SAFNYC
12-24-07, 12:41 AM
I recently completed my first home theater and I thought I would post an account of the build and components used to help others who might be starting a similar project.
My main TV room is 16' x 16'. Not enormous, but not small either. I wanted to build a sharp-looking system that not only sounded good but looked good as well. I was most concerned about the speakers because, for me, I am someone who prefers a good-looking speaker over a good-sounding one. Not that sound quality is not important, but let's face it, some of the best sounding speakers out there are not exactly the prettiest, and some are down right ugly. Anyway, I decided on the Mythos series speakers from Definitive Technologies becuase I think they are great-looking speakers, and heck, they also sound great and are certainly not cheap in any regard. It was a good balance between appearance and sound quality.
Once I decided on the speakers, luckily for me deciding on a receiver was easy because Denon had just released their new line of receivers. I decided on the AVR-3808 particularly because it offers 4 HDMI inputs. I planned on using 3 for my cable box, PS3, and Xbox 360, which left 1 HDMI input for later use.
For the TV, I choose the SONY 52' LCD Bravia (XBR3). The XBR5 was released the same week I purchased my XBR3, and at an extra $2000 it was not worth it because the only real difference was the refresh rate of 120Hz on the XBR5. In retrospect, I'm glad I stuck with the XBR3 because CNet recently performed a side-by-side comparison between 60 and 120hz TV's and concluded that it was very difficult, if not impossible, to notice the difference. You can read that review here:
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6449_7-6792632-1.html
Anyway, after all was said and done, these were the components I purchased once I was ready for the build.
SONY KDL-52 XBR3 Bravia LCD TV
Sanus VMPL3 Plasma Wall Mount
Denon AVR-3808 Receiver
Def Tech Mythos Two Speaker (Left/Right)
Def Tech Mythos Eight (Center)
Def Tech Mythose Gems (Rear Surrounds)
Def Tech SuperCube 2 Subwoofer
Def Tech ProMount 80 (pivotal mounts for rear speakers)
Belden 5000UE Series 12-gauge Speaker Wire terminated with Banana Plugs
I had never installed a home theater system before attempting this one, and being that I just moved in to my first home, I was a bit concerned about cutting the walls and sheetrock to snake wires and hang a 100lb LCD TV! I got a quote of $200/hr for a professional installation of the entire system. I am a very handy and mechanical person, and I knew that with enough time and research I could pull this thing off myself. After spending many late nights on the Internet, I learned that once I understood what was inside a wall, it becomes very easy to work with it. A stud finder became my best friend.
Even though I had a good idea on what to do, my biggest concern came to be the speaker wire, and actually snaking it through the walls. I definitely did not want the finished system to expose any visible wire, so I knew all speaker wires would need to be concealed in the wall. I could either use the upper crown molding or the lower base molding to run the wires. I decided on the using the base molding since crown molding can be a real pain to reinstall. After pulling off the base molding, I noticed about 1/4" of clearance between the floor and the bottom edge of the sheet rock wall. This was perfect for running speaker wire since it would not interfere when reinstalling the base molding. As far as snaking wire up to the speaker location, I used everything from coat hangars to weighted fishing line. The rear surround speakers proved to be the most challening since they are located 8 1/2 feet from the floor, so attempting to snake "up" using a coat hangar would not work. Instead of purchasing a flexible snake kit, I decided to let gravity do the work for me. I drilled a hole in the sheet rock at the location where the rear speaker would be mounted and dropped a fishing line down with a small lead weight attached to it. When the weight hit the floor behing the sheet rock, I drilled another small hole and snagged the line through. After that it was easy to snake the speaker wire since I had a fixed line between the two holes. Here is the finished Mythos Gem on its pivotal PROMOUNT 80:
http://www.nextideapartners.com/site/images/etc/gem1.jpg
The Gems are a bit heavy for their size, and the PROMOUNT 80's are small, so I decided to use alligator clips with the mounting screws for a nice firm grip. I tested this on some scrap sheet rock and it seemed to hold very well.
