# Getting ready to put together my first...



## Guest (Aug 12, 2006)

Getting ready to put together my first home theater.

I am buying a new home with a partially finished basement, and I plan to finish it the rest of the way.










I plan to add a bar, Video Area and a home office to what you see. Interesting point, it has 9' ceilings. (drywall finished)




The TV I already own is the:

JVC HD-ILA Micro-display Television 
HD-61Z575 (Link)










Ok - so I have the TV.... I also have a Samsung DVD / VCR player. What else do I need for a halfway decent setup? I dont want to spend a fortune, but I ahve money to spend.


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## Alan Brown (Jun 7, 2006)

Joeychgo,

Welcome to the forum. Are you going to provide a dedicated room for your home theater? A "video area" is not necessarily a home theater. Partitioning off a dedicated space for movie viewing has many advantages. A multi-purpose space that is open to the rest of the basement can also provide much enjoyment of your video and sound system. Such setups invariably compromise ultimate system performance in one way or many. Of course, you will need an HDTV signal source and a surround sound system. 

Ideally, you should sit down with a qualified and experienced professional for an interview. This will eliminate a lot of wasted time and give you informed advice on options that suit your entertainment lifestyle and budget. If you need to pay for their consulting time, it will be well worth it in the long run. Find someone who has been formally trained in acoustics and imaging science (HAA, THX, ISF, JKP, AVPro, etc.). They should be able to provide several references and be members of CEDIA.

Best regards and beautiful pictures,
Alan Brown, President
CinemaQuest, Inc.
ISF, THX, SMPTE, CEDIA

"Advancing the art and science of electronic imaging"


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

"I have money to spend"... let's get to spending it then... lol.

The pic might be deceiving, but that looks like a BIG area there. I'm with Alan here... are you planning on dividing it up? If you want to really do it right, I would consider enclosing an area solely for HT... you won't regret it. Once you experience your own HT room, you'll then wonder why you ever went to a movie theater... and may not ever go again.

That's a nice 61" display you have now, but I'm not sure it would be big enough for a dedicated home theater room. I've seen a few use the smaller display size, but generally I think of a bigger screen... like 92" or bigger for HT. You can get stunning video quality these days with a $1500 front projector... I mean truly stunning.

If you have a budget this might help us make some better suggestions for you. Plus tell us a little more about what you are willing to do with the room. How big is it now?


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## Guest (Aug 15, 2006)

Yes, its a big area - but I am going to section off a home office in there, so that will shrink it up a bit.


Home Theater might be a misnomer on my part. Lets say I want an upgraded television viewing experience with decent audio.

As far as budget, Im not likely to spend a grand per speaker, but spending a grand or two in order to buy the components I need isnt out of the question.

I dont know if a simple surround sound is all I need, or if I should do more. ??? This is all a bit new to me.


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

For a couple of thousand and using your current display, you can do fairly well.

I say go for a fairly respectable receiver (Denon, Yamaha, NAD... there are numerous ones out there) and something like the SVS SBS-01 system like we are giving away. I had this system in my great room connected to a Yamaha receiver for a while and it does very well... I am currently using it in my home theater room, with different subs, and of course a completely different component setup. However, when I was using the provided sub (which has now been upgraded and improved)... I watched War of the Worlds in the great room and it was awesome. These speakers have a big sound. For my movie watching experience the system didn't seem lacking in any respect. It might not please the most critical of music listeners, but for the average person, it would be fine.

You could do this for less than 2 grand pretty easily.


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## Guest (Aug 15, 2006)

so your saying I should start with a decent surround sound system and upgrade that ?


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## Alan Brown (Jun 7, 2006)

Joeychgo, 

Your room can have a significant effect upon the performance of both the sound and picture. If you don't at least partition off a section of the area in your picture for your entertainment system, all you'll have is big reverberant chamber that will sort of scramble up the sound from your speakers like a big blender. Lighting and wall colors can reflect off of the TV screen and contaminate the picture. Even with all the lights off, bright scenes in a program can illuminate objects in the room which will reflect off the screen. In photography, that's called a double exposure.:rubeyes: 

If you want to watch a movie but someone else needs to work in the office, each will likely serve to distract the other. Hardware manufactureres rarely mention how important the room is to the performance of their gear. The room has to be considered as seriously as any other component in the system, if you want your hardware investment to provide all its value. 

