# Go with this installer or do DIY?



## oclor (Oct 4, 2013)

Hello, my first post. I am finally out of school, just bought my first house which is pre-wired for surround with cac6 cables. I have saved up enough money for a home theater setup and am willing to spend ~$2000. I already have my TV (60" Panasonic ST60) and now I'm trying to get the rest. 

The guy who pre-wired my house does installs and has offered me the following quote. Please let me know if this is a good deal, or if I should do a DIY. 

This would be for my living room. I have an xbox 360, apple tv, blueray player, and will get a next gen game console at the end fo the year.

4 in-wall/ in-ceiling speakers -- Kevlar Pinnacle’s 
1 center channel suspended speaker bar -- episode LCR 
1 10 inch subwoofer
HDMi balun set
Onkyo 626 Stereo
TV mount
Speaker mount for Center channel
1 RF MX890 Universal remote control with base station
Closet rack
4 HDMI cables
Cable terminations

And Labor



*$2505.00*


----------



## Tonto (Jun 30, 2007)

What kind of room are you working with? A dedicated room or something like a living room? If you could post some pics, that would help a lot.


----------



## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

are you set on in wall speakers? generally sound quality is always a compromise. Also the 10" sub is not going to fill a space much larger than a small bedroom so I suspect its way under sized.


----------



## oclor (Oct 4, 2013)

I'm very new to this, so how big of a sound quality compromise are we talking about? The reason I would prefer in-wall speakers is that I will be selling this house in 3 years (I'm military) and think it would be better if I had in wall speakers that I left in for the buyer as incentive. 

The room is my living room. The house has an open floor plan so it's open to the kitchen as you see in this picture. 

I really appreciate the help guys, please let me know what you think and what you would recommend! Thanks!










http://imageshack.us/a/img694/3109/qy65.jpg


----------



## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

The problem with in walls is that they rely on the wall cavity to act as the speakers box, this is rarely good for the sound. A standard speaker can be placed in exactly the right spot giving much better imaging as well as the box has been designed exactly for the drivers used for much better sound.

The sub also needs to be built solid and the bigger the better. Of course budget is important. 
The receiver can be bought from here and you will save a bundle. This Onkyo get top marks and is not that pricy.
http://www.accessories4less.com/mak...-Ch-THX-Certified-Network-A/V-Receiver/1.html


----------



## Tonto (Jun 30, 2007)

We are really into this hobby, we understand that everybody has different expectations/likes/budgets. This is the kind of hobby that grows on you as time passes. What's great today, over time...you find out that what you like/want now it different. So it's easy for us to say, don't get that or that because we have been there. Tony is right in that it boils down to budget & room layout (why I requested pictures earlier). It gets us in the ball park so we know whats realistic for you.


----------



## NBPk402 (Feb 21, 2012)

I would forgo the in wall speakers and just put speaker jacks on the walls for your speakers.


----------



## lcaillo (May 2, 2006)

I am very much the hobbyist but I did in wall speakers because they are practical and sound ok. Not as good as free standing speakers, but to get the most out of any speaker you have to place it carefully, and we just don't have the priority for that kind of placement. 5 in wall speakers and two IB subs in the ceiling and it sounds pretty good.


----------



## cavchameleon (Jan 7, 2008)

I'm also in the same agreement that the majority of folks out there would prefer in-walls. I myself prefer traditional speaker boxes (and is what we have in our main media room) but for some other rooms we used in-walls due to WAF. As Leonard states, it's not the best but does sound pretty decent and works well. For the OP, it is probably the best option (you won't have to pack up all your stuff and transport it in 3 years, unless that option it not an inconvenience for you).


----------



## selden (Nov 15, 2009)

> Hello, my first post. I am finally out of school, just bought my first house which is pre-wired for surround with cac6 cables.


 Do you mean that Cat-6 cables were run for the speakers already? (I assume "cac" is a typo. "Cat" is an abbreviation for "Category".) Or just that those were _some_ of the pre-run wires? Speakers need much heavier gauge wiring than Cat-6 provides. Cat-6 is best used for networking, telephones, and as an alternative to long runs of HDMI cabling if appropriate adapters (aka baluns) are used. 



