Home Theaters.watcha got?

Jan 11, 2011
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Houston, Texas
Hey yall, Just wondering what all you are running for home theaters? Let me see some pics! I will post my humble little setup in just a few! Ive got s Dynex 32'' TV (bestbuy brand but Samsung parts inside) Full Onkyo Stereo with Polk Monitor 10. Xbox 360 and a 320 GB hard drive full of movies and music. Everything but the two speakers, xbox and TV is hidden in the closet behind the wall. I can sit out at the couch and control it all through my macbook via wireless keyboard and mouse. Very simple setup but it sounds amazing, easy to work and is perfect for my lil apartment.





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And hidden in the closet:



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Re: Home Theaters.watcha got?

OK I'll bite, albeit not with a great setup:



Sony 46'' from a few years ago, does the job

Yamaha RX-V620 receiver

DirecTV HD R

Apple TV 40G

PS3

Wii

Apple Airport Express for Wireless N for PS3, DirectTV and Wii





Built-in JBL surrounds and small Velodyne sub under coffee table.



Logitech Harmony remote (one remote to rule them all - and simple enough the wife and kids can use it). Box on top of the center speaker lets it control the PS3 as well.



Yes, that is a Bose center speaker. Lowest height profile center speaker i could find at best buy.

 
Re: Home Theaters.watcha got?

My bedroom, when it was under construction:







This setup is no longer in place; I added a wall and two closets to the bedroom where the screen used to be.



I intend eventually do do a similar arrangement in my living room; a ceiling mounted projector and a screen that rolls down to cover my front windows.
 
Re: Home Theaters.watcha got?

Is the sub functional and what happened to the dust caps?





Yes its functional. Its a JBL sub out of a movie theater. Picked it up on craigslist for 50 bucks. Dustcaps where like that when I got it, Was supposed to be a project.





Ned, What do you think of the Apple TV? One of my friends has it and I find it pretty cool.





Lee, Nice setup man! Hopefully youll get the one one in the living room up soon, they are fun!





 
Re: Home Theaters.watcha got?

Apple TV for us is great - we have all of our photos synced to it from iPhoto, so showing friends and family photos is a breeze.



Same with music - all playlists synced.



Movies - we have the original 40GB one but have a bunch of kids movies (mostly Japanese Miyazake movies that are that region and we've converted with Handbrake) or other ones we'll watch a lot.



We also use the Apple renting system for renting movies on Movie night. HD streams very well on FIOS and Wireless N, and for $4.99 for HD movies it beats having to take the whole family to see Guardians of Gahoole and spentd $50 and not be able to have 90 minutes of my life back.



The new version is $99 and just streams content from your computer, so there's no storage limit. There is a flash memory buffer in the unit, so that you can stream and back up in the middle of a movie. Worth getting; the new ones also have a feature that you can have a movie, song or photo on your iPhone/iPad and you can stream it to your TV if you have the new AppleTV. Neat.



We'll probably update both our AppleTVs to the new ones come tax refund time, but they work fine for now except for the streaming media from your iPhone part. You can get one of these old ones for $50-ish on fleabay, but at that price, I'd spend the hundy and get the newest deal.



 
Re: Home Theaters.watcha got?


Seriously, I bought this little Sony HTIB from B&H Photo, and I laugh when my friends who parted with lots o' cash for their B.O.S.E. (you supply the slogan) rigs say ''Wow! That sounds AWESOME!''
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Priceless! (Actually <$300)

Combined with a Pioneer 42'' plasma monitor, Panasonic DVD player, and Sony VCR (used as a TV tuner), all in basic black as you can see, it makes the perfect kitchen TV.







Funny that the ad slogan happened to be on the screen when I took this shot.
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The cabinet used to house, along with this equipment, a 27'' Samsung CRT TV which has been moved to a spare room. Not shown are the cables to plug in a laptop for streaming movies, slide shows, etc.



Living room system to come in a future post.
 
Re: Home Theaters.watcha got?

Pretty simple rig in the LR.



Pioneer 50'' plasma (oops, I just noticed some drooping cables here, gotta fix that!), listening through Yamaha 5.1 receiver RX-V690, JBL Control Monitor 4311Bs in the front, small M-T-M center (also serving as a plant stand), B•I•C Venturi Formula 4s in the rear. Panasonic DVD recorder, Panasonic S-VHS VCR used as TV tuner, JVC Video CD (karaoke, no kidding!
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) player. Connections for laptops, iPods, etc., of course.



