Hello Everyone,
This is my first post here. Been a silent reader for the better part of the last year and I have to admit the knowledge I have gained since reading up on the numerous posts here is amazing.
I write here today because I have finally decided to take the plunge into setting up a dedicated Home Theater room. First task was to run it by the Commander in chief, she nodded in agreement(It seems almost immediate when i write it here, though in all honesty it took a lot longer to get that nod). Permissions in place, lets get on then shall we :
The Budget : My modest budget of 10Lakhs soon felt rather minuscule when I started exploring the whims and fancies I have developed over the years. To keep things in perspective I had a re-tour of those wishes and decided that small compromises here and there would have to be made and I did! But one musnt compromise too much in life, so therefore did the next best thing, budget took a slight leap to 15lakhs. This had to include all the A/Vcomponents and equipment including wiring and NAS for the HT.
The Plan : Well if wishes were horses. I would have had 2 separate rooms, one for audio, one for HT. I know that sounds a little too extravagant and since wishes are ponies presently, I am happy to settle for a dedicate HT room. It will be used for Movies 85% and Music 15%.
Before I progress with the plans, I have hired the services of a sound engineer presently for consultation on Acoustic treatment and Acoustically isolate the room from leakages.
Along with the dedicated Home Theater room, I am also looking at Whole House Audio, either through wired or wireless option. I will start a separate thread for this topic.
Presently the apartment is under Construction and will be ready only by Sept 2016 which gives me ample time to pick my brain as well as all your brains to plan and then execute the project on hand. Incase any of you are wondering why I am planning so early, well simply because with the whole house audio in the offing, I would want to lay out the network cables/ speaker wires to other rooms well in time to overcome any obstacles the civil stage of the construction would throw up.
A point to Note : All AV equipment other than the Projector will be housed in a rack just outside the HT room. Controlling the equipment will be via Wifi.
Some details :Room Size : 18 x 11feet, entrance door from the side. Present intentions are to have two rows of seating, of which one right at the back with 3 individual recliners and the front one with either futons or a sofa cum bed. Reason being I can use the room to house guests if more than anticipated show up for a sleep over. The rear seating will be on a raised stage about 8-12" depending on the final planning of speaker locations and postioning.
Equipment Planned: I was initially very keen to set up the home theater with B&W Diamonds. However price being a factor and given the dimensions of the room the floor standers may have been an overkill for the room. So those went out of the window and I started auditioning various speakers. I finally zeroed in on the Tannoy Revolution XT6f, though I want to demo the 8f and then decide. For the center surrounds and ceiling (Dolby Atmos) I am looking at the Tannoy range in the Definition Series for the center, surround and in-ceiling speakers or Definitive Technology for in wall surrounds or in ceilings. I havent demoed the in wall or in-ceilings from either manufacturer. Will try and do that in the days to come.
While timber matching has its benefits, would the center speaker from the Tannoy definition series go with the Tannoy revolution floor standers?
Sub Woofer : Rhythmik or SVS? Have heard the rythmik FV15HP and have to admit I was mighty impressed with it. In the SVS range I am looking at the PB13 Ultra. A Couple of questions I had were, would these be too much for the room and would they be overbearing on the speakers I have listed? Would it be better to have 2 smaller subs in the set up rather than one? Pointers would be welcome. My reading up has led me to believe the benefits of having 2 subs will effectively cancel the nodes created by the LFE and enable a cleaner listen to the low frequencies feel free to correct me if I am wrong or incomplete in my hypothesis.
Projector : Sony VP40ES or Epson5030UB(7200 in India). Intend to pick up the projector overseas as the prices in India for projectors are unusually astronomical when compared with the prices for Audio equipment available here. The projector will be picked up next year, so if any models do pop up in the interim I will consider those as well.
BluRay Player: Oppo 103D also plan to purchase overseas and hand carry back.
Pre/pro and Amplifier : Since I am looking at Atmos, shortlisting was a tad simpler. It all boiled down to the Marantz AV8802A and the newly Launched Yamaha CX-A5100. I was very inclined to go with the Marantz and have demoed the same in the US and came back rather impressed. The power amps used during the demo was the ATI signature series. The combo of the two was something else. But the $$$ were mounting up.
With the recent launch of the subject Yamaha, things were looking up again. I havent demoed this model. But given the numbers and specs, it offers a rather close run for the money when compared to the Marantz. So my guns are now trained on the Yamaha. Coupled with the MX-A5000 power amp I will be good to go. Additionally the added Musiccast from Yamaha is a game changer as I can now use the AV receiver to wirelessly stream hi-res audio to other zones in the house. More on this after a demo of the Yammie.
