# Home Theater



## gijoe4500

Projector is a BenQ W1070. They go for about $500 now. Widely considered one of the best projectors under $1500. Its a DLP projector, 1080p, and 3D capable. Has pretty good bulb life in economy mode. Good for up to around a 140" screen.



Couple pictures from before I had the screen and everything setup. Phone pictures, so not the best quality, but you get the idea. Also shows that you can still see the picture relatively well, even with the light on directly overhead.





My screen is 118". That is the largest I could fit between the two windows in my living room.



Because I'm attempting to hide 90% of my home theater equipment, the screen needed to be acoustically transparent. Ready-made acoustically transparent screens are pricy. In the neighborhood of $750-1000, if I remember correctly. I'm not sure what mine cost, but it was much closer to $150. Instead, I ordered two pieces of spandex from SpandexWorld.com (silver/white). I build a frame out of some cheap 1"x4" boards from Home Depot, and wrapped the spandex around that, Silver as the base layer, and white as the top layer. To hold the spandex in place, I used porch screen track and the little rubber seals. Same type of stuff is used on window screens as well. The screen is hung on the wall with a single french cleat on the cross brace.



All 7 of my surround speakers are the same. El cheapo 6.5" 3-way in-wall speakers from Monoprice.com. I think these run around $50/each. The center speakers on the front stage had to be offset because of a wall stud. This isn't at all noticeable though.



Side and rear speakers are indeed, the same. There are 3 fronts, 2 on each side, and 2 rear speakers.



Here is one of the rear speakers hidden behind some "art". Again, wanted acoustically transparent, so the stuff hiding the speakers doesn't interfere with the sound. Its funny when someone doesn't know there are speakers back there, walks by right as a gun goes off, dog barks, etc. on the movie, and scares the crap out of them.



The "art" is nothing more than some custom printed fabric from SpoonFlower.com stretched over a wooden frame. Total cost to build 4 of these was around $85. You can upload your own images for these. Super high-res is going to be better, obviously.



Held up to the light, so you can see how thin it actually is.



The projector is bolted to the ceiling with a combination of some galvanized steel pipe pieces from Home Depot, and a projector mount I bought off E-bay. I think I scored the mount for around $100, and the pipe was like $8. Lots of options here, but Chief is a good brand. They make some pretty high end stuff. You can also see my massive 25' HDMI cable and the power cable running up through the pipe into the attic.



The receiver is a Denon AVR-x1100w. I picked it up from Accessories4Less.com for around $225-250. It has plenty of HDMI inputs for me, and will support 7.2 output on audio. So, 7 speakers and 2 subwoofers.



There is a jumble of mess behind it going to my wall plate. I haven't gotten around to cleaning it up yet, because I still have lofty plans of building a candy/popcorn stand, that will also hide all the electronics.



Wall plate is just a cheapy from Monoprice.com as well.



To power my subwoofers, I picked up a Behringer EP2000. This has the capability of pushing out 2000 watts to the subwoofers, which is PLENTY for my small setup. These are pro quality amplifiers made for concerts and stuff. Should last forever in my home audio setup. Price was around $200 on Amazon.com. Could possibly be found cheaper elsewhere, but I snagged it on one of their Lightning Deals. These have a pretty loud cooling fan inside them. I yanked it out and installed a new one I purchased from DigiKey.com. CFMs are only slightly lower, but the noise is now almost non-existent.



My subwoofers are actually mounted in the attic. I cut a hole in the ceiling and installed the subwoofers firing at each other in an infinite baffle setup to cancel out any vibrations through the roof. To cover the gigantic hole in the ceiling, I stretched some speaker grill cloth over some MDF which attaches to some mounts using rare earth magnets. The grill cloth and magnets I picked up from PartsExpress.com for a few bucks.



Luckily for me, there is a power outlet in the attic pretty close to where my projector is mounted. I had to buy a longer power cord for it so it could reach to it, but they are pretty inexpensive. Same funny D-shaped 3 prong cords like your standard PC uses.



Here is the subwoofer box that holds both of the subwoofers. I splurge a bit on these. They are FiCar Audio IB318 subs. Around $300/each. But they are 18" diameter with 60mm of total travel. These can seriously push some air!



And my favorite picture to show off the size of these subwoofers.



For the unseen stuff, all speaker wires, HDMI cable, etc, running through the wall are CL2 or CL3 rated. These are in-wall rated, and you should make sure to get the right ones for whatever is required by code in your area. If you ever had a house fire, which would suck, and don't have in-wall rated cables, the insurance company can pitch a fit, and refuse to pay. Or at least, so I am told... Speaker wires are 14/2 from Monoprice.com. HDMI is 26awg (I think) also from Monoprice.com. Speaker wire is CHEAP. Buy more than you think you need. Trust me on this. I got to the end of my 250' spool, and didn't have enough to finish out the job.