These issues are typical reasons why hiring a professional consultant for a couple of hours is fundamentally wise. If you don't have access to anyone of sufficient expertise, you will need to study quite a bit and seek what advice you can from this and other forums. Then you will have to sort through all the opinion and decide what fits your circumstances. Since this is new to you, you have no foundational understanding from which to make judgements about what really will work for you in your room or not. Electronic imaging and acoustics are both sciences. Human visual and aural perception are also sciences. Most home entertainment consumers, and even some in the business, rely on intuition and what they've heard or seen elsewhere. Anecdotal encounters and intuition are not reliable system design strategies.:spam: 

If all this sounds too complex and difficult for you, and you don't think your "video area" is really worth it, then it probably isn't.:work: In that case, you will probably be satisfied with something much more simple and less expensive.:surrender: We each have differing priorities that are fully legitimate and may conflict with someone else's. Home theater forum folks tend to be exceptionally preoccupied with the details and complexities of system performance.:scratchhead: I always assume a forum member wants to understand the whys and wherefores behind home theater design elements. 

This ain't rocket science (it comes close sometimes) but it ain't tiddlywinks either. The difference between a well-designed home theater and a haphazzard assembly of equipment is the difference between goosebumps and yawns.

Best regards and beautiful pictures,
Alan Brown, President
CinemaQuest, Inc.
ISF, THX, SMPTE, CEDIA

"Advancing the art and science of electronic imaging"


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

Joeychgo said:


> so your saying I should start with a decent surround sound system and upgrade that ?


Yeah, pretty much. When you start talking spending a grand or two, you are limiting yourself to such as I suggested. 

I agree with what Alan is saying too, but I think you've pretty much answered the question with your budget. Plus, you did say you were going to divide off the room. If at all possible, see if you can keep the home theater area sealed off fairly well from the rest of the room. IOW's don't just throw up a cheap partition that's not sealed off. You can do this and somewhat prepare yourself for the future... for when you want to go all out and get that cream puff system. Don't kid yourself either, you will probably end up getting the bug and wanna do a fully bonafide HT room eventually. Once you get a little taste of it, it usually snags ya.

You can start with a simple system, yet it will still be a nice setup that a lot of people would be completely happy with for a long time. Once you decided to go big, you can move the system to your bedroom or another room somewhere in the home. This stuff spreads like a disease throughout the house, with a lot of people.


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## JCD (Apr 20, 2006)

I thought I'd throw another idea into the mix.. consider going with a 2.1 setup for now. 

You've "limited" yourself to $1-2k for speakers. You can get some "pretty decent" speakers for that kind of green (I've heard good things about the SVS setup Sonnie mentioned), but you might be more satisfied with "good" speakers if you poured the money into 2 speakers (and a sub) rather than 5 speakers (and a sub). 

Granted, you lose out on the surround effects, but there are many who would prefer a "good" 2 channel system over a "pretty decent" 5 channel system, even for movies. As funds and inclination permit, you can round out your system to a 4.1 system and finally a 5.1 system.. ****, even a 7.1 system if you're so inclined. Also, if you already have a pair of speakers (even of lesser quality), maybe throw those in as your surrounds for the time being.

I also think Alan Brown's advice is excellent. Consulting a professional for a 2 hour meeting is a great idea, especially for someone unfamiliar with many of the issues involved in setting up a room. And please, as Alan mentions, don't underestimate the effect a room has on the sound of a system. Decent speakers in a properly set up room will completely outshine Great speakers in a bad room. 

Also, I was wondering if you could clarify the following:



> As far as budget, I'm not likely to spend a grand per speaker, but spending a grand or two in order to buy the components I need isn't out of the question.


I wanted to know what you meant by "Components". Does this include the video display (whether it's a TV or projector) or if you thought you were going to spend the 1-2k on the receiver.

In any case, I'm wickedly jealous that you have a basement to play with -- and it looks like's it's almost ready for a hometheater with the decor as is.

JCD


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