Building a "Reference" Home Theater

An anonymous reader writes "FiringSquad has recently written a 14-page article on building a 'reference' home theater. They go through step-by-step and define all of the issues you need to think about when going with a new home theater setup. Exceptionally detailed but also easy to read."

Comments

Re:As a previous theatre buff...

[blhack]

There are a LOT of expensive and probably useless room treatments. For me, the ultimate sound didn't come from watts or speaker power-handling but in properly sound-proofing the room against external noise. The lower the noise floor, the clearer the sound. This is key to having a good movie experience, I'd say, because you don't need it loud to be dynamic. yes, yes, yes, yes, yeS!!

Sound-proofing a room is, IMHO, the MOST important thing that you can do for a home theater (or stereo room, if you're an audiophile). Not ONLY because it makes the experience better for you while you're watching the movie, but because it gives you the ability to listen at whatever sound level you want, whenever you want, without worrying about waking the kids.

We bought a house with a theater that the previous owner put some serious work into. One major area of focus was the soundproofing of the room. This has been invaluable. When everyone is asleep and I'm in the middle of an all-nigh code-session and want a break, I can thrown in a movie and actually LISTEN to it without having to worry about waking the 2 year old.

Re:$60

[iluvcapra]

To my great shock and amazement it decodes 4 channels from current DVDs just fine.

You have to hand it to those Dolby guys, they really figured out a good system with Dolby Stereo. We still do Dolby SR/Stereo printmasters the same day we do the 5.1 printmasters, with the same mixers, and generally with the director present; it's just as authoritative artistically as the 5.1, and it's still just about the most compatible format there is for a wide class of room types and playback systems. It lacks a little awesomeness in a large room, but for any 800sq/ft or smaller room, or any overly long or broad room, I think it's the best compromise you can have. Split surrounds are a waste unless your head is at least 5-10 away from the closest one, IMHO.