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## dfw_pilot

Thanks for the excellent write up! I too am a Monoprice junkie. I put some in-ceiling speakers from MonoPrice in our bathroom because my wife loves music when getting ready in there. They sound great and were affordable. I also like their *heavy* HDMI in-wall wiring.

Really nice setup, and good idea about concealing most everything. That makes it kid proof and gives you much more space in the room. I'll have to take some pictures of our setup and post them later.


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## gijoe4500

My biggest reason for wanting to conceal most everything, is that it just looks cleaner. I've never liked the look of bookshelf speakers sitting around the room, even if they do sound better.


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## dfw_pilot

lol, yeah, you won't like mine, then!

P.S. Fifth Element?


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## gijoe4500

dfw_pilot said:


> P.S. Fifth Element?


Of course.


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## MarkV

Don't think I've seen 18's in the ceiling before. That's crazy.

When we moved into our current house there were four speakers in the living room ceiling. I convinced my wife that we should at least add one more to have proper 5.1 sound. And if I was going to add one I should do two more to have 7.1. I just have a BIC PL-200 for my sub. And then came outdoor speakers on the back poarch, CAT5E drops in every room for optimal streaming, mounting the TV on the living room wall, moving all of the AV stuff into our closet (which is on the other side of the wall the TV is mounted on) I really like the clean look as well, and finally putting a TV on the wall in our bathroom.

I think my living room is at least on par with the average HT setup. I'll probably try and convince my wife we need an ATMOS receiver once the kids are older and our living room is no longer a race track. I really didn't want speakers on the floor with them running around like maniacs all the time.

You've probably been there before, but this is where I hang out for all my AV stuff. http://www.avsforum.com/forum/index.php


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## gijoe4500

I got most of my info from AVSforum.com as well.


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## Redtenchu

gijoe4500 said:


> I got most of my info from AVSforum.com as well.


My first thought was "wow, there are forums just for that?"

Then I remembered where I was... :lol:


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## gijoe4500

Redtenchu said:


> gijoe4500 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I got most of my info from AVSforum.com as well.
> 
> 
> 
> My first thought was "wow, there are forums just for that?"
> 
> Then I remembered where I was... :lol:
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'd definitely say this is the much more obscure forum than some home A/V electronics stuff. :lol:


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## Mightyquinn

Great write up GIJ!! I love how you put together an awesome home theater on a budget!! I also like how you spent your money in all the right spaces.

BTW, I have a 7.1 setup with all Klipsch speakers and a Sony ES receiver. I am kind of into home theater but no where on the level of you


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## MrMeaner

I now have two separate home theater systems. Living room HT is 80" flat screen, 5 Sonance in-wall LCR THX speakers, dual M&K 350 THX subs, B&K 5000, AMX audio and video switches all programmed on RTI remote products. Also in the rack I have a 12 channel amp pushin speakers in the master bed and bath, patio speakers and garage speakers.

Out in the pool house I just built the HT consists of Yamaha amp, B&K 600 series speakers, 2 - SVS15" subs, Epson 3250?? projector and 133" screen. I really listen to more music that movies but do watch movies occasionally


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## gijoe4500

I'm wanting to do a whole home audio setup for music, with the ability to control volume in each room, either at the receiver or by the light switches. Am not quite ready to drop the coin on that setup though, and haven't found a good way to do it cheap....yet.


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## dfw_pilot

AirPlay is an affordable option.

KenRockwell


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## Togo

It's nice to see that there some other people here that are also into HT/Stereo audio systems. When I was growing up my mother often had a "movie night" for my brother and I. It was something we always enjoyed and looked forward to and it became something I wanted to do with my family. Now I'm fortunate enough to have an area in the house to do it.

Currently the setup is a 5.2 system with a 50" TV. I may consider moving to a over head projector in the future but for now the TV is more than adequate.

TV - 50" Pioneer Elite Plasma
Receiver - Pioneer Elite SC-07
Blu-Ray - Pioneer Elite BDP-09FD
Power - Panamax 7500 Pro 
L/R - Martin Logan Purity
C - Martin Logan Feature
SL/SR - Martin Logan Fresco
Sub - 12" Martin Logan Abyss & Dual 10" Polk Audio

The sound quality is amazing as far as I'm concerned although Martin Logans are a bit directional and less ideal for multiple people in a larger area. I bought the setup roughly a decade ago when I was working for Magnolia Home Theater inside Best Buy and was fortunate enough to have a very large discount. In hindsight, different speakers (Definitive Technology) probably would have been better but the sound quality of the MLs was well above IMHO.







The L/R/C channels all have their own internal amplifiers so they are run off the pre-amp outs and the receiver only works to power the rear two surrounds. Also the BDP has a dedicated DAC for each channel of audio when connect through multichannel instead of HDMI.