NAS/ HTPC : A special mention has to go to Sam9s your thread on these topics. Wow!!! Enlightening.
Intend to pick up a NAS shortlisting the Synology 415+ or the rack mount version presently. Havent found a lot of feedback on the rack mounted NAS from Synology RS814+ or RS815 or RS815+
With regard to HTPC I am not so sure I want to set one up presently. The benefits of ease of access to all stuff stored on the NAS would be a definite plus as I dont intend to have a TV in the Home theater room and switching on the projector for checking the stuff on NAS especially when playing music is not something I would want to do . I intend to use Plex and/or Kodi as the front end for streaming and will use that from a tab or phone to access all info from the NAS. Any other pointers where it would be beneficial to have an HTPC in addition to the NAS.
Equipment Rack: I have been looking for an AV rack to house all the equipment for the HT and whole house audio. As mentioned earlier the rack will be located outside the HT room. Only reason for that is I do not like the lights from the AV equipment to interfere with my movie watching or the audible hum of the fans when listening to music or dialogue. Additionally I would go out on a limb to admit that I may almost have OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder for the unititated) when it comes to wires hanging out from the panels or equipment. I saw a couple of them on snapdeal and indiamart listed a few sources in my city. Will follow up with them in the days to come.
Media Player : I presently have a Roku3 for streaming online content. Would I need another media player to stream from my NAS to the AV receiver or the Oppo. That is something I am not clear on. As the Roku is excellent for streaming online content, but for stored content I am not so sure as I still havent explored the possibilities. Most of my movie files are stored in .mkv or .avi format.
Power conditioner and UPS : Research hasnt begun on this yet. The excitement of shortlisting the equipment ensured some of the other essentials but mundane items took a back seat.
Network Router : Netgear Nighthawk X4 or X6. Still making up my mind. Once I have clarity on how many Wifi users I have I can take a call then.
Cables: Havent done a lot of research yet on this. But audioQuest and QED are some of the names which pop up every now and then.
Thats about all for my rants, will await your inputs and guidance to further the HT project.
Cheers
Zimbly
This is my first post here. Been a silent reader for the better part of the last year and I have to admit the knowledge I have gained since reading up on the numerous posts here is amazing.
I write here today because I have finally decided to take the plunge into setting up a dedicated Home Theater room. First task was to run it by the Commander in chief, she nodded in agreement(It seems almost immediate when i write it here, though in all honesty it took a lot longer to get that nod). Permissions in place, lets get on then shall we :
The Budget : My modest budget of 10Lakhs soon felt rather minuscule when I started exploring the whims and fancies I have developed over the years. To keep things in perspective I had a re-tour of those wishes and decided that small compromises here and there would have to be made and I did! But one musnt compromise too much in life, so therefore did the next best thing, budget took a slight leap to 15lakhs. This had to include all the A/Vcomponents and equipment including wiring and NAS for the HT.
The Plan : Well if wishes were horses. I would have had 2 separate rooms, one for audio, one for HT. I know that sounds a little too extravagant and since wishes are ponies presently, I am happy to settle for a dedicate HT room. It will be used for Movies 85% and Music 15%.
Before I progress with the plans, I have hired the services of a sound engineer presently for consultation on Acoustic treatment and Acoustically isolate the room from leakages.
Along with the dedicated Home Theater room, I am also looking at Whole House Audio, either through wired or wireless option. I will start a separate thread for this topic.
Presently the apartment is under Construction and will be ready only by Sept 2016 which gives me ample time to pick my brain as well as all your brains to plan and then execute the project on hand. Incase any of you are wondering why I am planning so early, well simply because with the whole house audio in the offing, I would want to lay out the network cables/ speaker wires to other rooms well in time to overcome any obstacles the civil stage of the construction would throw up.
A point to Note : All AV equipment other than the Projector will be housed in a rack just outside the HT room. Controlling the equipment will be via Wifi.
Some details :Room Size : 18 x 11feet, entrance door from the side. Present intentions are to have two rows of seating, of which one right at the back with 3 individual recliners and the front one with either futons or a sofa cum bed. Reason being I can use the room to house guests if more than anticipated show up for a sleep over. The rear seating will be on a raised stage about 8-12" depending on the final planning of speaker locations and postioning.
