My other passion - Home Theater!

[P1et]

Detailing is a big passion of mine, but so is the world of Home Theater. Wanted to share with everyone my current setup!

1) Sony 36" WEGA (Monitor)
2) Denon AVR-1905 (Receiver)
3) Sony DVP-S7000 (DVD Player)
4) B&W LCR-60 (Center Channel)
5) B&W DM602-S3 (Fronts)
6) B&W ASW-650 (12" Subwoofer)

The sub is "hidden" behind the left couch. You cannot see her, but you sure as hell can feel her!!!

:awesome:

 

[joe.p]

:applause: Looks very nice..My home theater cosnsist of mirage,sony and Yamaha..

 

[jsfofec]

Nice setup...I don't have any pictures, but here's what I have:

42" Panasonic Plasma 42px500
Sony Receiver STR DE935
Panasonic S77 Upconverting DVD Player
B&W 500 Front Speakers
Energy Center XL-C
Polk Audio rears FXi-30
Energy 10" subwoofer S10.3

I'm waiting to see which HD DVD goes before I buy either a HD-DVD or Blueray.

I'm going to update the TV to a 56" Samsung DLP or Sony 3LCD

 

[trl2112]

I like your stuff! My Sony Trinitron XBR 36” just blew in November we got about 9 years out of it. I still need to get a replacement, and am thinking about the Sharp AQUOS 42” LCD.

Current stats:
Sony SAT T60 Direct Tivo
Onkyo TX-NR801 (Receiver)
Onkyo DV-CP802 (DVD)
Axiom vp100 (Center)
Axiom M3 (Fronts)
Axiom QS4 (Rear)
Axiom EP350 12” Powered sub

 

[Surfer]

Old house had we had a sick theatre room built by Sound Advice here (think their owned by that company Tweeter now?). Samung DLP projector, screen etc. At the new house we don't have a theatre room so just the big tv and everything in the living room, we always have so many people over I didn't want to bother even with the wireless setups as something would end up getting knocked over lol. So we have a Polk Audio Sound Bar, just one speaker but amazingly it sounds like I have a full surround sound setup, pretty damn good.

 

[abrcrombe]

Nice!! I will take some pics of mine ASAP. Just got it all set up for a family Christmas present!

 

[Nuke33]

I have all denon sony and mission currentaly

 

[P1et]

Sounds like some excellent setups by everyone, let's get some pics going!!!

B&W 500 Front Speakers

Jsfofec: I don't think I've heard of these B&W speakers before, do you have pics?

 

[MikeyC]

I put together a home theater a few years ago. It mainly consists of . . .

-Hitachi 50" Utravision rear projection TV
-Marantz 8200 receiver
-Cambridge Soundworks Tower II speakers
-Cambridge Soundworks MC400 center channel
-Cambridge Soundworks S300 Multipole surround speakers
-Cambridge Soundworks P1000 powered subwoofer

After listening to speakers which cost twice as much at Tweeter and some other stores I decided to go with the Cambridge Soundworks speakers as they sounded significantly better and were much cheaper. I went with the Marantz receiver becase . . . well Marantz is just fantastic for sound quality IMO and I love the touch screen remote it came with.

Old house had we had a sick theatre room built by Sound Advice here (think their owned by that company Tweeter now?).

Yup! Sound Advice is now owned by Tweeter. I think they bought them a few years ago. Ironically, I understand Sound Advice was started by one of the founders of Tweeter. Then the company was later bought by Tweeter. Tweeter is actually based in Canton, MA where my brother lives. Cambridge Soundworks was based in Newton, MA where I live but was bought by Creative a few years ago. Actually, the model line that most of my speakers are from is called the "Newton Series." There's a suprising number of audio electronics companies based in MA. Of course, Boston Acoustics is here and Bose (which I grew up living near) is here as well.

 

[wytstang]

Great thread as I wanted to start a thread asking about home theater. Can any one recomend a decent HT for around let say $300-$500??

 

[jsfofec]

Sounds like some excellent setups by everyone, let's get some pics going!!!



Jsfofec: I don't think I've heard of these B&W speakers before, do you have pics?

I'll post a pic when I get home from work tonight

 

[P1et]

Great thread as I wanted to start a thread asking about home theater. Can any one recomend a decent HT for around let say $300-$500??

Wyt -- you'll be hard pressed to find a good HT setup for between $300-$500. This will prevent you from going with seperates like most of us have here and will highly likely steer you in the HT-in-a-box category.

If I were you, I would try something like what I did: start building that good HT setup piece by piece. I started with a receiver, then saved up some more and bought a good center channel, then saved up some more and bought my fronts and just recently added my sub. In the end, it's like a puzzle and it'll sound better each time you add a piece to it.

If you go with an HT-in-a-box setup, there is no room for future improvements.

If I were you, put that $300-$500 in a good receiver and go from there...

 

[dengood1]

Kenwood 100watt per channel 5.1 receiver(Upgrading this year to Onkyo or a higher end line)
Sony DVD
Philips DVD/SACD
32" JVC TV (Upgrading this year to a 42" LCD)
Advent Legacy 2 front speakers(larger 10" woofer, Soft dome tweeter)
Klipsch front speakers(smaller 6" woofer, horn tweeter(Klipsch are famous for these)
Klipsch center channel (matches fronts)
Klipsch surrounds
JBL 12" 200watt powered sub
Monster cable throughout, including speaker cables(which are as thick as my finger!)

