What kind of Home TV/Home theater setup do you have?

General Discussion
#1

Decided to upgrade my setup in our Great Room and move the current setup to my basement and was curious on what others are using/doing… I’ll admit to not a ton of knowledge but been reading up and trying to learn so I thought I’d share and get others thoughts…

TV:
I went with the Samsung PN60F8500 60-inch 1080P 600 Hz 3D Smart Plasma HDTV, I debated spending more on a OLED or 4K tv but after looking those over at some retailers I decided to stick with Plasma especially since they seem to be going away and I think the colors and picture qualities are the best. My great room has two skylights and two sliding doors so it’s not optimal for Plasma but I watch more TV at night and again I really think they are the best right now… This one is supposed to be much better in areas that have lots of light so will see, as my current one isn’t too bad even in sun… From the reviews I read and seeing one at the retailer this was one of the the best ones out. It will be a tight fit thus not going with the 64inch… I currently have a 2012 Samsung 51 inch and it has been great and will go into the one side of my basement. Probably won’t use the smart aps much and not sure about the 3D but with a 3 year old I’m sure it will get use and I ordered a half dozen movies to try it out…

Surround Sound:
I am going with the Bose Liefstyle 525 Series II, as I currently have the older Lifestyle setup and it has been great. I know there are better and even for less $'s but I like the small speakers and think it sounds awesome especially for sports and good movies, which is primarily what I watch. The room is already wired so that with the speakers mounted on the walls so I figured it would just be plug and play making setup a little easier and I’ll use the new wires for the old setup in the basement. Just wasn’t into cobbling everything together and preferred the “package” that Bose offered even if it is priced a little high…

DVD Player:
Went with the Samsung BD-F7500 with 4K scaling and 3D Wi-Fi Blu-Ray… I figured this was a little much but like that it has the 4K capability for down the load…

Everything arrives Friday so I’ll set it up Friday night and update with some impressions and pics if anyone wants to see it…

So any thoughts on my choices and what you’ll got?

#2

Sounds awesome!

I just have a simple 48" samsung 1080p LED (about 5 years old), and use a PS3 for internet/BD/Netflix/Amazon Prime/etc. Klipsch soundbar with subwoofer handles the audio.

I look at new TVs every few months, but it isn’t that high on my list. Current set-up suits the family needs. Maybe next year.

#3

Ah. . . Hi-Fi, one of my many weaknesses lol.

I don’t have any photos of my setup on the computer atm, but we did a small movie room in one of our un-needed bedrooms. I’ve been an audiophile for a while, and while that’s my bigger passion, I do love movies, so I finally succumbed and gave in from 2ch to 5ch for the sake of movies.

When doing the movie room I upgraded my old Sonly VPL projector (about 12yrs old at the time and still kickin strong) to the new BenQ 1070, holy cow, what a fucking projector for the money! So for that I built a cusom 110" screen and applied a special pain mixture, built a 3" black trim border, and then backlit the screen with some remote LED tape lighting from Amazon.

For audio, I already had a set of Sonus Faber Grand Piano floorstanders, Musical Fidelity 3.2 Amplifier (and CD player that I never fucking use), Rega P3 turntable. I was lucky enough to find a matching Sonus Faber center channel and the used a spare set of bookshelf PSB Mini Stratus as rear speakers. I then added my 10" velodyne sub, and just because I had a 12" paradigm sub not being used I added it in the other corner of the room. I’m using a marantz receiver to decode and direct all the surround stuff, and using pre-outs to feed the 2ch amp which drives the floorstanders.

I also was lucky enough to have a friend who owns a reclaimed lumber business who provided me with some killer wood so I could make a custom AV stand to mount everything up front (since my previous AV stand was a tall vertical time that wouldn’t work. We have a cable box up there, but most of what we do is feed it from my Mac Pro which is behind the wall and runs “Plex” as a media server. Also have an apple TV up there as well for convenience.

