Home Theater Mega Thread

[Table 5]

Thanks, that 900a is definitely a top contender at the moment...just need to decide if I want to spend 2k on a tv.

In terms of buying, which retailer is ideal? Are there any that offer better warranties/price protection than others? I thought Costco would be ideal, but they only seem to have the lower end tvs on their website.

And does it make sense to buy any of the store warranty plans? Or is that a giant waste like with most things.

[Vulcan]

The consensus is that in store warranties are a waste because most TVs will crap out in the first year, if they are going to fail. Many credit cards will add a year to the warranty also. For retailers I'd just go for the best price and convenience. I think most places give a 30 day satisfaction guarantee except for the Brick but I'd check it out.

Oh yeah for flat panel TVs they should be transported upright, if you plan to take it home.

[Brannigans Law]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

Here's AVS Forum's top 9 LCD TVs and yeah plasma's do have problems but so do LCDs.



If you got past that he lists some good LCD TVs with the
Sony KDL-55W900A


coming out on top.


http://www.avsforum.com/a/avs-forums...m_medium=email

Can vouch for the quality of this TV, not that my opinion is more important than avsforum. I've never splurged on a TV like this before and it's been worth every penny.

[Table 5]

Hmm just saw Future Shop advertising the W900 for $1700 on Boxing Day. Although it's one of the "door crashers" so who knows how many are actually in stock. Also don't get back to Canada till the 29th unfortunately.

[me_dennis]

I just bought a house and it has speakers built into the ceilings in two rooms (master bedroom and kitchen). There are also volume control knobs in the respective rooms.

I have done some digging around, and it looks like the house is also pre-wired for speakers in the basement. I'm hoping to turn the basement into a home theatre room in the near future.

I am pretty new to the home theatre game, and I was wondering if I could get some advice and tips on what the best way to set everything up is.

The first thing I'd like to do is to be able to use the built in speakers to play music through my mobile device, preferably by streaming. I know that I will need to buy a receiver. How would I hook this up? The wires are all wired to the basement furnace room. What type of receiver would I need, and what sort of functions would it need to have? (ie airplay, network, multi-zone, etc). Also, how much would I be looking at spending for a receiver? I'd likely have a budget of around 700. I would prefer to spend less, but would be willing to spend more if I could use the receiver when I set up a home theatre in the future.

Are there any forums that I could read to educate myself?

Thanks in advance.

[darklord700]

Originally Posted by me_dennis

Are there any forums that I could read to educate myself?

Thanks in advance.

Sure, avsforum.com.

[J Diddy]

Originally Posted by me_dennis

I just bought a house and it has speakers built into the ceilings in two rooms (master bedroom and kitchen). There are also volume control knobs in the respective rooms.

I have done some digging around, and it looks like the house is also pre-wired for speakers in the basement. I'm hoping to turn the basement into a home theatre room in the near future.

I am pretty new to the home theatre game, and I was wondering if I could get some advice and tips on what the best way to set everything up is.

The first thing I'd like to do is to be able to use the built in speakers to play music through my mobile device, preferably by streaming. I know that I will need to buy a receiver. How would I hook this up? The wires are all wired to the basement furnace room. What type of receiver would I need, and what sort of functions would it need to have? (ie airplay, network, multi-zone, etc). Also, how much would I be looking at spending for a receiver? I'd likely have a budget of around 700. I would prefer to spend less, but would be willing to spend more if I could use the receiver when I set up a home theatre in the future.

Are there any forums that I could read to educate myself?

Thanks in advance.

Take a look at Sonos for multi room audio.

[robaur]

At this point...the best deal for the TVs out there seems to be:

55" Samsung LED 7100 Series 240 Hz refresh 3D

For $1448.00 at Visions ...Boxing Day Sale...

Awesome TV....really good price...thats about $650 off regular sticker price.

[Suave]

Thanks for all the info in this thread. I really like the Sony W900A but wanted something bigger so I took advantage of the sale on the 65" W850A. Sacrificing a bit of the motionflow rate for the extra screen size but hoping it doesn't make too much of a difference.

Here is a great spreadsheet someone on redflagdeals made up showing all the boxing day TV sales.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...=sharing#gid=0

[StrykerSteve]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

As far as the TV goes, you're well taken care of in that department and I'd leave it be.

The receiver, on the other hand, doesn't have any HDMI inputs so that should probably get switched up. I'm personally a fan of the Denon InCommand series (I have a 2112ci myself) but most people don't really need to go to that level. The AVR-1913 will work for most people, but I get the feeling you're an enthusiast, so the AVR-2113ci or better will work for you.

