Creating a Home Theater System

!±8± Creating a Home Theater System

If you are interested in a home theater system, chances are you love audio and visual technology and cannot wait to get your hands on the latest equipment. However, creating your own home theater system can be a bit daunting - there seems to be so much to know. What kind of system is best? Are there things you absolutely need? What about costs?

Most people interested in a home theatre system have experienced first hand how great the movies can be - with surround sound and a big screen - but are thinking that they would like to have that experience again and again, without having to drive to the movie theater every time! This is where crafting your own home theatre system experience comes in. In fact, once you get everything set up in your home, you can save money by simply waiting for the movies to come out on DVD and watch them in the comfort of your own home.

What is a home theater system anyway? Is there only one right way to have one? No! Home theatre needs can be different for everyone, so there is plenty of room to get exactly what you want. And no matter what you want, you can be assured a great home theatre system with combine a number of different electronic components that are designed to work together to create the experience of being at your local theater!

Today there are so many options - and you will definitely want to know the basics of any home theater system. First, you will want a good sized TV, what is usually recommended is no smaller than 27 inches for maximum viewing enjoyment. From there, you can certainly go bigger! There are even projectors that can take up your entire wall if you like, and that would really emulate the movie theater feel. Next, you will need to decide on a package of speakers, again the recommended amount is no less than four speakers. This is because the speakers will be strategically placed around the room to make sure you are getting a powerful surround sound audio experience, again, just like the movie theater! Once you get these items, you will also need an audio/visual receiver to take the signals and send them to the right equipment.

This might sound like a lot of requirements, but just remember, what you want in your home theater system is completely up to you. There are options for every budget and every taste. You can even find surround sound speakers that are designed in one speaker box! They are called sound bars, and usually work best in smaller home theater rooms. Speaking of which, you will want to make sure you choose the room you want your home theater in. You may even want to get some furniture that will make you, your family, and guests comfortable as you settle in to watch your favorite films!

Creating a Home Theater System

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Eliminating that Terrible Hum From Your Home Theater Speakers

!±8± Eliminating that Terrible Hum From Your Home Theater Speakers

You've all heard it, that dreaded 60Hz hum through the speakers of a home theater or house audio system. Hopefully you heard it at a friend's house and not your own. It can drive you completely nuts. You may have even tried, unsuccessfully, to fix the little noise problem. That can make you even more crazy. What causes that horrendous noise through your speakers?

More often than not humming through your speakers is caused by a grounding problem. There are three main ground problems that cause problems in an audio / video system. These are ground loops, improper grounding and lack of a ground altogether. The other possible culprits that can cause noise are bad cables, a faulty piece of equipment or electrical noise from a lighting dimmer or electric motor. There are steps you can take to troubleshoot the noise and eliminate it from you theater.

The first step is find out where it is coming from. Disconnect your source and display equipment from your receiver or surround sound processor. If the noise stops, connect them back to the receiver or processor on at a time until the noise returns. When the hum comes back, you found where the noise is entering your system. Note that if you are connecting remote equipment, such as running the signal from your theater room DVD player to the TV in the bedroom, your chances to pick up noise increase dramatically. With such long runs, noise can be induced into the long cable runs from adjacent electrical wiring. It is also easy to create a ground loop, because the equipment is plugged into two different, widely separated outlets, on different electrical circuits.

If the noise is caused by a cable box, the noise is likely caused by the cable TV ground. To test this theory, disconnect the incoming cable TV feed to the rear of the cable box or TV while they are still connected to the rest of the system. If the noise is eliminated by disconnecting the TV cable, the problem is the cable TV ground. You can electrically decouple the cable TV feed from your system with a ground breaking transformer. These are available from many sources. Be advised that many newer, digital cable TV systems require any device in the signal chain to pass a full 1,000 Mhz. Some of the older ground break transformers will not do this. Be sure to check the specifications of whatever device you are purchasing to verify it will pass the digital cable TV signal.

