CONTEST: Tell us your Greatest Home Theater Moment Ever - Page 5

Would love to win either prize!

This one goes way back.... to 1995. While in college, my best buddies and I ended up renting a 3 bedroom house. Being the "techie" of the group, I was sent to go and buy a TV, receiver and speakers for the living room. Off I go to the local Circuit City, and after haggling quite a bit in the "open box" section, I return to the house with a 32" Sony Trinitron TV (a steal because it had a cracked bezel), a Panasonic AutoReverse Laserdic player, and an entry level Pioneer "Dolby SR" receiver, and a 5.1 JBL kit.

I went a little over budget and got some heavy teasing from the roomies.

That next night, we're watching BLADE RUNNER on laserdisc with a bunch more people that wanted to see what the fuss was all about, and during the scene where Deckard is interviewing Leon at the beginning of the film, we hear a knock at the front door. We pause the movie and someone goes to see who's knocking. But nobody was there. It was one of the effects from the film!

Needless to say that the teasing stopped after that, and our movie nights became quite popular. I definitely converted a lot of people to wanting a great HT experience.

The best part in all this: I sold the Sony TV after we graduated for more $$$ than we paid for it, and I still have the Panasonic Laserdic player which works fine.

My first ever home theater didn't cost all that much and wasn't all that impressive, but when my mother-in-law leaned over and asked if I could refill her popcorn at the concession stand and passed me a $10 bill, I couldn't help but smile. She totally forgot she wasn't in the theater! We all laughed about it later, but it meant I did a pretty good job on a shoestring budget of about $1500.

My greatest home theater moment ever was when the first HD 5.1 commercials were played during the Superbowl on January 27th, 2003. No one knew they were going to be there, I had friends over and the first was was a movie trailer, the screen went wide, the 5.1 was lit on the receiver and greatness kicked in! We were all caught off guard, that was part of the greatness, my friends loved it so much they went to Tweeter the next weekend and invested in a HT! Whooohoo!

my greatest moment was when I first started last year. My dad is a big audiophile and has always used very high end equipment such as Accustat 1+1 speakers and a complete sound system.

But my moment came when I I finally got started and followed my dads path. I don't have the money nor the space he does. I started piecing my system together. First got 7 MK S1's from my dad (only 5 in use right now) that I bought from him. Got a starter Denon AVR 591 Receiver and a PS3 and my Sammy 40" HD 1080p 120hz TV. I was doing 5.0 sound until finally was talking to my dad again and I bought his old MK volkswoofer 200w Sub. Now I'm rocking a complete system. It took me 8hrs + of tweaking speaker positions and sitting positions.

I had some friends over one night unexpectantly and I was watching Band of Brothers. One of my friends commented on how nice and crisp the sound is and the tv looks awesome for my condo. He said it beats his $1,500 HTIB setup out of the water.

And then this past weekend, I had my girlfriend over with her parents. Her dad is somewhat of an audiophile and he wanted to hear my setup. So I fired it up. I downloaded ScubaSteve's demo disc and got it burned at the office last week. I fired that up, and my GF and her dad went WOW. That is a great setup for a beginners

I can't wait until my dad comes to visit from BC at Christmas, because though the speakers and subs are from him, the PS3 and the Denon were my purchases from my own homework and I'm very happy with my beginners setup and I know my dad will appreciate the complete HT experience I have created and followed in his footsteps

mine is just recent!
My wife bought me a 60" sharp smart tv for this past fathers day. The largest tv I had ever had was 37 inch. First thing that came to mind was "make a home theatre I the basement!"
I drew out a plan, took measurements of theater seats, looked up theater props and stuff which led me to this site.
My plan was set! Then during constructions I used blue painting tape to outline the 60" tv on the wall. To my surprise it was incredibly small. Only visible for the front row. I was a upset that I started the theater and now I didn’t know what to do.

Humbly, I spoke with my wife and told her that I loved her gift however it wouldn’t work in a theater. I summed up the courage and brought up the topic of a projector. As I thought, she was TOTALLY against it. Not because of the price or features or anything like that. She was against it because she knew so LITTLE about projectors and how far they have come sine the days of elementary school.

I researched and sent her so many youtube videos trying to convince her. I sent her comparison tv vs projector vids, reviews and the like. I even argued the price of a projector screen size vs the price of the same screen size of a tv.
Took weeks but I finally got her to check them out at best buy with me. we got to the projector section and it didn’t help that best buy didn’t have any projector room set up. only TV's. on TOP of that, the few projectors they had on display were made up of some kind of cheap cardboard. They were mock ups of the actual projectors. they were full of dust and looked so cheesy.
This put her over the edge and she left me in the projector section furious. I tried to explain that those weren’t the actual projectors. they were just a display mockup. I have to admit, even I was turned off by those silly mock up boxes on display. So I made a deal with her.

Let me buy the projector, and return it if its no good. So I finally picked it up (epson 8350) , along with a 96 inch screen (which she didn’t even know I needed. this also got her mad) and a universal ceiling mount. (another cost she wasn’t happy about) We took it home, she left me in the basement not interested one bit about the new projector. I quickly looked to open the box, set up the screen and give her (and myself) a demo of what this thing could do. After all the negative comments from her about the projector, even I felt I made a bad purchase.

I set up the screen, and put the projector on top of the box it came in. plugged it in and popped in Avatar Blu ray. Dimmed the lights and glared in awe as my jaw dropped on the floor in amazement. This even went over MY expectations. A tear a joy came out as I thought to myself "she’s gonna LOVE THIS". I walked upstairs with a huge smile looking for her to come down and take a look. No speakers or anything was even hooked up yet. only picture.