If you're still using the StarChoice version of the DR500HD, there is a new version that Shaw Direct offers that outputs over HDMI. They'll let you trade in the old unit on an upgrade, I did that myself (before later moving to a building that wouldn't allow satellite dishes).

The Oppo DVD player is probably redundant with the PS4 supporting DVD playback, but I don't know if there's another reason you keep it around.

I purchased the Sony STR-DN1040 today, receiver upgraded!

Came very highly ranked in Cnet, so hopefully I made a good choice?

[accord1999]

Originally Posted by StrykerSteve

I purchased the Sony STR-DN1040 today, receiver upgraded!

Came very highly ranked in Cnet, so hopefully I made a good choice?

It also got an best receiver award of 2013 (in its price range) from an UK audio/video publication:

http://awards.whathifi.com/awards/20...ema-amplifiers

[Tyler12]

Originally Posted by StrykerSteve

I purchased the Sony STR-DN1040 today, receiver upgraded!

Came very highly ranked in Cnet, so hopefully I made a good choice?

I got one for my Dad a few months ago due to it being about the best bang for the buck receiver I could come up with. It also has some great components inside which also set it apart from other receiver's in its price range.

Over xmas I got to set everything for him, very impressed with it, great sound, the onboard guide is more then he will ever need but is very fast and snappy with alot of features.

http://www.soundandvision.com/conten...40-av-receiver

Also a home run review from a very trusted source, you made the right choice lol.

Boxing day he was all interested in a subwoofer for whatever reason (He noticed Visions had a over priced (MSRP) discontinued polk sub that matched the line of Polk's I suggested him to get. Did some digging and if "I" were buying a new sub nothing at FS/BB really tickled my fancy. Got onto Londondrugs and they have a smoking deal on a Tannoy TSs.12

I don't think I could find anything better for $400 bucks, was that or just do a reg cheaper polk or klipsch (not that he would know the diff)

http://www.londondrugs.com/Tannoy-12...efault,pd.html

http://www.soundandvision.com/conten...cks-subwoofers

Listed as one of the best subs from 1k to 4k so anyone looking keep an eye out for one of these, might suit your needs and style.

[onetwo_threefour]

Here's my boxing day project. The theater room was both too bright and kind of boring, so I added this...

Before:

After:

[StrykerSteve]

Originally Posted by onetwo_threefour

Here's my boxing day project. The theater room was both too bright and kind of boring, so I added this...

Before:
https://www.dropbox.com/sc/ljoe9gf3z0wa557/KRQQKREwpx/0

After:
https://photos-1.dropbox.com/t/0/AAA...size=1600x1200

After photo is a broken link.

[Mattington]

So I recently got the Sony STRDH740 Receiver and I don't know how I should go about hooking up my subwoofer. The Sub I have simply has a 2 wire connection, however the hookup to the receiver is RCA I believe. So how do I go about getting my sub connected? I have a feeling an RCA connection on the wires isn't the way to go, but the manual isn't very clear on how to hook it up. Does anybody have any advice on how to connect the sub to the receiver?

Also my sub is not powered.

[keratosis]

Here is the after pic for you SS.

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by Mattington

So I recently got the Sony STRDH740 Receiver and I don't know how I should go about hooking up my subwoofer. The Sub I have simply has a 2 wire connection, however the hookup to the receiver is RCA I believe. So how do I go about getting my sub connected? I have a feeling an RCA connection on the wires isn't the way to go, but the manual isn't very clear on how to hook it up. Does anybody have any advice on how to connect the sub to the receiver?

Also my sub is not powered.

It sounds like your sub is from a home theatre in a box? If it is the best thing to do from what I've read is to get another sub.

[onetwo_threefour]

Originally Posted by keratosis

Here is the after pic for you SS.

Thanks, I was having trouble trying to resize from dropbox and get the images to show. Didn't realize I broke the link.

Fixed the images, but I'm using tapatalk on my phone for the furst time. Hope they're not showing up as 1600x1200 ...

[darklord700]

Originally Posted by onetwo_threefour

Thanks, I was having trouble trying to resize from dropbox and get the images to show. Didn't realize I broke the link.

Was that a painting? That's huge.

[Mattington]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

It sounds like your sub is from a home theatre in a box? If it is the best thing to do from what I've read is to get another sub.

Yes it is from a box. Guess I will have to get a new sub, any recommendations? The one I have now has a rated power of 225W and Max Power of 400W. I don't think I will need anything bigger or too expensive.