If the noise is from your projector, TV, or monitor, it is most likely caused because the video display device is plugged into a different outlet than the other a/v equipment. It could be on a different circuit as well. These circuits may have two different ground potentials. That is, the resistance to ground is different on each circuit. A difference in resistance to ground from one ground point to another can cause the dreaded ground loop. If you get a ground loop, current flows between the two components. If the current flows through the components internal audio signal ground, you will get a hum.

You can use an isolation transformer, similar to the type used for cable TV ground problems, to eliminate the electrical connection from one component to the other. These transformers are inserted in line with the audio signal connection between the two components. If there is no audio connection between the components, the problem may be current flowing through the video portion. In this case, a video isolation transformer should be used to eliminate the ground loop.

Sometimes power conditioners will stop noise problems by placing equipment on different, electrically isolated outlets. This is done using isolation transformers. Sometimes this is ineffective however, due to the differences in internal construction of different power conditioning equipment. Some safety regulations, such as UL 1950, specify that an isolation transformer is only allowed to isolate the hot and neutral wires; the grounding wire must be passed straight through. If this is the case, the ground loop problem may still exist because many communication circuits are connected to the grounding conductor and not the neutral. In this case, the isolation transformer, or any power conditioner or UPS with an isolation transformer will have absolutely no affect on the grounding problem.

The noise may be generated externally, from a dimmer or refrigerator compressor for example, and coming in through the main power input on the audio video equipment. In this case, a high quality power conditioner may be effective in reducing or eliminating the noise problem. You may also find that one of the signal interconnecting cables in your system is faulty. This can also cause noise problems. Check for this by swapping the cables with one that you know to be good.

You can solve most noise problems in your home theater or multi room audio/video system by taking the systematic, step-by-step approach. Work your way up the signal chain, eliminating each piece of equipment as you go. If you have nothing connected to your speakers except the speaker wiring, and they still hum, the problem is noise induced into the speaker wiring from adjacent power cables. Other than that case, most problems are caused by ground problems, which you can find, and solve, if you take it one step at a time.

Eliminating that Terrible Hum From Your Home Theater Speakers

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Sony HTCT500 3.1 Speaker System With Complete Built-In A/V Receiver

!±8± Sony HTCT500 3.1 Speaker System With Complete Built-In A/V Receiver

One main deterrent for any higher end speaker system is the fact that cabling or wiring the system up during setup is a real pain in your choice of body part. The Sony HTCT500 is a 3.1 Speaker System that greatly simplifies the wiring process by connecting everything from an A/V receiver to a single sound-bar unit.

Design: As a step up from a standard three unit 2.1 channel sound system, the Sony HTCT500 sound-bar looks great. A bit wider than your average sound-bar, the system consists of the sound-bar and an upright A/V receiver with an icon based user interface. At 4.2 pounds the three-channel sound-bar isn't that heavy which should make wall mounting easier, while the A/V receiver is definitely a stationary device at 20.1 pounds. Using a matte black finish, the two devices look great.

Specifications: At 400W the Sony HTCT500 packs enough power for most but for the more demanding the system also includes a digital amplifier and a 24-bit S-Master amplifier. While this is more a feature of the A/V receiver, the system offers up-scaling to 1080p via HDMI along with analog up-conversion to HDMI. Connection-wise the system offers three HDMI inputs, one HDMI output, two analog audio inputs, one coaxial audio input, two component video inputs, one composite video input, one digital media port and three optical audio inputs. The system also supports S-Air rear speakers that you can add-on to the system later if you wish.
The system supports Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic II, LPCM and DTS Decoding. The speakers and sub-woofer rely on a Bass Reflex design and are Magnetically Shielded. The system also supports 24p True Cinema Technology up to 1080/24p.

Features & Performance: Like 2.1 channel systems the Sony HTCT500 isn't entirely surround sound capable but works just as well for the most part. Sound quality is simply awesome while setting up the system is also a snap with almost no cable clutter at all. Like most Sony sound systems, bass is really powerful but trebles need a little tweaking. Thankfully, the system is precise enough to do that as well. HD video quality is also great as long as you are aware of the limitations of the system. Overall, the Sony HTCT500 3.1 Speaker System does exactly as advertised; it saves space, reduces cable clutter and serves great audio and video quality, making it ideal for the more confined living space.