A quick note on the speaker wire: I had every intention of using 14-gauge, but the Beldin wire I purchased from Blue Jeans Cable only came in 12-gauge. I did not have any issues using thicker speaker wire since thicker wire is always better than thinner wire. Blue Jeans Cable is a great company. They provide great technical support for their products. If you're interested, here is a link to their website:
http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/speaker/index.htm
The Mythos Two speakers (left/right) were installed on the wall using the supplied wall mounts. I used basic sheet rock anchor screws for this and it was pretty straight forward. The Mythos Eight Center channel was also mounted with the factory-supplied wall mount .
http://www.nextideapartners.com/site/images/etc/mythostwo-a.jpg
For the center channel speaker I went with the Mythos Eight. I was planning to get the Mythos Three, but the center channel is so crucial I did not want to skimp on it. The real difference between the Eight and Three is that the Eight has 5' 1/4'' drivers whereas the Three has 4' 1/2'' drivers, and the Eight is about 3' longer.
http://www.nextideapartners.com/site/images/etc/mythos8.jpg
For the subwoofer I went with the Def Tech SuperCube II. For the room in which I was installing the system, this subwoofer is more than enough, and it looks nice too. I ran the subwoofer cable behind the base molding for a clean finish as you can see in the photo below (The sub cable is the one with the purple end)
http://www.nextideapartners.com/site/images/etc/sub.jpg
The Sanus VMPL3 mount for the LCD TV was very easy to install. I anchored it on 2 wall studs using 4 large screws supplied with the kit. I would have preferred 3 studs but the location of the mount relative to the studs did not allow it. So far the TV has not fallen off the wall, so I suspect it's ok! Actually, once I anchored the TV mount to the wall I grabbed the top of it and hung off with all my weight for about 15 seconds. I am not a huge person, as I only weigh about 165 lbs, but it felt very sturdy so I was confident it would hold the TV weighing only 90lbs. The Sanus mount is great, but the one major downside with it is that it does not offer any fine tuning for leveling the TV once it is hung on the mount. I must have hung and un-hung the TV from the mount over 10 times before it was leveled it, and this proved to be a great work out for my biceps :)
http://www.nextideapartners.com/site/images/etc/fullsystem-a.jpg
Audio/Video Comments
To be honest, I have not even touched the equalizer on the receiver. I just don't have the time to fiddle with it because I know it's not a 1-2-3 task. The system actually sounds fine with factory settings, but I'm sure it can be fine tuned to improve the sound quality. I used the factory-supplied microphone to perform the initial set up with the receiver, and aside from that, I have not changed anything.
Sony BRAVIA 52 LCD Comments
As for the Sony Bravia 52 LCD, to me it has the most vivid and sharpest-looking picture I have ever seen, but this only holds true for HD signal and when playing video games in HD. In my area (I live in New York), Verizon is distributing their FIOS fiber optic TV service. I had CableVision in the past but recently switched to Verizon and never looked back. ESPN-HD probably looks the best out of all HD-enabled channels. I mean, watching NFL football is just stunning. You can actually see the reflection of the stadium in the players' helmet because the picture is so freeking sharp! Unbelievable!
I choose LCD over plasma because my TV room has a lot of ambient light from surrounding windows. Most plasmas TV's have a glass screen while LCD's typically have a matte finish, and I wanted to eliminate any reflections on the screen.
Conclusion
It took approximately 3 weeks to finish the entire system. I worked 2-3 hours per day during the weekdays, and worked all day on the weekends. Overall it's a very basic system with nothing earth shattering about it. My receiver's video board got fried after just 2 weeks of use for God knows what reason. I took it back to my local AV store where I purchased it and they gave me a brand new one. I also purchased the TV at the same place, and I can't say enough about these guys at Audio Breakthroughs. It's a family run business located in Manhasset, NY (Long Island). They are very knowledgeable and good people to deal with.
http://www.audiobreakthroughs.com/
By the way, some of the other components in my system, which you can make out in the photos, include a Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 Elite. Playing video games on this system is quite simply amazing. The Bravia is a great LCD TV, and I could not be happier with it.
Also, the entertainment system table you see in the photo may be purchased from Frontgate.com. It's pricey, but it's very nice with a glass table top and nickel finish treatments.
http://www.frontgate.com/jump.jsp?sort=-1&itemType=PRODUCT&AS=1&keyword=cubis&itemID=7209&iProductID=7209
Contact Me for Questions!
