pHo
Oct 2001
pjeer?
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hmmm let me have a look at prices.. its all down to what you want quality wise. do you have a normal tv for day to day crap tv watching? do you want this setup mainly for movies, or for everything?
First things first, when it comes to the audio side of it, bigger is best and buying seperates is much better (and more fun!) than buying a kit. Kits are fine if you want the thing hidden away and the amp/dvd player to be one small unit, but I'm a real man so therefore the amp must take 3 people to lift, and have a remote control as big as a door.
Right, as I haven't bought gear in a while these are just examples of what kinda stuff I'd look up reviews for, do auditions on etc...
Yamaha Amp I have a sweet spot for Yammy, they do good gear (its not always the prettiest mind!) and they upscale all video inputs to component, which is nice. If you want to spend more money on the amp (this is a decent "high-low/midrange" model) then think about a $800 or so Pioneer). I picked this as it appears to be very good for non-video based audio as well, with its satellite radio features. Not interested in that? Drop down a model and save some valuable $$$.
JBL Northridge E80 Fronts These just look fab! Nice cone count, and some fab reviews from Amazon and AudioReview.com (Altho I think the northridges are slightly better models). I want these, and I want them now.
JBL Northridge E10 Rears Not everyone likes massive speakers at the back of the room (I personally dont mind, I think it looks rad!) . Also If you get a 7.1ch amp, these can be used as your midway speakers and plonk another set of floorstanders at the back, or maybe a pair of bookshelves. If you buy speakers in the same series, you'll get a similar tone from each one, but I've mixed and matched Wharfdales with Missions before without any problems. At the volumes we used to play things, the pain in your skull was more of an imminent worry than the tone balance 
JBL E35 Centre Speaker I like a good centre speaker, its where all the dialog is coming thru, so if you like Clerks and other movies based around dialog, you want a good crisp sound. Its definitely not worth skimping on a good centre thinking its not important. It is. Remember, if you want the most from DTS-ES 6.1 discs (and they are awesome.. Blade2, LOTR:EEs etc) then you'll need two. Get a cheaper model for the rear, its not AS important as it's not used as much.
KLH 12" Sub Moved away from the JBLs as their subs were about $500.. its up to you if you want to spend that much money. The KLH budget models (cheaper than this) generally get good reviews, so I don't see why this won't follow suit. But look at it! I'd much rather that in my room than a big box with a hole in it. It looks kickass.
Woop thats spent a lot of money so far... we're only about halfway there!
http://www.kiss-technology.com/]Kiss DVD Player Kiss have some exciting players coming out at the moment... xvid/divx playable with network support... prog scan and the like, hdds... up to you what you want from a player, but if you don't want to go the HTPC (i'd consider it, especially if you're into HDTV) route.. then this is probably the second best thing. Traditional DVD player route this Yamaha seems a nice player. No point paying $4k for a rig then running a $30 dvd player thruit 
TV wise.. well you could either go for a plasma, rptv or projector.
Plasma is getting better imo, much preferable to LCD (which is horrrrrible from every experience I've had) but are limited lifespan and you are paying for the "its so thin!" "its new tech!" factor. Definitely more "electronic" and not as natural as RPTV or projector. Personally, I think if you went plasma, you'd have to spend your whole budget on it to make it wortwhile.
Toshiba 57" RPTV Tosh make some awesome RPTV sets, and this 57" beast looks a good price. No HDMI/HDCP tho, so you'd have to go for this in order to fulfill that. Natively 1080i, which suits movies more than sports (higher res, but interlaced scan rather than progressive. Bound to support a progressive input tho.). If you watch a lot of TV as well as movies, the RPTV could well be the choice for you.
Panasonic AE700 At $2400 it aint cheap, but at 106" wide.. its sure is pretty. This is what home theater is about, a massive screen with a natural picture. Currently Pannys flagship projector I believe, I know I want one. Plus the screen is included with it, so you can save up the cash and get a full electric screen in the future, and they're sure damn fun. If you're serious about your movies and thats what this system is for get the projector.
Now, don't forget most enthusiasts state spend about 10% of the budget on the interconnects... don't go overboard with $150 cabling that has never been proved to give any significant picture quality, but do use good cable that won't lose any signal quality. Anything digital obviously won't be a problem, but speaker interconnects i'd spend at least a few dollars a meter on, just to be sure.
Can I come over ?
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Last edited by pHo on 04-04-2005 at 08:03 PM
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04-04-2005 04:35 PM
and your more
