Looking for THE ultimate Home Theater System setup?
11-14-17, 01:55 AM
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Looking for THE ultimate Home Theater System setup?
Hey friends,
- My man cave has one desktop and a tablet, lol, but it will expand. So this is how it is going guys...I need assistance, advice, etc, if you're willing to help a friendly movie lover out that is of course, setting up a awesome, massive modern home theater system, nothing like Hugh Hefner's super-movie theater. Still I think I can get a pretty big and stylish setup that comes close enough his with your guys help.
-What is the LONGEST LASTING hardware you know of ? What I mean by this is that some technologies, like TVs, and other modern technology like cell phones, blu-ray players, all have sneaky built in suicide pills so that in 10 to 15 years, maybe even less, you're forced to buy a new one because your new one that you took care of perfectly all of a sudden just went suicide on you. So which brands( known and unknown brands ) do you know of that don't have this built in suicide pill? Different TVs have different time periods until they die. Which TVs in your experience lasted the longest for you?
-I have heard that LG has the best televisions out their right now in the entire world. I heard their curved TVs are really only for gamers or people sitting dead center of the TV, is this true? l am looking for the best of the best. I'm not sure if I should go OLED or GLED or something else, what's the difference?
-There are probably free PDF guides on how to setup a home theater system, if you know of any send them my way ( private message if you would like ). If you don't know any free ebooks, articles, etc. on home theater for beginners then maybe you could recommend books to buy on the subject, like Home Theater for Dummies or something. I can read technical material so if what you have is pretty technical, don't worry I can handle that part.
-I would like to know what your home theater setups are like too, knowing what you techies ( I meet a lot of sensitive people on the net, I tell them that the words nerd or techie are terms of endearment and a badge of honour these days. ) got for gear will surely give me ideas for my own setup. Pictures please, show me your home theater system.
-How about getting myself a massive sized SmartTVs? Do you like them, would you recommend them and why ? Do you hate them and why ? Does anyone here like BOTH SmartTVs and regular televisions?
-When buying a TV , in this case let's assume its a Sony television set, in order for everything to run as smoothly as possible will I also have to buy a Sony Blu-ray player, a Sony remote control, Sony Speakers to get the maximum sound from my Sony TV. Sony, Sony, Sony, Sony......! This goes for all brands like LG, will I have to buy all LG products to get the perfect setup. Or can a person mix-and-match by using an LG TV, a Sony DVD player, Samsung speakers, an Insignia Blu-ray player, etc. and not come into any problems or will I come into ALOT of problems mixing and matching like that?
Thanks everyone :-)
- My man cave has one desktop and a tablet, lol, but it will expand. So this is how it is going guys...I need assistance, advice, etc, if you're willing to help a friendly movie lover out that is of course, setting up a awesome, massive modern home theater system, nothing like Hugh Hefner's super-movie theater. Still I think I can get a pretty big and stylish setup that comes close enough his with your guys help.
-What is the LONGEST LASTING hardware you know of ? What I mean by this is that some technologies, like TVs, and other modern technology like cell phones, blu-ray players, all have sneaky built in suicide pills so that in 10 to 15 years, maybe even less, you're forced to buy a new one because your new one that you took care of perfectly all of a sudden just went suicide on you. So which brands( known and unknown brands ) do you know of that don't have this built in suicide pill? Different TVs have different time periods until they die. Which TVs in your experience lasted the longest for you?
-I have heard that LG has the best televisions out their right now in the entire world. I heard their curved TVs are really only for gamers or people sitting dead center of the TV, is this true? l am looking for the best of the best. I'm not sure if I should go OLED or GLED or something else, what's the difference?
-There are probably free PDF guides on how to setup a home theater system, if you know of any send them my way ( private message if you would like ). If you don't know any free ebooks, articles, etc. on home theater for beginners then maybe you could recommend books to buy on the subject, like Home Theater for Dummies or something. I can read technical material so if what you have is pretty technical, don't worry I can handle that part.
-I would like to know what your home theater setups are like too, knowing what you techies ( I meet a lot of sensitive people on the net, I tell them that the words nerd or techie are terms of endearment and a badge of honour these days. ) got for gear will surely give me ideas for my own setup. Pictures please, show me your home theater system.
-How about getting myself a massive sized SmartTVs? Do you like them, would you recommend them and why ? Do you hate them and why ? Does anyone here like BOTH SmartTVs and regular televisions?