> I have saved up enough money for a home theater setup and am willing to spend ~$2000. I already have my TV (60" Panasonic ST60) and now I'm trying to get the rest.
> 
> The guy who pre-wired my house does installs and has offered me the following quote. Please let me know if this is a good deal, or if I should do a DIY.
> 
> This would be for my living room. I have an xbox 360, apple tv, blueray player, and will get a next gen game console at the end fo the year.


 The 626 has more than enough HDMI inputs for these


> 4 in-wall/ in-ceiling speakers -- Kevlar Pinnacle’s


 In-wall would be better than in-ceiling in terms of the acoustics: movie soundfields assume that the sounds come from around you, not above you. With an open floor plan, though, this might not be possible.


> 1 center channel suspended speaker bar -- episode LCR


I assume you're going for a 5.1 speaker configuration, not 7.1, so that this speaker would be just for the center and would not be used for the left and right front speakers, too. Is that correct?


> 1 10 inch subwoofer


As others have mentioned, a 10" subwoofer is likely to be inadequate for an open floor plan.


> HDMi balun set


 Where will the receiver be located relative to the TV and input devices? If this is just one set, presumably this is for the connection from the receiver to the TV and that your HDMI input devices will have to be relatively close to the receiver.


> Onkyo 626 Stereo
> TV mount
> Speaker mount for Center channel
> 1 RF MX890 Universal remote control with base station
> Closet rack


meaning that the receiver and most "playback" devices will be hidden away. How do you plan to interact with the game systems? If they're connected directly to the TV, bear in mind that most TVs do not forward full surround-sound (only stereo) from the connected devices to an external sound system, so check the manual.


> 4 HDMI cables
> Cable terminations
> 
> And Labor
> ...


That sounds quite reasonable. The list prices of the speakers alone come to about $1.5K.


----------



## oclor (Oct 4, 2013)

selden said:


> Do you mean that Cat-6 cables were run for the speakers already? (I assume "cac" is a typo. "Cat" is an abbreviation for "Category".) Or just that those were _some_ of the pre-run wires? Speakers need much heavier gauge wiring than Cat-6 provides. Cat-6 is best used for networking, telephones, and as an alternative to long runs of HDMI cabling if appropriate adapters (aka baluns) are used.
> 
> The 626 has more than enough HDMI inputs for these In-wall would be better than in-ceiling in terms of the acoustics: movie soundfields assume that the sounds come from around you, not above you. With an open floor plan, though, this might not be possible.I assume you're going for a 5.1 speaker configuration, not 7.1, so that this speaker would be just for the center and would not be used for the left and right front speakers, too. Is that correct?As others have mentioned, a 10" subwoofer is likely to be inadequate for an open floor plan. Where will the receiver be located relative to the TV and input devices? If this is just one set, presumably this is for the connection from the receiver to the TV and that your HDMI input devices will have to be relatively close to the receiver.meaning that the receiver and most "playback" devices will be hidden away. How do you plan to interact with the game systems? If they're connected directly to the TV, bear in mind that most TVs do not forward full surround-sound (only stereo) from the connected devices to an external sound system, so check the manual.That sounds quite reasonable. The list prices of the speakers alone come to about $1.5K.



Thanks for the reply, I'll try to address each comment you made

1. Yes that was a typo, there is cat6 wire. There are also cat5 and audio wires, just a ton of wires behind the walls. The builder had this very installer I'm talking about pre-wire the house for surround sound during construction. From my understanding, I believe the cat6 would be used along with hdmi baluns to get hdmi video to the tv

2. Because of the open floor plan, the two rear speakers would be in-ceiling. There would be one center channel mounted to the tv and 2 in-wall speakers to the side of the tv (5.1)

3. What size sub would you think I need?

4. The receiver as well as all other components will be in a closet in a separate hallway of the house. The closet is close enough for my xbox controller to work I believe. Only the tv will be in the living room.


----------



## selden (Nov 15, 2009)

A 12" subwoofer probably would be appropriate. The installer probably has some reasonable suggestions. Getting everything through him should result in a discount. Like most home entertainment equipment, subs are available at every price point.

If you post his suggestions, I'm sure people here will be willing to provide opinions as to how good they are.


----------



## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Agreed, a 12" sub would be much better however avoid an in wall sub as placement of the sub is even more crucial if you want it to sound good. 
Having the equipment in a closet is great but I can't stress enough how important good airflow will be. If you don't remove the heat generated by all the gear don't expect it to last very long. Vents is not enough it must be forced air using at least a couple fans.


----------

