New Home Theater Project (1 Viewer)

[cryo75]

Hi all,


I'm from Germany and new to this forum and also new to home theater


Anyways, I have finally managed to clear a room in the cellar for my home theater. Currently the room needs to be refurbished. New plasterboards will come on one wall and new sockets placed on each wall. The room is about 2.7m wide by 4m long and has a height of about 2.3m. 1 wooden door leads to the room whilst 1 glass door leads out to the garden.


My original plan was to paint 3 walls and the ceiling white whilst the wall were the TV will be placed will be covered withing beige facing stones. The floor will have rustic terracotta tiles. I was planning on having a 50inch TV, HD sat receiver, Xbox360 incl. Kinect and a Blu-Ray player.


I was thinking of getting the Philips 52PFL5605H TV and the Philips HTS5580 5.1 Blu-Ray system. One thing that I don't want to have is cables running around and along walls!! So I need to make holes in the drywall so the cables will go through.


After doing further research, I was thinking of using a projector and silver screen. The problem that I have with projectors is that most have just 2 HDMI connections and a lamp lifespan of about 3000hrs. I would need 3 HDMI connections to connect my equipment to it.


As I'm currently in the early stages, I have some questions which I hope you guys can answer!!


1. Should I paint the room in a darker color instead of white? (If I have a curtain in front of the glass door, the room will be quite dark just the same)


2. If I get the above HTS system, and as this system won't have long cables, can I use my own speaker cables that will be behind the dry wall?


3. Should I place 4 or 6 small lamps in the drywall ceiling or just 1 lamp in the middle of the room? I would encounter this problem if I would place a projector on the ceiling at the back of the room.


Hope someone answers my initial questions. I'm sure I will have more later!! And if pictures are required, I can upload those too


Thanks,

Ivan

 

[wiredawg]

You will have a lot of trouble trying to play Kinect becuase you will be between the projector and the screen. Do you have the Kinect yet? I might be doing the conversion from meters to feet wrong but your room could be too small to play it when you add in furniture.

 

[Phil Taylor]

If my metric conversion is about right it seems your room is about 9ft wide by 12ft long and 7ft ceiling? That's a fairly small room but doable if the projector is at the rear of the room. As wiredawg says a projector would quite possibly cast shadows of players standing and gyrating to the Kinect system. From what I've seen of the Kinect system I wasn't real impressed ... I'd rather use a controller for gaming - YMMV.


I'd stay away from an HTiB system like the Phillips you stated - they're OK for what they are but they are very low-end performers. You'd be better served by going with an actual AV receiver and decent speakers or at least a lower-end Onkyo or Denon receiver/speaker package (available at around the same price as the Phillips system) and add a Blu-ray player. HTiBs with built-in DVD/BD players are lame ducks when the player's laser fails (and it will sooner or later). An AV receiver will offer more inputs/flexibility and allow you to run just one HDMI cable to your projector.


As for your specific questions enumerated above ---

1 - yes any color but white will reflect less light from your display. Dark blue, hunter green or maroon would work better.

2 - you shouldn't use the speaker wire that comes with an HTiB - they are very small gauge and are not rated for in-wall placement. Not sure what the regulations are in Germany - but in the US in-wall cables must be CL rated for in-wall use for insurance and building code compliance.

3 - I would go with recessed can lights in the ceiling or wall sconces on a dimmer rather than a single ceiling fixture.

 

[cryo75]

Hi,


Yes the room is about 9' x 13'. It's not that big but I don't need a lot of space. I've already have a Kinect and it's really fun. Especially for the children and when having parties


After reading some threads and juggling with a number of ideas, I think that the room's purpose will be two-fold:


1. Gaming and watching TV using a normal LCD TV. Most probably I won't be using a Kinect, one of the reasons being limited space even though there won't be furniture in the room (apart from the couches/recliners).


2. Watching TV using a projector.


I will take your suggestion and implement recessed ceiling lights. But as the room's purpose is two-fold, I will also leave the single ceiling fixture in the center when I need more light and using the TV instead of the projector.


I'm still worried about the colors. I don't know what color scheme to use. This is an important decision as I cannot paint over the facing stones. One alternative would be to have greyish/brown facing stones on the tv wall, dark olive green walls and the terracotta tiles for the floor. What color should the ceiling be??


The second alternative would be to keep the beige facing stones, white walls and ceiling which is good enough for purpose 1. For purpose 2, I would have a dark curtain along the length of the tv wall (in front of the tv but behind the projector if you know what i mean!).


Also, I would appreciate it you could give me a couple of suggestions for AV receivers & speakers so I can research about them.


Thanks,

Ivan

 

[cryo75]

I think the following AV-receiver and speakers should be good???


Onkyo TX-SR308 5.1 AV-Receiver

Teufel Kompaq 30 5.1 speakers


The Onkyo has an impedence of 6-16 whilst the speakers have 4-8. Will they work toegther??


Thanks,

Ivan

 

[Al.Anderson]

I never heard of Teufel, so I looked them up. I gather they're a German companyselling predominatly in Europe. I was hoping to find a resistence/frequency graph on their site, as I'm not used to seeing speakers rated as a range. (I knew speakers have different characteristics at varying frequencies; but the manufacturers usually roll that up into a single operating resistance. I couldn't find one so I was going to say be a little careful as if the speakers usually operated at 4 Ohms you may have trouble. Then I found this page: http://www.teufelaudio.com/av-receiver.html which specifically says the SR308 is compatible - so all's well!


Of course they are satellites. I use satellites with my main system and think they perform great for movies. But I don't like them so much for music. (I have harman Kardans.) If you'll be using them for music I suggest you audition them first; or confirm the return policy.


You mention speaker wires in your first post. You can certainly use your wires, they'll work fine. (Even though many people like running thicker cables, down to 12 guage, I think you can use anything up to 18 at reasonable distances with no ill effects. I usually use 16 guage.) But if you are runing them ebhind drywall, or in-wall in general, you should use wires rated for in-wall use to reduce fire hazard risk (regular wire will carry a fire, helping it spread faster).