-When buying a TV , in this case let's assume its a Sony television set, in order for everything to run as smoothly as possible will I also have to buy a Sony Blu-ray player, a Sony remote control, Sony Speakers to get the maximum sound from my Sony TV. Sony, Sony, Sony, Sony......! This goes for all brands like LG, will I have to buy all LG products to get the perfect setup. Or can a person mix-and-match by using an LG TV, a Sony DVD player, Samsung speakers, an Insignia Blu-ray player, etc. and not come into any problems or will I come into ALOT of problems mixing and matching like that?
Thanks everyone :-)
Last edited by sparkles; 11-14-17 at 03:46 AM. Reason: made it better
11-16-17, 01:56 AM
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Re: Looking for THE ultimate Home Theater System setup?
Well, no I have not tried AVS, but it looks like a great forum. I guess I figured a place like this is as good as any other. If you think I will get more help at this AVS forum then I will go their instead. I assumed you could talk about TVs, and blu-ray players here, but if this is not the place for that then what kind of place is this? Is it a only to talk about movies and TV shows type of forum? Because I thought it was that, but also a technical kind of forum as well.
I asked multiple questions as you can see plainly in sight in my original post, hence the bullet points, each bullet point asks different questions. Thanks for reminding me about my budget I forgot to put that in the original post, but I just edited it in now so new people coming in to read my post will see it. My budget for an ultimate home theater system naturally has to be high for me because of my deep love of film, so estimating around 5000+ for the TV and 1000+ for everything else. I will want to make this setup look great, meaning speakers ( built in factory speakers always suck! I have yet to find a TV with speakers that didn't sound like they were made from scraps from a local junk yard.)
Which leads me to another question do people here prefer putting their TVs on their walls or on a stand of some sort? What are the pros and cons of doing each?
I asked multiple questions as you can see plainly in sight in my original post, hence the bullet points, each bullet point asks different questions. Thanks for reminding me about my budget I forgot to put that in the original post, but I just edited it in now so new people coming in to read my post will see it. My budget for an ultimate home theater system naturally has to be high for me because of my deep love of film, so estimating around 5000+ for the TV and 1000+ for everything else. I will want to make this setup look great, meaning speakers ( built in factory speakers always suck! I have yet to find a TV with speakers that didn't sound like they were made from scraps from a local junk yard.)
Which leads me to another question do people here prefer putting their TVs on their walls or on a stand of some sort? What are the pros and cons of doing each?
Last edited by sparkles; 11-16-17 at 02:38 AM.
11-16-17, 07:01 AM
#4
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: Looking for THE ultimate Home Theater System setup?
A lot of what you're asking is personal preference and opinion. There is no definitive answer.
Some guidelines
Longevity- it's not the years, it's the mileage. The more you use something the quicker it's craps out.
Smart tvs do not have a better picture than non-smart. You only need a smart tv if you want to utilize the smart features. Discs look the same on either.
There is no advantage to having everything the same brand. Different manufacturers are known for being superior in speakers, receivers, players, and tvs. An ideal system would be composed of parts from manufacturers known for quality in that particular part.
Do get a powered sub-woofer, not passive.
My system is far from the best of the best but I'm happy with it. I only watch discs in my theater.
TV- Samsung 50" plasma. Non-Smart. I prefer plasma and will hate it when this one goes. Had it four years. I only watch a couple movies per week in theater so it only gets about four hours use a week. In my opinion plasma looks best. I think it might have to do with the screen surface being like glass. Highly reflective. Don't really know but it just looks more like film than my LED tv. TVis on a 3 foot stand. I like to look up at screen like in theater.
Receiver- Yamaha. 100W/channel. 5.1. Middle of the road. About $450
Speakers
Sub-Woofer. Yamaha. 8 inch. Powered.
Center. JBL
Front. Pioneer floor speakers. Pretty big. I've had then for thirty years. 10 inch woofers. 3.5 inch tweeters. Don't know size of the mid-range.
Rear. JBL floor speakers. 8 inch woofers.
BD Player. Sony. About 4-5 years old. Old enough to have a full chassis. I believe full retail on it was $350.
The tv has never had an antenna, cable or satellite hooked up. I have never used the tv speakers and have no idea what they sound like. The tv is just a monitor for the BD player.
Some guidelines
Longevity- it's not the years, it's the mileage. The more you use something the quicker it's craps out.
Smart tvs do not have a better picture than non-smart. You only need a smart tv if you want to utilize the smart features. Discs look the same on either.
There is no advantage to having everything the same brand. Different manufacturers are known for being superior in speakers, receivers, players, and tvs. An ideal system would be composed of parts from manufacturers known for quality in that particular part.
Do get a powered sub-woofer, not passive.
My system is far from the best of the best but I'm happy with it. I only watch discs in my theater.
