Funny you created this thread as I was searching for something about floor standing speakers. We just bought a new TV for our living room, and thinking about upgrading from the soundbar that we had on our older TV. Looking to get a pair of active floor standing speakers but haven't looked much into it. From what I understand, each speaker has it's own pre-amp, power, and crossover. I guess my question is, how do you connect the pair if they each have their own set of electronics, and any recommendations? We also have a record player we would like to connect. Looking to spend <$1K for the pair.

Your best bet is to buy a 2-channel receiver and a pair of passive floorstanding speakers. Connecting a turntable to active speakers will require buying a phono pre-amp, at that point a receiver with a built-in phono input is likely a better option for what you want.
Something like this: https://www.crutchfield.com/p_022RN303/Yamaha-R-N303.html would work wonderfully and you would still have $700 in your budget to spend on a solid pair of speakers.

I just worked on my Infinity Alpha 50's over the weekend. Had two tweeters cracked due to somebody pushing on them several years ago. Just got around to looking for replacements which i surprisingly found. That's the only thing i've ever had to do to my system which is almost 20 years old. I have the Alpha 1200s sub, Alpha 37c center channel, Alpha 50 towers, 4 of the Alpha 25es surround speakers with a Harman Kardon AVR520 receiver and PA2000 amp.

I was trying to get away from buying a receiver, but understand that it might be necessary if I want to have a proper setup as I don't think there is a way to connect a TV to an active speaker anyway.

I've got a 5.1 HT system in my basement, but didn't want to have to duplicate it for our living room too. We do watch movies and listen to music in the living room; I guess I'm looking for great sound but don't need thunderous bass from a subwoofer.

I would recommend using a sub for most sound purposes. You can always turn it down to remove the thunder effect but still have a nice low dynamic range.

Also check Craigslist for a high end used receiver. You will save a lot of money as audiophiles always are updating their equipment and price their previous equipment to move it out quickly to fund the next best thing

Yea!!! I love my theater.

As for the 4K question above, I purchase the 4K disk and then rip it to my server. It's then streamed to my theater with an NVIDIA Shield for playback. The server is a 49TB unRAID box running Emby as a docker container. I store all my TV shows and movies on it and can even share the content with my family.

I need another row of seating, but just haven't pulled the trigger yet. The room has a dedicated HVAC system and is built as a soundproof shell. All walls are acoustically treated. The screen wall is acoustically transparent and sits 2' from the actual wall. The speakers are hidden back there so they don't take up space or cause a distraction.

My Dad and I built the entire thing.

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The rack wasn't 100% finished at this point, but it was close.

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Here is the server that runs most of the house. It's a 32 core, 2 CPU server with 64GB of memory and a dedicated GPU for transcoding 4K content on the fly.

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I was hoping by getting tower speakers, that they would reproduce enough low end when watching movies. I mean I've got cheap polk psw10s for each of my modern games, but didn't want to get yet another, better sub for the TV too

Good idea on check CL and FB marketplace!

Now here's someone who's doing it right. Curious what you're using as a projector/system. I don't recognize the projection interface rack unit you have in there, but I'm not as well up on DCP setups as I used to be.

DCPs are the way to go, I just can't imagine having one in ones house. Someday, when I'm rich and famous (or poor and foolish) I'll get a setup like this for myself.

So I have to admit, I don't know what a DCP is....

It's a 4K (faux) Epson 5040UB. It's not native 4K, but does throw one hell of a beautiful HDR image.

Just built a new house with theater room. I was going to go projector and all that jazz, but was actually talked out of it by some guys who own projectors. I went with a 86" TV with Sonos full surround arc bar, sub, and 2 sonos ones and it is plenty for my taste. I added a row of theater seating with auto recline, cup holders with chillers, food trays, etc.. Added full food bar with fridge, microwave, popcorn machine etc.. and I am VERY happy with it. Everything is hardwired straight to data closet for super fast streaming. I went crazy on Cat6 drops all over the house. My wiring guy thought I was crazy. I did all this on a budget of somewhere around $6500. I got a crazy deal on the theater seating or it would probably be around $9000.

this looks very similar to my dads theater room. he has 4 rows with 4 seats per row of riser seating.

