Need help in Setting up my new Home Theater

[sagv]

Hi All,

I have a narrow small room with dimensions 5 ft by 14 ft. I plan to use the 5 ft side as a screen, meaning i will be setting up a seating area at 14 ft from the screen. I have already placed an order for Optoma HD20 and am expecting in next few days! I need your help in the following area :-

1. Home Theater System For this dimension of room, what are the speakers that you would suggest. I am planning to go for boxed Onkyo HTS-400! Any suggestions, criticism, all welcome!
2. Projection Screen Any suggestions on the projection screen? Would getting the wall painted with clear white be good enough?
3. Media Player Any suggestions on the latest Media Players in the market or upcoming in the market?

Any other suggestions etc are welcome! Looking forward to hearing your expert advice!

Thanks,
Sai

 

[paritosh]

You can like at following sub sat pkgs also

Jamo S102, Polk RM6750, with denon 1611/1612

Also do thourough search before posting. It may take time but you will find answer to most of your questions

 

[yahoo0212]

Please specify yr budget, for each for the three mentioned by u ... so that best options can be sought...

 

[sagv]

Around a lakh for all the three! I want to get your inputs on the screen size too. For 16 :9, With 5 ft width max, height will be 3 ft only. So screen size is not all that big for a projector / HT. so am somewhat skeptical if this setup is all a overkill!

 

[sagv]

@Paritosh.. you are absolutely right! This forum has lot of information that is of use. Infact, my idea of going for Optoma Projector was also got through this forum.

However, for a small room size as mine, i have not come across a good post / suggestion. Hence a need for my post!

 

[yahoo0212]

For a small room , I would suggest u to go for Bookshelves,,, since yr use will be most of movies,,, go for Polk Audio TSI bookshelves, Subwoofer PSW125, Denon 1611....
or audition the Wharfedale 9.2 HT package,, 9.2 Fronts, 9. DFS as surrounds, 9.CS Centre and SW150 Subwoofer and if u dont like the SQ of 9 series u can loook for a similar package in 10 series... i.e 10.2, 10 .DFS, 10. CS and SW 150

 

[rshri]

If you are not an audiophile, Onkyo HTS-400 is good enough. But please do get a demo for all suggested options before making any decision.

 

[BoyzRUs]

Pardon my ignorance but does Onkyo have a package called HTS-400 (I can't find it anywhere). I know of the Onkyo HTS-3400 / 5400/ 9400 and so on and if you were referring to the HTS3400, its definitely the best for your room size. Anything more than that is an overkill. Alternatively, you could look at Yamaha YHT294 which is priced at 32k. The HTS3400 is priced under 25k but it doesn't have an active subwoofer like the YHT294.

In your case, you will best benefit if you just paint the wall matte white. It's hard to find a 3x5 screen. You can get a small screen but not in 16:9 aspect ratio, so your best bet is to paint the wall and you will still be satisfied with a 70" diagonal image . Also, you will have to mount your front speakers by the screen, so need to leave some space by the sides. I dont have any idea of how high your cieling is but in any case, please do not consider ceiling mounting the projector because then the image will be way above your viewing angle.

WD TV Live Hub 1TB is your best bet for a media player. Its got 1TB built-in network drive and its a media server. Its priced just under 10k in India but you rarely get it at that price, maybe 12-13k but its worth every penny.

 

[manoj.p]

Pre-emptive: You are not going to like this post.

5 ft wide is a very small room. If the room is walled on all the sides, it will be a big time echo chamber. The bigger the speakers/loudness level, more echos would be there. It will muddy up the sound imaging. If your seating distance is that long, by the time sound waves hit your ear, you won't be able to identify whether its left, right or center. First of all, your listening cone will be very narrow from that seating distance, so as it is, there is very very small separation between left, center, right. Add to it the reflections jumping off the walls and I am doubtful if you can make out the difference. The lower frequencies produced by subs would be the worst hit. It will sound way boomy.

if you still want to go ahead, then I suggest doing a small test first. Get a stereo speaker pair or borrow from someone close to your final specs. Put it in the room. Play some music or test tones and listen from your listening position. Listen to the sounds. Then take it to another bigger room and listen there. Take the speakers back to your narrow room and hear again. Also try to play distinct left and right track and see if you can identify those. Do a blind test if possible and have someone change those without you knowing. Also try some bass heavy tracks or sub 100 Hz test tones.

It is better to know what you are getting into before spending the money. If you like the sound of those stereo pair, then you can totally go ahead with the setup. Good luck.