Transform my living room!

Nice home, by the way!

First off, is there possibly another room you could put this system into? You have a lot of slightly nightmarish "obstacles" built in to that living room that may not allow it to sound and look its best. Especially with 7.1 surround speaker placement (for one, it's going to be hard to place your side speakers with the front window and --maybe-- the glass doors). You may get some door rattles from the sub was well. Then there's the wide open doorway into the dining room.

The window is one big reflective surface and you'd want some pretty heavy curtains in place during a movie night. No twinkling city lights, sorry to say.

It might be good for a secondary zone room with some in ceiling speakers for light ambient music... but as the main home theater location, I have some reservations.

Just a few things to think about.

Not quite what you had in mind, but the first thing that came to mind looking at the room layout and window was that it would be cool (if the window happened to be about the right size), to integrate a drop down screen into the window valence, and if the screen was 2.35:1 (looks like a 16:9 would be closer to the window size), the side curtains could double as side masking.

I thought they were glass paned doors rather than windows to the right of the fireplace, my bad!

Yes, you do want heavy curtains with black out backing for both windows. It'll help acoustically quite a bit and towards light containment somewhat.

Yes, 5.1 with the side surrounds in about the 110 degree locations would most definitely be a better choice here.



I would recommend two VTF-15 subs, if you can swing it (good subs for the price). The framed open doorway will increase the square footage and you'll need to compensate for that.

While the HSU monitor speakers are pretty good budget speakers for the price, I'd consider other brands. Speakers and subs are the most important elements of your surround system. Do not skimp here.

You might also want to consider the PSB T6 towers, C5 center, and B5 bookshelves on stands for the surrounds. Good bang vs. buck.

Also, the Focal Chorus 700 series is another to consider. 714v or 716v towers, CC 700v center, and 705v bookshelves.

The Paradigm Monitor Series and Aperion Audio Intimus or Verus series speakers should be on your radar too.

The Onkyo 818 looks to have pretty decent video upscaling and has Audyssey XT32 calibration software (9.2 channel pre-amp outputs too). So, you could go with a much cheaper, BDP-S590 Sony 3D player and let the 818 do the scaling for satellite/cable, DVD, and 1080i Blu-ray discs.

You can most definitely go with a ceiling mount drop-down screen in front of the fireplace. Make sure it's tab-tensioned to eliminate wrinkling over time. The one thing you'll have an issue with is the center speaker placement... unless you don't turn on the fireplace!

Here's a good, basic viewing distance calculator to use in deciding your screen's size.

http://myhometheater.homestead.com/v...alculator.html

The only thing it would do IMHO is allow you to continue to use your fireplace because of the center speaker. Acoustically speaking, you usually want the screen on the short wall.

The surround speakers would also be very close to your couch and it would be harder to add over flow seating due to the foreshortened seating distances. Only a problem if you have company over for a movie.

You might also have to consider a smaller screen by placing it in front of the bay window. Check your viewing calculator.

Though more expensive, you could also mount a center speaker just above the fireplace by using a drop down acoustically transparent screen. Just set the screen so it has about 3-6" between it and the face of the center speaker. Depending on the speaker manufacturer and model line you consider, there may be a sonically matching in-wall center speaker version as well. Or get three matching, vertically aligned in-wall's for the front left/center/right, so they're all in the same plane.

Price difference depends on the brand. You may want to look in the screen section. If it's of decent quality, the PQ is very good compared to a regular non transparent screen.

You don't want the center speaker on the floor. You want the tweeters of all three front speakers to be as close to ear level (while seated) as possible, considering the room.

Yes, the subs would be flanking the fireplace just like the left and right speakers.

You can easily set which component will be doing the actual video processing. It all depends on which item has the best (and most flexible) video chip on board. Usually, you turn off all video "enhancements" on the player. Some have a "native" video setting that allows it to send whatever is recorded on the disc untouched... basically, bitstreaming for video just like with the audio portion of the data. Since the Onkyo 818 has a good video chip, it can also upscale your TV and DVD's too and the rare 1080i Blu-ray disc to 1080p as I mentioned before. Not that it matters right now, but it will upscale to 4k resolution as well. 4k TV's are coming soon, but it'll take a while for the prices to come down to where 1080p sets are currently.

I wouldn't go with a PS3 as your standalone Blu-ray player. I learned my lesson with that. I'd do gaming and some streaming on it only. Besides, they run hot and are noisy (and suck a lot of power).

In the Onkyo 818's power range should be okay to start. However, if you want to improve your sound quality, dynamic headroom, lower distortion etc. then at a later date look at adding a power amp like an Emotiva XPA-5 or something similar and bypass the internal receiver amps. That's what I did with my receiver and it was an immediate sonic improvement.