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## gijoe4500

Decent looking setup. That room is begging for a larger screen. Almost no windows from the way it looks! Not necessarily a projector, but it would be an option.


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## Togo

gijoe4500 said:


> Decent looking setup. That room is begging for a larger screen. Almost no windows from the way it looks! Not necessarily a projector, but it would be an option.


Yeah it's a finished basement. Half the basement is finished and the other half is the garage. The only window in the room is the one you can see directly behind the couch. That's also East outside that window so in the afternoon the light doesn't shine directly in too much which is beneficial. The space could definitely house a larger screen but unless the wife lets me mount that 50 in the bedroom I don't think I'm gonna be able to sell her on getting a bigger tv down there for now.


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## jayhawk

Togo said:


> It's nice to see that there some other people here that are also into HT/Stereo audio systems. When I was growing up my mother often had a "movie night" for my brother and I. It was something we always enjoyed and looked forward to and it became something I wanted to do with my family. Now I'm fortunate enough to have an area in the house to do it.
> 
> Currently the setup is a 5.2 system with a 50" TV. I may consider moving to a over head projector in the future but for now the TV is more than adequate.
> 
> TV - 50" Pioneer Elite Plasma
> Receiver - Pioneer Elite SC-07
> Blu-Ray - Pioneer Elite BDP-09FD
> Power - Panamax 7500 Pro
> L/R - Martin Logan Purity
> C - Martin Logan Feature
> SL/SR - Martin Logan Fresco
> Sub - 12" Martin Logan Abyss & Dual 10" Polk Audio
> 
> The sound quality is amazing as far as I'm concerned although Martin Logans are a bit directional and less ideal for multiple people in a larger area. I bought the setup roughly a decade ago when I was working for Magnolia Home Theater inside Best Buy and was fortunate enough to have a very large discount. In hindsight, different speakers (Definitive Technology) probably would have been better but the sound quality of the MLs was well above IMHO.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The L/R/C channels all have their own internal amplifiers so they are run off the pre-amp outs and the receiver only works to power the rear two surrounds. Also the BDP has a dedicated DAC for each channel of audio when connect through multichannel instead of HDMI.


Awesome! I toured the ML shop in Lawrence KS back when Gale (founder) ran the co. So when I had the means, I bought oddessys (sp?) and ran them with a proceed HPA. Now they sit (now that I am married), waiting on me to finish the basement. I should sell them!


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## ericgautier

Bumping this up.

I am venturing back into home audio/theater. We finished our basement reno. I regret a bunch of things now that it is finished. In the back of my head, I wanted to turn it into a movie room and but didn't act on it. I could have ran wires, extra outlets (ceiling) and speakers in the walls but ended up not doing it.

@gijoe4500 I found some great prices on Denon AVR-S930H or AVR-X1400H , is one better than the other?

I am thinking of starting with 2 front speakers and a sub first then build on it. This should be better than a soundbar/sub setup right?


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## JP900++

I have a Def Tech system and I love them for an affordable option. I should buy the Martin Logan's. I need something for music.


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## jayhawk

Soundbars are a compromise.

I'm in the middle of building decoupled walls /soffits in the basement ....greenglue, clips, sealing outlets, cans etc. Not a theater but a room where I can enjoy 2-3 channel as loud as I want without interfering above.


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## ericgautier

Visited a Sound Place and they had these brands: Paradigm, Monitor Audio & Focal .. are these brands good? The Paradigm speakers sounded good. For receivers, he sells/liked Marantz or Onkyo.


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## jayhawk

Paradigm is well known. 
Marantz build quality generally higher.


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## ericgautier

jayhawk said:


> Paradigm is well known.
> Marantz build quality generally higher.


Thanks! Going to visit some other places besides Best Buy and listen to as many speakers as I can.


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## Shindoman

gijoe4500 said:


> I'm wanting to do a whole home audio setup for music, with the ability to control volume in each room, either at the receiver or by the light switches. Am not quite ready to drop the coin on that setup though, and haven't found a good way to do it cheap....yet.


For whole house audio I use a Sonos system. I use a Sonos Connect with individual amp and speakers in each area. Sonos interface is great and allows the kids to listen to what they want in their rooms while I play something else in the other rooms.


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## JP900++

Love my SONOS system. I wanted no wires in a high ceilings room. I think it sounds comparable to my wired system in the basement...maybe better sometimes.


