The Glade 4.0

The new house into which we moved has something that I've never had before...a basement. Moreover, it's a finished basement, of substantial size. It's divided into three rooms: one room that takes up over half the basement (and is around 19' long), another that takes up about 3/4 of remaining area, and a full bath.

The 3/4 room has become my office, and the large room, with its lack of windows (and buried-undergroundedness to muffle sound), was crying out to grant a wish I've had for better than a decade: a theater!

I had a crummy old business projector that I inherited and never had the opportunity to use. I bought a mount on Amazon and my dad and I installed it (in a very circuitous manner, because of how the studs in the ceiling run), and it was OK...but I wound up selling the new 70" TV and using the money to buy a new loveseat for the theater (with a console! and cupholders!) and rolled the dice on a new projector.

Oh. my. God. IT'S SO PRETTY.

I've gotten the brand-new projector mounted, the new loveseat in for the theater moved in, and the Apple TV and PS3 hooked up. Phe is now playing 'Dragon Age II' and squealing with utter delight. Did the math: the projector/wall combo gives me a 140" screen. Gorgeous. Now I need to get approval from the owner to paint the wall (haven't decided on white or silver yet). Even with the current, honey-colored walls, that new projector looks brilliant.


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WOW, freaking sweet dude!!!

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http://www.goosystemsglobal.com/indexee ... ont=screen

Yes. Just get the kit.

http://www.goosystemsglobal.com/index2237h.html

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Holy shitsnacks!

envy ;-p

No rear speakers?

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I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"

I admittedly treat audio as a red-headed stepchild. I bought a new soundbar with a wireless subwoofer, and it's plenty powerful and sounds pretty good. I only had $300 to spend on it. Now that the visuals are getting squared away, I may save up and buy a nicer set, but honestly, I get decent imaging out of that soundbar...I don't want to have to deal with running rear speaker wires.

Once you go 5+.1 you'll never go back. It's a shame that you don't have a good sound setup with such a great screen. That's a THEATER, man! Treat it like one!

If I could just buy everything at one time (and owned the house and could thus do whatever I wanted), I would...but I have to prioritize.

Do you have a brand/model on that soundbar handy?

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Toshiba SBX4250, if memory serves. Comes with a wireless subwoofer. $300 at Best Buy.

http://www.engadget.com/photos/toshiba- ... sound-bar/

Thanks.

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Np.

If you ever do decide to get a full surround system FarSky I'd recommend something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-HT-S5500-7- ... B0077V88ZE

It's only 400 bucks and personally I think they're pretty fantastic. I have the the HT-S5300 which is the same model line but from 2 years ago and I have been nothing but happy with it. I had a fairly nice sound bar before it and the difference is night and day, I'll never use anything but a real surround system now.

There's also the 5.1 system for only $268: http://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-HT-S3500-5- ... 0077V88V8/

I think the sub's not nearly as good though and lacks some of the better sound equalizing and mixing features.

For a pure cinematic experience, yes you will need surround sound of some type in the future. My strong recommendation is that once you do, you mount the speakers at ear level (while seated). With the rear left and right speakers directly to your left and right (not behind you) and facing inward toward your head.

Many people place the speakers up high or (ugh) in the ceiling, and also generally behind them. This is the audio equivalent of "I turned up the sharpness because to me it looks better" or "I turned the brightness way up so I could see more stuff." In general the people sacrifice "pure and correct cinematic experience" for convenience. And if you want to do that, that's fine. You just have to admit that you don't want a pure cinematic experience!

Once you have the speakers placed, the last bit is to get them correctly calibrated so that volume and delay is correct for your seat. Many receivers have a microphone built in but if yours doesn't you can get a decibel reader at radio shack for under 50 bucks. I bought one 12 years ago and it's served me very well many times for both home and car audio, as well as setting up friends' theater systems.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

Or you can use a dB reader on your phone. They make apps for that.

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Holy shitsnacks!

My receiver setup diagrams actually had the Side-Left and Side-Right and Back Speakers at a height of 2-3 feet above ear level, Numbuk. Might depend on how specific receivers calibrate things. The fronts and center it said to put at ear level though.

And yeah, if you only have 5.1s the Side Surround positions are WAY more important than Back speakers.

About 10 years ago I used to run with some very serious home theater folks. The kind of guys that would fly around the country and charge over 600 dollars an hour to set up systems for people (not because the customers were suckers, but because they were that good and in that much demand). Everything I've learned from them said set speakers at ear level, even for rears.

But, this was 10 years ago. It's possible things have changed somewhat.

I have no clue what they do with current televisions/projectors, but there was a time when I lined the interior of my RDP television with duvatyne theater fabric as well as used the mitsubishi repair tech code to calibrate my geometry and gamma (all thanks to info I learned from my friends). I'm less serious about it these days, but a part of me still enjoys it.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

Hah, I was doing this last year, thank-you-very-much AVSForum.

Hehe I recognize that projector, it looks like the same Epson I have. =) I thought about painting my wall but ended up just buying a screen. The only downside is, is as often as I use it (it's seriously my primary display for everything now), I go through bulbs a lot, and they run $200+ each to replace. (And do not cheap out on bulb replacements; they may cost half as much but only last 1/4 as long, if that).

Enjoy though, and get the sound setup stat; a screen like that needs the audio to match. =)