You COULD get a pair of active speakers and run RCA cables from the output on your TV to the active speakers but I do not see a benefit to doing this. I have a full surround setup in my theater/bar area but for my living room setup I use a vintage Marantz 2235B that I had lying around connected to a nice set of bookshelf speakers. It sounds great! While surround theaters are great, you can get a lot of enjoyment out of 2 channel setups for television and movies.

I'm thinking a set of Polk Audio Signature s55 towers and a reciever to power them. Pretty much after your suggestion, so thank you for that not sure what kind of receiver yet, thinking something Pioneer or Yamaha, since they tend to be respectable in the everyday market.

Wow, you guys have some killer stuff -

I have a Polk Audio surround, upgraded the front speakers to towers a few years ago, 1,100 watt Denon 7.1 receiver. Polk sub is on the fritz so I'm borrowing one from a game in the basement. 65" Samsung 4k, PS4 for Blu ray etc.

Hi Jared!

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Is that you I just saw on AVSforum in the LG HU810P thread?

I think I’m not of fan of dimming lamps, so the laser light engine appeals to me. Also, I have a cave with a grey screen so I’m not worried about black levels too much. I just need a projector with some punch.

Truth is, anything is probably going to amaze me as I’ll be replacing a 14 year old 720p Panasonic.

I’m getting to LG so I’ll share my thoughts in a couple weeks, hopefully.

Looks nice! I’ve often thought about upgrading my screen. I’ve just never been convinced of the benefits.

Been wanting to build mine - but too many Pins taking up the space! Thinking about downsizing just to make it happen - will be following this thread!

Thanks for the advice. I did just buy new cables, as well as a new 4K capable receiver. Here are the cables I bought: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07S1BNM7K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title

Well, I set up my new LG HU810P and of course the upgrade to 4K from my ancient 720p projector was astounding. My family was amazed. For bright content it truly is like having a 120” flat screen TV. I can’t explain how impressive Mulan looked.

Dark content is a bit disappointing on the other hand. Having a negative gain screen likely helps but the shadow detail is not nearly as impressive compared with the pop of bright content.

My son plays Fortnite and hasn’t noticed any lag with Game mode. PS4 content looks pretty incredible. (still looking for a PS5)

I’m guessing a true videophile would prefer the Epson 5050, but The clincher for me is the peace of mind knowing that my projector isn’t going to be dimmer every time I turn it on.

Here’s my ghetto fabulous setup. A lot of it is old and outdated, but it still provides a great at home experience for watching movies and doubles as a backyard theatre too. Outside I have a cheap pop up screen, and then use a PlayStation 3 and computer speakers for a portable setup. Inside I’m just using a wall that’s painted white but have thought about getting a better screen. I just finished digitizing all of my DVD’s and bluRay’s (about 400) onto a 4TB hard drive in my desktop PC. The software I use to stream this content is called Plex. There’s a one time fee to access all your content on all your devices. Through Plex can access all my home videos, music, and photos as well as tv and movies. Eventually I’d like to get a Raid NAS.

Connected to my system I have an Apple tv4k to stream content, and a PS3 for disk movies. I also have a collection of old game consoles running too.

My projector is pretty old, and I’ve had to replace the bulb once. My next projector will be 4K HDR, but it will be a while before I need to upgrade it. C2A01A32-3712-401A-BF09-8B8ACD7F8BAE (resized).jpeg
https://www.projectorcentral.com/ViewSonic-PJ552.htm

My Amp is also getting pretty old, it still works great for 1080 video, but once I switch to 4K it will need to be updated too. 3D875B86-AF2E-4AB9-9BFB-1E2270D07666 (resized).jpeg
https://www.cnet.com/products/yamaha-htr-6160/specs/

These Polk Audio speakers sound good enough for me. I have them set up in a 9.1 configuration kinda like this.2E2132AF-3A54-4027-8888-A8B354EF3D35 (resized).png
They fill the room nicely and provide way more sound then my room requires.F166FA2F-92A5-4717-90A2-1CC8378337DD (resized).jpeg
https://www.crutchfield.com/S-Bm2KKcalBFK/p_107RM101/Polk-Audio-RM101-Pewter.html

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Old school 1080P with plasma TV setup:

http://www.xsvtoys.net/HomeTheater.html

There is going to be an interior repaint this year, so this TV will have to come off the wall for that. I may replace it with a bigger 4k LED or OLED.

