High fidelity home theater?

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Quantum Quack

Quantum Quack

Life's a tease...
Valued Senior Member
My first post to this forum.
I am not sure this is the right place to post these questions but if not someone can suggest a better place maybe.
I have a friend who wants to purchase a home theater system. He has a fairly generous budget. In US dollars he wants to spend no more than about $6000.

The question is how does one determine value for money?
Is it best to keep to a system package or move towards a hybrid system of various brand composition?

My friend and I have very little tech. knowledge about the current Home theater systems. Not knowing what to look for etc..
He wants to put it in a large 6 sided room with a cathedral ceiling.

Any thoughts would be welcome....thanks ;)
 
Actually SG, this is part of the question.

He wants a screen projector with surround sound type system,
A Bose system with Yamaha Amplifier would set him back about $5000 USD.

It's just that he has no idea what value for money is in this field.

Questions like:
How is a surround system rated?

The early stereo systems had certain criterea, such as RMS and signal to noise ratios etc ....which were fairly easy to determine quality. Now, however it seems to be a lot harder.

All he wants really is a system that "moves" him.

Like most older people he is facinated with the sub wooffer type sounds [ he is 56 years old]

A good startng question would be about the amplifier.

What would be a good amplifier? What brand and why?
 
Dear Quantum;

Visit www.audiogon.com

That tells you all about hi end equipment.

My personal recommendation for amps are: YBA of France and Mark Levinson of the States. Type "YBA" in the search engine, you will see $6000 is not enough for an entire sytem.

Vienna Accoustics makes very good speakers.

Also, you have to consider how you wire speakers, dvd/cd player and amp(s): Interconnects and speaker cables are as crucial as amp/speakers/player.

My 2 channel set up costs me $5000 in USD and I am still not satisfied of its sound quality.

I hope this helps.
kind regards,

Teguy
 
Go to a good home theater store and learn the stuff. Also buy a home theater magazine which shows the latest stuff. Ask for a good 3 chip DLP projection system for starters. Then you can think about amps. Ask for multiple subwoofers fed by dedicated musician grade amps. There are so many variations that it is hard to recommend a single system. A good system will cost $25,000, so you have to compromise.

Sim2 C3X HD projector $16,000
 
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Thanks people, fabulous advice.

I tend to think that he shouldn't bother too much about High fidelity and just go for something that "he" thinks does the job. High fidelity can be a real enthuisiasts dream field.....virtually no limit to the bucks you can spend.

As you have stated there are many variations out there and I wonder if he has the interest to do the leg work or whether at his budget whether iti i actually necessary.
I know for instance that a good JVC home theater system cost about $1100 USD not including the TV. Add in a projector and screen for about $2700 USD and he should be pretty well set up for under a total of about $4000 USD But I wonder if the output is big enough. [The space he need to fill is quite large.]

I dunno, I am probably asking my questions in a way that renders them impossible to be answered.

The idea of at least 2 subwoodfers sound good though. A sort of surround [stereo] sound subwoofer system....hmmmm.....

KMGuru, Does having multiple subwoofers add to the effect that much?

For example could the use of 2 subwooffers prove to have a significant benefit rather than one?

It seems logical to me that multiple subwoofers would make a significant impression.

Or
If he spends around $6000 USD and includes in this 2 subwoofers would that give him the oomff!! that he is looking for?
 
The most critical aspect here is the shape of the room and the high (domed?) ceiling. A six sided room will create an incredible array of reflections and flutter echoes and the ceiling, if it is domed will create a huge 'live room' effect, which will sound great if you want to sing opera in it but will be shit for the surround sound. I think the room is totally wrong imho. Trying to treat a room like this by placing bass traps, absorbers and defusers could cost tens of thousands.
 
Yes, more speakers, the better the sound. That is why Bose used multiple speakers in the past. The reason is, speaker travel path is not linear with respect to the signal due to the changes in stiffness encountered by the coil over the travelling distance. Anyway, I have a 6-speaker Sony system that you buy at Sams Club for my Bedroom. It did not quite do the job especially when I comeback from my 70 inch living room system. So I added a second Cerwin-vega 200 watt powered subwoofer that I had from another apartment system. That did the job.