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## Shindoman

My obsession with lawns is nothing compared to my audio systems. 
I'll keep it short.
In my dedicated media room I have 2 completely separate systems. One is a surround sound system for the TV and the other is a 2 channel system for music. 
Surround system:
Marantz SR7005 AV Receiver
Marantz Blu Ray (never use it anymore)
Custom built James Loudspeakers in wall LCR and rear speakers 
James Loudspeaker subs and sub amp
Panasonic 65" Plasma ( I love Plasma TV's)
Furman Power Conditioner

The 2 channel system is a work of art
Shindo Labs Cortese F2A power amp
Shindo Labs Masseto pre amp
Shindo Labs Mr T. power conditioner
Thorens TD125 LB turntable custom built by Artisan Fidelity
Ortofon TA-210 12" tonearm
Ortofon Royal GM SPU Cartridge
Auditorium A23 step up transformer
DeVore Loudspeakers Orangutan O/96 speakers
Metrum Acoustics DAC and Modwright modified Sonos Connect.

My room has been acoustically designed and I built all the cabinets and built in millwork to house the tv and speakers myself. I have separate circuits run to provide clean 110 power to the amps. No detail has been overlooked.

The surround system is very good. 
The 2 channel system is about as good as it gets. The Shindo Labs gear is custom made, hand built with point to point wiring and has been designed using NOS tubes and resistors for the 50's and 60's. 
Shindo is like getting Troy Trepanier to build your hot rod. 
Here's a few pics:


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## ericgautier

@Shindoman WOW!


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## dfw_pilot

jayhawk said:


> Soundbars are a compromise.


+1.

I'm a B&W fan myself.


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## jayhawk

I sold my https://www.martinlogan.com/en/product/odyssey ...I heard the b&w 802s and think they'll be my frontrunner when the time comes.

@Shindoman tubes really worth the premium? Nice wood choice!


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## Shindoman

I had a pair of 802's quite a few years ago powered by McIntosh gear. Really filled the room.
@jayhawk If you are using vinyl for a source, you can't beat low power single ended tube power with High Efficiency, low impedance speakers. I've had a lot of solid state gear. I'll never go back. Lots of good tube gear that's not that expensive.


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## ericgautier

dfw_pilot said:


> I'm a B&W fan myself.


I listened to the B&W 685 S2 and liked it a lot.

I might take up SVS on their 45 day trail w/ free returns. I'd like to try out the Prime bookshelf.


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## dfw_pilot

I'd give my left arm for a pair of 802s.


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## gijoe4500

ericgautier said:


> Bumping this up.
> 
> I am venturing back into home audio/theater. We finished our basement reno. I regret a bunch of things now that it is finished. In the back of my head, I wanted to turn it into a movie room and but didn't act on it. I could have ran wires, extra outlets (ceiling) and speakers in the walls but ended up not doing it.
> 
> @gijoe4500 I found some great prices on Denon AVR-S930H or AVR-X1400H , is one better than the other?
> 
> I am thinking of starting with 2 front speakers and a sub first then build on it. This should be better than a soundbar/sub setup right?


The S930H has a little more power per channel (90watts vs 80). So speaker selection will play into it as well. The X1400H supports more sound codecs, specifically DTS-HD. It really is a toss up on which is better. If the price is the exact same, I'd probably go with the X1400H for the DTS-HD support.


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## gijoe4500

@Shindoman While sound quality is the most important thing in designing a sound system, aesthetics definitely plays a big part in it as well. I would love it if any of my equipment looks half as good as that Shindo tube setup you have going on.


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## ericgautier

gijoe4500 said:


> The S930H has a little more power per channel (90watts vs 80). So speaker selection will play into it as well. The X1400H supports more sound codecs, specifically DTS-HD. It really is a toss up on which is better. If the price is the exact same, I'd probably go with the X1400H for the DTS-HD support.


Thanks for the feedback.

I am taking my time and doing some research. I am definitely sucked back into the rabbit hole. So much so, that I want to build a DIY speaker kit. :lol:


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## gijoe4500

@ericgautier I can say, my one "regret" is buying a 7 channel receiver. I wish I had splurged about bought an 11 or a 13 channel Dolby Atmos receiver. Because 7.2.4 or 7.2.6 surround sound just has a nice ring to it!

Plus, right now, I don't have any overhead speakers, which I really want. And if I were to install the overheads with my current receiver, I'd have to ditch my rears, which I don't want to do.

So, if you ever plan on upgrading past 7 speakers, look hard into whether or not you should invest now.


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## PNW_George

I built a Theater in my unfinished basement over the years. Not professional carpenter quality work but it has been fun. I extended the side wall and added a door, cut some holes and built shelves in the back wall that extend my equipment cabinets in to the crawlspace, built a short riser for the second row of seats, carpeted and painted in very dark colors for a true bat cave experience. Difficult to get pictures since it is so dark, the subs for example are stained black and don't look that red.

I built a number of DIY speakers and would love to switch in my Northcreek Speakers but need to wrap them in a felt sock before I do. For now they are used for critical music listening in my bonus room.

https://www.avsforum.com/forum/155-diy-speakers-subs/646455-diy-gallery-38.html#post30043625

Stewart Luxus Delux 49" x 115", 125" Diagonal, Cinemascope 2.35 Aspect Ratio, 
JVC DLA-RS500 Projector, Onkyo SC5508 Surround Processor, Bryston and B & K Amps,
Oppo UDP-203 4K Ultra Blu-ray player, Lumagen Radiance Pro 4242 4K video processor.


