My Home theater Page

I am slowly writing up my home theater and articles that ouline the decisions I used to come to my final arrangment. I am doing it all with an eye to kepeing the ocsts reasonable. That is why I call my page cheapdaveshometheater.com.

I have written reviews on the individual components and I am working on posting more pittures of my system.

So if it is Ok to put a link to it here it is:
Cheap Dave's Home Theater

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Ok I have added some pictures of the construction of my HT. (mainly links)

A blurry picture from LOTR
home theater picture

My projection room:
Projection Room

My cool HT couch:
couch2

More picture links
Cheap Dave's HT pictures

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My Equipment List:

Sony Cineza HS10 LCD Projector
1366x768,this baby rocks in HD!! Paid $1,200 for it.
Pioneer VSX-1015TX Receiver
Old TOshiba 5 disc player
2 NHT in-wall 8" subs
3 Audio Source in-wall AS8S speakers L/R/C -3-way 8"
4 NHT Super Zero for surround and rear speakers

Total spent on new equipment: Less than $2,000.

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I am getting ready to build a platform for my rear seats and I am planning to incorporate a sub into it.

I am probably going to use 2 15" drivers and a plate amplifier. That should add some extreme low end boom to my room. It will also free up my in-wall subs for the less demanding stuff and I will take some of the bottom end out of my front Left Right and Center speakers to try to make the dialog a little more clear.

I am also trying to get a little bit of the "butt kicker" effect in those rear seats. Should be fun for the kiddies.

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I am looking at doing a secondary system in my living room. It is a very large room but it won't be my main system so I won't try to do the whole HT experience.

I am looking at the Vizio 50" plasma, and Klipsch speakers. ANybody have any suggestions.

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One if the really cool things about my HT is that at the back of the room I have a 5' x 16' projection room. It runs the whole width of the HT. I have all my equipment in here. There is plenty of room for a component rack set sideways so I can get to both sides of my components.

There is even room back here for a desk and computer, mini-fridge, microwave and all of my movies.

The extra wall also acts as a double sound wall (it has rockwool insulation in it) to give more sound separation to from the rest of the house.

I use a RF remote extender to control everything.

It is cool when you get to build from scratch, you can do it however you want!

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David

I like what you have done with the screen speakers, but there way to close to the floor. Now if that is a perforated screen place those screen speakers about 2/3 of the height of the screen, and the sub bass below the centre channel.

Not too sure if you have constructed a (THX baffle wall) here but at least you have got the front loudspeakers matching where most others mismatch the concept.

Also the width of the image and the positioning of the screen speakers should be kept within the (scope frame) W/S films don’t correct too easily has they do in the cinema has this is done on the vertical instead of the horizontal, but just so you know get those loudspeakers up where they belong.

“You haven’t heard anything yet...”
Al Jolson, “The Jazz Singer” 1927 the first talkie to use sound Vitaphone and JBL.


You might what to look into active crossovers units for the screen speakers, and EQ with 1/3 octave, and multiple surrounds.

When it comes to surround information I decided to employ the JBL control 1, for my home cinema, up till now I have installed around x8 JBL control 1, x2 on each sidewall and x4 on the back wall, with a further x8 more to install.

Now forget dipolar and bipolar loudspeakers waste of time and money giving there performance, I have tried with bipolar, and decided the results where far less than surround, with to many holes in the sound, I surly wasn’t going to shell out on other pair and so on, not at there silly prices.

Anyway that’s history now, and with x5 JBL control 5 placed at the front and a one 18” THX approved JBL 4645 with a newer 18” sub bass driver 2242H, which I have been running for the past 9 years sounds like cinema sub bass, and not that honky phoney sound that you get with those whippy size home cinema subs, although I do own one, the Eltax A R-12, but the JBL 4645, is light-years ahead, and when the U.S.S. Enterprise goes to warp 2 the feel is wonderful or the Millennium Falcon going to hyperspace, with a jolt of 115dbc, the max level I have played it back at was 120dbc on the afterburners where turned on, the SR-71 black bird in “Final Approach” WOW!

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My front speakers are as close to the bottom of the "screen" as they can be. I am using the white wall as the screen. AS this room was purpose built I made sure that wall was very flat and has no texture. So it works great as a screen. (the in-wall speakers do have directional tweeters and I have aimed those towards the listener)

The subs are in-wall NHT subs and I installed them per their recommendations. So close to the front corner and the second one is about 2/3 of the way dwon the right wall.

My rears and sides are mounted on the wall as I didn't want to cut into these sound insulated walls as I figure that would defeat the purpose.

Using my projectors many modes I can usually get the most normal picture and come pretty close to filling the vertical height of the screen area. I have a power zoom on the projector so for extreme widescreen I zoom out until it fills the height. So it is really wide screen (not letterbox).

Thanks for the tips.

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I am not the biggest NFL football fan but it looks so good in HD on the big screen that I may watch a lot more of it this year.

