Toddious' Home Theater

[toddious]

So i've been working on making a theater in my new house. I have a Sanyo PLV-60HT projector, Sony DVD Player, and Blue Sky monitors in a 5.1 surround system. I have my computer hooked through the projector, XBox with the High Definition surround sound pack, DVD player, and High Definition Cable. My roomate and i made a projector screen that turned out very well (i have instructions if anyone is interested). It measures exactly 9' from corner to corner (widescreen). Currently my front speakers are just resting on top of some old speakers of mine(on auralex mo-pads), but i am planning on wall mounting them, with the center channel mounted above the screen. the subwoofer will be relocated to the corner. I am also going to be buying some kind of cloth to blackout the wall and cover the speakers, to give more of a theater feel to the room. The surround speakers can't really be seen, but they are located behind the two couches. I will try to update pictures as i finish the room. I am also planning on buying sound dampening material to line the walls with.
http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/763875/2

If anyone else is interested in Home Theater design or implementation, this is what i do for a living. I am currently finishing up school with plans to start a Home Theater Installation company. I have done many freelance jobs with a wide range of budgets. Even if you are just looking for a good deal on speakers, projectors, or anything else, i can get many manufacturers at wholesale cost, as well as know a lot of companies that people don't know about
ex. my Blue Sky monitors. check out http://www.abluesky.com/p_s_gb/p3s1.html
designed by George Lucas and Skywalker Ranch sound, they are the same speakers used to mix Star Wars. PM3 certified.

[ExplorerSportNu]

Wow that projector you cooked up looks real nice I have jbl studio series speakers just waiting for a reciever. I pulled a dumbass move and went out and bought a monster avs2000 & htps7000 because I got them at manufactures cost thinking it might solve some of the problems I was having and they didn't do shit except add a couple extra hundred pounds to my floor Can you do anything in the way of recievers? I have been looking for one forever and still don't have one.

[toddious]

thanks for the compliments on the screen. are you trying to buy something new? personally, i would sell the monster unit (at least one of them), and replace it with a normal power conditioner. honestly, with unbalanced connections (for the audio), you will never tell the difference between the two, and you can get a furman power conditioner for like $100, compared with that enormous price tag for a monster unit. what are you looking for in your reciever? dolby digital? DTS? and do you want the video to run through the unit as well? these are all questions that need to be answered, and ultimately, as with any electronics/computers, a rough idea of what you're looking to spend is whats going to be the deciding factor. let me know what you come up with, and i'll try to help you. the answer is yes, i can get recievers. personally, i am a fan of seperate amplification though, because you get more for your money. my speakers are internally bi-amplified for the cleanest sound. you have JBL speakers, which are very nice, so i'd probably pair them up with a nice crest amp, and then just get a decoder/preamp for your audio connections. this is somewhat like my setup, because i only need a preamp and not a reciever. the audio is usually cleaner this way (one electronic/ one job). how many of the jbl's do you have? and do you have the sub too? todd.

[ExplorerSportNu]

I'm wanting to spend around 500-900 total for the reciever/amplification part. I was looking for new equip but if a good deal comes on used, you know how that goes. I have two floor speakers, a center, two rears, and two subs but was probably going to only hook one of the subs up but there self amplified regaurdless. I'm just looking for something for movies and radio use, and deff the xbox. I was looking at some of pioneer elite's but never actually plunked the cash down on one.

[toddious]

so the jbl speakers you have are powered? todd.

[ExplorerSportNu]

Don't know what you mean by powered, if you mean self-amplification then yes as far as the subs, but the speakers no, the two floor standing speakers have self amplified (built in amp) 10" subs but not tweets and mids, the two separate 12" stand alone subs are self amplified 12"'s as well, if thats what you mean. I don't have an extensive knowledge in this area just a wee little bit.

[toddious]

yes, powered means internal amplifiers. that's a weird situation you got goin on with your speakers being partially powered. figuring out an amp around that is somewhat weird, because you have to match whatever amp you use for the mids and highs, to the amp that is built in for the 10" subs. do you have any idea how many watts? or if it has built in crossover(i would imagine it does). i will do some research on the speakers you're talking about, and get back to you about it. you have a lot of options i'd say. personally, like i was saying before, i'd buy some amps..... just plain ole amps, and then buy a preamp. this usually ends up sounding a lot nicer, and leaves your options open in the future. thats my opinion though, you can just buy a really nice receiever with all the options you want, but that gets really pricey compared to the quality you get (ex: an amp is made to just amplify, and a preamp is just a decoder....when you get a reciever, it has to do both, and usually isn't quite as good at either) todd.

[ExplorerSportNu]

The two floor standing speakers (s412pII) actually have a 12" not 10" like I stated earlier, 200 watt powered sub, the maxium recommended amplifier power for them is 250 watts impedance. The two subs are 400 watt self amplified. The center channels peak power handling is 150 watts, and the two rear surrounds are rated at 150 watts as well. It says that the two floors have Straight-Line Signal Path™ (SSP) crossover.

[mcG]

cool tv

[toddious]

I just uploaded some better screen shots to that website. the other ones i had on there were really blurry, and didn't do it justice. if you go to the site and enlarge the pictures, you get an even better idea of what a projector can do for you. NOTE: i bought this projector for just over $1,000 a year ago, and it does high definition, so projectors really aren't as expensive as everyone assumes (i also got a really good deal on this particular one, but there are many to be had, and many good deals out there)

sportnu: like i said, you can either just buy a reciever that will do everything for you, or buy seperate amps and a preamp/decoder. it's nice to have seperate amps, so when (for example) dolby digital is obsolete, you don't have to buy new amps with whatever new reciever you get. you will still have amplifiers (which really don't degrade in value or performance unless you abuse them) and will only have to upgrade your decoder. try to think about which route you wanna go, and let me know. i can get real good deals on performance amplifiers, so let me know. either way, i'll do my best to help you out. todd.

[ExplorerSportNu]

After much debate, I think I want to go the way of a reciever, can you get your hands on any good deals on a nice reciever? I'm looking for a few component in's and out's, a good deal of power, I liked the mcacc feature on some of the elites, I hear this is pretty nice, but either way let me know, I plan on running all the speakers I have through this, 2 subs, 2 floors, 2 rears, and a center.

[toddious]

sory it took me so long to reply.... i'll see what i can find for you. you're talking about video component ins right? so y ou can switch your video? also, how much are you trying to spend? gives me a better idea of what to look for, and where from. i'll do what i can for you. also, do you only want new? not slightly used? let me know, todd.

[ExplorerSportNu]

No prob, yeah thats what I meant on the component, price range around 500-1000, and slightley used or new is no problem either, appreciate the help