So in recap.
Video:
BenQ 1070 with 110" screen backlit
Speakers:
Sonus Faber Grand Piano fronts
Sonus Faber Grand Piano center
PSB Mini Stratus Bookshelf Rears
Velodyne 10" & Paradigm 12" subs
Equipment:
Marantz Receiver for Surround & Digital in/out
Musical Fidelity A3.2 2ch Amplifier
Musical Fidelity A3.2 Cd Player
Rega P3 Turntable
Panamax Surge Protection
Mac Pro 12TB Media Server
AppleTV

I know Joe is a big stereo/HT guy, I’m sure he’ll chime in soon as well.

#4

My buddy is the manager for Best Buy in Santa Monica, and was a systems engineer for HNW people at Magnolia prior to that. I just pick up the phone and tell him to order me what he would buy whenever I am looking for a replacement

With that said, I have a 65" Sony XBR 4K (replaced a 8 year old 60" Pioneer Elite Plasma). I recently went back through Deadwood with my wife, and it was like seeing it all over again for the first time.

For Surround, I am all SONOS. Super easy to setup, and works with everything. Its expensive, but it honestly sounds like speakers 5x the price. Get a Soundbar, sub, and two surrounds and you can join them all to create 5.1 surround.

The app and music experience trumps all other ‘smart’ systems.

I use Control4 for my Home Automation and remote controls, and have a distributive video HDMI matrix all going to a home run in my office closet. So yeah, I went full retard with my last remodel. I wouldn’t go with Control4 again if I had to do it now.

DVD player, whats that? lol I use Apple TV for all streaming, its connected to a Mac Mini as a movie database for all the kids movies that I bought prior to iTunes.

#5

I have a really good one. It’s called “None” :slight_smile:

#6

Notarmed, I’ve have a buddy pushing the sonos on me, I think I’m going to cave and buy one or two of the connect amps. I have appletv’s in most of my TV rooms, but for the garage and kitchen it’d be nice to not have a full receiver & apple tv etc, and just the one small box. I also may pick up one of the solo speakers too just to move around or put in the bathroom.

Quick question, can you stream anything from your iphone to the sonus, or just the stuff inside their ios program. I know they support pandora and other sources, but wasn’t sure if it had to be something hosted in their ios app, or if it could just be anything as a bluetooth speaker would work.

Thanks

#7

You can play anything on your device or on your network (e.g. NAS or shared iTunes library).

There is a desktop app, mobile, app, so its pretty easy to control everything. I have Play:1’s in my bathroom, Garage, daughters bedroom (go to sleep playlist at a push of a button). Every TV has a sound bar beneath it, and only the Family Room (with the Sony) gets the sub and surround treatment.

I sold my Pioneer Elite Receiver and switched to Sonos because the sound bar and sub combination sounded so good, didn’t need the front in Ceiling front speakers.

So it reiterate my Family Room Setup:
Soundbar (under TV)
Subwoofer (wireless in the corner)
(2) Connect Amps powering the rear in-ceiling surround speakers inside my AV closet.

Here are the instructions to set it up this way:
http://www.sonos.com/support/onlineuserguide/en/SonosUserGuide/zp120_EN/Set_up_CONNECT_AMP_surroundNote_If_this_is_a_newly_purchased.htm

The Play:3 and Play:5 are good, but if its background music just get the cheaper Play:1’s they sound great.

#8

We have the same 65 inch Sony 4k HDTV and it’s great (we got the one without speakers and active 3d glasses - tv is just used as a monitor).

Onkyo TX-NR809
Paradigm Monitor 7 v5 for the fronts
Pinnacle Quantum/Subsonic 5.1 setup - this is an old set - before they offshored manufacturing
Polk Audio sub (forgot which one)
PS3 for blu-ray

#9

I’ve been a bit of a audio and videophile for sometime. Currently I’m using the following:

Panasonic Vierra VT60
I’ve always preferred plasma pictures.

