# New Home theater advice and suggestions



## a.demenezes (Mar 21, 2012)

Dear All,

Need some help deciding on equipment for my home theater.

I am planning to install a home theater system in a family room. This will not be a dedicated theater room but rather an informal living room where the family and close friends can hang out. We will mostly use the system for movies and TV though at times we might listen to music. The room dimensions are 21'4" x 16'2", it has three doors leading into it and 2 large windows. The floor is marble and the walls are made of brick.

The equipment I have finalized so far

Front L&R: Klipsch RB 81 II
Main : Klipsch RC 62 II
Surround Klipsch L&R : RS 52 II
Rear L&R : Klipsch RS 52 II
Media Server: Synology 1513+
Media Player : PS3

What I need to purchase and need advice on:

AVR - which AVR would go well with these speakers? Also should I consider separates?
Projector: tending towards Panasonic. The dealer feels I should go for the Panasonic AR100U as he feels 3D is still not mature and not enough content is available (at least where I live).
Subwoofer: I am tending towards 2 SVS PB12NSD subwoofers.

My budget for the above is about $8000-$10000

I also needed to understand whether I would need to acoustically treat the room, which I assume I will, considering all the room boundaries are highly reflective. So to decide which frequencies I need to tame and which I need to enhance what do I need to do? 

Where I am located we do not have any professional installers so most of the "figuring out" will have to be done by me. So I need to understand to measure the room's response what equipment would I need. Also is it possible to get a good acoustic response without any acoustic treatment as any acoustic paneling will have very low WAF and definitely will not look good aesthetically.

One last thing, I do not want to purchase from internet only companies as I live outside the US and shipping and Customs duties would be prohibitive.


Room Image with dimensions


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## Peter Loeser (Aug 11, 2012)

a.demenezes said:


> What I need to purchase and need advice on:
> 
> AVR - which AVR would go well with these speakers? Also should I consider separates?
> Projector: tending towards Panasonic. The dealer feels I should go for the Panasonic AR100U as he feels 3D is still not mature and not enough content is available (at least where I live).
> Subwoofer: I am tending towards 2 SVS PB12NSD subwoofers.


The Klipsch speakers should have high sensitivity, so you don't need as much receiver/amp power for them to play loud. The Denon AVR-3313 was just suggested in another thread and would probably be a good option for you. Separates are not necessary, and will eat up much more of your budget than a good AVR. In general you can't really go wrong with SVS subs, and a pair will help even out the bass response throughout your room. I would recommend contacting SVS directly and provide them with your room dimensions. They are known for good customer service and should be able to make a good recommendation for you. I'm afraid I cannot offer much advice on a projector, but I do know Panasonic is one of the best options for HT projectors.



> So to decide which frequencies I need to tame and which I need to enhance what do I need to do?


Use REW to measure the response in your room and find any areas that need improvement. Don't forget to trust your ears. What matters is that it sounds good to you.



> Also is it possible to get a good acoustic response without any acoustic treatment as any acoustic paneling will have very low WAF and definitely will not look good aesthetically.


It is possible to improve your response through EQ/DSP and electronic room correction, but certain things can only be fixed with acoustic treatments. There are ways of making acoustic treatments look very nice and blend in with existing furniture and decor.


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## Tonto (Jun 30, 2007)

Your room is going to be highly reflective, which will require a lot of treatment to tame. Since the wife will have issues with treatments, the first thing I would do is listen to the speakers in the room (demo) to make sure they will sound OK. Klipsch horns can be very nice, but I'm afaid they will have the potential to be harsh as reflective as you room is. This will get worse as you turn the volume up.


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## Andre (Feb 15, 2010)

You are not going to hang acoustic panels over the windows so I would go with some heavy floor to ceiling curtains as the treatment of the front side walls.

As Peter said the Klips are very efficient so the 3313 or new x4000 would be a good fit.

Subs: I own the SVS cylinder sub and find it very easy to place

Projector: Panny is the way to go. Your budget would let you upgrade to an 8000u which would give you the option of a 2.4:1 cinemascope screen.

What screen manufacture/material are you you planning...look at Stewart filmscreens. Use the calculators on projectorcentral to calculate screen gain and projector distances to achieve the size you wish


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## a.demenezes (Mar 21, 2012)

Peter Loeser said:


> Use REW to measure the response in your room and find any areas that need improvement. Don't forget to trust your ears. What matters is that it sounds good to you.


Would REW with a Umik-1 be able to measure the room response or would I be needing more equipment (other than the necessary cables of course)?




