Theater Setup for Multipurpose Room in Basement

[deanphil]

I am coming to a close on my basement finishing project and have an area laid out for my theater. Since I do not have a dedicated room that I can keep dark, I have decided to go with a 60" plasma and possibly an LCD. I will post pictures so folks can get an idea of my room design. One side is wall and the other is open. I will have suspended acoustic tiles in the ceiling. Since the room is open on the left side and I have little room on the back wall for mounting rear surround speakers, I have been considering ceiling speakers for left/right surrounds and rear surrounds. I know it isn't perfect, but considering my layout, this is probably the best. I could use in wall mains, center and sub, but will go with the best sound for the price. The wife would like them in the wall, but she doesn't have a vote since this is the "man zone."

My budget for the room is $10K if I do it all at once and maybe more if I start with jsut the TV and add pieces along the way. For that budget, what are your TV, receiver, and speaker recommendations?

This is a tall order, but I know you guys have lots of favorites. I will post pictures soon. Thanks!

[eugovector]

$10k includes the room, or just the equipment inside it? Are you starting from scratch, or do you already have a DVD player, cables, etc? Please list anything you currently have, and what you're shopping for, something like:


TV: 60" Plasma (recommendations?)
Fronts: ?
Center: ?
DVD Player: Oppo 981 (already purchased)
AVR: ? (3 HDMI ports minimum)
Cable Box: Basic DirecTV

etc...

[deanphil]

The room is done...drywall is up, but not the ceiling yet. I have access to the front wall behind, so I can cut in speakers if necessary and I can put all the equipment on a small rack in that room. I already have power and light in there too.

This is what I came up with for a configuration last night, but I am open to other suggestions to save some money. I went with the Definitive on wall Mythos Eights for R F C. I was going to chose the Denon 2808ci, but it only has 2 HDMI ports, so I went with the 3808ci...could that be overkill?

Please make recommendations for dealers where I can get it all at once with good service and perhaps a package deal. See below:

Item Unit Cost Quantity Sub-Total Store URL
Definitive Mythos Eight $549.99 3 $1,649.97 DigitalCraze www.digitalcraze.com
Definitive Supercube II $699.99 1 $699.99 DigitalCraze www.digitalcraze.com
Definitive UIW RCS II $399.99 4 $1,599.96 Home Price Club www.homepriceclub.com
Denon 3808ci $998.00 1 $998.00 Dakmart www.dakmart.com
Pioneer PDP-6010FD $4,399.00 1 $4,399.00 ButterflyPhoto www.butterflyphoto.com
or
Panasonic TH-58PZ750U $3,150.00 1 $3,150.00 Millenium Camera www.milleniumcamera.com

Option 1 with Pioneer $9,346.92
Option 2 with Panasonic $8,097.92

[eugovector]

If you like the definitives, go with 'em, but only after you've heard a good directional system (I can't remember if the Mythos is dipol or not). I find di-poles are great when you first hear them, but after a while, I would long for a little more directionality. As for a dealer, get out the yellow pages, and get them to give you some quotes. Maybe some MI folks can give you some leads on specific dealers.

If you have the room, get a sub from SVS or HSU instead. That little definitive is great for space-saving, but for the money, will get torn and discarded by $700 spent at SVS or HSU on a larger sub.

The only recommendation I would make is to check out the Onkyo 805 or better. go to shoponkyo.com and you can get refurbs for a song.

Also, it's a little more $$, but the Kuro Plasma is the current top dog. Get some light blocking curtains to get the most out of the Kuro's contrast levels.