Need Help Building Home Theater in New Home
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New member Username: Goldenbear03Post Number: 1 Registered: Oct-09 | My wife and I just recently purchased a new home, and I have been given $3,000 - $3,500 with which to build us a home theater system. Aside from my Blu Ray player on my Playstation 3, I'll be starting from scratch. Our living room is of average size and has 10 foot ceilings. I believe anything larger than a 52" TV is going to swallow the room. Right now, I like the 52" Samsung LN52B630. That will eat up about $1,900 of my budget. So, with the remaining $1,100 - $1,500, please help me design a surround sound setup. I would like for the speakers to be as unnoticeable as possible. I'm not particularly loyal to component systems or HTiB systems and just want to get the high quality for my budget. I like what I read about the performance of the Onkyo S9100THX system, but am a bit scared off by what I read about its rather large appearance. I appreciate any suggestions you all can offer. Thank you! |
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Silver Member Username: JrbayLivonia [Detroit area], Michigan USA Post Number: 889 Registered: Feb-08 | Greetings Chuck, I may be making some poor assumptions here but if you are considering a HTiB then I would look closely at a system within the same brand family. For instance if you are to buy the Samsung TV I would look closely at the Samsung HTiB's (or dare I say the Samsung speaker bars). In many (but unfortunately not all) cases this can improve the simplicity and integration of the system. |
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New member Username: Goldenbear03Post Number: 2 Registered: Oct-09 | Thanks, Jim. HTiB would not be my first pick, but I wanted to keep an open mind to any recommendations by those of you posting here. Good feedback. Thank you. That makes sense to stay within the same brand. |
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Silver Member Username: JrbayLivonia [Detroit area], Michigan USA Post Number: 891 Registered: Feb-08 | I would also recommend that you go out and audition as many brands and models of systems as you can to get an idea why "looks aren't everything" when it comes to speakers. I know it is tough when you are setting up a theater in the living room because, well it just isn't a bachelor pad any more but for the money you are willing to spend there a lot of great choices and there is no better way to tell how you will like the final choice than to go out and listen to it! |
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Silver Member Username: MccambleyBREEZY POINT, NY USA Post Number: 702 Registered: Jun-05 | From reading your post my guess is that audio is not a big part of the equation. Your spending more than 50% of your budget on video. Why this TV? You can get more bang for your buck and a better picture with a Panasonic Plasma TC-54G10 OR 50G10. Prices are fom JR.com. http://www.jr.com/panasonic/pe/PAN_TCP54G10/ http://www.jr.com/panasonic/pe/PAN_TCP50G10/ You can then use the $400-600 in savings to buy a Denon AVR 1910 receiver list price $550 and have $1500 left for the speakers. http://www.jr.com/denon/pe/DNN_AVR1910/ Speakers: Paradigm Atom Monitors $318pr (2pr) Center: Paradigm CC190 $300 http://paradigm.com/en/paradigm/speaker_only-specification-1-1-2-4.paradigm Sub woofer: Definitive Technology Super Cube III $600 http://www.definitivetech.com/products/products.aspx?path=Subwoofers&productid=S uperCube III |
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New member Username: Goldenbear03Post Number: 3 Registered: Oct-09 | See, that's why I'm here, Casey. I need guidance. I was under the impression that Plasma was old school and that to be perfectly up-to-date, I needed to go LCD at the very least and maybe even LED. What you're telling me is that Plasma has some benefits that LCD doesn't and that's great. I've got no qualms about going with that TV. I think I would pick the 50" version though. Re: sound...those selections look great, but help me understand the Paradigm monitors. Would I use one pair as front and one pair as surround? I wasn thinking you had to specifically buy surround speakers. I didn't think front and surround ever crossed over. I thought that would be like buying two left shoes. Just curious...do you have any of these in your own home? |
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Gold Member Username: John_sColumbus, Ohio US Post Number: 2523 Registered: Feb-04 | "I was under the impression that Plasma was old school and that to be perfectly up-to-date, I needed to go LCD at the very least and maybe even LED. What you're telling me is that Plasma has some benefits that LCD doesn't and that's great. I've got no qualms about going with that TV." LCDs may be outselling plasmas, but that isn't because plasmas aren't up-to-date. They still out play LCDs, mostly because they produce much better blacks than LCD. It's the blacks that make a picture "pop", and no other fixed-pixel system can match plasma in this regard. Plasma's biggest drawback is that they aren't quite as bright, and can therefore have a "washed out" look in rooms of high