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## gijoe4500

That looks fantastic @PNW_George! I can't wait to have a dedicated theater room. Its one of the very few things I've told my wife that i MUST have in the next house.


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## Shindoman

@PNW_George Theater room looks great. You did a real nice job with the speakers you built too!


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## Hexadecimal 00FF00

gijoe4500, I also have a BenQ projector though a different model. Still going on the original bulb - not sure how many hours on it - I'll have to check.

My first home theater setup (from Spring '14)...

* Marantz SR6008
* Definitive Technology ProMonitor 1000 (x2 - mains)
* Definitive Technology ProMonitor 800 (x4 - surrounds)
* Definitive Technology ProCenter 1000 (x1 - center)
* Definitive Technology ProSub 1000 (x1 - sub)
* BenQ W1500
* Elite Screens 135" (fixed)

To me, this is amazing! Especially considering, like I said this is my first theater setup, I am coming from a very, very dated stereo setup:

* Carver TFM-15 power amp
* Adcom SLC-505 passive pre-amp
* Boston Acoustics HD7 (pair of bookshelfs)
* Passive 10" sub.

That setup I put together about 25 years ago. Loved it but was long overdue to be boxed up to collect dust.


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## gijoe4500

Hexadecimal 00FF00 said:


> gijoe4500, I also have a BenQ projector though a different model. Still going on the original bulb - not sure how many hours on it - I'll have to check.


I ended up replacing my bulb at around 7000 hours. It finally popped. Replaced the entire bulb housing too, because that's the usual recommendation. Next time, I'll just be replacing the bulb. It's simple enough now that I've seen it. I'm going to get a bulb to put in my OEM housing, so it'll be ready to go when this one blows.


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## Hexadecimal 00FF00

gijoe4500 said:


> I ended up replacing my bulb at around 7000 hours. It finally popped. Replaced the entire bulb housing too, because that's the usual recommendation. Next time, I'll just be replacing the bulb. It's simple enough now that I've seen it. I'm going to get a bulb to put in my OEM housing, so it'll be ready to go when this one blows.


Bulb vs housing replacement, good to know, thanks.

I'm at 2040 hours. So it seems I'm good to go for a while.


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## ericgautier

PNW_George said:


> I built a number of DIY speakers and would love to switch in my Northcreek Speakers but need to wrap them in a felt sock before I do. For now they are used for critical music listening in my bonus room.
> 
> https://www.avsforum.com/forum/155-diy-speakers-subs/646455-diy-gallery-38.html#post30043625


Awesome DIY speaker builds! I would like to start with something much cheaper... :lol: . Maybe a kit from PE.


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## PNW_George

How ambitious are you? I bought a 5 speaker kit many years ago with a plan to build them with and for my son but they are still sitting in their original box gathering dust in my garage. The kits I built had pre-assembled crossovers but these require you to assemble the crossover parts. There are clear instructions but I'm not sure if George Short is still available to ask questions since he retired.

http://www.northcreekmusic.com/Echo/EchoInfo.htm

Echo SYSTEM (One pair of monitors, one center, and one pair of Towers)

Echo Bookshelf Monitor Kit - Two speakers (1 woofer, 1 tweeter)(x2) + Crossover 
Echo MTM Center Channel Kit - One Speaker (2 woofer's, 1 tweeter) + Crossover
Echo MTM Mini-Tower Kit - Two Speakers (2 woofer's, 1 tweeter)(x2) + Crossover


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## ericgautier

PNW_George said:


> How ambitious are you?


That kit might be a little too much for me atm. :mrgreen:


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## Cory

My wife decided she wanted to turn an empty space in our house into a home theater the week before Christmas and bought an Optima UHD50 4K projector and a 100" screen on amazon. I went to Best Buy and bought a Sony STRDN1080 7.2 recover and all the Core series speakers to go with it. I've now got it all set up and have been messing with the settings beond the auto speaker settings but I'm not entirely sure what im doing. The system sounds good with the auto settings but sounds better when bumping up the decibels a bit, especially the subs for some reason it sets them so low hardly any bass comes out. Sounds like several of you have some experience with this stuff so my question is how high would be to high to push it? Also, I've seen several places suggest to set the speakers to small and set them to 80hz, is this typical with most systems?

Edited to add photos, don't mind the boxes, haven't had a chance to find or make a cabinet


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## Hexadecimal 00FF00

Cory said:


> Also, I've seen several places suggest to set the speakers to small and set them to 80hz, is this typical with most systems?