Here's a plasma system I installed years ago, actually it was the second wall in that location only a few months apart as the the head of Disney walked onto the brand new set and said "I don't like it get rid of it". A complete redesign of the whole set. View build (resized).JPGview-abc-er-190422_hpMain_4x3_992 (1) (resized).jpg
This week I'm building speakers from Parts Express for a "home theater" install at our local library. Cnote Speakers (resized).JPGThe leg in the upper right hand corner is attached to Swords of Fury.

This is a Supernova screen I installed in the same room The Green Mountain Boys https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Mountain_Boys used to hang out. This screen was amazing. Image on Supernova (resized).JPG

Harman Audio has their semi-regular holiday sale going on their Infinity Reference line of speakers -- most are all-time low prices (or tied for it): https://www.harmanaudio.com/infinity/

And here's a Slickdeals post with more details/discussion of the sale: https://slickdeals.net/f/14810641-infinity-reference-speakers-rc263-center-150-r162-bookshelf-pair-160-more-free-s-h

I'm finally upgrading my old Onkyo HT-R530 home-theater-in-a-box with new Infinity R253 towers ($169/pc on sale) and an RC252 center ($99) -- the RC263 center is only $50 more and is supposed to be truly awesome for the price, but it's too damned big to fit in my console. Of course these are relatively "basic" speakers by the standards of some of the setups in this thread, but from what I've read it's hard to beat Infinity Reference if you're in the < $1,000/pair speaker market.

I’m in the process of building a home theater as well 29x19x11’6”

I’m calling it The Over-Budget Bunker.

My second theater, this one’s serious.

Nice to see a theater thread on the forum.
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VERY impressive design work there. What are you running for projector specs?

Anybody have film setups in their home theater? I'm a big fan of seeing 16mm prints and used to have really unique access to a huge library of rare art prints and what not when I was in college. I used to rent out one of their theater spaces, rent like 5-6 prints and a nice projector and just bring a 30 rack and split it with 5-6 friends. We'd all take turns projecting a print and being in the audience and what not. Super fun. I miss those spaces and places.

Here’s mine. Its definitely a hybrid and maybe the only of its kind.

Everyone told us an open concept theater/bar/arcade/ entertaining room wouldn’t work. But guess what? It’s flipping perfect!

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Epson 6050UB
135" silver ticket screen
5.1.2 Klipsch RP series with atmos
15" SPL-150 sub

Glad it works for you! I wouldn't be able to live without the light separation of those spaces/rear surrounds being so far out of alignment. Those Epson projectors are nice though. How do you deal with the blacks not existing from your projection when you have other light sources in the same room?

I'm a big fan of projection over screen, but the space has to facilitate it.

Well, for movie night, its easy. Turn the lights off and and the picture quality blows you away. No different than a theater room really, with the dark ceiling in there. The side surrounds really aren't out of alignment. They are both at ear level, the one side is about 16" further from center than the other. This is easily adjusted with the Dennon Audyssey calibration. The fronts have atmos up firing, in place of rear surrounds. I was actually advised to go with (2) 15" subs due to the room size. I started with one and holy cow. It feels like you're in the club if you want it to, not sure on ear how anyone could justify 2.

For partys, sports, etc. -where lots of people/ stuff is going on in the room. We turn the wafer lights off on that zone and bump the projector brightness up to medium. These new projectors have come a long way from what people are used to seeing at Buffalo Wild Wings. Yes for parties, the blacks are washed out a bit. But the sheer picture size makes up for it. I actually originally considered an 85"LED Tv. Glad a went this way in the end. Way more wow.

