# Components for a small home theater?



## Guest (Aug 27, 2008)

I have a small room my wife is letting my make an entertainment room out of. I am planing on having two rows of seats with the back row on a raised platform. At least a place for four people on each row. The front row will be 9 or 10 feet from the screen and the back will be 15 or 16 feet. Any suggestions on screen size? LCD or Projection? Best seating? Best speaker system? Any other comments or suggestions?


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

bawalte1981 said:


> Any suggestions on screen size? LCD or Projection? Best seating? Best speaker system? Any other comments or suggestions?


First of all Welcome to the Shack!

For that size room no larger than a 110" is my recommendation using projection I have a 96" and sit about the same distance away and its perfect and doesn't overwhelm you.
It depends on how much you want to spend that will decide what kind of projector you will end up with as little as $700 all the way up to and well past $3000.
FOr speakers there are so many to choose form, listen to as many as you can and dont go to cheep. Bookshelves do a great job for the surrounds but my personal preference for the mains is some small towers. SVS makes a great package for as little as $1500 that includes a good sub.
For a receiver the Onkyo TX SR805 seems to be the one of choice and offeres alot of quality and bang for buck.

Hope this helps.


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## acommonsoul (Jan 30, 2008)

I agree with the last statement about SVS's surround sytem. They make great subs and pretty good speakers.....what is your budget? For a little more money you could get some bigger speakers that would make a huge difference. My personal favorite for high end that is fairly cheap is Definitive Technology. They make great speakers for the price...except their subs, over priced for what you get. A pair of Deftech Bipolar towers would sound great for a home theater. The Bipolar really works magic, in my opinion because it creates a hugs sound stage......I don't know too much about projectors so I can't help you there.


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## nova (Apr 30, 2006)

Do you have a budget in mind? I could easily spend $20,000 on your speakers and projector, then you'd still need seating and a screen. Do you already have a receiver or separates? 

If you give us a little more info you'll get lots of ideas and suggestions :bigsmile:


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## Guest (Aug 28, 2008)

I'm tying to keep it under 10,000. I've been looking at a Mitsubishi HC4900 and an Onkyo reciever.


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## mayhem13 (Feb 2, 2008)

Mitsu HC5500 has a lot of improvements over the HC4900 like 1080p/24f and Silicone Optix Vchip. For $2500 sounds like a good foundation for an awesome theater. Does your budget include the seating or just AV ?


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## Guest (Sep 1, 2008)

The 10,000 is going to include the seating also. But i'm thinking of just going with two couches, and not expensive theater seats.


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## mayhem13 (Feb 2, 2008)

Since Video will be the centerpiece here, the Mitsu projector is a good budget minded choice. For a Fixed Frame screen and some BIG savings check the DIY screen section. There are some guys over there with extensive knowledge of optics and light. The screens are easy to construct and results often rival or best production screens at more than twice the price. Figuring Projector, Screen, Cables, BlueRay playback figure $4k for Video. Does that sound Doable?


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## Guest (Sep 23, 2008)

Or get a Carada screen, awesome screen for half the price of competitors, internet direct. I have one and its beautiful, got the gray since I have beige walls and can't paint them.

I'm a fan of DLP and love my W5000 here's the calculator for you 
http://www.projectorcentral.com/BenQ-W5000-projection-calculator-pro.htm
The new firmware fixes all the bugs so its a rock solid proj now. Of course of you don't like DLP then the other budget 1080p I'd suggest is the Epson 1080UB (3LCD) its also been on the market a little while so its bugs should be all worked out as well.

Go with the Onkyo if they are a good price/performance company.

Speakers are another topic and I'd suggest just going around town and finding what you like. It is the most subjective choice I now people that think their new equipment that they bought is broken, (Cowon D2) because they are so used to a different sound that a good reproduction of sound actually sounds bad, they where so used to their sound being colored to be "warm" - describing audio is hard.

Seating your on your own, your talking to a guy who still sleeps on a couch cause he thinks its more comfortable than all the beds he's tried.


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## Guest (Oct 16, 2008)

tonyvdb said:


> First of all Welcome to the Shack!
> 
> For that size room no larger than a 110" is my recommendation using projection I have a 96" and sit about the same distance away and its perfect and doesn't overwhelm you.
> It depends on how much you want to spend that will decide what kind of projector you will end up with as little as $700 all the way up to and well past $3000.
> ...


So you don't mind the large screen when your in the front row?
I am building a theater and my front row will be 8.5", and the second 13. The first row will be my main seat and I was wondering just how large i can go?


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## salvasol (Oct 31, 2006)

j12ramse said:


> I am building a theater and my front row will be 8.5", and the second 13. The first row will be my main seat and I was wondering just how large i can go?


Use this  Viewing distance calculator  to have an idea :yes:


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## Guest (Oct 17, 2008)

salvasol said:


> Use this  Viewing distance calculator  to have an idea :yes:


I was wondering if anyone had thoughts on this from experience. The calculator has the screen size at 8.5' as 76"s, and that seems small.


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