Need help with Home Theater System... (1 Viewer)

[Hell-Razor]

Hey fellas,


I get this thrown on me in the very last minute and I am trying very hard to stop my parents from getting screwed. My background is in car audio (mainly infrasonic builds) so I am used to high excursion, huge power builds and this will not be it so I am kind of out of my "specialty"....


Anyway to the point. My parents are building a new house and they want it to be as wire free as possible. The walls are not up so running some wires are ok, but the less the better. To make things worse, they got a quote to wire and buy new equipment at 4500$ plus labor (estimated at 800$ total). I told them not to accept it but they're on a tight deadline and everything needs to be done by Thursday next week. The equipment is not even the top of the line, and he quoted 100ft of 14/2 wire at 275$ (I laughed at that), 2 6ft hdmi cables at 75$ ea and a universal remote for everything at 399$ (the same one can be bought at best buy for 149$).

My parents living room is not very big, its 12ft width, 27ft depth and 9ft tall. It also has a open kitchen attached to it along with a very long hallway entering in the middle. The kitchen is 11ft x 10 ft, if that matters. They dont need a huge system upstairs (living room) but in the basement is where they really want things amped up. The basement is not a lot bigger but I believe a surround sound system would work, its 15ft wide x 30ft depth x 11ft height. They are getting 2 4k tvs but that is all I know for now... I am pretty sure they want a HTSiB, they dont want to have to deal with building enclosures (but speakers that mount inside the wall are a huge, huge plus.


So help, please lol. I have been looking around online but really dont know much about it. Any recommendations would be great.

 

[Martino]

Can help with some of these:


"2 6ft hdmi cables at 75$ ea"


-- Try 2 6ft hdmi cables at $2.98 ea - monoprice - I run the same cables in my theater and they work great..


"100ft of 14/2 wire at 275$"


100ft 14AWG CL2 Rated 2-Conductor Oxygen-Free Pure Bare Copper Speaker Wire Cable (For In-Wall Installation) - $20.83


Also used this speaker wire - great product...



Parents Price: $75 X 2 + $275 = $425


monoprice Price: $2.98 X 2 + 20.83 = 26.61


Savings: $398.39

 

[Hell-Razor]

Can help with this one:


"2 6ft hdmi cables at 75$ ea"


-- Try 2 6ft hdmi cables at $2.98 ea - monoprice - I run the same cables in my theater and they work great..

Yeah I know. I even have two 6" hdmi cables. Point being, they are getting ripped of and they're old - they know nothing about it.

 

[Greg_sford]

Consensus seems to be that it is too soon to buy 4k TVs.


More details on the set up? Will the TVs be wall mounted or stand alone? Where will equipment be relative to TVs, and will they be in built-ins or housed in to be placed furniture?


If you know where the speakers (and subwoofer?) will be placed and where the equipment will be located, probably worth running the speaker cable now. The rest depends on the setup(s).

 

[Hell-Razor]

Consensus seems to be that it is too soon to buy 4k TVs.


More details on the set up? Will the TVs be wall mounted or stand alone? Where will equipment be relative to TVs, and will they be in built-ins or housed in to be placed furniture?


If you know where the speakers (and subwoofer?) will be placed and where the equipment will be located, probably worth running the speaker cable now. The rest depends on the setup(s).

My girlfriend has a 4k tv and I think it looks awesome. She has had it now for about a year and a half and its still going strong. It may be too soon, maybe but I dont have much to say about that.


The set up is in the air. The tvs will not be wall mounted - they bought into the gimmick that even the best wall mount will cause the tv to fall eventually. I have tried to convince them not to believe in that stuff but oh well, its not a huge deal I think. I was thinking subwoofer next to the tv with two speakers just outside that, then two more either at the couch or mounted in the ceiling. They already have couches and tables so nothing will be mounted in the furniture.

I am trying to figure out the best positioning. I could draw up a quick sketch of both rooms to give an idea of what were dealing with if somebody is interested.

 

[Hell-Razor]

Qty Product Description

1 DENON AVRS500BT SURROUND RECEIVER

1pr PROFICIENT AUDIO C621 CEILING SPEAKERS

2 VAPOR BARRIERS (Required by Insulation Code)

1pr PROFICIENT AUDIO C600 ROUGH-IN RINGS

1 PROFICIENT AUDIO PS8 POWERED SUB WOOFER

1 VANCO IR SYSTEM CONTROL KIT

VANCO Interconnect Cable Allowance

16/4 &16/2 SPEAKER CABLE

That is the list of items for the upstairs. Guess what the grand total is? I also have never heard of these products but just because I havnet heard of them doesn't mean they're bad. I just googled a couple of them and the ratings seem ok at best.

 

[Hell-Razor]

Martino - thanks. Thats pretty much what I was reading about and saying. I think my parents could save a ton of money and pay somebody just to run the wire. I may be able to do it but I dont want to mess something up.

 

[Martino]

I have had some luck with the htd products - if they are going with whole house audio and in wall/in ceiling speakers - these offer similar size/performance at a lot better price.


http://www.htd.com/Products/high-definition


Looked up the Proficient Audio brand - seems like higher end ($$$) stuff...so having a rather large bill isn't so surprising here...at least they are on the more expensive side to begin with (as apposed to cheap stuff with a high mark up)



Looked up the sub the recommended (1 PROFICIENT AUDIO PS8 POWERED SUB WOOFER) - was correct to assume an 8" sub.


http://www.proficientaudio.com/products/subwoofers/ps8-subwoofer


Dimensions (H x W x D): 12-3/8" x 9-7/8" x 16"


-- Not sure what they are asking dollar wise for that sub - but with an 8" driver you cannot expect too much performance here....


There are much better options - and with a sub, you don't have to match brand names...


You can search this form for many recommendations on subs - here:


From my experience - any driver less than 12" doesn't do much...so getting a 12" or 15" sub is recommended...

 

[Hell-Razor]

Thank you again! I agree, for the upstairs I believe a single 12" would be enough. They will be watching most movies and entertainment in the basement. I tried to convince them (mostly joking) of putting in a IB system in one of the walls with 4 18s. My friend did it and he rattles the neighbors windows 100 yards away in the opposite direction.