punisher
I have a, sort of dull but not really, shag carpet. with newly painted mid-dark grey walls, some cabinets that i dont know what color to paint, it has a black ceiling.
Still need an HD projector that i can hook up an xbox to through an HMDI cable
A color to paint the cabinets
new Lighting
a color for the couches (currently white) im going to get some couch covers
Need a speaker system
If u can think of other cheap things to do to this room add it in your answer
Thanks guys this will help a lot
Answer
The key with colors is to keep it non reflective. Darker colors work well but you don't want to turn your room into a cave either. I used a medium gray on the upper portion above the chair rails for my walls using Ralph Lauren River Rock paint... http://www.ralphlaurenhome.com/products/paint/finishes/items.aspx?haid=75 This paint has a slight texture to it that helps diffract reflected light. It worked out perfectly on my walls because the gray I chose was light enough to prevent the room from seeming like a dark cave and yet created no reflection problems. You may want to paint your cabinets using that paint. Also, don't put things like movie posters on the walls of the theatre. If you have a lobby area at the entry of your theatre then that's the place to put that stuff. Especially glass covered posters on the walls of the theatre itself is a disaster, the reflections make for a serious distraction.
For a projector I personally like JVC but there are a lot of nice projectors out there these days that are 1080p and work great. You may want to consider making your screen aspect ration 2.4:1 as opposed to 16:9 so you can avoid the black bars top and bottom. Most movies these days are in either 2.35:1 or 2.4:1. The ideal way to do this is to use video scaling and an anamorphic lens placed in front of the projector. The newer JVC projectors have the video scaling built in to do the vertical stretch. What happens is that a 2.4:1 movie will not use the entire 16:9 imaging device inside the projector. There are black bars on the imaging device even if you adjust your zoom so there are none on the screen. You're only using around 800 of the 1080 p lines. The video scaling vertically stretches the image to fill the imaging device. On the screen everyone appears tall and skinny so you place the anamorphic lens in front of the projector and it stretches the image horizontally restoring the proper aspect ratio. You're now using your entire imaging device meaning you don't lose any light capacity. This is called a "CIH" system or Constant Image Height. I use a Prismasonic Lens... http://www.prismasonic.com/english/compatibility.shtml These have the advantage of being adjustable.
I can't help you much on recommending commercially available speakers because I personally think most all of them suck. Many here will recommend the typical mass market brands like Polk and Klipsch and perhaps these are good enough for you but I've spent nearly 40 years designing and building my own and personally find those brands along with most far more expensive brands to be sub par. In the near future Parts Express will be marketing a Ground Plain CBT Line Array kit that will be ideal for home theatre... http://www.parts-express.com/cbt36/index.cfm?&utm_source=Catalog&utm_medium=Print&utm_content=DON+KEELE+CATALOG&utm_campaign=Catalog_2011 These should work quite well once they are available. Of course you have to build them.
As for a subwoofer it you have the space a multiple large driver Infinite Baffle system will far outperform the most expensive conventional box subwoofers. Personally I use open baffle dipole subwoofers and if you have the space for those they are even better to a point. Below the lowest room mode dipole roll off rapidly and the cone excursion requirements go through the roof. Based on your room modes you would want to crossover to an IB at some point. My room and subs are large enough to push it flat down to about 13 Hz but if and when I get an IB system completed I'll cross over at around 18 Hz with the IB covering from single digits to 18.
You may want to consider a DIY screen. You can buy screen material here... http://store.cousinsvideo.com/cut-to-size.html I'm using a 1.3 gain material but yours may be different based on your projector, viewing angle, and ambient lighting.
A good resource is the AVS forum theater build thread... http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=60&f=19 You can see a lot of examples there plus gain the knowledge of the regulars on the forum.
My own web site is here... http://mfk-projects.com/home_theatre.htm I do not market anything but you may use any of my ideas/designs etc.
