cost like $500 each?

-Dean

 

[Newf]

My buddy has a projector (brand/model escapes me right now) one and it gets Extremely warm and replacement bulbs cost like $500 each?

-Dean

Yup, they get warm, and have fans that can get loud on some models. Bulbs range anywhere from cheap to $$$$. Mine cost about 450 Canadian each. They also have different life spans. Your not going to be watching the news on these things, they are for movies, entertaining, gaming etc. Most bulbs last on average of 2000 hours, with a good pj lasting 3000. The 4805 is "supposed to" last up to 4000 but that is not likely. 2500-3000 is reasonable and that is when you clean the dust out of the fan every 150-200 hours.