Home Theatre Systems

[nang3]

you can probably build a screen yourself for away under the cost of buying one, or even use ScreenGoo and paint yaself one..

yep decent amp and speakers and decent (not the most exxy, but not the cheapest) cabling/wires like Belkin and Aerpro or similar.. ebay is good for this, Selby Acoustics I think are fairly cheap if you call him up

projector, personally im going for a Panasonic AX100 - does 720p and 1080i with HDMI/Component/VGA/sVideo inputs etc.. its an LCD so the panel will degrade over time but they are fairly cheap to begin with... might be a touch more than you wanna spend @ ~$2400

Not sure what Media centre usually goes for but my wholesalers have it listed at $174 inc GST

[Flukey]

I think you need to spend reasonable dollars on a projector to get the most out of it. I am tossing up between a Mitsubishi and a Benq, both about $3500.

I have also bought a good screen ( 95" for about $800 )

Speakers - $3000

Amp - $2,000

It goes on and on

[Desert_phantom]

Hey guys,

Im not going to go to much into computers or speakers yada yada yada,but ill just say one thing on the projector.

Go the Panasonic PT-AX100E. Should be able to pick one up for around $2500.

Japanese made, Component RGB, HDMI, Universal backlit remote. Brilliant picture quality, and I can not think of anything under about 8K that willl really represent a better buy (picture vs value).

It is not full HD (1920 x 1080) however its is native HD wide screen,1280 x 720 (the same as a 50" plasma for example) SO its 1080i NOT 1080p

Apart from the accurate color reproduction and deep blacks (of course black is only as dark as your room) the pana has NO visible "flyscreen" effect. So the picture is very smooth.

Check the link: http://panasonic.com.au/products/category.cfm?objectID=3632

And yes...I have seen/used it very often. In fact the previous two models of it were almost every bit as good.

Edited 14/03/07 01:24 PM by Desert_phantom

[nang3]

  Flukey said:

I think you need to spend reasonable dollars on a projector to get the most out of it. I am tossing up between a Mitsubishi and a Benq, both about $3500.

I have also bought a good screen ( 95" for about $800 )

Speakers - $3000

Amp - $2,000

It goes on and on

←

hehe sounds like my efforts.. go in planning on getting a $600 sub, walk out with $2k of energys finest haha

[XtRmn8]

I just finished my home theatre install on Saturday, first time I have done one and I am very happy how it turned out. Just a few finishing touches to go.

My room is about 6m x 4m but one corned of the room has a 2.5m recess at 45deg and this is where my screen is.

Anway this is all low budget stuff, but everyone who has seen it so far has been blown away. Both by picture and sound quality and clerity.

My projector is an Acer PD113P DLP Projector Specs: Click Here

My home theater is a Yamaha 5.1 Channel Digital Home Theatre Package Specs: Click Here

The projector cost me under $1000 and the home theatre package was $500. Plus all the other bits such as cable, screen materials etc were about another $200 max.

Its a very simple setup. One componant going from the Yamaha amp to the projector and my DVD player, SD set top box, PS2 and/or PC plug into the Yamha receiver Componant inputs. I use fibre optic digital audio for the DVD and set top box to get 5.1 DTS, for other I just use standard L/R audio cable.

The projector is 4:3 native so I decided to make the screen 4:3 also. With a 2m wide screen the picture is plenty big when watching movies and SD TV in 16:9. Frame is built out of HDF splade type skirting (62mm x 19mm) from bunnings and covared in black valvet from Spotlight. I painted the wall with normal Solver low sheen paint called "Slightly", which is an off-white with a touch of grey in it. I made the frame and put it on the wall to make it look neat.

Here are a couple of pics via my mobile. I'll take a few better shots with my camera tomorrow and post them. Like I said I did all this myself and it is great experiance. Next house I am going to get a 16:9 HD projector and a better home theatre package, will stick to Yamaha again because for the money I could not find anything that comes close to them.

Sorry about hijacking this thread but I just wanted to show that you do not have to spend big to get a nice setup. I will take a few pics of it all running just to show how it looks.

[01txr]

If you looking for some orsm speakers do a search for Dream on Ebay as I have purchased there down firing sub and speaker package and can say these are orsm and cheap.

I was using Magnat & Jamo speakers prior and have decided to give these a go and will say I would buy these Dream speakers over top name brands every day.

I can crank my amp to full with no distorion at all where as the Magnat and Jamo would be lucky to get to 3/4 volume.

They are a company that imports them direct and by memory are US company who has manufactured in China.

I have had my Dream speakers for over 12 mths with no problems.

You will be impressed as I was.

They have a few options and I prefer there Dream range over there Simba range.

Even though these are very cheap they are made with high quality in performance and appearence.

Hope this is of use to you.

[rboksic]

  01txr said:

I

I was using Magnat & Jamo speakers prior and have decided to give these a go and will say I would buy these Dream speakers over top name brands every day.

I can crank my amp to full with no distorion at all where as the Magnat and Jamo would be lucky to get to 3/4 volume.

Hope this is of use to you.

←

Do you think that your amp was not good enough to drive the Jamo's ?

Is your amp component or a reciever?

[nang3]

  01txr said:

If you looking for some orsm speakers do a search for Dream on Ebay as I have purchased there down firing sub and speaker package and can say these are orsm and cheap.

I was using Magnat & Jamo speakers prior and have decided to give these a go and will say I would buy these Dream speakers over top name brands every day.

I can crank my amp to full with no distorion at all where as the Magnat and Jamo would be lucky to get to 3/4 volume.

They are a company that imports them direct and by memory are US company who has manufactured in China.

I have had my Dream speakers for over 12 mths with no problems.

You will be impressed as I was.

They have a few options and I prefer there Dream range over there Simba range.

Even though these are very cheap they are made with high quality in performance and appearence.

Hope this is of use to you.

←

I must agree that as a cheap chinese speaker the Dream speakers are hard to beat, my GF's dad has them + the downfiring sub and overall it sounds decent for the money - I think all up it cost him around $600 or so..

When compared to my modest system - HK AVR5500, Energy XL-S12, Bose 201s, Dali Centre, Yamaha rears - it gets blown away in terms of clarity, presence and richness of sound and the bass is MUCH more accurate and goes much lower from the energy, but for $600 he cant complain and its every bit as loud as my setup IMO..

[XR06T]

F6 UTE,

I am interested in hearing more about your zensonic, as I have only heard bad things about them..

I thought they looked great until I read that ppl's were not lasting, crashing constantly etc. how long have you been using yours for now?

great idea as a media centre imo.

some great looking theatres here guys! I am about to fit my theatre out, when the house finishes, so some great info!

im pretty sure the cheapest 1080p projector is still like 5k+, and I am very happy with the picture I get out of my tv @ 720p, so I'd aim for a projector that's native resolution is 720p.

screen, search google and you will find many tutorials on making your own screen..

good luck, and keep posting pics guys!

[Desert_phantom]

"projector, personally im going for a Panasonic AX100 - does 720p and 1080i with HDMI/Component/VGA/sVideo inputs etc.. its an LCD so the panel will degrade over time but they are fairly cheap to begin with... might be a touch more than you wanna spend @ ~$2400"

LCD does not degrade over time. Only when the lamp is coming to the end of its life and needs to be replaced will you lose any picture quality