Good luck with your build and have fun!
mk
The key with colors is to keep it non reflective. Darker colors work well but you don't want to turn your room into a cave either. I used a medium gray on the upper portion above the chair rails for my walls using Ralph Lauren River Rock paint... http://www.ralphlaurenhome.com/products/paint/finishes/items.aspx?haid=75 This paint has a slight texture to it that helps diffract reflected light. It worked out perfectly on my walls because the gray I chose was light enough to prevent the room from seeming like a dark cave and yet created no reflection problems. You may want to paint your cabinets using that paint. Also, don't put things like movie posters on the walls of the theatre. If you have a lobby area at the entry of your theatre then that's the place to put that stuff. Especially glass covered posters on the walls of the theatre itself is a disaster, the reflections make for a serious distraction.
For a projector I personally like JVC but there are a lot of nice projectors out there these days that are 1080p and work great. You may want to consider making your screen aspect ration 2.4:1 as opposed to 16:9 so you can avoid the black bars top and bottom. Most movies these days are in either 2.35:1 or 2.4:1. The ideal way to do this is to use video scaling and an anamorphic lens placed in front of the projector. The newer JVC projectors have the video scaling built in to do the vertical stretch. What happens is that a 2.4:1 movie will not use the entire 16:9 imaging device inside the projector. There are black bars on the imaging device even if you adjust your zoom so there are none on the screen. You're only using around 800 of the 1080 p lines. The video scaling vertically stretches the image to fill the imaging device. On the screen everyone appears tall and skinny so you place the anamorphic lens in front of the projector and it stretches the image horizontally restoring the proper aspect ratio. You're now using your entire imaging device meaning you don't lose any light capacity. This is called a "CIH" system or Constant Image Height. I use a Prismasonic Lens... http://www.prismasonic.com/english/compatibility.shtml These have the advantage of being adjustable.
I can't help you much on recommending commercially available speakers because I personally think most all of them suck. Many here will recommend the typical mass market brands like Polk and Klipsch and perhaps these are good enough for you but I've spent nearly 40 years designing and building my own and personally find those brands along with most far more expensive brands to be sub par. In the near future Parts Express will be marketing a Ground Plain CBT Line Array kit that will be ideal for home theatre... http://www.parts-express.com/cbt36/index.cfm?&utm_source=Catalog&utm_medium=Print&utm_content=DON+KEELE+CATALOG&utm_campaign=Catalog_2011 These should work quite well once they are available. Of course you have to build them.
As for a subwoofer it you have the space a multiple large driver Infinite Baffle system will far outperform the most expensive conventional box subwoofers. Personally I use open baffle dipole subwoofers and if you have the space for those they are even better to a point. Below the lowest room mode dipole roll off rapidly and the cone excursion requirements go through the roof. Based on your room modes you would want to crossover to an IB at some point. My room and subs are large enough to push it flat down to about 13 Hz but if and when I get an IB system completed I'll cross over at around 18 Hz with the IB covering from single digits to 18.
You may want to consider a DIY screen. You can buy screen material here... http://store.cousinsvideo.com/cut-to-size.html I'm using a 1.3 gain material but yours may be different based on your projector, viewing angle, and ambient lighting.
A good resource is the AVS forum theater build thread... http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=60&f=19 You can see a lot of examples there plus gain the knowledge of the regulars on the forum.
My own web site is here... http://mfk-projects.com/home_theatre.htm I do not market anything but you may use any of my ideas/designs etc.
Good luck with your build and have fun!
mk
Which Home theater system should I get?
Cristina C
I am going to purchase a home theater system, and i have no idea which brand to get. I have been looking at Samsung, Onkyo, Sony and Panasonic. I need feedback on which would be the best one to get. Also, if it helps, I'm looking to get 7.1 840W or higher, wireless rear speakers and hdmi inputs. thank you!!
Answer
Don't buy a "system", buy individual components.
Don't pay so much attention to watts. Receiver power ratings are deceptive because there is no real standard on how to measure it. "System" aka HTiB systems are more deceptive because manufacturers pull those wattage numbers out of their azz. They are completely just made up for the most part.
Don't worry so much about 7.1 although it's nice to have. Not very many movies are recorded in 7.1 and unless you are doing a very elaborate dedicated room system 5.1 is usually just fine.
Buy a nice Denon, Onkyo or similar quality receiver. With Denon I would stay with the 3311 or above. http://usa.denon.com/US/Product/Pages/Product-Detail.aspx?Catid=3d9614d1-8000-4106-ab91-8192242cab83&SubId=40b5820d-83c2-4e93-9909-60aae60e0bdd&ProductId=b44a517c-7e15-493c-8373-dbd2a1f57f63 Stay in the same price range with Onkyo and or others.
