Show us your 'Home Cinema' setups!!

[tim1983]

Here's my little set-up:






Sony KDL-32W5500 LCD TV
Denon AVR-1909 Amp
Sony BDP-S350 Blu-Ray player
Humax PVR-9200T Freeview recorder
Denon satellite speakers from my old DHT-500SD all-in-one system that went pop last year
Tannoy EFX Subwoofer
PS2

I'm very pleased with it on the whole, but I am planning to upgrade the front surround speakers to floorstanders as I find the mid-range a bit lacking when listening to music, but not sure which to get or how much I'd need to spend to make it worthwhile..?

[dow]

Far end of my room... a rear speaker, left front, and the subwoofer.



and the business end...



Now my av setup is tailored for gaming, hence all the speakers are currently aimed at my chair in front of the computer desk, where my screen is used as my monitor. There is another computer in the corner which is why there is a keyboard temporarily on top of one of the speakers.

When I watch movies I have to swivel my speakers round towards the sofa on the left in the first picture, and for the best sound I move the sofa forwards so it is in the middle of the room almost.

Samsung LE40M87BDX/XEU 40inch LCD.
Yamaha RX-V2500 Av Receiver - Vez's old amp, awesome endless power at 130W*7 it can really drive these speakers to absolutely saturate the house with sound.
Acoustic Energy Evo series, center, Evo 3 and Evo 1 as fronts and rears.
Rel R305 Subwoofer, 300W.
PS3, SkyHD, gaming PC as the inputs. I don't have an aerial feed to my TV, but apparently there is a digital tv tuner built into it.
Marantz CD4000 cd player.
Sony MDS-JE510 minidisc deck, to make recordings for in the car.
Denon DRM-555 tape deck, to make recordings for in the tractor.

I kinda consider it complete, although there is the possibility of either a center rear speaker, or using the second set of front outlet terminals to bi-amp the fl and fr speakers, as suggested in the manual. I don't know whether the cost of cable would be worth it though, has anyone ever done this?

[Vez]

Ill get some piccies of my setup on friday

[Mr G]

A long way off 'Home Cinema' but I'm happy with it.

Spec (get ready for this...)

Sony KDL32U3000U 720p LCD

Acer Revo 3610 + XBMC Live (HDMI) mounted on VESA plate on back of TV

Random Logitech 2.1 speaker set plugged into headphone socket of TV It sounds a million times better than the TV speakers though and it was only £15.

No need for a DVD / BD player as I don't use them (although I could play DVD's on the Wii). I just stream all my 720p content from my PC upstairs via 200Mbps Homeplugs.





Try and ignore the hateful decor - we've been renting and can't do too much but we're actually buying the place of the Landlady so we have big plans!!

[Hallsy]

Samsung LE40M87BDX/XEU 40inch LCD.
Yamaha RX-V2500 Av Receiver - Vez's old amp, awesome endless power at 130W*7 it can really drive these speakers to absolutely saturate the house with sound.
Acoustic Energy Evo series, center, Evo 3 and Evo 1 as fronts and rears.
Rel R305 Subwoofer, 300W.
PS3, SkyHD, gaming PC as the inputs. I don't have an aerial feed to my TV, but apparently there is a digital tv tuner built into it.
Marantz CD4000 cd player.
Sony MDS-JE510 minidisc deck, to make recordings for in the car.
Denon DRM-555 tape deck, to make recordings for in the tractor.

I kinda consider it complete, although there is the possibility of either a center rear speaker, or using the second set of front outlet terminals to bi-amp the fl and fr speakers, as suggested in the manual. I don't know whether the cost of cable would be worth it though, has anyone ever done this?

Nice setup

Not sure about bi-amping from the same amp. Suppose you could try it with some cheap cable to see if you can hear any difference, but usually it's done with separate power amps.

I wouldn't bother with a centre rear, 6.1 never really picked up. Even with 7.1 there aren't that many movies using 7.1 yet, most are still 5.1.

[Hallsy]

hallsy, any chance of finding a link for that tv cabinet?

been having real difficulty finding a tv cabinet that will take a full depth media center, also, was the fan system an optional extra or a custom jobbie? any chance of details on it if it was a custom job?

ta

Here is the unit: http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/20137158

and the doors: http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/90137169

The fans were custom mate, see here: http://www.sxoc.com/vbb/showthread.p...highlight=fans

My case is full ATX and so does stick out the back a little. If you have a uATX mobo you can get some quite small cases that will fit in smaller units, but obviously cooling & noise becomes more of a problem. A small, cheap case that comes to mind is one by Hiper Media, but it's not great with heat iirc.