Audio:
Anthem Statement D2
Anthem MCA50
Martin Logan aerius i (fronts)
Martin Logan Theater (center)
Paradigm reference adp450 Dipole (rear/side)
Paradigm sub12

Interconnects and power cables are Ultralink platinum

Chang lightspeed and Panamax power distribution

I’ve used just about every Bluray source including Pioneer elite players and I’ve settled on a Sony PS3…the quality and features are superb for the money.

Similar with audio sources. I’ve sold off my Anthem CD1 and now use an Apple TV. As long as the ripping is done properly you get excellent results.

#10

Good stuff guys thanks for sharing… I probably should have posted before I bought and got advice… lol

Maddog, Yeah my great room is not condusive to a projector otherwise I’d think about it… My buddy has a sweet setup in his basement with like a 102 inch or so screen and it looks really good…

Doug, Sounds awesome! I may have to look into this Apple TV…

Scott, Nice! I must admit you live a great life from all the things I see you involved in on facepage… You’re definetly doing it right bud…

Cory, Nice! I looked at that Panasonic but liked the Samsung better but both were very nice… I have an older Panasonic Vierra plasma from 2006 in my poker room and it still plays great and looks pretty good… They make great products…

#11

Very nice setups… but where are the pics !!! LOL

I just recently finished up a complete home renovation (well, it is NEVER really finished) and wired my main room for in wall speakers. Also, built out a surround , and mounted the 65 inch plasma over the new modern fireplace.

TV - Samsung 65-inch plasma
Speakers - JM Labs Focal in-wall 5 channel setup
Sub - Velodyne DD10
Receiver - Harmon Kardon 7550HD

http://ep1.pinkbike.org/p4pb11192088/p4pb11192088.jpg

http://ep1.pinkbike.org/p4pb11192089/p4pb11192089.jpg

http://ep1.pinkbike.org/p4pb11192086/p4pb11192086.jpg

http://ep1.pinkbike.org/p4pb11192085/p4pb11192085.jpg

http://ep1.pinkbike.org/p4pb11192090/p4pb11192090.jpg

Ill be swapping the rears for some bipoles when I have some time. Have them already to go, just taking a break from ripping the house apart and living in drywall dust for the summer.

http://ep1.pinkbike.org/p4pb11192087/p4pb11192087.jpg

#12

V8a6, looks nice man! very clean and modern look… Like the staircase as well… I’ll try to get some pics up this weekend assuming I get everything taken care of… Have a 3 year old so cleaning up is a constant task… lol thanks for sharing!

#13

Thanks!

LOL @ the three year old comment, since I have a 3-year old daughter myself! This room is more often the toy room, then the home theater (aka adult toy room). So, I know exactly where you are coming from :slight_smile:

#14

have a dog? He wouldn’t love those steps. They look AMAZING though. Lots of great choices in there.

#15

Now granted, this is in a one bedroom apartment so my choices were limited.

60" Samsung plasma (unsure of model, but I bought it last year)
Yamaha RX-V1900
(2)Polk 65t
Polk 25C center
10" Velodyne subwoofer

Simple 3.1 set-up. It sounds really good but I rarely get to turn it up since I live in an apartment :(. I would take a picture, but the lighting is also shit in here.

#16

hey thanks!

No dog. Is that because they would slide on them?

For all out comfort, the old creaky staircase with a carpeted runner up the middle can’t be beat. It had some bounce in each step, which absorbs the impact going up and down, along with the cushion and grip from the carpet. Looked like crap though, and was loud in use.

#17

V8a6, nice set up! It reminds me of the 7.1 set up my parents had in their old house. All in wall/ceiling (I dont remember the speaker brand but it was like a 2500 dollar set up) 10" velodyne and a 60" sharp aquios plasma. Shit was crazy. Came with laser pointers to point the in ceiling speakers all at the same spot. And this was in like 6 years ago.

#18

the dogs just kind of don’t like those gaps

#19

cats love them especially if they are carpeted… I have similar but carpeted and my maine coon cat is always hanging from them or using his claws to pull himself around them, it’s quite funny at times…

#20

spiral staircases are great for keeping pets away too