Showcase your home theater setup thread

[PTjak]

u hv a high end speaker but not a so high end projector, i guess u are more into audio?? for me i am more of a nuts on visual.. so i invester heavier on the projector and less on audio.. currently using a sharp XV-Z10000 with firehawk (i think u using the same?) , while the audio is quite standard, a Yamaha 2500 with JBL northridge series.. so most of the budget went to the projector..

Hi TsQ...the Z10000 is a fantastic projector, you must be very pleased with the video performance combined with your firehawk. I was thinking of going the DLP route, but with the AE900 I saw decent blacks for the first time through an LCD projector. I decided to spend less on the projector and more on audio. In that sense I guess I'm more of an audio person than video. I listen to CD's about half the time, but when multichannel sound is also rich and deep with excellent soundstage, I enjoy the experience that much more.

I'm also waiting patiently for high-def video to become more common, at which point my next upgrade will include the projector and DVD player. I'll get a projector that can display 1920x1080 natively to get a pure 1080p signal out to my screen. It will take a while for more high-def (1080) projectors to come to market at decent prices, plus there's the lack high-def media availability right now. In the meantime, the AE900 is more than acceptable

 

[gaolow]

AE900 is a good choice..i got it also...btw, ptjak, did u brought filter to improve the black level?

 

[PTjak]

AE900 is a good choice..i got it also...btw, ptjak, did u brought filter to improve the black level?

hi gaolow...very nice system you have. I haven't bought a filter since the AE900 is so tweakable. Mine is calibrated just nicely for the room which is light controlled, but not 100% absolute dark. Since your environment looks similar to mine, we should swap settings. I'll post mine soon. What resolution are you running from your DVD player, upscale to 720p to fit the native res of the AE900? I find this setting from my Denon 3910 works best for me.

 

[TsQ]

Hi TsQ...the Z10000 is a fantastic projector, you must be very pleased with the video performance combined with your firehawk. I was thinking of going the DLP route, but with the AE900 I saw decent blacks for the first time through an LCD projector. I decided to spend less on the projector and more on audio. In that sense I guess I'm more of an audio person than video. I listen to CD's about half the time, but when multichannel sound is also rich and deep with excellent soundstage, I enjoy the experience that much more.

I'm also waiting patiently for high-def video to become more common, at which point my next upgrade will include the projector and DVD player. I'll get a projector that can display 1920x1080 natively to get a pure 1080p signal out to my screen. It will take a while for more high-def (1080) projectors to come to market at decent prices, plus there's the lack high-def media availability right now. In the meantime, the AE900 is more than acceptable

Got any thought of dumping a stand alone dvd player and go for htpc? I did that months ago and now trying to convert many to do so..haha..

last time spend so much on dvd players.. then after few yrs hv to change to stay with the upgraded format. So with htpc, no problem since optical disc drive are cheaper to upgrade.

also.. the video software with most mid budget gfxcard enable u to tweak video output that stand alone players dont hv. Also.. DVI out from PC to projector is giving me the best, if not comparable result I seen so far..

then ppl tell me about the stability of a proper player giving u better result. but u dont really see a different since everything now is on digital source. a 1 is 1, 0 is 0 ..

 

[PTjak]

Got any thought of dumping a stand alone dvd player and go for htpc? I did that months ago and now trying to convert many to do so..haha

I can understand the benefits to using a htpc right now for video, but not yet for sound. This is where I'm a bit of a purist With a htpc used as a transport, it could pass a digital signal to a high quality external multichannel DAC/processor to then feed a preamp in a HT system, but the optical drives in htpc's are not as stable as standalone players and are more prone to jitter and other digital errors. Some will say that if the DAC can reclock the signal, interpolate and upsample, then the source doesn't matter. However, I'm yet to hear of a multichannel DAC that is capable of this (without spending a small fortune )

I'm sure that as time carries on, in the digital (and high bandwidth) world the use of standalone players will be totally replaced by digital streaming no doubt via htpc's or something similar. For me it's all about how that digital information gets converted to analog so my ears can enjoy it.

 

[gaolow]

hi gaolow...very nice system you have. I haven't bought a filter since the AE900 is so tweakable. Mine is calibrated just nicely for the room which is light controlled, but not 100% absolute dark. Since your environment looks similar to mine, we should swap settings. I'll post mine soon. What resolution are you running from your DVD player, upscale to 720p to fit the native res of the AE900? I find this setting from my Denon 3910 works best for me.

i yet to get a 8m HDMI cable..so currently running with the resolution of 480p only
ok i will post my setting too and compre how the black level in each setting.
Shall we agree on which dvd title on which scene to test?
btw, did u use any calibration disc to do the calibration?