[Draven]

cheers

[VIDAL BABBOON]

Nice setup

Not sure about bi-amping from the same amp. Suppose you could try it with some cheap cable to see if you can hear any difference, but usually it's done with separate power amps.

I wouldn't bother with a centre rear, 6.1 never really picked up. Even with 7.1 there aren't that many movies using 7.1 yet, most are still 5.1.

Centre rear is a waste of time

BUT if you have a decent 7.1 / 7.2 amp it will be able to decode the audio from 5.1 to 7.1 /7.2 for you.

It's not going to be a true representation but it will be an audible difference (more so on 7.1)


Also Bi amping is only going to benefit you if using a separate pre amp unit

[pyro]

Got a Sony KDL52X2000 and a Sony LF-1 hooked up to my release 60GB PS3 and my 360 Elite.
I feel distinctly un-manly because of this thread, now.

Only just put the TV on the wall, after umming and ahhing for a year or so. Can't sus routing the cables as the TV is quite high up and the bracket is distinctly industrial with very little room to work behind it.
I am still petrified the TV is g'na come away. Its only a stud partition. =/

[Asht_200]

I kinda consider it complete, although there is the possibility of either a center rear speaker, or using the second set of front outlet terminals to bi-amp the fl and fr speakers, as suggested in the manual. I don't know whether the cost of cable would be worth it though, has anyone ever done this?

I've never found the need for more than 5.1, however I have biamped my Kef iQ7s with my Onkyo 875 and it definately made a difference, especially when just playing music, it felt much warmer and you can really drive the speakers with it biamped.

Of course it would probably be better if using seperate power amps.... hmmm 7 rack mounted carver ZR1600s would be nice.

Also Bi amping is only going to benefit you if using a separate pre amp unit

Some amps - I know the Onkyo does, supports this internally. It uses the amps for the surround rears to feed the 2nd set of front amplification instead.

[Hallsy]

Got a Sony KDL52X2000 and a Sony LF-1 hooked up to my release 60GB PS3 and my 360 Elite.
I feel distinctly un-manly because of this thread, now.

Only just put the TV on the wall, after umming and ahhing for a year or so. Can't sus routing the cables as the TV is quite high up and the bracket is distinctly industrial with very little room to work behind it.
I am still petrified the TV is g'na come away. Its only a stud partition. =/

If you are working with a stud wall, routing/hiding cables is very easy

Just cut a hole in the plasterboard behind the TV, cut a hole at the bottom (if you want to have a unit under there, otherwise wherever. Then run a draw wire from point to point, and pull your cables through

Mine was a thermalite wall, rendered & skimmed. I was going to chase a channel in, but as there was an integral garage behind it, I just made two holes straight through and ran some 40mm (iirc) waste pipe through, down the garage wall and back into lounge again. Makes pulling cables through fairly easy

[nitrodave]

I got my boombox HTPC finished last night with a card reader/usb drive on the side and conected it with hdmi - which is a massive improvement over vga!

here's a few pics of the build.

out with the old


in with the new


all set up

[BigD]

my spec is so far.

Panasonic Txp42g10b.
Panasonic dmrex20 dvd ram recorder. (freebie)
Sony ps3 with 250gb Hdd
and hope fully soon the Onkyo hts5202 i think, just waiting on price.

Just had a cal back and onkyo have stopped making it now, and it wont be till april for the new model.

[Cluck]

Think this covers my setup :

Pioneer KRP-500A plasma
Pioneer LX-70A blu-ray player (sadly only profile 1.1 and takes an age to start, but the picture and sound is fantastic)
Arcam AVR200 amp (it desperately needs upgrading )
B&W CDM 7SE front speakers
B&W CDM CSE centre speaker
B&W rear speakers of some sort (were my original front speakers 12 years ago )
SVS subwoofer (can't remember the model number off the top of my head )

Oh and an Arcam Alpha 9 CD player

+ lots and lots of DVDs, Blurays and stupidly overpriced cables that I bought when I had more money than sense

[danny-mac]

Here is what I have done.

[Andynissan]

Obviously fires not plugged in

[dow]

I wonder what happened to my pics...

[Dave_S]

Here is what I have done.

That's a really nice clean setup

Dave

[Silane]

Cool dog Andy

[BigD]

i have a 5.1av system now, not quite upto the new standerds i want, but it soungs great tbh, its a loverly old yamaha r936 i think i cant use it though, as plasterboard walls and babys next door dont mix