OT - Home theatre advice Options

[Pnambic]

I haven't listened to them myself, but I've seen nothing but positive reviews of Dr. Hsu's Ventriloquist 6.1 speaker system. There's actually a forum/BBS at http://hsuresearch.com/forum for opinions, test results, setup help, etc. They apparently were the cheapest setup to ever receive the Stand Out award at the 2004 Consumer Electronics Show.


Home Theatre Sound review


By contrast, I've listened to some "high end" B&W systems and was less than impressed. I havent heard the system you mentioned, so maybe its better. I dunno (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif) . It seems like with B&W, you pay three times the price of a comparable speaker to get the B&W name. IMHO of course.

[fiid]

I think the bulbs are about $75 each.  if i'm wrong, i'm sure someone here will tell me.  ;)

your wrong...

The bulbs for these projectors start at over $300. Most are even more.

Crazy but true.

The bulbs are expensive.

Having said that - the age related failure mode for a bulb is that it gets dimmer. The stated lifespan for the bulb is the age at which it falls below the specified brightness.

The stated agespan is usually around 2000 hours. 2000 hours is about a month solid. I.e. if you watch TV 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, you will get a month. If, however, you watch say 2 hours a day on average - you are looking at about 1000 days, which is about 2-3 years.

[fiid]

I would also audition NHT speakers - they use audiophile grade materials where it makes sense - but use cheaper materials for things like the terminal posts, etc. I have a set which I use for my rears, and they produce a really crisp, clear sound.

For projectors, I would check out http://www.projectorpeople.com and http://www.projectorcentral.com

Projector People - is a reseller of projectors and has pricing info.
Projector Central - is a repository of information about various projectors.

You should also (if you go with front projection) pay attention to the quality of the cabling you use between your components and your projector. I recommend using the higest quality stuff you can lay your hands on. I am actually using these baluns and two runs of Cat-5: http://www.hometech.com/video/muxlab.html

There are some peculiaritys to my house which make this a much easier solution that running monster cable, for instance.

[machina]

My maching has an hour meter and I imagine most others do as well. We only use our system to watch a movie (or F1) once in a while, so I am not really worried about lamp usage.

If you use your theatre every day however, it could be an issue that might steer you toward an LCD or plasma panel display.

[eeyore]

A sound engineer friend likes Yamaha (and Onkyo) recievers. He says they're the only units that sound equally well with 2 channel music and multichannel surround.

Good to stick with 5.1. 7.1 isn't needed unless you have a big, big room.

[mike_the_man]

Wow, lots of opinions. This is what I was looking for. As far as projectors go, I'm pretty much sold on getting one. Light control isn't an issue, as the theatre will be in my basement, with no windows. Also, picture quality for projectors seem to be getting better and better. You can get a good size picture, with decent quality, for around $1000 - $1500. Big screen tvs seem to be quite a bit more.

The Yamaha receiver seems to be a really good value for the price. Lots of options, and a pretty low price.

Speakers I'm still unsure of. I really like the B&Ws when I listened to them, but I'm still looking. I like the look of the Axioms, and the prices are comparable to the B&Ws that I'm looking at. I'd like to hear them.

Thanks everybody,

[DougC]

I bought the 50" Panasonic LCD Tv about a year ago and absolutely love it, though there is now a 60" version of it. Everyone that comes over is always saying "oh, you have a plasm Tv"...I've stopped explained the difference. I also got a Pioneer DVD player w/ super Audio, no Faroudja chip but it is flawless and cheap at around $180...wish I could remember the model number. Onkyo has great receivers at reasonable prices. By the time I got around to buying speakers I was running out of money but someone suggested that I try JBL's small NSP-1 Northridge series speaker system, again cheap price and they far exceed anything else in their price range. The JBLs are a complete 5 piece set-up but doesn't include a bass unit, which is why I got the Dayton 10" subwoofer (from Partsexpress.com) best money I spent. I'm happy with these pieces and would recommend them to you.

Doug C

[DougC]

BTW, this is the Sub I'm telling you about and it's only $125. It's a keeper!


http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.c...r=300-632&DID=7


Doug C

[vortrex]

I haven't listened to them myself, but I've seen nothing but positive reviews of Dr. Hsu's Ventriloquist 6.1 speaker system. There's actually a forum/BBS at http://hsuresearch.com/forum for opinions, test results, setup help, etc. They apparently were the cheapest setup to ever receive the Stand Out award at the 2004 Consumer Electronics Show.

Hsu makes great subs, I have the STF-1 with my axioms. I think you will be disappointed with the Ventriloquist though if you're looking for big sound.