Sony HTCT500 3.1 Speaker System With Complete Built-In A/V Receiver

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How to Determine Speaker Placement for Built-In Home Theater Speakers

!±8± How to Determine Speaker Placement for Built-In Home Theater Speakers

So you've decided on putting in your custom home theater speakers in that new man cave of yours. Movies will take on a whole new experience, Super Bowl parties?! Bring it on!

Before you shop for speakers, stop for a minute to plan. Remember your Dad telling you "measure twice, cut once"?

There are a few options for speaker placement in home theaters. Some of you will experience room constraints. You might have windows or doors at the "ideal" speaker location; a fireplace might be the center piece of the room. Don't worry, I can point you in the right direction.

There are 2 stages of decisions about where you are going to mount your speakers:

Which walls or ceilings Where ON those walls/ceilings

Let me suggest the "ideal" location. From my experience, the best speaker locations for a 5.1 surround in wall speaker home theater system is front left, center and right speakers in the front wall level with your screen and the rear speakers in the side walls behind your listening area by about 6 feet pointing toward each other.

Ideally the subwoofer would be toward the front of the room, but can be anywhere in the room if that's not possible. In this scenario, seats are in the middle of the room.

The locations for a 7.1 are similar. The decision to have a 7.1 over a 5.1 is usually decided by if your room needs it.

I think a room smaller than 20 feet deep really doesn't "need" a 7.1 type system as you're likely to be sitting near the back wall and the 6th and 7th channels (mid side speakers) are placed beside your sitting position to help fill in the gap between the front speakers and rear speakers.

The extra speakers ahead of your listening area aren't doing much good. The locations for the front speakers are the same, the rear speakers move back another 4 ft. behind to about 10 ft. total from your sitting area and the "mid side" speakers should be in the walls next to your sitting location pointing at each other.

I know, I know, I hear you saying that your room can't work like that. It's ok. We're installing a home theater in our homes not the other way around.

The next best locations are (in order of better to ok):

Front wall, rear ceilings, wall mid sides (7.1) Front wall, rear ceilings, ceiling mid sides (7.1) Front wall, rear wall pointing forward, wall mid sides (7.1) Front wall, rear wall pointing forward, ceiling mid sides (7.1) All Ceiling

Now that you've decided "which walls/ceilings" you want the speakers, we can put them in the ideal position.

The center channel should be above or below the screen. If you have a question about which, error on the higher side, above. If you have a drop down screen, below is the best place.

The left and the right speakers are the most important placement decisions! This is where you will get most of your imaging advantages from your system and this placement will anchor the other speakers positioning.

From the best seat in the house, you want to have a 45 degree spread between your left and right speakers. Take your arms and point them straight to the side (like you're getting ready for a sobriety check, I hear this is how it starts!), that's 180 degrees separation. When you point straight ahead, that's 0 degrees. At 45 degrees, you'll be pointing at your ideal speaker location from the best seat in the house. The height off the floor should match up to somewhere between the top and bottom of your screen...again if in doubt, error on the high side.

The rear speakers should be on the same plane as the front speakers. Place them behind your seating area by about 6 feet. They should be about 7-9 feet high if they are in the wall. If your seat is up against the rear wall, then use ceiling speakers and place them a few feet outside the plane of your front speakers.

The mid sides in a 7.1 system should be right beside your seating area 7-9 feet high. If in the ceiling, still beside your seating area on the same plane as the front speakers width wise.

With a ceiling only location, the center should be directly over the screen, The front left and right speakers should be separated by the 45 degree rule as mentioned above. The front 3 speakers should be no more than 30" away from the front wall.

The rear and mid side speakers are on the same plane as the front speakers.

If you decide on all ceiling speakers, there is a new design in ceiling speakers that have the WHOLE speaker array inside the frame ANGLED so that the speakers are pointed toward your seating area instead of pointing straight down, giving you a better front image. Here's an example here.

How to Determine Speaker Placement for Built-In Home Theater Speakers

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