CONTEST: Tell us your Greatest Home Theater Moment Ever - Page 3

I have a new, greatest home theater moment each and every time someone new to my theater says "Oh my God" during a demo or a movie.

The best memory I had was when I was working at Tweeter in Boston, MA and a couple of Canadian tourists came in to poke around. We started chatting small talk and they wondered what the big deal was with surround sound as they've never experienced it before. At the time, The Phantom Menace was released on laserdisc (before the DVD) and we happened to have a LD player hooked up to I believe was a Denon AVR5800 with Mirage tower speakers, dual subs and a good old Pioneer Elite rear projection TV. I've always, been a Star Wars geek and loved showing off what I thought was one of the best movie audio demos in quite a while. They calmly sat down and I fired up the pod race scene and they were overwhelmed and physically reacting to the pod racers zooming seemingly overhead. They were literally dodging them and falling out of their seats. Mean while I had tears in my eyes as I've never seen someone react or was impacted by a movie experience like that up until then (maybe besides the Jurassic Park T-Rex scene). That was a good time and a great job in my life. RIP Tweeter

We were having outdoor birthday party for my daughter this past March. We rented a giant screen and projector for an outdoor movie themed party. About 45 min. before the movie was to play, a giant thunderstorm with lots of lighting and hail came up and canned the idea outdoor party. But everyone came into my theater, and we played the movie in there, while the kids laid in the floor. A great time was had by all, including my daughter. That is how a dad can feel 10 feet tall!

Ever since I was in college, I wanted my own Home Theater System. I visited forums like AVS and saw the cool pics of other people's setups. As soon as I graduated and got an awesome job at Circuit City selling TVs (4 years of college hard at work!), I went straight to Good Guys and bought me a 52" JVC Rear-Projection TV - hey I'm loyal, but Circuit City didn't carry the TV I wanted! Next I picked up a Pioneer DV383 DVD-player off Ebay capable of playing any region coded DVD. A little later I talked my manager into letting me walk away with an open box Onkyo TX-SR502 receiver for $90, and an open box TV stand for $40. Awhile after that Good guys ran a closeout on Energy Speakers and I walked out with a pair of C3's for $250. My Home Theater was coming together! The C3's sounded beautiful, but I couldn't stop now! Ordered a Energy XL-C100 center channel from Amazon for $100 and grabbed a pair of JBL E-10's for $80. Wow, this all sounded great but I was still missing a key component - the subwoofer! Was saving my money and then Vann's had a 50% off sale on Mirage Omni S8 woofer! Finally, my system was complete! A grin from ear to ear as speeder bikes raced through the forest, 10 second cars revved their engines, and Marv narrating The Hard Goodbye. All this wasn't the best equipment around, but it sounded like heaven to me.

The first time that my wife and I watched a movie on the Home Theater setup - isn't much but a 5.1 setup, but such an amazing difference from just the TV for movies. We watched the movie "Constantine" and about 3/4 the way through the movie there's quite a flurry of demons and nasties chasing around Keanu Reeves' character - the sound was quite deafening in our TV room and we were fully captured in 'the moment' with all the action and sound. After a few minutes, the 'real world' didn't exist - just the movie... then the action stopped COLD in the movie - the screen went white and the sound was gone.

The vibration from the subwoofer wreaked havoc on a clock we had hanging on the wall which has a hinged window on the clock by the pendulum. The hinge needs some grease, but when the movie went silent and we could just see only ourselves and the room we sat in - a big flash back to 'the real world' - and suddenly with all the vibration gone - the hinged door SQUEAKED open and we saw it move without anyone touching it. My wife instantly jumped and screamed, as if some demon jumped from the TV screen and reached out to our living room to open the hinge - and it was such an EERIE squeak - it freaked us both out in the moment...