ambient light. They don't show their best where there's lots of daylight or artificial light. But if you play these displays in a reasonably darkened room, there's no panel that's better. And the Panasonic G10s are the current best bang for the buck. If there's going to be high ambient light most of the time, then LCD is the way to go. One reason why LCDs outsell plasmas is because LCDs simply show better in brightly lit showrooms. (BTW, Samsung's "LED" displays are nothing more than LCDs that are backlit by LEDs instead of the standard CFC fluorescent backlight. These LED backlit displays were supposed to be a major breakthrough in the evolution of LCD TVs, but so far the jury has been luke-warm to them. There just doesn't seem to be good reason to pay extra for them right now.) Casey's receiver selection is very good. Denon is beyond reproach and you can't go wrong with them. The other hot number right now in this price range is the Onkyo 607. In my experience, they're a touch more user friendly, plus they feature the amazing Audyssey setup system which can correct speakers to offset any audio deficiencies in the room. I have no personal experience with Paradigm speakers, but I do know the company makes top-notch stuff, and their Atoms have a very good reputation. "Would I use one pair as front and one pair as surround? I wasn thinking you had to specifically buy surround speakers. I didn't think front and surround ever crossed over." Most compact sub/sat systems use identical speakers for the front and back. This does affect placement of the back speakers, which should ideally be slightly behind the main listening position. Some more expensive systems use bipoles (speakers that emit sound in two directions) with the aim to more effectively diffuse rear ambient sounds. Definitive Technology subs are justifiably famous due to their quality. I am in fact a DefTech fan. I use their speakers in my HT. They make a very good sub/sat system in your price range ($1200) and is worthy of consideration, especially if size is a concern. http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/speakers/1900/definitive-technology-procinema-8 00-home-theater-speaker-system.html Chuck, obviously the possibilities are endless as there's thankfully a lot of good products out there. However that shouldn't be too intimidating as long as you take your time and do some research. Good luck.  |
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New member Username: Goldenbear03Post Number: 4 Registered: Oct-09 | This has been a lot of help. Thank you all...specifically, John, for your most recent post. I was unclear about the differences in Plasma vs. LCD. The ad geniuses had me. Just by sticking a higher price tag on LCD's, I was invited to assume that they provide a better picture. Good to know differently. I'm going to buy the Panasonic TC-P50G10, as I went by Best Buy today and took a look at it. Gorgeous TV! I found this eBay auction for a pair of Paradigm Atom Monitors. Good deal or not??? http://cgi.ebay.com/Paradigm-Atom-Monitor-V-5-Speakers-PAIR-BLACK_W0QQitemZ33036 9561648QQcmdZViewItemQQptZSpeakers_Subwoofers?hash=item4ceb8f7430 |
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Silver Member Username: MccambleyBREEZY POINT, NY USA Post Number: 703 Registered: Jun-05 | Chuck, in order to try and stay within your budget I suggested two pairs of Atoms. These would be used for the front L&R and the surround speakers. There are other speakers that are intended for surround use but they are usually more expensive. I have Paradigm Studio 20's. There are so many choices out there for speakers and if you choice the Paradigms or the Def Techs ( I use BP-1;s for surround) you will come out a winner. The onkyo's have been a hot item for the last two years,first the 606 and now the 607 are very good receivers. I just like Denon. |
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Gold Member Username: John_sColumbus, Ohio US Post Number: 2525 Registered: Feb-04 | I have noticed that the current mid and high end Denons are now featuring the Anchor Bay ABT-2010 upconversion and deinterlacing solution, plus the full Audyssey MultEQ, Dynamic Volume, and Dynamic EQ audio processing. This means that these particular Denons are the equal of the Onkyos in audio processing and they will beat the pants of the Onkyos in video processing. The lowest of these Denons is the AVR-2310CI. http://www.usa.denon.com/ProductDetails/AVReceivers.asp The price of this Denon averages a little higher than the Onkyo 607, but given its feature set it is worth it. The average person will not outgrow this receiver anytime soon. This is one of the lowest prices I've seen on it. http://www.ibuydigital.com/product/?55766&camp_id=209 |
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Gold Member Username: DmitchellOttawa, Ontario Canada Post Number: 3213 Registered: Feb-07 | I have the Atom v5's and they are very good speakers. I'm actually using mine as rear surrounds in my HT system, and before that I used them on a 2 channel music system where they performed nicely. The Atoms are the sweet spot of the Paradigm Monitor (v5) series, in my opinion. |
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