If anyone has detailed questions about how I went about this build, feel free to PM me!
http://www.nextideapartners.com/site/images/etc/fullsystem2.jpg
My main TV room is 16' x 16'. Not enormous, but not small either. I wanted to build a sharp-looking system that not only sounded good but looked good as well. I was most concerned about the speakers because, for me, I am someone who prefers a good-looking speaker over a good-sounding one. Not that sound quality is not important, but let's face it, some of the best sounding speakers out there are not exactly the prettiest, and some are down right ugly. Anyway, I decided on the Mythos series speakers from Definitive Technologies becuase I think they are great-looking speakers, and heck, they also sound great and are certainly not cheap in any regard. It was a good balance between appearance and sound quality.
Once I decided on the speakers, luckily for me deciding on a receiver was easy because Denon had just released their new line of receivers. I decided on the AVR-3808 particularly because it offers 4 HDMI inputs. I planned on using 3 for my cable box, PS3, and Xbox 360, which left 1 HDMI input for later use.
For the TV, I choose the SONY 52' LCD Bravia (XBR3). The XBR5 was released the same week I purchased my XBR3, and at an extra $2000 it was not worth it because the only real difference was the refresh rate of 120Hz on the XBR5. In retrospect, I'm glad I stuck with the XBR3 because CNet recently performed a side-by-side comparison between 60 and 120hz TV's and concluded that it was very difficult, if not impossible, to notice the difference. You can read that review here:
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6449_7-6792632-1.html
Anyway, after all was said and done, these were the components I purchased once I was ready for the build.
SONY KDL-52 XBR3 Bravia LCD TV
Sanus VMPL3 Plasma Wall Mount
Denon AVR-3808 Receiver
Def Tech Mythos Two Speaker (Left/Right)
Def Tech Mythos Eight (Center)
Def Tech Mythose Gems (Rear Surrounds)
Def Tech SuperCube 2 Subwoofer
Def Tech ProMount 80 (pivotal mounts for rear speakers)
Belden 5000UE Series 12-gauge Speaker Wire terminated with Banana Plugs
I had never installed a home theater system before attempting this one, and being that I just moved in to my first home, I was a bit concerned about cutting the walls and sheetrock to snake wires and hang a 100lb LCD TV! I got a quote of $200/hr for a professional installation of the entire system. I am a very handy and mechanical person, and I knew that with enough time and research I could pull this thing off myself. After spending many late nights on the Internet, I learned that once I understood what was inside a wall, it becomes very easy to work with it. A stud finder became my best friend.
Even though I had a good idea on what to do, my biggest concern came to be the speaker wire, and actually snaking it through the walls. I definitely did not want the finished system to expose any visible wire, so I knew all speaker wires would need to be concealed in the wall. I could either use the upper crown molding or the lower base molding to run the wires. I decided on the using the base molding since crown molding can be a real pain to reinstall. After pulling off the base molding, I noticed about 1/4" of clearance between the floor and the bottom edge of the sheet rock wall. This was perfect for running speaker wire since it would not interfere when reinstalling the base molding. As far as snaking wire up to the speaker location, I used everything from coat hangars to weighted fishing line. The rear surround speakers proved to be the most challening since they are located 8 1/2 feet from the floor, so attempting to snake "up" using a coat hangar would not work. Instead of purchasing a flexible snake kit, I decided to let gravity do the work for me. I drilled a hole in the sheet rock at the location where the rear speaker would be mounted and dropped a fishing line down with a small lead weight attached to it. When the weight hit the floor behing the sheet rock, I drilled another small hole and snagged the line through. After that it was easy to snake the speaker wire since I had a fixed line between the two holes. Here is the finished Mythos Gem on its pivotal PROMOUNT 80:
http://www.nextideapartners.com/site/images/etc/gem1.jpg
The Gems are a bit heavy for their size, and the PROMOUNT 80's are small, so I decided to use alligator clips with the mounting screws for a nice firm grip. I tested this on some scrap sheet rock and it seemed to hold very well.
A quick note on the speaker wire: I had every intention of using 14-gauge, but the Beldin wire I purchased from Blue Jeans Cable only came in 12-gauge. I did not have any issues using thicker speaker wire since thicker wire is always better than thinner wire. Blue Jeans Cable is a great company. They provide great technical support for their products. If you're interested, here is a link to their website:
http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/speaker/index.htm
The Mythos Two speakers (left/right) were installed on the wall using the supplied wall mounts. I used basic sheet rock anchor screws for this and it was pretty straight forward. The Mythos Eight Center channel was also mounted with the factory-supplied wall mount .
http://www.nextideapartners.com/site/images/etc/mythostwo-a.jpg
For the center channel speaker I went with the Mythos Eight. I was planning to get the Mythos Three, but the center channel is so crucial I did not want to skimp on it. The real difference between the Eight and Three is that the Eight has 5' 1/4'' drivers whereas the Three has 4' 1/2'' drivers, and the Eight is about 3' longer.
http://www.nextideapartners.com/site/images/etc/mythos8.jpg
For the subwoofer I went with the Def Tech SuperCube II. For the room in which I was installing the system, this subwoofer is more than enough, and it looks nice too. I ran the subwoofer cable behind the base molding for a clean finish as you can see in the photo below (The sub cable is the one with the purple end)
http://www.nextideapartners.com/site/images/etc/sub.jpg
The Sanus VMPL3 mount for the LCD TV was very easy to install. I anchored it on 2 wall studs using 4 large screws supplied with the kit. I would have preferred 3 studs but the location of the mount relative to the studs did not allow it. So far the TV has not fallen off the wall, so I suspect it's ok! Actually, once I anchored the TV mount to the wall I grabbed the top of it and hung off with all my weight for about 15 seconds. I am not a huge person, as I only weigh about 165 lbs, but it felt very sturdy so I was confident it would hold the TV weighing only 90lbs. The Sanus mount is great, but the one major downside with it is that it does not offer any fine tuning for leveling the TV once it is hung on the mount. I must have hung and un-hung the TV from the mount over 10 times before it was leveled it, and this proved to be a great work out for my biceps :)
http://www.nextideapartners.com/site/images/etc/fullsystem-a.jpg
Audio/Video Comments
To be honest, I have not even touched the equalizer on the receiver. I just don't have the time to fiddle with it because I know it's not a 1-2-3 task. The system actually sounds fine with factory settings, but I'm sure it can be fine tuned to improve the sound quality. I used the factory-supplied microphone to perform the initial set up with the receiver, and aside from that, I have not changed anything.
Sony BRAVIA 52 LCD Comments
As for the Sony Bravia 52 LCD, to me it has the most vivid and sharpest-looking picture I have ever seen, but this only holds true for HD signal and when playing video games in HD. In my area (I live in New York), Verizon is distributing their FIOS fiber optic TV service. I had CableVision in the past but recently switched to Verizon and never looked back. ESPN-HD probably looks the best out of all HD-enabled channels. I mean, watching NFL football is just stunning. You can actually see the reflection of the stadium in the players' helmet because the picture is so freeking sharp! Unbelievable!
I choose LCD over plasma because my TV room has a lot of ambient light from surrounding windows. Most plasmas TV's have a glass screen while LCD's typically have a matte finish, and I wanted to eliminate any reflections on the screen.
Conclusion
It took approximately 3 weeks to finish the entire system. I worked 2-3 hours per day during the weekdays, and worked all day on the weekends. Overall it's a very basic system with nothing earth shattering about it. My receiver's video board got fried after just 2 weeks of use for God knows what reason. I took it back to my local AV store where I purchased it and they gave me a brand new one. I also purchased the TV at the same place, and I can't say enough about these guys at Audio Breakthroughs. It's a family run business located in Manhasset, NY (Long Island). They are very knowledgeable and good people to deal with.
http://www.audiobreakthroughs.com/
By the way, some of the other components in my system, which you can make out in the photos, include a Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 Elite. Playing video games on this system is quite simply amazing. The Bravia is a great LCD TV, and I could not be happier with it.
Also, the entertainment system table you see in the photo may be purchased from Frontgate.com. It's pricey, but it's very nice with a glass table top and nickel finish treatments.
http://www.frontgate.com/jump.jsp?sort=-1&itemType=PRODUCT&AS=1&keyword=cubis&itemID=7209&iProductID=7209
Contact Me for Questions!
If anyone has detailed questions about how I went about this build, feel free to PM me!
http://www.nextideapartners.com/site/images/etc/fullsystem2.jpg