I used the auto mode to do the initial configuration and used the system that way for some music listening and a few movies. Then I tweaked the auto-configured settings based on the specs of equipment and did the same music and movie "test drive". The tweaked settings I think are "better". Generically using the small speaker setting and 80Hz may be satisfactory but it may also be a disservice to the capabilities of the equipment (not factoring in the listeners' hearing abilities - some can hear differences others can't). Point is, don't use generic settings. Tune it for your equipment and your ears to get the most out of it.

== Edit ==
80Hz is used as the "standard" crossover frequency for various [Dolby] surround specs. Thusly, speakers are typically built to match. However, just because speaker X produces sounds down to (or up to) 80Hz does not mean it does so faithfully and cleanly. That's why I encourage testing the default 80Hz vs tweaking it. 80Hz, I think, was chosen for two reasons. That's about the threshold at which ears start to lose the ability to track the physical source of a sound... ears start to have trouble localizing sounds. So surround speakers can be left to produce localized higher frequency surround sounds (meaning they move around from one speaker to another) and low frequencies, non-localized (non directional), can be left to sub-woofers. Hopefully that makes sense.

Does that help at all??


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## Austinite

Still working on mine.

7.2.2 Atmos Setup

Klipsch all around with Onkyo 9.2 ch.

Pair of 12" dayton subs (cheap but good!)

Epson 2150 projecter

120" screen

Lots of work still to be done.


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## Still learnin

I have a Marantz receiver with a Sonos system to give me music in multiple rooms with ceiling speakers. I don't use it for much except movies and occasionally music. Still amazes how complicated some of this stuff can be with all the different components.


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## JP900++

@Still learnin I think my Sonos system sounds better than my component system sometimes.


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## ctrav

I have had many versions of home theater setups (2-1, 3-1,5-1), separate components and now settled on SONOS. My SONOS journey started with one speaker and has evolved. For me it sounds excellent and it just works! Big investment :shock:


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## PNW_George

My Onkyo PR-SC5508 started having audio problems, failed HDMI board I suspect, so I picked up a Marantz AV7705 with Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, Auro-3D and DTS Virtual:X support. I added some speakers I have on hand and may consider other options in the future but want to give this new processing capability a try. I'll end up with a 7.1.4 configuration with three sub-woofers.

I'm adding three Infinity Cascade Model Three V's I wasn't using for Height duty and will re-purpose one of the Rear Surround Speakers as a Height speaker and use a couple NCM DIY Okara II speakers for rear surrounds. For the front I mounted the speakers as high as I could while balancing both sides. They are pretty close to the side walls.

There isn't a lot of room and installing ceiling speakers would be an easy install with access from the crawl space if the floor joists didn't go the wrong way.

I'm just waiting for my XLR cables and speaker wire to arrive so I can connect everything and run Audyssey MultEQ XT32, Dynamic Volume and Dynamic EQ, LFC and Sub EQ HT again.







PNW_George said:


> I built a Theater in my unfinished basement over the years. Not professional carpenter quality work but it has been fun. I extended the side wall and added a door, cut some holes and built shelves in the back wall that extend my equipment cabinets in to the crawlspace, built a short riser for the second row of seats, carpeted and painted in very dark colors for a true bat cave experience. Difficult to get pictures since it is so dark, the subs for example are stained black and don't look that red.
> 
> I built a number of DIY speakers and would love to switch in my Northcreek Speakers but need to wrap them in a felt sock before I do. For now they are used for critical music listening in my bonus room.
> 
> https://www.avsforum.com/forum/155-diy-speakers-subs/646455-diy-gallery-38.html#post30043625
> 
> Stewart Luxus Delux StudioTek 130 G3 49" x 115", 125" Diagonal, Cinemascope 2.35 Aspect Ratio,
> JVC DLA-RS500 Projector, Marantz AV7705 Processor, Monolith, B & K and Crown Amps,
> Oppo UDP-203 4K Ultra Blu-ray player, Lumagen Radiance Pro 4242 4K video processor.
> Infinity Composition Prelude P-FR, P-CC w/AuraSound - 10" NS10-513-4A, and P-QPS, 4 ea. Infinity Cascade Model Three V's, 2 ea. NCM DIY Okara II, TC Sounds LMS Ultra 5400 18" and 2 ea. TC Sounds LMS-R 15".


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## jayhawk

Im in the throughs of two layers of type X, channel on the ceiling and green glue (3rd bucket)

(Basement) 
Metal studs, 24 o.c.


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## hsvtoolfool

Hi, my name is ToolFool. I am a recovering Martin Logan addict. I've been clean and sober for over 8 years now....


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## PNW_George

Nice!



hsvtoolfool said:


> Hi, my name is ToolFool. I am a recovering Martin Logan addict. I've been clean and sober for over 8 years now....


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## jayhawk

hsvtoolfool said:


> Hi, my name is ToolFool. I am a recovering Martin Logan addict. I've been clean and sober for over 8 years now....