TV- Samsung 50" plasma. Non-Smart. I prefer plasma and will hate it when this one goes. Had it four years. I only watch a couple movies per week in theater so it only gets about four hours use a week. In my opinion plasma looks best. I think it might have to do with the screen surface being like glass. Highly reflective. Don't really know but it just looks more like film than my LED tv. TVis on a 3 foot stand. I like to look up at screen like in theater.
Receiver- Yamaha. 100W/channel. 5.1. Middle of the road. About $450
Speakers
Sub-Woofer. Yamaha. 8 inch. Powered.
Center. JBL
Front. Pioneer floor speakers. Pretty big. I've had then for thirty years. 10 inch woofers. 3.5 inch tweeters. Don't know size of the mid-range.
Rear. JBL floor speakers. 8 inch woofers.
BD Player. Sony. About 4-5 years old. Old enough to have a full chassis. I believe full retail on it was $350.
The tv has never had an antenna, cable or satellite hooked up. I have never used the tv speakers and have no idea what they sound like. The tv is just a monitor for the BD player.
Last edited by rw2516; 11-16-17 at 07:20 AM.
11-16-17, 08:52 PM
#5
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: Looking for THE ultimate Home Theater System setup?
If you are a serious movie watcher (and that includes seasons of TV content), and you have a dedicated room to put your HT in, then a projector is really what you should be looking at. You can get decent 1080p pjs cheap now, and you can get a VERY nice one for under $5. The bulbs now I think are rated for about 4K hours. Maybe more.
But $1000 isn't really enough to do a sound system justice. Even a basic 5.1 channel with a sub and a receiver is going to run about $2K. I spent $2K on my 5.1 and receiver set up 15 years ago and both sections still perform well- although I did finally upgrade my speakers last year. But I had to spend multiples of that to get what I felt was a clear upgrade in performance. The basic, 15 year old speakers were highly satisfying right up to the point I replaced them.
But if your budget is $6k for everything, you can easily do a front projection HT w/ audio and stay within that.
But $1000 isn't really enough to do a sound system justice. Even a basic 5.1 channel with a sub and a receiver is going to run about $2K. I spent $2K on my 5.1 and receiver set up 15 years ago and both sections still perform well- although I did finally upgrade my speakers last year. But I had to spend multiples of that to get what I felt was a clear upgrade in performance. The basic, 15 year old speakers were highly satisfying right up to the point I replaced them.
But if your budget is $6k for everything, you can easily do a front projection HT w/ audio and stay within that.
11-17-17, 07:44 AM
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Re: Looking for THE ultimate Home Theater System setup?
Well like everything else in life - It all comes down to Money. How much you got 
Most of us who are home theater enthusiast have accumulated stuff over the years and upgraded along the way.
IMHO - start slow here is how I would recommend.
1. Good TV - this is what matters the most since you will watching the picture (I have Panasonic plasma - love it - but they don't make it no more) So your choice are Sony, Samsung or LG. You might as well go for 4K (price $1000 to $3000)
2. Blu ray player (Blu ray or 4K player) 4K $200 to $300 or much more for OPPO or high end Panasonic
3. Receiver ( I prefer at least 7.2 with 2 sub outputs) but you can get ATMOS and other stuff $700 to $2000
4. Speakers ( sky is the limit ) DO NOT buy boxed speakers - you are better of waiting if you are starting with limited budget- this would need some work on your part - since only you can decide what kind of speakers you like and It would be wise to spend extra money here since speaker don't out of style. Start with 5 Speaker set-up Then get a decent Sub woofer or two
If you have at least $5000 or more you can buy it all at once - if not then go one step at a time.
Most of us who are home theater enthusiast have accumulated stuff over the years and upgraded along the way.
IMHO - start slow here is how I would recommend.
1. Good TV - this is what matters the most since you will watching the picture (I have Panasonic plasma - love it - but they don't make it no more) So your choice are Sony, Samsung or LG. You might as well go for 4K (price $1000 to $3000)
2. Blu ray player (Blu ray or 4K player) 4K $200 to $300 or much more for OPPO or high end Panasonic
3. Receiver ( I prefer at least 7.2 with 2 sub outputs) but you can get ATMOS and other stuff $700 to $2000
4. Speakers ( sky is the limit ) DO NOT buy boxed speakers - you are better of waiting if you are starting with limited budget- this would need some work on your part - since only you can decide what kind of speakers you like and It would be wise to spend extra money here since speaker don't out of style. Start with 5 Speaker set-up Then get a decent Sub woofer or two
If you have at least $5000 or more you can buy it all at once - if not then go one step at a time.
Last edited by soundman2; 11-17-17 at 11:57 AM.
12-04-17, 08:03 AM
#8
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Looking for THE ultimate Home Theater System setup?
I apologize if I came across as grumpy.
