Home Theater Discussion Thread

Starting a new thread for home theater discussion since a few of us started hi-jacking the watch lovers' thread. This thread can be for general discussion about HT (equipment, room setup, acoustics, etc).

I will start with my current setup. I have a small house (semi to boot) and limited income to spend on HT stuff some my setup is modest at best. It's working for me right now but I'm always looking at simple and cheap things I can do to improve the setup. Currently looking at setting up a 2nd system in the basement so Mrs. And I don't have to fight for the TV.

Living room:
TV: Samsung 50" plasma. 720p but it was free (draw) so no complaints here.
Receiver: Pioneer VSX-920K. Setup for 5.1 + DDIIz height channels
Speakers: Jamo S420 5.0 setup for F/C/H speakers ($229!). OLD Bose 301 for rear channels (free). Paradigm sub (gift).
Media: PS3 Slim, Rogers HD8246 PVR.
Others: 2x Aura Pro tactile transducers powered by an old Yamaha stereo receiver to shake the sofa

In my attempt to shield my neighbour from my movie/gaming habits, I'm currently comtemplating covering the entire wall with acoustic foam. I'm not totally convinced on how it's going to look though...

Things about this setup…

DDIIz: I decided to try going with the front height speakers for this setup since I had the 2 bose speakers lying around and figured they'd work well for the rears since the Jamo rear's are tiny an perfect for mounting up high. So far I have not noticed any benefit or improvement to the sound space with the heights. They haven't filled in any gaps. After watching a whole whack of movies, I can count exactly ONE time where I noticed a distinct, DDIIz moment. While watching one of the Planet Earth blu-rays, there was one scene where there was a bird that chirped that clearly came from above. Otherwise I have never noticed the height channels during rainfall or bomb scenes like the feature is advertised My living room isn't 7.1 layout capable so I have no intentions on switching to it.

Buttshakers: Read about these on another forum and as a DIY kinda guy, I couldn't resist giving it a try since the setup cost was minimal (had stereo amp lying around). Anyone who has never experienced these things should give them a try. Split the LFE channel to the sub and stereo amp. 2x aura pro's are hooked up to amp directly by L/R channels (2x100w @ 4ohms) to keep wiring simple. Aura pros are screwed into the sofa. The shakers have added a very cool dimension to the movie watching experience, especially since we share a wall, I keep the sub very very low and the LFE zone was quite void before. That spot has now been filled. Some notable movies I've watched recently: 2012 (as the ground crumbles away, sofa shakes the same), Matrix (as Neo fires the machine gun on the helicopter to save Morpheus in slow-mo, you feel the pulsation of each round fired), and Thin Red Line (beginning of movie on ship, when the ship creaks, the sofa gives a tiny rumble).

Basement:
TV: Samsung 42" plasma. 720p as well.
Other: headphones.

Looking to beef up the basement setup a bit since I plan on spending more time here. Currently looking at going 5.1 with in-wall speakers from monoprice (can't beat their price). Not totally sure what I'm going to do for the sub… I might just use my bass guitar amp. Looking for a cheap 5.1 receiver but haven't settled on one yet (Pioneer VSX-521 almost fits the bill for < $200 usd). Also planning on insulating all the walls to dampen things a bit since I like to stay up later at night and don't want to disturb the wife, dog and neighbour. Will probably print some movie/game posters on canvas and pad the back with batting.

Biggest issue here aside from cost is that my basement area is TINY (100 sq ft?) and I have a heavy bag/speed bag setup that I'm not sure where I can relocate it to….

Try to post pictures later