I think the HSU VTF-15h sub (start with one, then add another later) would probably be a better unit than the Focal. Most mid to high end receivers (and pre-amps too) now have dual subwoofer outputs. So, don't worry too much about that.

Put most of your money on quality speakers and subs. That's the most important purchase (next to a solid power amp) you can make. They'll last you out through quite a few technology upgrades (receivers, pre-amps, TV's, players, etc.) as long as you buy right the first time.

Usually, in a lower to mid-tier speaker you're going to end up with simulated wood vinyl. It can still look fine if you choose the right finish (and skip black ash). I, personally, would rather focus on sound and build quality over aesthetics unless you're willing to move up a notch in speaker models that gives you furniture grade looks and performance.

That's one thing about the Focal Chorus line... they do look and sound snazzy for the price.

Plug the RCA cord from the receiver's sub pre-amp out into the sub's LFE input, and with Audyssey auto calibration you bypass the internal crossovers in the sub and let the receiver do the setup. What you get with the VTF-15h is low frequency response and a pretty tight, servo controlled 15" bass driver that can fill a room. It gets great reviews for both music and movies. It'll knock you out of your seat if properly setup.

SVS and Rhythmic are two other sub brands to consider as well. However, they too will have crossover and volume controls that will not be utilized. You set the volume knob at a certain position (not too low and not high enough to add distortion) and forget it... Audyssey (as long as you get a receiver with it) does the rest.

What features in these subwoofers are you not sure about?

For your sized open spaced living room... you'll need the extension and output the VTF-15h can give you. You're not in an enclosed, dedicated theater room where sound waves can be contained.

If you do decide on an HSU VTF-15h sub, Dr. Hsu recommends that you start its volume knob at about the 8 o'clock position and have one port open on EQ1 and a Q=.7 when you run Audyssey. The manual will explain these better.

If you listen to a lot of well recorded music and concert Blu-ray's and what not besides movies... then the Verus Grand series would be a much better investment. Also, if you don't plan on upgrading your speakers any time soon and want to start out with higher quality speakers... then go with the larger speaker models in the Verus line so they all match up.

I think you'd be very pleased. Doesn't hurt that they have a free 30 day trial.

Great looking home I suggest a big 3d tv

Looks good

It really boils down to the Sony BDP-S590 or the Panasonic 220. There are minor pluses and minuses to both as you compare the two, but one thing the Sony has in its favor is the ability to play high resolution, multi-channel Super-Audio CD's.

Both players can bitstream CD's, DVD's, Blu-ray, etc. to your receiver easily.

You do have to turn off any image "enhancement" settings on either player for them to look their best. And turn off Dynamic Range Compression, BD-Live, Quick Start, and Secondary Audio in the setup menus.

Nice room! I have a very similar living room HT setup, but I was lucky in that the short wall opposite the fireplace had a much smaller door opening and therefore allowed enough space for the (retractable) screen. Would you consider extending the wall to make the door opening smaller? That would make things a lot easier from both acoustic (less work for the sub and general sound leakage) and screen placement perspectives. Also - not sure if yuo'd want to do it - you could do what I did and place both a flat-screen (for daytime viewing) and the retractable screen onto the same wall. You'd need a pre-amp / receiver with dual video outputs; I have an Integra. That setup never fails to elicit a WOW from guests, when the screen comes down seamlessly in front of the TV...

Assuming that the room stays as it is though, what is it exactly that you need advice on? You already said that you need a retractable screen that would come down in front of the fireplace. That means that your center channel speaker will need to be mounted right above the fireplace and your screen material will need to be perforated, since the center will be behind it. That, by the way, will make the screen quite a bit more expensive (potentially by a grand), so you may want to think of spending that grand on extending the opposite wall
The side speakers will need to be right under the ceiling and angled down. I guess they need to be small enough to fit between the top of the large window and the ceiling... I suggest making them white to blend into the room better - that works well for me.
Your sub "sees" the entire open space around it, so you need a massive sub for your space with the opening; don't skimp on it.
Oh, and move both chairs to face the fireplace (one behind the coffee table, closer to the sofa, and one to the side, closer to the window).
Good luck!

Since you are placing your center speaker on a stand in front of the fireplace, you don't need an acoustically transparent motorized screen.

That is a good idea, however, to maybe have a smaller flat panel for everyday knock around TV viewing. Have the screen drop down in front of that. You can get a furniture grade TV stand that will accommodate a flat panel TV and a large center channel speaker.

Get some good 12 gauge speaker cable, a 22 gauge, high-speed HDMI cable for the projector, and 28 gauge high-speed HDMI cables for everything else needing HDMI connections (due to much shorter lengths and extra flexibility) from Monoprice.com.

Here's a good place for quality locking banana plugs at a good price:

http://www.speakerrepair.com/mm5/mer...y_Code=locking