Thread: Home Theater??

Anyone here into home theater? Also anyone into TV Antenna's for OTA (over the air) programming?

I've got a nice set-up I put together for a home theater, what do you want to know?

all the major networks enter my house over the air too.

You really can't go wrong with THESE from Bose. The Lifestyle systems are great, can expand into multiple rooms wireless, with separate stations, store 1000's of MP3's, ... . Also the acoustimass speaker systems are great for just speakers, if you don't need the receiver/dvd player.

eeewwww Bose! the best marketing in sound. Not bad if you like the micro speaker systems. But not a truly great system either.

If you want to see a great system go to a stereo shop. I mean a shop that sells nothing else, no car stereos either. Look at at least Pioneers top of the line or something from Yamaha look for speakers from B&W and let the guys there show you how they have them set up. Then, if you are like me and don't want to take out a mortgage to buy a stereo, go to best buy and get the closest they have to the setup from the stereo shop for about a third the price.

For instance I really wanted that Velodyne sub that doubles as a granite top coffee table but ended up with a JBL 12" sub to hide under the end table. My front speakers and center speaker are also from JBL my rears are Bose 301 direct reflecting speakers. All 5.1 of them connected with monster cable, don't skimp here or you will pay when you crank it up.

My components are all from Pioneer as I wanted them to match and work well together off of the same remote. Not their very best line but good quality from a solid company with a fine reputation. I hate and look forward to at the same time haveing to add a new TV to the mix in the next year or so I have a digital tuner.

All in all it took me about two years to investigate and buy all the stuff I now have set up but I did manage to pay less than $10,000 for a great sound in my 12' by 12' theater room, and I can shake the whole house when I want to.

Sorry guys didnt mean to start a war here, well lets rephrase a little. I have a lot of knowledge and experience with home theater so thats not the problem. the problem is OTA over the air HD and connecting it from the Ant which will be attic mounted and my hone theater is in the basement. I live in a 3 story town house.
Now my questions are whats the best cable used wiring an HD Ant? what's the best way (easiest) to fish it through the walls? and finally will i need pre-amps or amps?
From my experience home theater isn't about what you spend or the brands of components, its about the sound. most systems sound bad because there calibrated wrong and/or its the wrong setup for the room (size,shape,acoustics).
For the record i have installed/calibrated a few Bose systems and they sound amazing! I have a system i put together for around a $1000, and it sounds better than a $5000 system i tried. I also believe the system should work for its environment, not the environment working for the system, meaning a system shouldn't shake your house i mean if you like that that fine but my personal opinion is the listening area should be just that, an area where you listen.
I'm rambling now, well home theater is a lot like straight razors, what works for one doesn't work for another.

Can we start a war here? I'm not an audiophile but from the little I've read, Bose does seem to be average at best --- so who knows something about all of this (I can move this to a new thread if ucliker wants to.)



Justin

What?? confused, well a war is definitely not necessary! but if you want we can continue the topic.

If you want the worlds best sound you gotta get a pair of these



Of course last time I saw a price it was $30,000 apiece. Not exactly what I could get into THX for.

Wow those look crazy! Well home theater is more of a need VS want. good speakers dont need to cost 30k but then again why not

Originally Posted by ucliker

Now my questions are whats the best cable used wiring an HD Ant? what's the best way (easiest) to fish it through the walls? and finally will i need pre-amps or amps?

I'd recommend checking out http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/ if you haven't already. they have a section devoted to this topic (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=25). AFAIK the preamp will be dependent on the antenna and signal strength, and good quality coax should probably get the signal anywhere you need it (www.bluejeanscable.com sell good quality cables at great prices). As far as fishing through walls goes... good luck. I've never been that good with it, thankfully my drywall work is pretty decent.

Originally Posted by ucliker

From my experience home theater isn't about what you spend or the brands of components, its about the sound. most systems sound bad because there calibrated wrong and/or its the wrong setup for the room (size,shape,acoustics).For the record i have installed/calibrated a few Bose systems and they sound amazing! I have a system i put together for around a $1000, and it sounds better than a $5000 system i tried. .

The room and calibration are certainly huge in any speaker config and can make or break even 100K speakers.

That said, at the same price point, in my personal experience most speakers will be much better than the equivalent from Bose. Unless form factor and ability to hide them behind things and have them sound the same is the primary requirement they generally just don't produce sound anywhere near their cost. This has some interesting, though certainly agenda-driven, information regarding their systems: http://www.intellexual.net/bose.html

However people all hear somewhat differently and personal preference plays a large part in audio. Boomy, one-note bass may repel one person and be just what someone else is looking for and as long as they're happy there is nothing really wrong with that.

Originally Posted by Wildtim

If you want the worlds best sound you gotta get a pair of these

Of course last time I saw a price it was $30,000 apiece. Not exactly what I could get into THX for.

Whether or not they sound the best is of course down to personal preference. This system has been getting a lot of press of late though http://www.magico.net/d=03_Products/03_Model_6 and will definitely ruin your THX budget at $120K

Ant