Equipment Planned: I was initially very keen to set up the home theater with B&W Diamonds. However price being a factor and given the dimensions of the room the floor standers may have been an overkill for the room. So those went out of the window and I started auditioning various speakers. I finally zeroed in on the Tannoy Revolution XT6f, though I want to demo the 8f and then decide. For the center surrounds and ceiling (Dolby Atmos) I am looking at the Tannoy range in the Definition Series for the center, surround and in-ceiling speakers or Definitive Technology for in wall surrounds or in ceilings. I havent demoed the in wall or in-ceilings from either manufacturer. Will try and do that in the days to come.
While timber matching has its benefits, would the center speaker from the Tannoy definition series go with the Tannoy revolution floor standers?
Sub Woofer : Rhythmik or SVS? Have heard the rythmik FV15HP and have to admit I was mighty impressed with it. In the SVS range I am looking at the PB13 Ultra. A Couple of questions I had were, would these be too much for the room and would they be overbearing on the speakers I have listed? Would it be better to have 2 smaller subs in the set up rather than one? Pointers would be welcome. My reading up has led me to believe the benefits of having 2 subs will effectively cancel the nodes created by the LFE and enable a cleaner listen to the low frequencies feel free to correct me if I am wrong or incomplete in my hypothesis.
Projector : Sony VP40ES or Epson5030UB(7200 in India). Intend to pick up the projector overseas as the prices in India for projectors are unusually astronomical when compared with the prices for Audio equipment available here. The projector will be picked up next year, so if any models do pop up in the interim I will consider those as well.
BluRay Player: Oppo 103D also plan to purchase overseas and hand carry back.
Pre/pro and Amplifier : Since I am looking at Atmos, shortlisting was a tad simpler. It all boiled down to the Marantz AV8802A and the newly Launched Yamaha CX-A5100. I was very inclined to go with the Marantz and have demoed the same in the US and came back rather impressed. The power amps used during the demo was the ATI signature series. The combo of the two was something else. But the $$$ were mounting up.
With the recent launch of the subject Yamaha, things were looking up again. I havent demoed this model. But given the numbers and specs, it offers a rather close run for the money when compared to the Marantz. So my guns are now trained on the Yamaha. Coupled with the MX-A5000 power amp I will be good to go. Additionally the added Musiccast from Yamaha is a game changer as I can now use the AV receiver to wirelessly stream hi-res audio to other zones in the house. More on this after a demo of the Yammie.
NAS/ HTPC : A special mention has to go to Sam9s your thread on these topics. Wow!!! Enlightening.
Intend to pick up a NAS shortlisting the Synology 415+ or the rack mount version presently. Havent found a lot of feedback on the rack mounted NAS from Synology RS814+ or RS815 or RS815+
With regard to HTPC I am not so sure I want to set one up presently. The benefits of ease of access to all stuff stored on the NAS would be a definite plus as I dont intend to have a TV in the Home theater room and switching on the projector for checking the stuff on NAS especially when playing music is not something I would want to do . I intend to use Plex and/or Kodi as the front end for streaming and will use that from a tab or phone to access all info from the NAS. Any other pointers where it would be beneficial to have an HTPC in addition to the NAS.
Equipment Rack: I have been looking for an AV rack to house all the equipment for the HT and whole house audio. As mentioned earlier the rack will be located outside the HT room. Only reason for that is I do not like the lights from the AV equipment to interfere with my movie watching or the audible hum of the fans when listening to music or dialogue. Additionally I would go out on a limb to admit that I may almost have OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder for the unititated) when it comes to wires hanging out from the panels or equipment. I saw a couple of them on snapdeal and indiamart listed a few sources in my city. Will follow up with them in the days to come.
Media Player : I presently have a Roku3 for streaming online content. Would I need another media player to stream from my NAS to the AV receiver or the Oppo. That is something I am not clear on. As the Roku is excellent for streaming online content, but for stored content I am not so sure as I still havent explored the possibilities. Most of my movie files are stored in .mkv or .avi format.
Power conditioner and UPS : Research hasnt begun on this yet. The excitement of shortlisting the equipment ensured some of the other essentials but mundane items took a back seat.
Network Router : Netgear Nighthawk X4 or X6. Still making up my mind. Once I have clarity on how many Wifi users I have I can take a call then.
Cables: Havent done a lot of research yet on this. But audioQuest and QED are some of the names which pop up every now and then.
Thats about all for my rants, will await your inputs and guidance to further the HT project.
Cheers
Zimbly
hyeah:
