What Do You Use Your Home Theater System For?
Watching Blu-ray/DVD Movies and recorded programs.Your Home Theater System Compnonents:
Video 1 - Optoma 50" Plasma Monitor/TV
Video 2 - Samsung 46" 6000 Series LED
Audio 1
Sony STR DE-945 5.1 Surround
Self Built Speakers - Mains 3 cu ft Box, tuned 33 Hz. Audax 8" Woofers, Pioneer Mids, Beston Ribbons. Surrounds smaller 2 way 6" drivers with Selenium 200 horns. Purchased Omage center (twin 5" and 1" bullet). 12 years old.
Audio 2
Onkyo TXSR-876 7.1
Speakers - Mains and Surrounds 3 cuft. Drivers and mids on fronts Audax 8" and 5", tweets - titanium bullets. Surr - Max Perf 10" drivers, 1.5" soft dome mid, 1" bullet tweeter. Small backs. Klipsch Sub SW-450 (don't need it, except for LFE). New.
Expressvu HD 6100 (similar to first generation Dish HD receiver)
Samsung Blu-Ray BD-P1600
Toshiba DVD DR7 Recorder/Player (poor recording quality through composite - worse than I would have expected)
Hauppauge HD PVR (must use a computer to run programs. Video quality is spectacular (1080i). A bit clunky to put on disk, but results are spectacular in DVD format or AVCHD format played back on a Blu-Ray player). Not easily played back directly to HD television from the computer.
nFusion HD
Phillips HDMI 4x1 Switch
Monoprice Pro 1x2 Splitter
Monoprice DVI + audio to HDMI
Lessons Learned
- HDMI Cat 5e/Cat 6 converters don't really work as well as advertised on longer runs (75'). HDCP handshake issues are frequent! If you like walking back to the source to turn it back off/on than this is for you... not. Less than 50' seems to work reasonably well. I was using Cat 6 cable 550MHz certified.
- HDMI cables that work very well at 75' are very thick - 22ga. Best price and quality are Copartner and Heng, the 2 largest suppliers in the world. Check Monoprice.
- If you can, keep the source (STB) close to the AV receiver and TV. It is much cheaper and easier to run RG6 cable than HDMI.
- Not all splitters work well
How did you position your loudspeakers and subwoofer?
Mains are wide and 12" from front walls. Centers are built in below TVs. Surrounds are wide against walls and rears are mounted at 5' high. Sub is 6" from front wall in an alcove. The rooms are very large with no carpet and very high ceilings, not acoustically ideal, but sound is very good.
How did you organize your system's wiring and cabling?
There are wires everywhere! All wires are built in and run in walls to the A/V center. There is a wiring pit, literally, where all inputs, outputs and speaker wires come together at the back of a built-in A?V unit. The pit is 18" x 72" and is accessed from behind the TV or via pulling the components
How did you position your seating?
All rooms are not dedicated as a theater. However, seating is placed 12' in front of the TVs to allow 4-6 persons with direct or nearly direct views and center placement for audio. One room is 12' x 16'; the other is 22' x 25'. Ceilings are vaulted and 18' or higher.
How did you block unwanted lighting?
Blinds. However, normally they are not used. The is no direct light on the TV screens and the LED and Plasma do quite well in a fully lit room. The only thing I try to control is the reflection back to the screen. Night light sources are in the ceiling to prevent reflections. No table lamps!
