HT Installation costs

[krishnamurthy]

I keep getting quotes for HT installation (connecting cables, calibration) to the tune of 20-30k. This does not include supply of cables (add another 30-40k)

Isn't this excessive?

 

[GeorgeO]

It depends on your time and interest I guess-I got a good electrician to do my wiring, with my wire, and did the cable terminations myself. I'm not sure about the " calibration"-is it Audyssey? Might be useful to check what exactly is being offered, with a breakup.

 

[ak47]

I keep getting quotes for HT installation (connecting cables, calibration) to the tune of 20-30k. This does not include supply of cables (add another 30-40k)

Isn't this excessive?

20-30k? That figure is astronomical for installation and calibration! What is the breakup given to you? As in what all services are included in this 'installation?'

 

[krishnamurthy]

Following is the list of tasks:

Speaker placement
Power supply requirement and protection
Video calibration with THX cal disc
Installation of screen, projector mount, speakers, AV-Receiver

 

[ach82002]

It indeed sounds astronomical to me even for the services mentioned above. Get the clean wiring done by known electrician, buy cables by yourself from amazon(100ft 12 AWG monoprice cable could be cheaper than what our local hifi dealers offer), do the connections by yourself. I trust AVR's calibration system than paying to calibration guy. Follow guidelines from THX or Dolby for speaker placements also do some experiment with positioning and orientation.
Just my thoughts

 

[soulforged]

You really do not have to go to a professional for this...unless you are planning a super-exclusive dedicated HT room...even there you don't have to go to a pro for the things you have listed.

Just go through this and other forums to get the basics of HT setup, youtube has plenty of videos to help. Get a good electrician to lay your cables in case you need to run them long and across the room. Get a decent speaker cable from what is available in HTStore.in or HiFiMart.com...MX or Belden from SP road would do good too. 14 or 16 AWG is good enough for a typical HT setup. If you need to run long cables (30-40 ft) for surround, you may need 12 AWG. Just ensure you do not run speaker cables through the same conduit as your electrical wires as this would result in interference and degrade the sound. If they need to cross each other, do it at right angles if possible. Get a good electrician to install the PJ and screen. Your AVR would do your audio calibration, assuming it has Audessey or YPAO or ARC or something similar. These are generally good enough for a typical HT. For video calibration you would get plenty of resources on the net that lets you do it. AVS Forums has a good calibration module that you can download. Monster comes with a ISF calibration disc that is super easy to use. In fact watch a few of your favorite movies and you'd be able to figure out the picture setting that you like.

Half the fun of an HT setup is setting it up yourself. The other half is divided into showing off and watching movies

 

[forever.pramod]

You really do not have to go to a professional for this...unless you are planning a super-exclusive dedicated HT room...even there you don't have to go to a pro for the things you have listed.

Just go through this and other forums to get the basics of HT setup, youtube has plenty of videos to help. Get a good electrician to lay your cables in case you need to run them long and across the room. Get a decent speaker cable from what is available in HTStore.in or HiFiMart.com...MX or Belden from SP road would do good too. 14 or 16 AWG is good enough for a typical HT setup. If you need to run long cables (30-40 ft) for surround, you may need 12 AWG. Just ensure you do not run speaker cables through the same conduit as your electrical wires as this would result in interference and degrade the sound. If they need to cross each other, do it at right angles if possible. Get a good electrician to install the PJ and screen. Your AVR would do your audio calibration, assuming it has Audessey or YPAO or ARC or something similar. These are generally good enough for a typical HT. For video calibration you would get plenty of resources on the net that lets you do it. AVS Forums has a good calibration module that you can download. Monster comes with a ISF calibration disc that is super easy to use. In fact watch a few of your favorite movies and you'd be able to figure out the picture setting that you like.

Half the fun of an HT setup is setting it up yourself. The other half is divided into showing off and watching movies

I agree with soulforged. I own my first HT setup and none of my friends or relatives do have HT setups at their home. I just read from various forums and sites about the speaker position etc, watched youtube and installed it myself, even an engineer was quoting 5K for the same.

Installing yourself will gain your knowledge and confidence and if you plan to change your HT room or place setup in another room you dont need to be dependent on others time to time.

 

[ak47]

Following is the list of tasks:

Speaker placement
Power supply requirement and protection
Video calibration with THX cal disc
Installation of screen, projector mount, speakers, AV-Receiver

You can do speaker placement and complete speaker installation with cables yourself. The most you'll need is a carpenter who will just fix your mounts on the wall. Any decent carpenter shouldn't cost you more than 500 bucks for this job of a few minutes.

Calibration is something you should always do yourself to suit your preferences as different people prefer different sound depending on their ear. You will also have a manual to help you out with so calibration should not be an issue.

Installation of screen and projector is tricky. The projector mount alone should set you back by 2-3k depending on the quality you are buying. The screen installation should be done by the person you are buying the screen from. I would suggest you to negotiate for a better deal and ask your dealer to install your screen and projector within 3-4k plus any extra product (like projector mount) used in the installation.

DO NOT buy any cables from your dealer as the dealers usually fleece customers in cables and often have outrageous margins. I would suggest you to go to the place suggested in the above post to buy cables and do the cabling yourself. This forum will always help you out with any problem you face in doing that.

Power supply can usually be taken care of by a simple surge protector. However, please share the details of your hardware so that I can give a more suited answer. In fact, please tell more about what work has been done in your home theater and what is remaining so that there is more clarity regarding your requirements.

 

[xifuokge]

The most you'll need is a carpenter who will just fix your mounts on the wall. Any decent carpenter shouldn't cost you more than 500 bucks for this job of a few minutes.

 

[krishnamurthy]

when i lived overseas, we would just collect friends (even work and acquaintances) to come and assist us for a pizza, coke and cake (for painting, moving and unpacking, installs etc). :- )