I think a lot of people overlook the capability of these projectors to throw a really great HD picture. With more content coming out all the time, and Blu-Ray and HD-DVD here now don't underestimate how much time you might spend just mesmorized by HDTV on your HT.

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Here is a picture of my projection room when I was setting it up.

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David:

Nice looking setup. It is great to see someone else who used the idea of a pitched ceiling. I saw something similar in a store once and fell in love with the look.

The only thing that I would add is some sort of black border around the projected image. That would really make the image stand out on your painted white wall.

Parker

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Thanks. I had kind of a strange sloped ceiling in that room (half a cathedral ceiling). So while I was framing I made it peak in the center. We also did stars on the ceiling, which is a cool effect.

I have black at the top and bottom. But I use the zoom to adjust for aspect ratio so I can't do it on the sides. My plan is to have curtains (with a built in hard, straight edge). So I will adjust my screen just like the movie theater.

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hi david, this is a very nice setup.

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That's awesome man. What's the total cost for the project?

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All of the electronics for my system were less than $2,000 total (including $1,200 for the projector). I never figured the cost of the room. I needed to finish that anyway ;-)

the carpet was about $800 and the seats were $1500.So less than $5000.

The room is 16' x 17' with a 5' wide projection room running the full width at the back. This acts as a sound buffer to the rest of the house (and a little office too).

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Where did you make your webpage at? Also please post more pictures as you change or update things. I enjoyed checking out some of your site and your set up.

Thanks

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A friend of mine set up my web page. He is a real wiz*. He hosts it for me too. It is very easy to update and add articles.

I need to add more pictures. My next big project is a rear riser/subwoofer.

You can see more of his stuff at http://gwally.com

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Wow nice set up David. I hope you enjoy it

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David. Very nice work, but don't advertise your frugality. If my wife ever finds out, she'll be asking me why I can't keep the costs down a bit more. Bad for everyone here.

Seriously. Nice setup. Congrats!

Gunny

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I know that many on this forum are not my "target" audience. I like the screen that you made. Oviously you didn't spend $2000+ as you would have on a high end screen. I assume you saved money on the screen to buy more BHS (Big Honkin' Speakers).

My thing is just that you should decide where you want to spend your money. (don't let some radio shack geek tell you that you need $125 HDMI cables).

Thanks for looking and sharing your HT.

One question, why didn't you hang your projector?

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I didn't originally build the room out with a projector in mind. I started with a 65" Mits 65809. When I added the projector, I just didn't feel like cutting into the ceiling. I am a technical creature. I have zero drywall skills.

Gunny

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I agree!

But I commend your work. Very impressive!

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WHo said anything about drywall. You can get a mount. Then you just need some lag bolts or something anchored into a joist. Or you can build a shelf. I have done it both ways.

To mount from the ceiling you need the projector upside down.

Of course I am one to talk, I haven't put in my permanent shelf in this theater yet. I do all kinds of crummy adjustments with wads of paper.

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My next project in my home theater will be a rear platform/subwoofer. I will be doing research here for ideas. I may make it a low riser to put a couch on. Or I may make it the seat so I have that whole volume for the sub. Probably 2x15" drivers.

There are lots of things to think about. Folded horn? Ported or sealed. powered or passive.

I want some low bass 20-40hz. But I also want to get the "butt kicker" effect for the back row. So I will probably violate some of the basic subwoofer rules. IE I want vibration instead of the usual super dead subwoofer.

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After tonight's movie (Heat) I really want a little more ohmph in my system. I want sneaky bass. The kind that isn't there all the time. But when something blows up you almost jump.

I did have that kind of reaction watching King Kong. The is one seen with Kong where he slams his fist down so hard that you jump.

So that was good I just want it a little more often.

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I would want all of my cable to run throuth the ceiling, so I figured that would involve drywall work. As it stands, I'm happy with what I have. Since my room is primarily dedicated to movies [and football] I wasn't overly concerned with the aesthetics.

PS - My SVS PB12 Plus has all the bass I could ever imagine needing, sneaky or otherwise.

Happy viewing!

Gunny

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I want my sub to combine really tight bass with a ride at Unversal Studios. Move along folks nothing to see here and then WHAM!! Out of the blue you get hit by a mack truck. I want the really deep, deep bass to rock your world. So as opposed to a really dead enclosure I might want a little more buzz.

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I understand, and I liked your explanation!

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You just made the list, buddy. Also, I don't like no one touching my stuff. So just keep your meat-hooks off. If I catch any of you guys in my stuff, I'll kill you. And I don't like nobody touching me. Any of you homos touch me, and I'll kill you.
Sergeant Hulka: Lighten up, Francis.

But the sub is my back row. So you sit on it. Big, boom, bang and a comfy seat.

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Uncle Hulka?

I took a look at your web site but could not find any pics of your setup. Did I miss them?