We haven't watched that movie ever since :-)



Another fun moment that my friends can attest to is watching the movie "Signs". We were at a friends house watching his spectacular home theater with a great 7.1 sound setup and 120" projection screen. During the scene where the aliens were on the roof of the house, I literally 'looked up' as if the aliens were on HIS ROOF! I was instantly busted and we had a great laugh about it... still blows my mind on how well the sound was placed in his theater

"My greatest home theater experience"

...Approximately 12yrs ago (~Y2K) I'll never forget the first time I viewed porn-pictures on a friend's huge [for the time] 36" CRT. ...Instead of itty-bitty-titties, they were MEGA-UBER-BOOBERS! And it was awesome!
Edited by Acid Snow - 8/22/12 at 8:28am

After NEVER being happy with any number of different speakers I tried in my home theater, I was finally released from the torture and pain when I fired up my GoldenEar Triton 2s for the first time. Crisp, powerful, clean, detailed, YES! Happy after many years of disappointment.

my greatest experience was when my wife and kids look around the room when a subtle sound effect comes through the surround speakers. it really makes me feel like all the hard work i put in wiring up the system, speakers, etc. is all worth it!

Easy peasy. When my Infocus 4805 came apart, I convinced the wife it was time to go HD. It was December, so I was able to purchase my 1080p replacement as an Xmas present. Our first HD viewing was Xmas night. Blade Runner. I had to stop the film after the first couple minutes so we could talk about what we had just seen, even though the only words we could say were 'Wow!'

awesome stories.. mine was a few years ago, got my PJ , surround ,etc setup and turned on my buttkicker for some friends we had over, put in avatar, i go into the kitchen 20 minutes into the move and my kid comes running, baba baba your theater is on fire!! my wife came into the room as i put out the flame coming out of the amp. she had this look like WTH.. i assure her its all part of the sensory experience. lol

Well in my mind it was the greatest in my wife's not so much so.....

When we got married 4 years ago my best man told me that his gift to me was in the mail.

We had just moved into a new house from an apartment and so I was itching to make the basement into a mancave.

I insisted that the main and top floors were her's to decorate however she wanted so long as I had total control of the basement.

So one day my best man says to me "here's a tracking number....watch for it you might want to be home when it arrives."

So sure enough on the day that it arrives I take the day off of work to wait for it..

A giant long tall yet slim box arrives at my door. I sign for it and procede to tear it open like a kid on Christmas.

Inside was a stewart greyhawk g3 fixed 106" screen! And so began my journey into home theatre enthusiasm.

But the happiest moment was mounting it on the wall, which was quite the feat as for some reason it did not come with mounting brackets..... luckily the manual included the size of bolts needed so I bought bolts and L brackets and drywall screws.

The funniest part was I sat on the couch staring at the screen proud of the work I had done yet I did not own a projector, surround sound amp..... at that point I had a mid level audiophile 2.1 set up. But that is another story.....

Best gift ever!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm still trying to figure out what to do if he gets married.

Last year my boss was looking to get his very first HDTV. I invited him to come check out my 65 inch Panasonic plasma to see if he would prefer the plasma look or the LCD look. I showed him some programs through my Directv receiver. He said he liked the picture and was about to get up and leave. But I told him to wait and let me demonstrate what a blu ray would look like. Little did he know that I had a SVS PB Ultra 13 subwoofer. I played the beginning attack scene from Valkerie...

Let me just say that I thought I was going to be fired. His body jolted into a karate kid crane position as the first guns were fired and I couldn't help but laugh. (I was standing behind him.) My roommate was in the room as well and he started laughing also. About 10 seconds into the scene my boss said that was enough and that he almost had a heart attack and that he was very impressed. As he straightened up his hair that was knocked out of place, he kindly murmered, "Now I know why my son likes to hang out here." He walked out of my house and luckily I still have my job. But even if he did fire me, I think it would have been worth it.