If anyone tells you that cables don't make a difference they're sadly mistaken as I feel they make a huge difference in sound quality, soundstage, and overall richness in sound. I remember when I purchased my subwoofer cable and replaced the old one I was amazed at the difference in sound. I got all my cables from Ebay, carefully selecting and pricing for 6 months! I got the GOOD ones for about 1/3rd what you'd pay retail, some even less than that-----all brand new! I used to LOVE browsing high end audio/video establishments:righton: Everyone that comes here and hears my audio system are always asking "why does your stereo sound so good". My sister stopped in the other day when we were watching a movie (action, with sound up) and she was blown away and asked me to set up one for her new house I realize there is MUCH higher quality equipment out there, but you don't need to buy the absolute best to get good sound. My Advent front speakers were bought over 20 years ago and still sound amazing....they rock!

Looks like you all know what you're buying as well----B&W, Denon, Marantz, Cambridge Soundworks, Bose, Boston Acoustics, Onkyo, Polk, etc.....all good stuff. I have a Polk CS100 center channel speaker for sale if anyone is interested. Pics below. There's nothing on the cover, it's just the picture.

 

[wytstang]

Wyt -- you'll be hard pressed to find a good HT setup for between $300-$500. This will prevent you from going with seperates like most of us have here and will highly likely steer you in the HT-in-a-box category.

If I were you, I would try something like what I did: start building that good HT setup piece by piece. I started with a receiver, then saved up some more and bought a good center channel, then saved up some more and bought my fronts and just recently added my sub. In the end, it's like a puzzle and it'll sound better each time you add a piece to it.

If you go with an HT-in-a-box setup, there is no room for future improvements.

If I were you, put that $300-$500 in a good receiver and go from there...

I pretty much knew the answer as far as price I was just hoping.

 

[P1et]

Nice setup Dengood!

My next steps are upgrading the TV to a Pioneer Elite and then eventually upgrading the receiver to Rotel seperates.

It's a much more expensive hobby than detailing cars, but hey, why stop at just one hobby!!!

 

[Grimm]

I don't watch TV enough to justify spending that kind of $$ on a system. But my wife's uncle has a projection system set up in their basement that I think would be really nice. I think it was a Toshiba projector, and it projects to like a 4'x8' section of the wall. Then he has some speakers for surround sound. It was really nice for watching the football game that was on Christmas day.

 

[Surfer]

Yup! Sound Advice is now owned by Tweeter. I think they bought them a few years ago. Ironically, I understand Sound Advice was started by one of the founders of Tweeter. Then the company was later bought by Tweeter. Tweeter is actually based in Canton, MA where my brother lives. Cambridge Soundworks was based in Newton, MA where I live but was bought by Creative a few years ago. Actually, the model line that most of my speakers are from is called the "Newton Series." There's a suprising number of audio electronics companies based in MA. Of course, Boston Acoustics is here and Bose (which I grew up living near) is here as well.

Yeh that's what I heard, Sound Advice does some crazy installs both home and mobile. I know my mother spent a pretty nice chunk of change for the theatre install, I'll have to see if we have any pics somewhere. Sound Advice is where I got most of my car audio stuff as well way back in high school, as they could also order products from venodrs that they didn't carry in the store. They used to be big on Orion stuff I believe, used to have a BMW in the middle of the showroom with a full system, not there anymore, Circuit City used to do that as well (I heard it was soemthing about a law that wouldn't allow the vehicles inside, some kinda hazzard?)

But I'm really liking the Polk Audio Sound Bar, great sound quality and perfect for the living room now since we have so many people over all the time there was no way to have speeakers set around w/o getting knocked over lol.

 

[P1et]

I don't watch TV enough to justify spending that kind of $$ on a system. But my wife's uncle has a projection system set up in their basement that I think would be really nice. I think it was a Toshiba projector, and it projects to like a 4'x8' section of the wall. Then he has some speakers for surround sound. It was really nice for watching the football game that was on Christmas day.

I don't watch much TV either Grimm, it's my wife that does all the TV watching in our house!

However, I do like watching movies and listening to music. When one gets new speakers, you find yourself listening to all your CDs and hear things that you never heard before. It's the greatest thing, it's like you have a brand new collection of music!

 

[dengood1]

I don't watch much TV either Grimm, it's my wife that does all the TV watching in our house!

However, I do like watching movies and listening to music. When one gets new speakers, you find yourself listening to all your CDs and hear things that you never heard before. It's the greatest thing, it's like you have a brand new collection of music!

:iagree:

 

[jsfofec]

I don't watch much TV either Grimm, it's my wife that does all the TV watching in our house!

However, I do like watching movies and listening to music. When one gets new speakers, you find yourself listening to all your CDs and hear things that you never heard before. It's the greatest thing, it's like you have a brand new collection of music!

I'm the big TV watcher in my house...I go from the car to the tv, from the tv to the car.

You're absolutely right about the speakers. I used to have cheap rears, then when I replaced them with some Polkaudios...the sound was amazing when watching movies.