Your post title about "THE ultimate Home Theater System setup" tends to get me riled up as I have been into high end audio/video for nearly 40 years and I have sold high end equipment in the past.
Bottom line is that I am glad you found some good info to help you however, your budget wont get you the ultimate in anything.
You asked to see our theater and theater equipment:
I designed this room in an unfinished basement, laid out the specs for the room, cabling and equipment and it took me a year of planning and 6 months of construction to get it to where it is.
My point is that you need to prioritize and budget which it appears you have done. That is a good first step.
Next you need to decide what room is going to contain your equipment and how it is to be laid out. Can you even place what you want, where you want in that room?
If you are looking for a TV with a soundbar, a good 4K set with speakers and a 4K player should fit just fine into your stated budget.
If you want the latest Dolby Atmos sound up to 11.2 and a 4K video display with a 4K source you could be easily spending 5 times your budget or more.
Hence my original grumpy answer.
Best of luck!
Your post title about "THE ultimate Home Theater System setup" tends to get me riled up as I have been into high end audio/video for nearly 40 years and I have sold high end equipment in the past.
Bottom line is that I am glad you found some good info to help you however, your budget wont get you the ultimate in anything.
You asked to see our theater and theater equipment:
I designed this room in an unfinished basement, laid out the specs for the room, cabling and equipment and it took me a year of planning and 6 months of construction to get it to where it is.
My point is that you need to prioritize and budget which it appears you have done. That is a good first step.
Next you need to decide what room is going to contain your equipment and how it is to be laid out. Can you even place what you want, where you want in that room?
If you are looking for a TV with a soundbar, a good 4K set with speakers and a 4K player should fit just fine into your stated budget.
If you want the latest Dolby Atmos sound up to 11.2 and a 4K video display with a 4K source you could be easily spending 5 times your budget or more.
Hence my original grumpy answer.
Best of luck!
01-03-18, 07:04 PM
#9
Re: Looking for THE ultimate Home Theater System setup?
IMHO - start slow here is how I would recommend.
1. Good TV - this is what matters the most since you will watching the picture (I have Panasonic plasma - love it - but they don't make it no more) So your choice are Sony, Samsung or LG. You might as well go for 4K (price $1000 to $3000)
Also not a good idea to invest so much into a TV set especially when things are still not standardized. For example OLED should be taking over soon and prices will come down. So get a TV set that is very decent without so much bells and whistles to hold you up much later on for a bigger TV purchase that will have much better technology.
01-03-18, 08:52 PM
#10
DVD Talk God
Re: Looking for THE ultimate Home Theater System setup?
No disrespect to your advise to the OP but you mentioned start slow. No need to spend $1000 on a 4K TV set unless it's over 55 inches. You can get a decent 4K set for over $500 and less than $1000.
Also not a good idea to invest so much into a TV set especially when things are still not standardized. For example OLED should be taking over soon and prices will come down. So get a TV set that is very decent without so much bells and whistles to hold you up much later on for a bigger TV purchase that will have much better technology.
Also not a good idea to invest so much into a TV set especially when things are still not standardized. For example OLED should be taking over soon and prices will come down. So get a TV set that is very decent without so much bells and whistles to hold you up much later on for a bigger TV purchase that will have much better technology.
01-03-18, 09:20 PM
#11
Re: Looking for THE ultimate Home Theater System setup?
There is stuff beyond OLED that could be mass market in less than 5 years, like microLED. I am not saying OLED won't become dominant technology, but I wouldn't be as much worried about the display technology. More concerning is the 4k HDR standard fight between Dolby Vision, HD10 and HLG.
I need to read up on what is MicroLED and HD10 and HLG. Hell I don't even know what really is HDR
01-09-18, 07:56 PM
#12
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Looking for THE ultimate Home Theater System setup?
I don’t mean to sound like a snob, but if your measuring in inches it’s not a dedicated theater.
I built my home theater on a budget and it’s extremely enjoyable.
Currently I have a 1080p projector on a built myself 96” screen. True theater style seating bought off eBay and installed on a riser I built and carpeted myself. I would like to upgrade my Celestion (kisssing cousins to Kef) but I’m pretty pleased with them.
Some heavy curtains, and commercial carpet squares round out everything. Very pleased...easy on the wallet.
I built my home theater on a budget and it’s extremely enjoyable.
Currently I have a 1080p projector on a built myself 96” screen. True theater style seating bought off eBay and installed on a riser I built and carpeted myself. I would like to upgrade my Celestion (kisssing cousins to Kef) but I’m pretty pleased with them.
Some heavy curtains, and commercial carpet squares round out everything. Very pleased...easy on the wallet.