Would have to be back in 2009 when I finally got my hands on a "quality A/V receiver"! I spent 4.5 hours hooking up and testing/tweaking my Audio to truly appreciate the whole "HOME THEATER" experience. My wife thought I was losing it. Now she brags to all her friends who come over to watch a Movie!

~ Big Marcus

My experience doesn't involve any super expensive equipment or dedicated theater room or anything along those lines, but for me it was the first moment I knew I had been bitten by the A/V bug and I've never been the same since.

I bought my first HDTV back around 2007. It was a 46" Samsung LNT-4665F. I'll never forget the day that I got home, plugged in it, adjusted my pictures settings (using the always helpful AVS Forum *Official* thread for my TV), plugged in my Blu-Ray player and popped in the Planet Earth Blu-Ray. I was blown away. I had never seen anything so beautiful coming from a TV before. And it was MINE. My roommates and I and our girlfriends all sat back and looked at the screen in awe all the way through the first disc.

From that day forward I've been hooked. The moment was also significant because it led me to AVS forum. While I was researching the best TV to buy in my price range I came across this website called the AVS Forum. When I first arrived I did not expect to encounter the depth of knowledge and the close community that is present here at AVS. And I've been coming back ever since...

Best moment ever was when the system (motorized screen, projector, speakers, etc) was professionally installed in my apartment and I finally got the remote (MX-3000) properly configured (by myself! Fun stuff). We put in the "Neon Genesis Evangelion 1.11 - You are (not) alone" blu-ray and pushed the "View PS3 on Projector" button and the screen started sliding down, the receiver turned on and tuned in and we kicked back with beer & snacks, enjoying good anime on a 100" screen with matching sound while not being disturbed by unsightly cables or temporary set ups.

In one word, it was awesome! (and the first movie is by far still the best, waiting for 3.33 now )

The home theater was always meant to be a multi-use space. 1/2 for movies and 1/2 for entertaining. I never thought about the impact it would have on me and my friends until the Green Bay Packers went to the Superbowl in 2011. All of my friends came over and we enjoyed drinks, food and an amazing Packers win. The theater offered an unprecedented view for everyone. Was able to tweak my 7.1 in advance of the game so everyone was treated to an encompassing soundscape. This year I am hoping for a repeat so I can show off the new additions to the theater, namely the improved imaging.

My oldest son came home from college last summer and went with friends to see Iron Man II at the theater. When he got back home that night I asked how the movie was since I was not going to the theater to see this but was going to wait for the Blu-ray.

He shook his head in that disappointed way and said,
"I should have waited until you got the movie and watched it here at home."

His overall review - The image quality and, more than that, the sound quality in the theater was a let down.

OH YEAH! The home theater is a winner and I learned everything from AVSForum.com!

Thanks AVSForum!

My greatest home theater moment was....

...in 1990 when I was able to watch all the original Star Wars movies on VHS with my Hi-Fi VCR and Dolby Pro-Logic receiver . . . . NO, WAIT!!!....

...it was actually in 1994 when I purchased all the original Star Wars movies on Laser Disc (CAV format, of course) and played them on my Pioneer player with Yamaha Dolby Digital receiver . . . NO, WAIT!!!....

...it was actually 2004 when I purchased all the mostly kind-of original Star Wars movies on DVD and played them on my Sony DVD player and Lexicon processor . . . NO, WAIT!!!....

...it was actually 2011 when I purchased what seemed to be something like the original Star Wars movies on BluRay and played them on my Oppo player and Anthem processor . . . . NO, WAIT!!!....

...it was actually 2012 when I heard that Lucasfilm is in discussions to release what would seam to be Star Wars movies in a secure 4K format.... NO, WAIT!!! . . . .

I guess my greatest home theater moment will be when I can stop lining George Lucas' pockets by buying the original Star Wars movies again and again with every new format change... I guess there is a slim chance that I will ever get to experience that greatest moment and even get the true original movies!! I hope EVERYONE on this forum feels the same!!!

