Home Theater setup

[sniperp_99]

Im looking at finally making a nice home theater system, currently using a 4.1 logitech computer speakers for my TV. Does anyone have any advice, i have a budget of about $750. Not sure to get a full prebuilt home theater set-up or buy individual speakers, sub, and amp and put it together myself. ANY help would be greatly appreciated

[tehfunk101]

I would probably pick out a receiver and speakers yourself as opposed to getting a box set.  I have a harmon kardon receiver with a 7.1 jbl system, and its been great to me

[Destro]

In that price range, I'd be looking at Onkyo.  You could check for Marantz and Denon as well, but I doubt you will find much you can afford from either of them.  

[sniperp_99]

How are klipsh speakers found a 5.1 set at best buy for $600 and they sounded pretty good. Would need to get a receiver for them though.

[tehfunk101]

How are klipsh speakers found a 5.1 set at best buy for $600 and they sounded pretty good. Would need to get a receiver for them though.

Ive heard some Klipsch 2.1 computer speakers before. They were very high quality and sounded great.

[Destro]

This site is a good resource: http://www.audioreview.com/
Here is another, but I have never used it before, so I don't know what they have to offer: http://www.avrev.com/

[cygnus]

Im looking at finally making a nice home theater system, currently using a 4.1 logitech computer speakers for my TV. Does anyone have any advice, i have a budget of about $750. Not sure to get a full prebuilt home theater set-up or buy individual speakers, sub, and amp and put it together myself. ANY help would be greatly appreciated

I'm a big believer in sound quality, so I can say the most important thing to consider, aside from speaker placement and choosing your equipment, is acoustics.  A LOT of people overlook this and some of you may say, "what, why would I care?" but it actually makes a difference. 

Sound bounces around, especially when you have it cranked up!  I don't know about you guys, but it sounds better loud; I know some of you agree because I've heard MW2 blaring thru your mics on TS   To get maximum sound quality on a movie you need to play it loud, or louder than usual.

Basically, the sound in the room will changed, based on what is in it.  Even placing a picture on the wall can change the sound dynamics of a room.  If you have more people on the couch in front of the TV, the sound will change.  For the best sound you want it to have the ability to bounce, but only off of certain surfaces.  This is particularly  true on odd shaped room configurations, where you can control the sound and keep it to the main listening area.

When you do your sound set up, and do any tweaking, make the adjustments based on who, and what will be in the room (majority of the time).  Sounds overkill but you would be amazed at the difference in sound.  Good example is my own rec room.  I recently renovated it, bought a new TV etc, set it all up, sounded bloody awesome (good thing I was wearing jogging pants that day).  Now we have everything from the other side of the basement crammed into this side while I renovate it, and the sound is terrible!  It gets worse when I have a few people down here too.

Something to think about - I'm sure you can't wait   

[Schlup]

Is there any software that exists to assist in tuning and tweaking your sound based on optimum acoustics?

[tehfunk101]

Is there any software that exists to assist in tuning and tweaking your sound based on optimum acoustics?

The remote control i got with my receiver has a microphone in it, and you can press a button to adjust the surround volume values based on where your sitting in the room and what the remote senses.  But thats only position based, and doesn't really touch on some other acoustics properties

[Schlup]

Wow, that sounds like a nice system and a sweet remote...what kind is it?

[cygnus]

Is there any software that exists to assist in tuning and tweaking your sound based on optimum acoustics?

Not that I know of but I'm sure something like that exists.  I tweak mine by ear - even the latency settings.

[cygnus]

The remote control i got with my receiver has a microphone in it, and you can press a button to adjust the surround volume values based on where your sitting in the room and what the remote senses.  But thats only position based, and doesn't really touch on some other acoustics properties

That is really cool!!  I'm curious - do you just sit and press the button and the receiver adjusts it automatically?

[tehfunk101]

yah, im pretty sure most Harman Kardon a/v receivers come standard with the feature.  Its called EzSet i believe.  My receiver is a few years old, and has the microphone in the remote, and i think the newest models come with a dedicated omnidirectional mic that you plug in for finer tuning

[stevennguyen2008]

you can go on to www.circuitcity.com they have a bunch of surround sound system that is now on a clearance sale and a blowout sale for forclosure.