We have a 650 square feet detached barn/storage area we are thinking to convert to a home theater. If I go by my 450 Watt subwoofer living room system, I will need 4 of those to barely cover the area. Either that or buy 3 or 4 QSC RMX2450 Power Amplifier 1200 Watts and mate with multiple 12 inch drivers.

I think your friend will be satified with adding multiple powered subwoofers with a decent but inexpensive audio system. Spend the money on the video monitor part and get the best one he can afford. Besides, as soon as he buys the stuff, he has to upgrade to a High Definition DVD player.
 
My understanding is that hexagonal shape approximates a circular theater which is ideal....then why this is wrong shape?

Iowa State University Circular Auditorium

tP000352.jpeg
 
I had 4 Electro Voice, http://www.electrovoice.com/, 3 way theater speakers that could handle 300 watts RMS each. I then had a 16 MM movie projector,http://www.8mm16mmfilmscollectibles.com/16mm_Projectors.htm, that I would use to show the films that I bought back in the 1960's. I placed the projector on the ground but located the speakers up in the loft in the 4 corners pointing down. I used 2 macintosh amps,http://overtureav.com/landing/mcintosh.html , at 250 watts RMS each to power the speakers. For that time it was better than going to a regular theater. I got most of the stuff used from bands that went defunct. I used this system for my records also, sounded great.
 
cosmictraveler said:
I got most of the stuff used from bands that went defunct.
Click to expand...

That is the best way to do it. You can find used mixers and amps in a music store. Before I was involved with a band as their marketing, and sound engineer - I did not know you can buy those goodies when I was going to school. I have the bands music recorded digitally in 1988, so one of these days, I am going to put it on the net. It was recorded in a propritory 3-dimension format. It is new age music. Sounds great even today.
 
kmguru said:
My understanding is that hexagonal shape approximates a circular theater which is ideal....then why this is wrong shape?

Iowa State University Circular Auditorium

tP000352.jpeg
Click to expand...

Why is a circular theate ideal? Have you ever been to a concert in the Royal Albert Hall? it's like being in the Grand Canyon.

The point of amphitheatres or circular theatres with tiered seating is that even the smallest sound from the stage will reach any point in the theatre. The room becomes super live and is ideal for unamplified instruments and voices.

In a home theatre, you want the sounds to be defined, both in clarity and placement and in a hexagonal room the multiple reflections of sounds bouncing off each wall and back and forth from all the other walls will create a muddy and echoey cacophony. Have you ever been to a control room in a recording studio? They are never circular.

The ideal listening room should be almost twice as long as it is wide with a ceiling almost as high as the width. You will still get reflections and bass boom, but you control those with bass traps, absorbers, and diffusers, ideally made out of rockwool. The goal is to have the room sounding as flat and neutral as possible, not to sound like a bathroom.
 
What makes my friends room even worse is that 4 sides are glass. Interestingly though when my daughter had her 21st birthday they had a DJ set up in it and the sound wasn't all that bad unless you stood in the center of the room where the sound volume seemed to jump incredibly. Sound coming down from the Hex cathederal ceiling combined with sound coming in from the walls.
Quite an interesting effect. [ as you physically step in and out of the "hot" zone.]

Maybe he should just simply use head phones and save himself all the bother...ha.

I have suggested that he dampen the room down by using soft curtains on all the floor to ceiling glass [4 sides] but they used flat blinds instead.

A hexagonal room is not good....I agree totally.

I guess there will be a point in the amplification where by the sound will just simply distort so bad that he will have to keep his amps down just to make sense of what he is hearing. Thus it is no point spending big bucks on a big output.
 
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The ideal environment to listen to music is actually in the open air, no walls, ceilings or anything to reflect those high fidelity sounds or collect the bass frequencies.
 
Since the audio systems these days come with DSP to match whatever sound you want to create, it is always advisable to put sound absorbers on the walls and ceiling. Besides, who knows what the recording artist had in mind for the listeners in the mixing of the sound. So, cover it with Dynamat or similar stuff. There are curtains you can buy with rubber backing that will absorb most sounds. After all these, use a frequency generator and sound analyzer to fine tune the room.
 
I used old egg containers and put them all over the walls. It helped and it was free!
 
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