My Ridiculously Inexpensive Dedicated KICK*** Home Theater!

I'm interested in this thread and topic in particular. Good luck!

$3000!! Man Mine is going to kick**** and chew bubble gum for even less than that! Ok who knows maybe not, but I'm gonna give it a hellofa shot!

$3000 is doable for a kick-a ht. I would know.

Victor

Docprego, your post just beat me to it - I too, have a 10' x 12' room and plan on seeing what I can do on a tighter-than-a-bull's-arse-in-fly-season budget.

I have a Sammy 42" plasma and the rest of the requisite equipment, plus 2 Lazyboy recliners. Other than that, the room is an open palatte. Currently, the plasma and equipment reside in a corner TV cabinet I built a few years ago.

Due to the small size of the room and the fact I now have tower speakers for the front array, I have to replace that corner unit and figured I would build a fireplace surround. This non-functioning fireplace will be constructed out of 3/4" plywood, veneered with bird's eye maple and wenge. The plasma will sit on the mantle, the centre channel will sit behind a cloth "grill" on a shelf tucked under the mantle and the opening in the fireplace will house the equipment on 2 shelves (DVD player, HDMI 2-1 switching box, STB, A/V receiver and older VCR).

A glass spark arrester mounted in front of the opening will allow me to operate the equipment, unless I'm inserting a DVD in the player.

I have enough of the bird's eye maple to also veneer the speakers (2 towers, 2 bookshelfs and centre channel) so that everything matches.

DVD storage MAY be accomplished by hiding them in the front columns on either side of the opening - not 100% sure about that, yet.

The main reason for this design is the fact that I have a plaster and lathe wall and cannot mount the plasma on it, without causing me endless sleepless nights. worrying about the sturdiness of the install.

The house is well over 100 years old and has these massive 10 inch baseboards. I might install ropelighting in a channel to run the length, giving a muted lighting effect when the rest of the lights are turned off for viewing.

I confess I'm more than a litle nervous about how all this will turn out, but your post has given me a short shot in the arm, in that I now know there is someone else who is also willing to tackle a project like this one.

Once again, thanks for the added incentive! Best of luck to us both in our separate endeavours, eh?

Take care.

Alright, all you arse-kickers. You are talking a big game. Let's see some pictures

ok mbgonzomd, I can start off the pic-fest, but it'll have to be a snap of that TV cabinet I mentioned that I built - the corner unit that will now be replaced with the non-functioning fireplace.

The TV is a JVC 32" CRT that was sold to help make way for the Sammy.

Gentlemen, start your draughting pencils! Let the games (room) begin!

Lol.
Frost, that is nice work. I expect big things from the fireplace surround.

Doc, you better let those bad boys breath a little (and take a few pics). Otherwise, they are about as good as a one legged man in an arse-kicking contest.

mbgonzomd, that compliment re: the TV cabinet is very much appreciated, but I can't take the credit for its' design. My deceased father drew up the plans and I just executed it. It was the last bit of draughting he did before he fell ill and I worked like a banshee to get it built and finished before he passed on, so he could see it to it's completion.


Geez Docprego, you're already ahead of the game with those Advents - my new speakers are also still clad in cardboard for the time being - figured there wasn't much point in hooking them up if I was going to be veneering their stained-black ash enclosures with that bird's eye maple.

Regardless, I know those Advents would bring my Studio Acoustics to their knees in defeat - couldn't beat the price, though. They listed for 799.00 for the twin towers, bookshelfs and centre channel - and I ended up only paying 298.00. The 5 bills saved from them will go towards an OPPO 971D and to partially cover a professional calibration.

But enough of my yakkin'! There's forums to be flipped through and threads to be read!

I only have a scant 6 weeks to get this all done before the Calibrator comes knocking on my door and Wifey just threw in the need for a complete repaint of the walls.ceiling and those damn 10" baseboards.

As if I didn't have enough pressure,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

thats easy - for a sub pick up an Athena AS-P4000. Look around and you can find for less than 2 bills. Receiver, try out the Panasonic Xr-55. I have one which I am using temporarily in place of my Yamaha RXV-2500, and let me tell you, the Panny can hold its own. You can prob get that for less than 2 bills too.

Not willing to pay the Piper, eh??

Sorry, couldn't resist... that movie still has one of the best fight scenes ever!

Wow Doc - $219 for all those Advents? Your 7.1 will fill that room and have the sound bursting at the seams. I was thinking of using the speaker array that came with the Sammy (they're located along the bottom of the plasma) as an adjunct to the centre channel. Would this be one of those BAD IDEAS that is best left unexplored?

I'm retaining the JVC subwoofer that came with the A/V receiver - at least for now. A quick run through with my abacus tells me I need to find around 2 bills for all the material needed for that fireplace.

And I already have the veneer!!

hmm... buy used? Could look at the Onkyo 503 refurb too. I've never heard the Athena, but I have heard great things about it. Although, I don't really know if I believe the specs that it reaches 23 Hz. What are you saving the money for, the projector? Are you making your own screen?

I'm thinking of doing a similar thing in a spare bedroom. Room is slightly larger. I have most of the equipment and chairs, although I would like to update a few items. I may even run the wires in the attic above, if it is accessible.

Doc, you have ridiculously-inexpensive-dedicated-kick-a$$-home-theater builders coming out of the woodwork. You apparently have inspired a nation of big dreamers with tight budgets. I think you could turn this into a celebrity death match. That way we can see who's ridiculously inexpensive theater truly kicks the most a$$!

I found it! Sweet!

Are those the seats your getting for $629 ? Where from, please?

Doc. Good luck with your project. I too am one of those whom are planning a smaller HT in a 11 x 13 bedroom. I am having a home built and the dedicated room will be located on the second floor. Although I won the compromise with the wife over having my kick %#$ ridiculously Inexpensive Dedicated HT (gotta luv it!), her restrictions to me were to not change any wall / closet space and work with the room as is. My plans include:
1) Using current A/V equipment.
2) Upgrade to an HD widescreen monitor 52". With the limitations of keeping the closet space as is I dont think I'll be able to go with the projector.
3) Look for bargins on classic theater seating. Place two rows on a riser.

I'll be checking on your progress and look forward to see how it goes.

My understanding is that the best subs under or around $150, if you can't swing the athena, are the dayton audio ones; they seem to come up pretty often in the HTIB killers and similar threads over in the audio section.

Good thread -- and good luck!