 

[life2006]

hi,envy all of u,can spend so much in HT can anyone recommend me a budget projector? maybe around 1.5k? i am new here, so anything to consider when looking for projector? thanks!

 

[woonbock]

Hi there

I am curently building my Cinema, for those who would like a little preview of it, please visit the link.
I hope it is ok to link to my cinema, if it is not, please delete the link, and i will post only the pictures when i get home from work.

Nutt's Cinema

its very very beautiful! boy, its a real thorough renovation!

 

[PTjak]

i yet to get a 8m HDMI cable..so currently running with the resolution of 480p only
ok i will post my setting too and compre how the black level in each setting.
Shall we agree on which dvd title on which scene to test?
btw, did u use any calibration disc to do the calibration?

Sorry for taking so long to reply. Calibration disc was DVE. Here are my primary AE900 settings:

Picture mode: Natural
Contrast: +1
Brightness: -4
Colour: -1
Tint: 0
Sharpness: -3
Colour Temp: +1
DI: On
NR: On

Given we have the same gain screen, how does this compare to your settings?

 

[Iandao]

can i know how much u spent in total?

Hi all...I've upgraded my system

Speakers: Martin Login Vantage (mains), Cinema i (center), Mosaic (rears), Depth (sub)

HT source: Denon 3910 DVD player
Stereo source: Ayre C-5xe universal player (CD, SACD, DVD-A)

Both sources are driven by my new Pathos Cinema-X 5.1 channel integrated amp. The Pathos has a tubed preamp stage coupled with a MOSFET solid-state power amp stage. It delivers 110W per 5.1 channel and best of all, it can bridge in 2 channel mode to 450W at 8 ohms! Best of both the HT and 2 channel worlds

I auditioned many 2 channel integrated amps to complement my Denon AVR 3806, but the Pathos beat everything by a wide margin in terms of sound quality, especially coupled with the Martin Logans.

 

[PTjak]

can i know how much u spent in total?

...much less than the retail prices posted over the internet

 

[TsQ]

Updated picture.. now with a HTPC replacing a standard dvd player..

 

[PTjak]

Updated picture.. now with a HTPC replacing a standard dvd player.

Very nice TsQ...well done! Not only do I like your setup, but I especially like the backgound used to mount the screen, nice touch.

Does your AVR do the video scaling to 720p or 1080i from the HTPC to your Z10000, or is it done in the HTPC itself? What's the chipset?

 

[The_Knight_Huma]

Hi all...I've upgraded my system

Speakers: Martin Login Vantage (mains), Cinema i (center), Mosaic (rears), Depth (sub)

HT source: Denon 3910 DVD player
Stereo source: Ayre C-5xe universal player (CD, SACD, DVD-A)

Both sources are driven by my new Pathos Cinema-X 5.1 channel integrated amp. The Pathos has a tubed preamp stage coupled with a MOSFET solid-state power amp stage. It delivers 110W per 5.1 channel and best of all, it can bridge in 2 channel mode to 450W at 8 ohms! Best of both the HT and 2 channel worlds

I auditioned many 2 channel integrated amps to complement my Denon AVR 3806, but the Pathos beat everything by a wide margin in terms of sound quality, especially coupled with the Martin Logans.

Here are some pix....let me know if you have any questions on the set-up.

Dayuuum, that's one huge bass trap. Lovely setup though.

 

[PTjak]

Dayuuum, that's one huge bass trap. Lovely setup though.

Thanks dude. The bass trap made a huge improvment to compensate for the left corner being "hard" where the right side is "soft". Once I added the trap I could properly balance the speakers and not worry about the rear reflections

 

[dl]

In the process of setting up my "low cost" "high impact" Home Theatre System.

Just placed an order for a Dell 2400MP Projector
Next, a Creative Giaworks S750 7.1 speaker set and a DDTS-100 decoder.
Finally a simple pull down projector screen.

Total Cost:
$1549 for the projector + $100 for wiring
$799 + 299 for the speakers + DTS decoder
$399 for a 96x96 Lav manual projector screen.
S$3046.

The diagonal 4:3 image is 120", 16:9 image is 110"

Will be running the multimedia from a multi-format Ichiban DVD mini-hifi player (plays Mpeg4), a DIY media PC + a DIY 1TB Multimedia File Server (4 x 250GB in RAID 0).

Will post images once project is completed

 

[equiox1]

Would like to see yor new setup

 

[perry]

some of you htr look more like a showroom, damn professional.

 

[stimgam]

don't know if it's been asked but.. how far should the distance between the projector and the screen be to get a 60" and more screen size? with new HDB bedrooms much smaller.. i doubt you could get more than 50"...

 

[ccwjames]

what is the ideal screen size if view from 4m away?