Like heres a great one from Sony it can either be a 5.7 or a 7.1 surround sound and its only for $530.
http://www.circuitcity.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4702371&Sku=S196-0500

But if you really want better quality there is one, but it is alittle over the price limit but its a great deal. It's a Yamaha, $800.
http://www.circuitcity.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4485542&Sku=Y23-4086

[stevennguyen2008]

This is wat i have in my room (i'm in the attic so its a big room )

http://www.circuitcity.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4662403&CatId=4585

I'd reccomend this its a very nice system and its about half the price of you budget. so when you have extra money you can add other stuff too it like an ipod dock or someting

[sniperp_99]

slight update but my wife says if its for GOOD quality i can go up to $1000. so if any ideas id appreciate

[stevennguyen2008]

Then i'd go for the BOSE sound systems there great

[sniperp_99]

Problem with Bose is no HDMI input and that's how I hook up my PS3 and cable box

[Schlup]

I thought that the surround system hooked up to the TV, then whatever was playing through the TV was then outputted to the surround receiver.  So it wouldn't matter if the receiver had HDMI or not, just as long as your TV does.

[tehfunk101]

Problem with Bose is no HDMI input and that's how I hook up my PS3 and cable box

Thats why you buy the bose speakers separate and get a better receiver from a different brand

[sniperp_99]

Problem is if the sound goes through the tv then the reciever the receiver gets the signal the way the TV decoads it which might not be a true suround sound. Where as if you do a direct connect you get the best sound possible.

[cygnus]

I wouldn't personally buy a system that did not have HDMI connections.  There a several ways to connect everything and it all depends on your preference.  If you want to maximize your sound quality, as sniper said, connect to receiver first.  Truthfully, you should never run audio from your TV to receiver - the direct input approach is best!  Having said that - some TV's pass the true signal through, in which case it wouldn't matter.

The way I have mine connected is I run an HDMI from all my devices to a separate input on my TV.  Then I run optical cables from the devices to the receiver for audio.  You could save some cables and run HDMI from all the devices to the receiver, then run one HDMI from receiver OUT to the TV.  This is good because you can have the sound on either receiver or the TV if you wish, plus it is only one input to change on the receiver when you switch from TV, DVD, PS3 etc.  

The reason I hook all mine to TV separately is I have different video settings for each device and my TV saves them.  IE, I have contrast cranked for my PC connection, a different setting for blueray and of course another setting for my satellite receiver and PS3.

Apparently there is no diff between optical and HDMI but I find that hard to believe.  I have a couple PS3 games that support DTS and yet I can never get a DTS signal when I have it connected via optical, but with HDMI I can - wierd. Optical cables also tend to malfunction easier as they have bend radius restrictions where as HDMI you can bend in half and it still pumps the signal out.  Keep it mind that you may be poking around in the back to connect  or disconnect stuff, and everytime you flex an optical cable, you risk damaging it.

[sniperp_99]

Ok i got my theater set-up, Klipsch - Quintet 5-Channel Home Theater Speaker System, Klipsch - 10" 450W Powered Subwoofer, Denon - 375W 5.1-Ch AVR-590 Receiver. only problem i have now is i cant get video to go through the receiver. I want HDMI from my cable amnd PS3 to TV but i cant get it. I've tried Component and even Composite but still no video and nothing back from denon support either. So right now i have the items into the TV for video and an optical for sound. So any ideas as to what im doing wrong that im not getting video through?

[Schlup]

No idea about your issue...maybe take some pics so we can see what we're dealing with.  Also, nice pick on the system, I'm sure you'll be happy with it!

[cygnus]

Are the HDMI inputs labelled, not by number but by Device?  You may have to assign the inputs to the HDMI out.....I'd have to look at the manual for your receiver to know for sure.  Can you send me the model #?

[sniperp_99]

Denon AVR-590, i have it set when i select an "input" in the connections that its set to the connections in the back but the problem is i see NOWHERE the set an output. Ive looked in the manual and its horrible, nothing about setting an output.

[cygnus]

I'm thinking you may have to reassign the inputs.  Take a look at page 31 in your manual and page 57 in troubleshooting.  By the way - that looks like a nice unit