Peter Loeser said:


> In general you can't really go wrong with SVS subs, and a pair will help even out the bass response throughout your room. I would recommend contacting SVS directly and provide them with your room dimensions. They are known for good customer service and should be able to make a good recommendation for you.


Thanks for the advice, I sent SVS a mail.


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## a.demenezes (Mar 21, 2012)

Andre said:


> You are not going to hang acoustic panels over the windows so I would go with some heavy floor to ceiling curtains as the treatment of the front side walls.
> 
> As Peter said the Klips are very efficient so the 3313 or new x4000 would be a good fit.
> 
> ...


We are going with heavy blackout curtains for the windows so I hope that would take care of it. also we would be adding a few rugs on the floor.

As far as the AVR how does the X4000 compare to the AVR4520CI? I cant decide between the two.

For the screen I plan to use an Elite Screen CineTension 2 92" screen. It has a gain of 1.1.


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## dduncan47 (Mar 16, 2013)

I have a similar set up except with 61's as my L/R fronts. I use the Onkyo 818 and love it. For projector I finally bought the Epson 3020 and couldn't be happier, it was an upgrade from an older Sony. I also built a raised box for my back seating out of 2x8's and carpeted them for better viewing and acoustics. I have an inexpensive 100" screen and am looking to upgrade but I would recommend going larger than 92" unless it's do to other factors. I say this because many movies are shot in different sizes and the larger screen will assist in handling them more comfortably in my opinion.


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## Andre (Feb 15, 2010)

The two denon's are comparible I would only pay the extra money for the 4520 if I was going to eventually upgrade to outboard amps as the 4520s internal amps are all assignable so I could probably use them to power zones outside the HT. The 4520 has a few more connections. 

Have you desided if you are going for 16:9 or Cinescope for your screen? Your gain will depend on which projector you go with, how far it is away form the screen, screen size and ambient light in the room. The calculator at projector central should be of help


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## sdurani (Oct 28, 2010)

a.demenezes said:


> As far as the AVR how does the X4000 compare to the AVR4520CI? I cant decide between the two.


Of the two, I would definitely go for the 4520, partially because it includes two more amp channels. This will allow you to add height speakers (really makes a difference) down the road without having to buy an outboard amp.


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## B- one (Jan 13, 2013)

I think Sonnie is selling his 4250 for $1450. You can check it out in the classifieds.


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## B- one (Jan 13, 2013)

I would also suggest the RC-64. I have one and love it I have RF-63's for left/right. In my opinion it would keep up with the RF-7's better those things are beasts.


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## a.demenezes (Mar 21, 2012)

dduncan47 said:


> I have a similar set up except with 61's as my L/R fronts. I use the Onkyo 818 and love it. For projector I finally bought the Epson 3020 and couldn't be happier, it was an upgrade from an older Sony. I also built a raised box for my back seating out of 2x8's and carpeted them for better viewing and acoustics. I have an inexpensive 100" screen and am looking to upgrade but I would recommend going larger than 92" unless it's do to other factors. I say this because many movies are shot in different sizes and the larger screen will assist in handling them more comfortably in my opinion.


Thanks for the advice on the screen will look at larger options. Will also checkout the Epson 3020.


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## a.demenezes (Mar 21, 2012)

Andre said:


> The two denon's are comparible I would only pay the extra money for the 4520 if I was going to eventually upgrade to outboard amps as the 4520s internal amps are all assignable so I could probably use them to power zones outside the HT. The 4520 has a few more connections.


I won't be doing any zones. Will just use the amp for the home theater applications. For my other rooms for music I have different set of amps and speakers. The kids are too small to have TVs in their own room so that is not an issue now 




Andre said:


> Have you desided if you are going for 16:9 or Cinescope for your screen? Your gain will depend on which projector you go with, how far it is away form the screen, screen size and ambient light in the room. The calculator at projector central should be of help


The Screen will be about 4 meters (13.12') from the seating position. Originally I was planning to get a 92" 16:9 screen but now I am actually now thinking of getting a larger dual screen one with 16:9 and the other with cinescope. Ambient light will not be a big problem as we are getting curtains with blackouts and the windows face a courtyard that doesn't get direct sunlight. I will check out the calculator at projector central.


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## a.demenezes (Mar 21, 2012)

B- one said:


> I think Sonnie is selling his 4250 for $1450. You can check it out in the classifieds.


Will not be viable to get it shipped to where I am at and the warranties would not be valid here.


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