Marks HT Thread

[PhotoByMark]

Hi there everyone.

I have started my quest to create a better HT after being somewhere and almost buying a Bose cube setup. But, I think decided nah I better go see what else I can get for about the same $$$. Oh man, here we go..... LOL. So, I started researching have gone through many ups and downs trying to decide on best approach and what to buy.

Lets just start with what I have now.

Room:
30x40 with 18 foot vaulted ceilings. TV/Components on one end, viewing area about 12 feet back. Other end opens to the kitchen and hallway is dead center on the right side. Windows have curtains, tile floor. On the left side a very large rock wall w/fireplace at 45 degree angle from the front wall.

TV: Mistubishi 48" RP 1080i - Already about 4 years old.

AVR: Sony DA5200ES - 6 months old, bought used for $500 from a friend upgrading.
As I have learned I guess Sony is not the popular in the HT world. It does have pre-amp outputs so I am thinking I can use as my preamp and upgrade to better amplifier at some point.

Speakers: Fronts Bose 4.2 bookshelf speakers. Center : A Misc. Yamaha Bookshelf Surrounds: You got me - some no-name 3 ways I found in my shed. LOL. Where did they come from? No-idea. Best part: I

DVD: Samsung DVD player.

There you have it. Not much to talk about on the current setup.

My current thinking on the first round of improvements:

BR Player: Sony PS3. From what I can tell the PS3 is still one of the better choices for BR.

Proposed new speakers:
LR - Axiom M60V2 -> or Maybe the M80v2?
C - Axiom VP150
Surround and Rear -Axiom Qs8 v2

Subwoofer: Considering SVS PC-Plus 20-39 or 16-46 or perhaps SVS PB12-Plus2
Other brands considered: Epik, HSU, Axiom
Whatever sub I settle on I am open to adding another eventually. The room is large and from what I have read could easily require at least subwoofers. Budget only allows for 1 right now.


After the speaker purchases - the next goals would include

Learn how to tune sub and speakers. Wow, just reading last night and today on some of the topics and did not know about all that stuff. The whole tuning thing. Sounds cool though.

Better amplifier(s). I have not done much research here.

Add'l sub if needed:

Improve acoustics of the room - this should go higher in the list.

Dedicated HT room: Yep, this is the eventual long term goal. Good news is I have a back room that I could use. Currently, it is our home gym room and it does not have central air.

I have rambled on enough for my first real post here. I am totally open to all comments/ideas/other brands/speaker recommendations etc. as I have not actually purchased anything new yet.

[PhotoByMark]

A comment:

I see SVS is a sponsor here and appear to contribute regularly on this site. I just emailed them last night to get some assistance on my first subwoofer purchase. I did that before I discovered this site. I wish I could enter that drawing!

[PhotoByMark]

One more comment : I was just reading about sub placement. So it is better to not place the subs in corners? Actually, that is kind of good news because one big issue for me is I do not have usable corners. One side has a front door and the other side is a fireplace. If I eventually end up with 2 subs I have room along the walls on both sides of the room.

[eugovector]

PhotoByMark wrote:

One more comment : I was just reading about sub placement. So it is better to not place the subs in corners? Actually, that is kind of good news because one big issue for me is I do not have usable corners. One side has a front door and the other side is a fireplace. If I eventually end up with 2 subs I have room along the walls on both sides of the room.

Some people like corners because it makes the bass louder, but usually not flat. If you want loud bass, the corner is for you.

For flat bass, you'll want to play around with placement. I found that a little out of the corner, next to my right speaker works best for me.

[PhotoByMark]

Thanks. Once I get one I suppose it will take some experimenting and calibrating to get the right frequency response vs bass loudness.