This was it, the moment of truth. She watched avatar pop up on the screen and she was amazed we were even watching a projector picture. After all the nagging and negative comments, I finally was able to prove her TOTALLY wrong about her assumptions of projectors. She approved. big time! she wanted to see the entire movie right then and there. I told her to give me a couple of days to finish the wiring and speakers then we would enjoy it together.

the next few days I worked until 5 or 6am finishing the installation and the rest of the basement. Everything was coming along. theater seats were ordered and on the way, props were coming, found a great concession stand and popcorn machine from craigs list. Once everything was complete, we sat down together and watched avatar with the family. A tear of joy rolled down my face as I looked at her and my kids eyes enjoying the theater. All my heart ache and hard work had paid off. Since then, every time we finish watching a movie, I ask her the same thing. "did I do good?" she replies with a kiss on my cheek "you did very good dad" Thank you AVS Forum and all members of the forum. I could NOT have done it without all your help.

Oh and for the 60" sharp tv? its hanging on the wall in the living room. Also a great addition to our house.


Edited by linkseo - 8/28/12 at 3:50pm

For me the clear winner was the first time I heard lossless audio. Was one of the first buyers of the PS3 in NZ, went to a midnight launch which is exciting in and of itself, as one of the first buyers I got a copy of Casino Royale, putting it in and watching it in HD was jaw dropping, but clicking over that HD audio gave me goosebumps and had me sitting their smiling. At 1am in the morning my girl friend (now wife) threw an absolute mental.

So worth it though.

Easy one. . .it was the Home Theater Forum LA meet in 2004 when I proposed to my now-wife in the executive theater on the Fox lot (followed by surprise cake and champagne generously set up outside by our contact at Fox).

My greatest moment was the launch of my HT 8 years ago.

Before beginning my journey, I owned 3 screwdrivers and a hammer. All I had ever built previously was a lamp in 7th grade.

But, after much research here and the purchasing of many tools I didn't even know existed, I was able to transform a 20X14 spare room into a home theater - complete with built in equipment rack and DVD storage, exterior sound proof door, 12" riser, and no windows (sheet-rocked over them). Custom fabric walls on the bottom half (Royal Stewart Plaid), dark green paint on the walls (black on the ceiling and front wall), 7.1 sound system, projector in the rear and 126" screen up front.

Throughout the build, it was mostly off-limits to the family.

When it was done (4 months) and I brought them in to watch the first movie, it was unbelievable. My wife and kids had no idea I could create something like that (and either did I).

Before this, I thought I had a home theater with a 42" Sony RPTV, and a HT in a box sound system in the living room. Boy was I wrong.

Since then I've built several other little projects (low boys, book cases, shelving, work bench, etc.) with those same tools.

As a kid, I tried all kinds of ways to make my own "theater room" I tried designs using page magnifiers to blow up the screen on a TV. I bought a used projector that ended up being dead. Needless to say, I had lots of disappointments. When I finally built a house of my own, I was able to dedicate one of the rooms to a theater. The feeling was incredible when I was able to watch my favorite movies in HD on a 100"+ screen. The icing on the cake was realizing after the opening sequence of Transformers that I had set off my house alarm from the awesomeness of my sound system.

I bought my first epson 8100.

When i flashed it on the wall it was really small image and I was disappointed. Ready to put it in the box and return it.

I was thinking projectors just weren't for me.

Then I found he zoom dial on the lens.

My eyes lit up as I blasted a 130" screen and I shouted wow.

I've been a believer eversince and will never buy a TV again.

My greatest HT moment started, unknowingly on April's Fools Day 1986. I was sick as a dog and friend of mine convinced me to go to the Audio King outlet store. After walking around for a bit and just exhausted, I paused and leaned on the nearest thing to me that about waist high. I decided to look at exactly what I was leaning and was shocked to see it was one half of a pair of Kilpsch Cornwalls. Without thinking, I yelled to the front of the store, "how much for the Cornwalls?" He answered with "$900" I obviously responded with "SOLD!" I came back the next day and took them home. Flash forward to 2008. Finally deciding it was time to take the Blu-ray plunge, I researched and researched till I was blue in the face. I ended up with a 40" Samsung 750A, a pair of Klipsch surrounds, a Pioneer BD-05FD Elite Blu-ray player, and a Yamaha RX-V663 amp. All this to hook up to the exsistig system which still includes the aforementioned Cornwalls, 2 Carver M1.0t bridged amps, Klipsch center, Cerwin-Vega D-1 rears, and 2 200-watt 12" Klipsch subs. This 2875 watt monster was complete. The choir sang. There was cake.

In 22010 I had some friends over to watch some movies and decided to properly demo the system for them. I chose the scene from I am Legend where Neville sets off his home perimeter expolsions to try and stop the Vampires from advancing. I normally play with the volume at -29, which is loud enough to vibrate whole house, but I decided to try -27. I though the ceiling was coming down! This room is in the basement and is cinder block on 2 sides and a ceiling made out of some heavy, thick plaster type material and measures 21' x 13' with almost 8' ceilings. Anyway, EVERYTHING in that room, shook like I have never felt before. When it was over, looking at my friends a bit slacked jawed, the lone woman in the group piped up and said, "that shook my clit!" We all laughed, but then and there I knew I had done good by the HT Gods. Yes, I was proud.

Thank you Klipsch for making some killer speakers. I love my Cornwalls! And to Bob Carver and Yamaha for providing the go juice.

TODAY IS THE DAY!!!

I have my Amazon.com purchase ready and I'm refreshing the shopping cart screen, waiting for my notification that I've won the contest.

Waiting....

Waiting....

Waiting...

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Who won this contest?