Besides, there's a 55 LG OLED in the bar for those with discriminating tastes. LOL

Id really like to get started with an unraid build but I am having an issue on where to start. Right now I have 2 machines - one for DLs and one for running plex. Nothing fancy about these Windows 10 boxes. I have a 4 bay Synology running raid. I have had this set up a long time and would like to build from new.

Anyone have links to good guides to get started?

I’m a huge home theater fan! I actually co-own a website dedicated to home theater and AV (AVNirvana.com). Of course, you guys are welcome to hang there... would be awesome to have you show off your systems in our AV Showcase section.

I currently run a 7.4.8 system... 105” 2.35: 1 screen, JVC RS2000 4K PJ, StormAudio ISP MK2 processor, and all kinds of goodies.

For you guys looking to run 4K HDR on a projector, I suggest the Panasonic 820 or 9000 4KBD player. It’s onboard tone mapping is a must for PJs.

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VERY nice. I've been wanting to check out one of those OLED screens at some point.

I guess the photo just makes the right surround look 10 feet farther away than the left.

Thanks, ya the photo makes it look worse than it is!

You should check out the LG OLEDs. I was skeptical, but it blows away our samsung LED. Blacks are absolute black, it's really impressive!

You need a build thread.

Thank you.

Projector setup will be as follows:
JVC DLA-RS4500 with a Lumagen Pro and a Panamorph lens. Screen will be 150” wide 2:40;1 aspect ratio.

I will have a projector/component room behind my theater with a projector window in the back wall in the back wall.

Theater framing starts in 2 weeks.

When I built the theater room back around 2011, I tried to get the best bang for the buck. Honestly, I couldn't be happier even 10 years later.

The fancy screen? I read an article when a couple of AV guys tried to duplicate the performance of a fairly expensive screen with simple paint. After many iterations, they found a particular a Sherwin Williams white trim paint was spot on. So my screen is literally the wall w/white trim paint. Trim boards usually have a lot of edges, rounded attributes, etc., so trim paint settles longer than regular paint, providing a smoother finish - perfect for a screen. The border is pine 1x4's wrapped in velveteen. Granted, the screen won't have any gain, so I made sure the projector could throw a fair amount of light. Plus we usually only watch at night, so not an issue. The most expensive part of the screen? The stupid velveteen wrapped around the 1x4's at $75! Paint was maybe $40 total for two cans. I also added some Floetrol paint addictive, which makes the paint take even longer to settle out. Link to the article: https://www.projectorcentral.com/paint_perfect_screen_$100.htm

The projector: I bought a refurbished 8350 directly from Epson. 1080p, 50K contrast and 2K lumens brightness. Exceptional performance at the time, good price and 1 year warranty. Still chugging along to this day. Eventually it will be replaced w/a 4K projector since they are getting cheaper. But even at 1080p, and with a decent source material like a Blu-ray...still incredibly impressive. The HDMI cable run between the Rx and projector is version 1.2 (latest at the time), so that might be an issue whenever I switch to 4K.

The receiver: Continuing the 'reduced cost' theme, I bought a new but discontinued Yamaha RX-V671 at 1/2 off the price. Lot's of power, 7.1, and a bunch of DSP crap I'll never use. The center channel developed an issue not long ago, so it has been recently upgraded with a newer model that supports 4K. All the streamers and the receiver are stashed in the bar, out of sight.

7.1 Speakers: Hard to beat Monoprice for exceptional quality at very reasonable prices. I'm not an audiophile, and my ears gave up anything above ~15KHz decades ago. Four 12" active subs, provide enough bass to rattle everything in the basement. I think the in-wall speaker (2 way, 8" woofer, soft dome tweeter) were only around $50-60 a pair (I have front, side, rear). The active subs were ~$80 each w/shipping when on sale. Originally started w/2 subs. But if 2 were good, 4 must be better, right? I also use 8" Monoprice subs on the pins.

Interesting side note: Of course this was set up to watch movies - but surprisingly, watching a concert or music videos is what I do most often.

Notice the bike in the picture? Wife rides that in the winter time indoors. By using a gizmo attached to the tire, an app, and a Bluetooth link - she rides as a 'person' on the big screen, along w/other people via their app at the same time. Kind of neat.

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