Living room HT setup (1 Viewer)

Hi everyone, this is my first post
I want to set up a HT in my living room
Dimensions are 17 foot length x 18 foot width
I am planning to buy (prices in INR)
- TV - Panasonic 42 inch ET5 series (TH-L42ET5D) ~ 70k (Passive 3D) ~ 1250$
- Onkyo HT - S5400 7.1 Home theater system ~ 50k ~ 900$
- Sony PS3 play bundle ~ 18k ~ 320$
- Logitech harmony 700 Universal remote ~ 6k or 110$ OR Harmony 525 ~ 3k or 55$
I like passive 3d, also panasonic has built in wifi, smart features, not available in other tvs for same price
Onkyo fits the bill for 7.1 as other mix and match setup are very costly (I want to setup everything once and I want 7.1)
Logitech 700 has 6 devices support and good database and learnin too, can control ps3 vis HDMI CEC (confirmed), but 525 though older supports 10 devices.
Other components required are HDMI cable
Also onkyo supplied speaker cable is too short for surround back speakers
My queries are:
1. Which gauge to get - 14 / 16 / 18 / 20?
2. Will it void warranty if I use other cables with Onkyo HT?
3. Should I replace all cables from onkyo Or just surround back?
4. Should I get cable for subwoofer too? I ask this because I have doubt that if I use different cables for each speaker the performance will be affected.
5. Onkyo specifications does not show 24p support, dont know whether its going to be a problem
6. Will Onkyo play apple lossless from ipod? Will PS3 play back apple lossless ripped by Itunes?
7. Is Logitech Harmony 525 supporting 10 devices is better option than Harmony 700? Any user feedback
8. Is 42 inch TV small for my room length (16 foot)? Should I go for 47 inch?
9. Should I place front speakers angled using wall brackets at 60 deg or just fix them on wall?
10. Where should the side and back surronds be ideally placed?

drdsak said:

9. Should I place front speakers angled using wall brackets at 60 deg or just fix them on wall?
10. Where should the side and back surronds be ideally placed?

Click to expand...

This is a handy guide from Dolby on the recommended speaker placement for both 5.1 and 7.1 systems. Hopefully, you have several feet of space between the seating positon and the back wall - the rear surrounds in 7.1 setups work best when they are several feet behind the listener. For the mains, I prefer to have mine "toed in" a bit - I think this improves imaging for music (2 ch) listening, and improves the overall sound experience for the "sweet spot". I see a lot of wall-mounted speakers, however, that cannot be toed in, and no one seems to be complaining. For home theater, I would think it's less critical than for music listening. Fortunately, since you're NOT going with in-wall speakers, you can always experiment with makeshift speaker stands and see if you have a preference one way or another.

Best of luck with your new system - getting everything set up and configured will be a daunting task. We're happy to help with that process, too.

What movie are you planning on watching first on the system?

Thanks Jason
Probably I will watch Dark Knight or Inception
In 3d I will see Avatar or Tintin

Looked up the users manual for that system:
http://www.intl.onkyo.com/downloads/product_info/pdf/ht-s5400_ex_leaflet.pdf
It uses an ONKYO HT-R590 Receiver as the center - so you can upgrade the speakers later if you wish.
The front speakers will take banana plugs in the back....all of the other speakers use spring clips. If you are going to replace the wiring (a good thing to do)- I would go with monoprice wire and set it up yourself.....and do it cheaper...
I found a couple of reviews at newegg from people who own this system, and they complained about the included speaker wire:

The included speaker wire sucks. Buy 100ft of 16 guage wire (my room is 11x11 and 50ft barely cut it).
I used the included wire for my rear surrounds and there is a noticeable difference from the side surrounds I used 16 guage wire with.
The sub cable is really short.

Click to expand...

Cons: The speaker wires that come with the unit are no good. The give you about 25' of ~24 gage wire, which is too short and will put too much strain on the unit. Not a big deal, I had read enough reviews to know this ahead of time and went out and bought 100' of 16 gage wire.

Click to expand...

For the speaker wire - you can get a 100 ft spool of 14 gauge wire for only $22.71
100ft 14AWG CL2 Rated 2-Conductor Loud Speaker Cable (For In-Wall Installation)
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10239&cs_id=1023902&p_id=2820&seq=1&format=2
As mentioned above - both these users went with the smaller 16 gauge wire - and that runs - $14.77
100ft 16AWG CL2 Rated 2-Conductor Loud Speaker Cable (For In-Wall Installation)
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10239&cs_id=1023903&p_id=2823&seq=1&format=2
Banana Plugs for speaker wire - these go into all of the channels in the back of the receiver (7 channels) and into the back of the front left/right speakers who take them:
(9 pairs needed for your system): 9 x $1.53 = $13.77
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10401&cs_id=1040115&p_id=2801&seq=1&format=2
For the speaker ends that use clips - you can either go with the bare wire, or add these:
1 PAIR OF High-Quality Copper (non-banana) Speaker Plugs - Pin Screw Type:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10401&cs_id=1040115&p_id=5975&seq=1&format=2
(5 pairs needed for your system) - 5 X $1.53 = $7.65
You make your own speaker wires using the above....the link to the banana plugs has a "how to" video to show you how easy it is to make your own speaker wire....
As for the sub cable - I'll give you an example of an order based on wire length assumptions. You can follow the links, and get the length of sub cable you need (example is a rather long 25 ft cable)
Sub Cable: $6.53
25ft High-quality Coaxial Audio/Video RCA CL2 Rated Cable - RG6/U 75ohm (for S/PDIF, Digital Coax, Subwoofer & Composite Video)
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10236&cs_id=1023603&p_id=2683&seq=1&format=2
Grand total for all wire replacement - $50.66 + shipping for the 14 gauge wire, $42.72 for the 16 gauge wire .....will be even less if you don't need 25 ft of sub cable....

Hi Martino
Thank you your helpful reply and links