Need Tips on Building a Good Home Theater System

[skartik21]

I am still getting a hang of the wealth of information this site can offer. I need some serious help from the experts and anybody else who has been around home theater system. My query is basically covering two categories, hence instead of posting in 2 different places, i decided to post it here.

1 Setting up a home theater system

I intend to build a good home theater system over a period of time. To start with I have a shoestring budget and hence would like to start with basic equipment. My preference is more towards music, though I would also like to play movies on the system. Currently I have a flat screen 21" TV. So my take is that i should buy an Amp with front speakers and a centre speaker. Subsequently i can add a suitable sub-woofer and a couple of surround speakers. Is that the correct approach, or should I stick to just the 2 front speakers and buy the centre speaker also afterwards. I am more inclined towards natural sounds so the usage of a subwoofer will be limited, hence I guess a subwoofer is not an immediate requirement. Is that a correct approach to adopt ? or should there be other options I should be looking at ?

I am confused between floorstand speakers and bookshelf speakers. I am not sure which one do I need for my living room. The size of my living room is 20'X10'. What kind of power rating should I look at ? I think a rating 120 W/channel should be enuff. I was told by one of the shopkeepers that its is ok to combine amps having a different power rating as well as impedence rating from that of the speaker. I thought i read somewhere that the same is not advisable. Kindly let me know your comments on the same.

2 Setting up room for HT system

I am in the process of furnishing my living room. How does one place the speakers of the system ? Should the front speakers be at the same level as the listening ear or it can go lower ? Do centre speakers fit in right in front ? What about surround speakers ? Can I put them right at the extreme edge of the 20' length with the other speakers at the other extreme ? Where does the sub woofer fit in in the overall scheme of things ? I am looking to build a showcase having compartments for the necessary speakers at the front.

I would appreciate your feedback on the points raised.

I hope I have not asked for too mic

 

[mridulgoel]

Hey Buddy

Welcome to the forum...!!!

Have a pleasant stay here...!!!

No defenetely you have not asked too much...
And you are too good on the absolute correct approach on for building a system, that is qualitative, patient, and provides complete satisfaction...

For some particular reason i will not be able to response to your querries, but this is for defenite that you are going the right way, and dont by any chance, get away from this progress, else you will loose the satisfaction, in order of loosing patience...

Best of Luck...

 

[prakasse]

Hi Karthik,

Welcome to the forum.

You said right. Front speakers should be at listeners ear level.

Surround speakers if it is 5.1, then it should be on the side only and not on rear.

If it is 7.1 then only it is advisable to put the surround back left and right speakers in the rear.

You can begin with 2.0(good front speakers), then add center and then surrounds. Since you are not concerned too much about subwoofer, getting a floor standers for front will help you to cover the low frequency too.

Also do let us know the budget. The only we can suggest some models.

Thanks,
Prakash.

 

[skartik21]

Thanks for your response. As I indicated, i have a shoestring budget of 20-25 k for my base system. I would appreciate if you would address my concerns on the matching of rating between the speakers and the Amp. Where should the centre speakers be place ? Is it a good idea to integrate the front speakers with the showcase of the drawing room or should they be kept separate ? Since the front speakers should be at the eye level, i guess if they are to be kept separate, then maybe the floorstanders are preferable over bookshelves. Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome.

 

[prakasse]

Hi,

25K is less for AVR + front speakers. You can get only middle level AVR's like Yamaha 463, OnKyo 505 etc...

I have Yamaha 463 which i got for 17.3K. It is good. And for front speakers i purchased Yamaha NS 8390 towers for 9K.

Would advice you to audition this and try out.

Also audition Onkyo 505/506 and compare it.

Most of the speakers are rated between 6 an 8 ohms and all the receivers driver the speakers with these ratings. So don't bother too much about this parameter.

For speaker placements go through these links.
An Essential Guide to Home Theater Speaker Placement

Dolby - Dolby Home Theater Speaker Guide - Speaker Placement and Setup Guide for Home Theater Surround Sound

Thanks,
Prakash.

 

[skartik21]

Hey great links. :yahoo: Really a wealth of information there. Can somebody suggest locations of good dealers of such systems in New Mumbai or Mumbai ?

 

[prakasse]

Hi,

Try your luck in Tata croma/X-cite/reliance digital. You can get better price in multi brand shops than from dealers.

I enquired in most of the places and i could see that yamaha 463 is available for 17.3 K only in X-cite(mrp is around 34K).

I think there is X-cite in pune. In case if you are travelling you can get it there after auditioning.

Thanks,
Prakash.

 

[skartik21]

I did check out croma and Reliance Digital. Reliance Digital seems to have a mich better range of products with special auditioning rooms and gives scope for customising the combination. Croma scores a little less on both the counts and mainly offers standard combinations. Haven't been able to locate X-cite around here. I saw the Yamaha 363 combination with Yamaha speakers at Vijay Sales, but did not particularly like the sound of it, though it was a limited audition. I do plan to go on a full fledged audition to r-digital. I also plan to check out Sumaria. Will post the outcome at the earliest.

I had one more query in my mind. Is it ok to combine amps and speakers having different impedence ratings ?

 

[prakasse]

Hi,

Kindly see my post above.

"Most of the speakers are rated between 6 an 8 ohms and all the receivers driver the speakers with these ratings. So don't bother too much about this parameter."

And in a Home theatre setup it is not necessary that all the speakers to have same impedance.

My front speakers are 8 ohms and rears are 6 ohms.. no problems.

If you go to pune by any chance you can visit X-cite there for this offer. I see from their website that they don't have outlet in mumbai. However They are present in pune.

Thanks,
Prakash.

 

[siddutta]

Hi,

25K is less for AVR + front speakers. You can get only middle level AVR's like Yamaha 463, OnKyo 505 etc...

I have Yamaha 463 which i got for 17.3K. It is good. And for front speakers i purchased Yamaha NS 8390 towers for 9K.


Also audition Onkyo 505/506 and compare it.

Most of the speakers are rated between 6 an 8 ohms and all the receivers driver the speakers with these ratings. So don't bother too much about this parameter.

Thanks,
Prakash.

for me, i would like a simple system , which i might connect to TV occasionally, essentially a good amplifier + speakers .. Btw whats the real value add of Woofers ??

dont you think a simple Sony / Samsung would suffice ?

is Yamaha / ONkyo / Jamao really makes the difference ? is ASS ok for these foreingn brands ?

 

[prakasse]

then i feel you should go with a 2 channel amplifier and good book shelf speakers for 25K.

You can connect TV audio to amplifier and listen through the speakers.

Are you interested in movies or Music? Do you want a complete 5.1 Home theatre?