I had the oddessys .....leaning towards b&w 802s when done with the room,


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## dfw_pilot

jayhawk said:


> .....leaning towards b&w 802s when done with the room,


*PREACH*


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## jayhawk

jayhawk said:


> Soundbars are a compromise.
> 
> I'm in the middle of building decoupled walls /soffits in the basement ....greenglue, clips, sealing outlets, cans etc. Not a theater but a room where I can enjoy 2-3 channel as loud as I want without interfering above.


Here is a little example - 3 min video of how/why etc 
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jayh...taanalytics-activity-6688954286858104832-qgUj

Here is another 2 min video i did that is often overlooked 
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jayh...-homeoffice-activity-6660901348818644995-TySu

and ceiling tip (decoupling)
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jayh...orkfromhome-activity-6658403971675275264-6bgy

do drop me comment on those (on linkedin) so i know who you are etc :thumbup:


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## BadDogPSD

The house we bought in Jan of this year has a home theater. 120" screen, Epson projector (not 4k), Denon 4500 receiver, Energy speakers (7.1). We are debating doing some upgrades this winter to a 4k system. It's fun but not sure we use it enough to justify spending the .money.


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## JayGo

Keeping this thread alive....

This is a cool thread. I knew there had to be some home theater folks in the group.

I've always been a bit of an audiophile myself. I used to install home theaters when I was in college and even worked for Kenwood USA for a couple of years.

Currently, I'm running a 5.1.4 Atmos set up.
Marantz SR7012
Klipsch Reference Bookshelves and Center for 5-channel
Klipsch R-41SA for Atmos
Velodyne 10" front-fire sub
Pioneer Elite Pro-150HD as my monitor

Stumbled on this when looking to see if anyone had Bowers & Wilkins 700 or 600 series speakers. I'm looking to upgrade my sound and probably my video, too, now that native 4K is finally a thing.


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## DFWdude

Here is my theater that I finished up almost a year ago. 7.3.4 with 18 total speakers and over 1,100 feet of speaker wire. The triple 18" subs make it a true experience


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## Kallgren

Lot of nice setup's, I'm a bit pedestrian. Sharp 65" tele, Marantz receiver, Paradigm speakers (front, center and rear), velodyne subwoofer. The "piece-de-resistance" is the VPI Scout turntable and Shiite pre-amplifier. The table is sporting a Benz Ace stylus and sound is outstanding, particularly through a set of old ADC 2-way speakers in the dining room.

For comfort, we have an old broken down futon, but easy to clean crumbs up and dog friendly.





It in the basement so some additional sundry items and junk in the photo.


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## jasonbraswell

DFWdude said:


> Here is my theater that I finished up almost a year ago. 7.3.4 with 18 total speakers and over 1,100 feet of speaker wire. The triple 18" subs make it a true experience


nice! that wiring and rack look very clean :thumbup:


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## PNW_George

A few upgrades to my basement theater; New JVC DLA-RS2000 Native 4K Projector with Panamorph DCR-J1 Anamorphic lens, new Stewart StudioTek 130 G4, 115" x 49" (125 diag.) 2.35:1 Aspect Ratio, repainted room, and changed out my distracting overhead lights for recessed lighting. I am reusing my existing Lumagen Radiance Pro 4242 video Processor and have had everything professionally calibrated by Kris/DeepDiveAV.


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## Kissfromnick




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## PNW_George

Beautifully done!



Kissfromnick said:


>


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## GA250

ctrav said:


> I have had many versions of home theater setups (2-1, 3-1,5-1), separate components and now settled on SONOS. My SONOS journey started with one speaker and has evolved. For me it sounds excellent and it just works! Big investment :shock:


What SONOS setup did you settle with? I have been reading reviews but like anything can be a lil overwhelming


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## kc8qpu092200

Anyone using B&W speakers? Are they even considered a top notch brand still?


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## PNW_George

JVC announced a new line of Laser Projectors that have created a lot of buzz in the Home Theater community. Think I'll bite, already sold my DLA-RS2000 and am on a list for a DLA-RS3100/DLA-NZ8.

_Three new models feature JVC's BLU-Escent laser light source; compatible with HDR10+.
LONG BEACH, CA., September 1, 2021 - An all-new JVC home theater projector line highlights three models boasting a laser light source, and are the world's first projectors to offer 48Gbps 8K inputs.
The new laser projectors feature new LSIs and JVC's proprietary 8K/e-shift technology that enables the input and display of 8K high-definition images, while JVC's BLU-Escent laser light source reproduces images with greater precision and dynamic range on large screens.
The three new JVC laser projectors are available in both the Procision Series and Reference Series lines. They are the Procision Series DLA-NZ9, DLA-NZ8, and DLA-NZ7, and the Reference Series DLA-RS4100, DLA-RS3100, and the DLA-RS2100._


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## Boy_meets_lawn

I've decided to finally build out my media room which I had been using for an office/music room.

I will be doing the build and installation myself. I have had various setups starting back as early as high school when my parents got me a home theater in a box for my birthday, but this will be my first dedicated room.

Planning a 9.2.4 setup with Triad speakers and Rythmik subs. The room will be fully treated and finished with fabric wall and a fiber optic star ceiling.


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## jayhawk

kc8qpu092200 said:


> Anyone using B&W speakers? Are they even considered a top notch brand still?


Good question....On my list ( the 802s I think )


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## jayhawk

PNW_George said:


> JVC announced a new line of Laser Projectors that have created a lot of buzz in the Home Theater community. Think I'll bite, already sold my DLA-RS2000 and am on a list for a DLA-RS3100/DLA-NZ8.
> 
> _Three new models feature JVC's BLU-Escent laser light source; compatible with HDR10+.
> LONG BEACH, CA., September 1, 2021 - An all-new JVC home theater projector line highlights three models boasting a laser light source, and are the world's first projectors to offer 48Gbps 8K inputs.
> The new laser projectors feature new LSIs and JVC's proprietary 8K/e-shift technology that enables the input and display of 8K high-definition images, while JVC's BLU-Escent laser light source reproduces images with greater precision and dynamic range on large screens.
> The three new JVC laser projectors are available in both the Procision Series and Reference Series lines. They are the Procision Series DLA-NZ9, DLA-NZ8, and DLA-NZ7, and the Reference Series DLA-RS4100, DLA-RS3100, and the DLA-RS2100._


I like that they don't require as much distance!


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## jerrywil

What are the best speakers for the home theater?
What brand should i look at closely? At the moment i read sony reviews on this website.
Any other options i should consider? Thanks in advance.


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## Boy_meets_lawn

jerrywil said:


> What are the best speakers for the home theater?


Everyone has different listening preferences so this is very subjective. I suggest auditioning as many different speakers as possible within your budget. That said you probably can’t go wrong with most of the big names as long as the spin data looks good they should perform as expected in a well treated space.


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## BryGrass

Well, nice thread. Glad its been kept alive. I bought a house in 2021 and it had a dedicated theater room in it. They did however remove all the equipment. I would not call myself an Audiophile but i do like good sound when viewing video or listening to music and I have always kept some sort of system around for TV and music. But learning the higher end of actual theater equipment was eye opening. 

Denon - AVR-X6700H 8K Ultra HD 11.2 Channel (140 Watt X 11) 
Acoustically transparent screen 160" Framed
Sony - VW325ES 4K SXRD Home Theater Projector with HDR 

Speakers - All speakers in wall 11.1 system I think) 
8 speakers out in seating area (episode)
3 speakers behind screen (KEF)
1 Sub (SuperCube)
Definitive Technology - Super Cube 2000 7-1/2" 650W Powered Sub woofer - Black (Ive never seen such clean base come from such a small device) Behind screen 
KEF - Ci4100QL-THX Speaker - White x3 behind the screen 

I can say I don't think I would have ever made a theater room of any kind. But now that we have had it I will always want one. The experiences in the theater with the family are awesome and I really love spending the time with kiddos and wife in there. Not to mention ball games are amazing to watch.


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## BryGrass

jerrywil said:


> What are the best speakers for the home theater?


I was also new to all this when I put a room together, but one thing I think I learned was its all up to you. What one person likes may not be what you like. Also, the sound has a lot to do with the room its going to fill. You can go to big for some rooms.


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## caddyshack4reel

I am extremely jealous of the home theater setups you guys have. Absolutely stunning. Any before and after pics of the rooms that got transformed into the theaters? Do you have to try and insulate the walls differently for better sound proofing?


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## jayhawk

caddyshack4reel said:


> I am extremely jealous of the home theater setups you guys have. Absolutely stunning. Any before and after pics of the rooms that got transformed into the theaters? Do you have to try and insulate the walls differently for better sound proofing?


In my case, more important is mass (density), isolation and air tight room if you don't want piss off adjoining rooms. Insulation (covered) isn't the needle mover (significant)


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## Boy_meets_lawn

caddyshack4reel said:


> I am extremely jealous of the home theater setups you guys have. Absolutely stunning. Any before and after pics of the rooms that got transformed into the theaters? Do you have to try and insulate the walls differently for better sound proofing?


To truly isolate a room is a huge and expensive task. You are talking building a room inside a room with an air gap, sealed doors on each side, multiple layers of decoupled thick drywall, dedicated hvac, etc.. It takes feet of insulation to reduce the transmission of bass frequencies which is impractical for most applications. Most people unless they are building from scratch are stuck with making the best with what they have. 

The insulation you typically see on walls for home theater in the form of panels is to reduce sound reflections and decay to improve imaging and clarity.


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