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Home theater system on a budget.
Artreus
I'm a wizardAnd that looks fucked upRegistered User regular
I'm a wizardAnd that looks fucked upRegistered User regular
Alrighty. I am about to move into my new apartment for my senior year of college (one more year to go actually so.. yeah). I have a really big room this year so I was going to set up half of it as a small home theater system. I'm thinking that something along the lines of what I want is a 46" HDTV, and a surround sound system.
As far as the sound system goes, from posting in the tv thread, it seems like I am not going to get anything decent for under $500. So ideally, I just want something that sounds better than the tv speakers, and actually does surround sound. I don't really need or want a system that is super powerful, seeing as how I am in an apartment, and don't want to be shaking my neighbors walls too badly. As far as inputs, I am going to be having a PS3, ps2, cable tv, and maybe my PC hooked up to it.
As far as the TV. I would like to spend under 1,300. And I have seen some tvs of the kind I am looking for for about that price. It was originally down around $900 or something but I don't think I am going to get what I am looking for for that. We might be able to bump up the budget on the sound system as well if I can keep everything under $2,000.
So. I might as well throw out what I have been looking at so far and see how bad an idea getting them would be.
TVs: Sharp Aquos LCD TV
Panasonic Viera? Maybe an older model or something
Toshiba
I realize some of these may not be the newest models, but they are within my price range. If you can suggest a newer one for cheaper, that would be cool too.
I realize stepping down to 720p would save me a lot of money, but I do have blu-rays I want to be able to watch all pretty-like.
Sound: Panasonic SC-PT770 5.1
I looked at Onkyo, but it seemed like they were a)hard to find and b)the HDMI was video-only for some reason, which added complications. I am probably wrong though.
Sony Bravia
Alright so. These are just a few examples from a bunch that I have been looking at. I'm probably not going to get the best performance from my budget but I am okay with that. I am thinking more and more about going down to 720p because nothing really displays in 1080 besides blu-ray right? And I only have 3 of those.
As far as the sound system goes, from posting in the tv thread, it seems like I am not going to get anything decent for under $500. So ideally, I just want something that sounds better than the tv speakers, and actually does surround sound. I don't really need or want a system that is super powerful, seeing as how I am in an apartment, and don't want to be shaking my neighbors walls too badly. As far as inputs, I am going to be having a PS3, ps2, cable tv, and maybe my PC hooked up to it.
As far as the TV. I would like to spend under 1,300. And I have seen some tvs of the kind I am looking for for about that price. It was originally down around $900 or something but I don't think I am going to get what I am looking for for that. We might be able to bump up the budget on the sound system as well if I can keep everything under $2,000.
So. I might as well throw out what I have been looking at so far and see how bad an idea getting them would be.
TVs: Sharp Aquos LCD TV
Panasonic Viera? Maybe an older model or something
Toshiba
I realize some of these may not be the newest models, but they are within my price range. If you can suggest a newer one for cheaper, that would be cool too.
I realize stepping down to 720p would save me a lot of money, but I do have blu-rays I want to be able to watch all pretty-like.
Sound: Panasonic SC-PT770 5.1
I looked at Onkyo, but it seemed like they were a)hard to find and b)the HDMI was video-only for some reason, which added complications. I am probably wrong though.
Sony Bravia
Alright so. These are just a few examples from a bunch that I have been looking at. I'm probably not going to get the best performance from my budget but I am okay with that. I am thinking more and more about going down to 720p because nothing really displays in 1080 besides blu-ray right? And I only have 3 of those.
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http://www.projectorpeople.com/Projectors/Projdtls.Asp?Itemid=24764&Sid=Gavt&gclid=CPDXzcy0vZwCFSG1sgodzlyWCA
Half? What is the other half for? Are you saying that this is all going to b set up in your bedroom? If so, I wouldn't bother investing all that much. And I would check the TV thread for the nifty graph showing what size tv is best for what viewing distance you will be at. Chances are that 46" is overkill. If anything, just get a 32 or 36" tv, live with the crappy built in speaker for a year, and when you get your own place and can do things right, then plunk down the money. Toss the smaller tv in the bedroom and buy a new jumbotron for the living room. To be able to do truly good surround sound requires a certain setup and space and it doesn't sound as if you'll be able to achieve that.
edit: projectors are awesome if you need a truly large screen, but you don't so they'd be total overkill.
Yes I've done this.
It was open-box, but I've yet to hear anything bad about refurbished/etc. from them. I think you can get it new for $532 from Buy.com.
360 : ThePmoney
Battle.net: Pmoney.thereal
I went with a projector (Mitsubishi HC1600 HD) and built my own screen (90") with materials from Home Depot and the professional guidance of some tech nerds in a home theater forum (Google "Black Widow PFG").
Snagged a floor model Yamaha HDMI reciever on ebay for $145 which arrived in what appeared to be brand new condition. Picked up 5 used Yamaha speakers for a steal, $25. One was missing the little logo, otherwise perfect condition. Purchased 25' cables from Monoprice (obviously there is going to be a lot of distance between projector and entertainment center). Finally, I got a repo'd AIWA powered sub in an auction for about $40, the thing can rumble my house on 5.
I have large groups of people over for each PPV UFC event. You should see the looks on their faces when they see the setup. Then again when I tell them how much it cost to build.
I love projectors. If you have a dark room, the price/performance of a projector can not be beat.
Well then. Basically this post was useless rambling but thanks for the info anyway. I am interested in doing a DIY screen, but I need to find out what size I can get on my wall before I get any screen. Miight also just buy one if it turns out to be cheaper.
edit: Oohhkay. I am going to be way too busy in the coming weeks to set up my own screen so I am just going to buy a screen I can hang on my wall and take down when I need to if I end up going that route.
If you've got a room that's at least 12-15' (pretty common) in one direction, that should be plenty of distance to get a good sized picture on the wall. Buy the projector (preferably one that is ceiling mountable). Set it up using an ordinary white bed sheet as your screen. The picture will look good on a sheet and projector screens are very expensive, sometimes more than the projector itself. Now that you have your projector in its final place, you can simply measure the dimensions of the image it's projecting on the sheet. You can build your custom screen exactly the right size, and still be using your projector in the meantime so there is no rush to get it done.