Don't get too excited about the McIntosh amp on the bottom. Although it is in perfect working order, its services are not currently required, so it is there merely as a display piece (unlike the Neumann U87 on display in the dining room curio which does actually get used now and then).







Coming next, a shot of the office. Don't mind the clutter!
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Re: Home Theaters.watcha got?

Innersound mains, martin logan center and maggie rears. Velodyne subwoofer, Classe processing and amp. Music Hall mmf 5 record player with clear audio phono preamp. Projector gives a 100'' 4x3 or 92'' widsecreen HD picture. This audio thing is kinda addictive.
 
Re: Home Theaters.watcha got?

This wasn't the usual setup, and has changed since then, but it's the only photo I've got.



This particular shot is Meyer Acheron Studio for L/R, Meyer UPJ-1P for center, Meyer UMS-1P for sub. Normally, screen channels rotate between Tannoy Ellipse 8 monitors and Meyer HD-1s, depending on what I need to take with me for any given day. Surrounds are either Tannoy Ellipse 8s, or Meyer UPJuniors. Sub is either a Tannoy TS12 or Meyer UMS-1P.



Receiver is a Denon AVR-3808CI, Blu-Ray is Panasonic, Meyer VX-1 for L/R EQ (Galileo in the rack was just set up for the system in the photo). Gaming consoles are a Wii and a PS3.



Display in the photo is a 50'' Samsung DLP (720p). That went belly up a couple months ago, so now it's a 50'' Sony LCD (1080p).



 
Re: Home Theaters.watcha got?

Basic stereo rig.



Samsung lnt-4665f 46'' lcd.

Vintage (1989) Pioneer VSX-5000 driving Magnepan Smga speakers via preamp out/power amp in crossed over by a BBE DS24 dsp. Subs are Yamaha YST-SW150.

Philips CD recorder that I use to mix cds down fed from my 01v96.

Playstation 3 blueray.

Direct TV High Def.

DVD burner and another 420p dvd player I use it just play music cd's. It has adat out which comes in handy.







With smaart I got it pretty flat from 27hz or so up to 16k which is the upper limit for the maggies.



I should have drawn the curtains for the shot but didn't bother..



Douglas R. Allen
 
Re: Home Theaters.watcha got?

Nice system Doug. Long ago I had some maggie mmg's. I eventually welded new T shaped feet to replace the factory feet. Raised them up 6 inches and made them horizontal. Really tightened up the soundstage in my room. I still think they are one of the best values in high end audio.
 
Re: Home Theaters.watcha got?

Some very nice stuff!



What are people doing (if any) to treat their listening rooms? I don't want to turn my TV room into an Auralex showroom, but if there are things that work would love to hear them.



In my home studio (upstairs bedroom/office shared with the wife) 2 things I have found that are great:



Auralex MOPAD - acoustically isolates your monitors from your desk

Auralex GRAMMA - decouples guitar amps from the floor so when you play, everything else in the room and house doesn't rattle to death. They also make this for home subs so that you can hear the LF, but you're not rattling everything in the TV room.



 
Re: Home Theaters.watcha got?

Nothing,





An analog TV I bought in 1992, an D/A converter I use to run the DVD player into it. No satellite, no cable, no local antenna.



If you ever wonder why I have so much time logged into the boards...
 
Re: Home Theaters.watcha got?

Nice system Doug. Long ago I had some maggie mmg's. I eventually welded new T shaped feet to replace the factory feet. Raised them up 6 inches and made them horizontal. Really tightened up the soundstage in my room. I still think they are one of the best values in high end audio.



Thanks Brian. Its a basic system I know but they still sound good after all these years.



Your System 10's (or 11's?) are in a class by themselves. (hard to tell from the stretched photo)VERY nice system. I looked into and listened to some electrostatic Martins awhile ago but I knew I'd have to follow up with amps,preamps and that would inter fear with the live sound $. Electrostatic speakers have the same kind of air and open stage I like from the maggies. I know someday when I'm too old for live sound I will drift back into home audio. I did almost pick up a

Classe' 200 amp for a great price but again all the rest would have to follow as well.

Coming in at a nice price range is a pair of the newest Magneplanar speaker. At 2 grand not too bad at all. I could put my smga's as rear speakers and upgrade for a reasonable price.



http://www.magnepan.com/model_MG_16



The new 3.7s would just be too big for my room.



Nothing better than relaxing on a Sunday afternoon and enjoying a personal blues,jazz,or ''your favorite music hear'' performance to unwind after along weekend of gigs.



Douglas R. Allen