I don't quite have that penultimate moment but the greatest memory in my HT quest came back in early 1998. My wife and I were just starting out, renting a nice large old house. I bought a DVD player and the 5.1 speaker system to go with it and was watching it in a living room on a 26" TV. Then one weekend I borrowed a projector from work, moved the whole audio setup into a sizable room for great surround and watched a movie projected onto a 6' white board. While the image quality is nothing compared to what I have today, the sound and experience was such that was the day I knew I would never buy a house without a basement for a HT and I would definitely have a projector.

My greatest home theater moment was watching ALIEN for the first time on bluray through my newly purchased EPSON PowerLite 8350. What a thrill from then on I watch all my movies on the 8350.

...when i came to the realization that the red Sharpie my 3-yr-old daughter was using to scribble on my newly installed projection screen still had the cap on....

Watching the helicopter chase scene in A-Team on the 82" and the vibrations from the base was causing drinks to slide of the table... = surprise, realization and then pride LOL, love the 18" sub from Chase (plug for great service) love the way it fill the room!

When I finally got to upgrade from the 13" CRT that I used from high school through college to a 57" rear projection with prewired surround in the new house.

When I was in college, I had a cheap HTiB. The surrounds were in ceiling speakers that weren't in a very good position. I never really noticed any sound coming out of them unless I turned the volume up really loud. One day I looking though the disc menu of Master and Commander on DVD. I noticed an option to use DTS audio, after a warning from the disc that DTS could damage your audio equipment, I cautiously said yes. For the first time I heard the movie the way it was meant to be heard. The ship creaking, the cannon blasts, everything was so clear. I realized I just needed to watch better source material. My cheap components weren't great, but they did work.

5 years later I have my own dedicated theater room with a front projection 2.35:1 120" screen and 7.1 surround sound.

My favorite HT experience was moving all my gear outside for an outdoor movie. However, once we got the screen and speakers all set up, the rain came in. We had to move it all into the garage (which was a large space) and pretended we were outdoors. Great sound for a garage and the screen was made by stretching sheets across scaffolding. Great time.

My favorite moment was when I finished tweaking my three subwoofers. My theater is in the basement so I ran upstairs and said to my wife, "Honey, you have to come down here to feel the bass. It is amazing." She replied "I know. I felt it up here." It was at that point that I realized that the entire floor was shaking upstairs.

With so many great entertainment moments it's difficult to choose, but...Having gotten my 50' plasma mounted and having completed my speaker array with Klipsch KSP300's for L&R mains (w/ 12" side-firing powered subs), matching Klipsch center & surrounds and my trusty Yamaha RX-V2700 at the ready, I gathered a bunch of friends for a demo. I selected my favorite demo scene: the raucous, crazy, violent and hilarious opening scene of Lethal Weapon 4. The sensory onslaught exceeded my wildest expectations: the house shook, cupboard contents rattled and we were pushed back into our chairs with huge grins on our faces (possible exception: my wife, who feared something might be damaged--AVS readers can relate). When the chaos had passed I turned it down for reactions. Mostly stunned silence with those grins still in place, a couple of "Whoa, Dude"-type exclamations and a feeling of general satisfaction.

An obvious correction: the plasma display is 50 inches, not 50 feet! (I wish, but what room and what wife would put up with THAT?)

Back in 2008 my wife and I had just purchased out first home theater system. Up until that point we only watched movies with the audio coming thru our 46" HDTV. We went out and purchased a Sony blu-ray player, 7.1 Sony receiver and a Polk Audio speaker system. Took about 6 hours to get all the wiring and speakers set up. First movie I put in was Pixar Cars, (if anybody on here remembers the old memorex commercials where the guy pops in the tape and is blown back by the wind coming out of the speakers, "is it live or is it memorex") I was blown away with the sound compared to what we had been listening to. I guess you can say I was hit by the AV bug. Since then I've upgraded and have never looked back.

Plugging it in. Powering it up. And watching the magic happen.