Speakers are more difficult. This can be very subjective so you really need to listen for yourself. Speakers have the biggest impact on sound quality of all the components so don't go cheap. An entry level speaker I was impressed with was Aperion Audio. They have a new line that I've not heard yet but they may be worth checking in to. http://www.aperionaudio.com/catalog/NEW-Verus-Speaker-Family,89.aspx
I wouldn't go with Aperion on the subwoofer. The industry "experts" have a misconception that distortion at low frequency is not particularly audible consequently they don't pay much attention to it in their subwoofer designs. This makes it really hard to find a decent subwoofer. You're better off going with a kit from Parts Express on this. Alternatively you can go with a sub manufacturer like SVS, their products are more up to par with good DIY designs.
And finally, don't spend a lot of money on over priced cables. Many audiophiles claim to hear a difference between ordinary cables and very expensive ones but there is no science to support this. Also, I have yet to find one of these high end cable proponents that can detect the difference in blind test. Cables are the simplest element in the chain. No cable can "improve" sound, the best it can hope to achieve is to not be detrimental. If it "improves" your sound quality then it's doing something else's job and it's still a bad thing. In a different situation that same cable induced change might be detrimental. So don't waste money, buy your cable at Walmart, Home Depot or any place that sells ordinary cable. I'm speaking mainly of speaker cables, interconnects etc should at least be well shielded etc but you don't need super expensive ones.
Of course if you want a world class system you break things down even more. You don't buy a receiver, you buy a preamp processor and individual power amplifiers. Ideally you use active crossovers instead of passive, custom designed speakers as opposed to commercial designs...
mk
Don't buy a "system", buy individual components.
Don't pay so much attention to watts. Receiver power ratings are deceptive because there is no real standard on how to measure it. "System" aka HTiB systems are more deceptive because manufacturers pull those wattage numbers out of their azz. They are completely just made up for the most part.
Don't worry so much about 7.1 although it's nice to have. Not very many movies are recorded in 7.1 and unless you are doing a very elaborate dedicated room system 5.1 is usually just fine.
Buy a nice Denon, Onkyo or similar quality receiver. With Denon I would stay with the 3311 or above. http://usa.denon.com/US/Product/Pages/Product-Detail.aspx?Catid=3d9614d1-8000-4106-ab91-8192242cab83&SubId=40b5820d-83c2-4e93-9909-60aae60e0bdd&ProductId=b44a517c-7e15-493c-8373-dbd2a1f57f63 Stay in the same price range with Onkyo and or others.
Speakers are more difficult. This can be very subjective so you really need to listen for yourself. Speakers have the biggest impact on sound quality of all the components so don't go cheap. An entry level speaker I was impressed with was Aperion Audio. They have a new line that I've not heard yet but they may be worth checking in to. http://www.aperionaudio.com/catalog/NEW-Verus-Speaker-Family,89.aspx
I wouldn't go with Aperion on the subwoofer. The industry "experts" have a misconception that distortion at low frequency is not particularly audible consequently they don't pay much attention to it in their subwoofer designs. This makes it really hard to find a decent subwoofer. You're better off going with a kit from Parts Express on this. Alternatively you can go with a sub manufacturer like SVS, their products are more up to par with good DIY designs.
And finally, don't spend a lot of money on over priced cables. Many audiophiles claim to hear a difference between ordinary cables and very expensive ones but there is no science to support this. Also, I have yet to find one of these high end cable proponents that can detect the difference in blind test. Cables are the simplest element in the chain. No cable can "improve" sound, the best it can hope to achieve is to not be detrimental. If it "improves" your sound quality then it's doing something else's job and it's still a bad thing. In a different situation that same cable induced change might be detrimental. So don't waste money, buy your cable at Walmart, Home Depot or any place that sells ordinary cable. I'm speaking mainly of speaker cables, interconnects etc should at least be well shielded etc but you don't need super expensive ones.
Of course if you want a world class system you break things down even more. You don't buy a receiver, you buy a preamp processor and individual power amplifiers. Ideally you use active crossovers instead of passive, custom designed speakers as opposed to commercial designs...
mk
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