Home Theatre Advice

[Stiker]

At least I'm free of FFX... Oh god what have I done...

lol

Thankfully, I'm rather restricted in space and what I can do so that'll save my budget. I'm looking to get a pair of Polks for surround sometime next month and I'll be sticking to that for a while.

However, I wish I had the same restraint for my gaming/media PC -- holy fuck I pour more cash into that than I should...

[Kurp]

I'd like to get something that improves on my mediocre TV speakers. I'm finishing school and likely will be moving again in the next year or earlier and don't want to purchase large speakers that will be a pain to pack and haul or ship. Lately I've been selling off a lot of shit that I don't really need to ease future moves.

I'm looking for something in lower budget that will help me out now without burdening me in the future. I also live in an apartment and my current work schedule has me up often in the 12am-6am time range, so something expensive and loud doesn't really fit.

Any advice on how to get a better sound while TV and gaming, but also matching my situation would be great.

[kareface]

I'd like to get something that improves on my mediocre TV speakers. I'm finishing school and likely will be moving again in the next year or earlier and don't want to purchase large speakers that will be a pain to pack and haul or ship. Lately I've been selling off a lot of shit that I don't really need to ease future moves.

I'm looking for something in lower budget that will help me out now without burdening me in the future. I also live in an apartment and my current work schedule has me up often in the 12am-6am time range, so something expensive and loud doesn't really fit.

Any advice on how to get a better sound while TV and gaming, but also matching my situation would be great.

There are tons of nice bookshelf speakers available that would suit your needs. A price range would help because speakers can cost more then supercars if you have the money and lack the brains. Also if you'd be willing to build your own, there are tons of great monitor designs and you can save a ton of money (or just get much better quality speakers) DIY.

[Kurp]

I thought I replied before, but I guess not heh. In any case, I bought a less than one year old receiver (Onkyo TX-SR507) from my cousin for $250. I also purchased the same Polk Audio speakers you linked earlier (center and two bookshelf speakers) which I should get on Wednesday or Thursday. They seemed like a good set for what I'm looking for.

Is hooking everything up easy to do? I've been reading reviews and such and have come across a lot of different terms that I don't recognize like bi-wiring, crossovers, and such. I'm trying to figure out what connectors/cables/wires I need to buy for hooking up a plasma TV, PS3, and DirecTV.

Another thing I didn't think about before was where I can place the center channel. My TV stand is a simple flat one, so I don't have a shelf above the TV to place it on. Are there stands I can get that can fit behind my TV stand if I pull it out some or should I be looking for other solutions?

As you can tell I'm out of my element here, so any advice would be appreciated.

[Isiolia]

Is hooking everything up easy to do? I've been reading reviews and such and have come across a lot of different terms that I don't recognize like bi-wiring, crossovers, and such. I'm trying to figure out what connectors/cables/wires I need to buy for hooking up a plasma TV, PS3, and DirecTV.

Another thing I didn't think about before was where I can place the center channel. My TV stand is a simple flat one, so I don't have a shelf above the TV to place it on. Are there stands I can get that can fit behind my TV stand if I pull it out some or should I be looking for other solutions?

As you can tell I'm out of my element here, so any advice would be appreciated.

- Hooking things up is easy. Bi-amping often isn't even an option, and if it is, benefits are debatable at best. Regardless, some speakers just have two sets of binding posts to allow you to use two amplifiers to power them. Typically, they will also include connectors between the binding posts that you remove if doing that - otherwise you just hook the speaker wire up to one of the two sets and you're good to go.

- Crossovers are typically something built into the speaker. Basically, the circuitry that filters the signal going to the tweeters to be the high frequency sound, signal going to the woofers to be the low frequency, and so on. Car audio tends to see a little of this if you get component systems, but for home audio you typically won't see it unless you're building the speakers yourself.

- Hookups depend, in part, on what your devices have on them to use. The receiver you got has HDMI support, however, so most likely you'll just run an HDMI cable from the receiver to the TV, then use HDMI to connect your PS3 and DirectTV box to the receiver (assuming the latter has HDMI). Speakers are simple, just a two-wire connector to each.

- I haven't seen many stands made for the center channel use you're describing. You could consider wall-mounting if the speaker isn't super heavy (though you'd probably benefit by angling it down). Alternatively, if there's room below your TV you could put it there, or I've occasionally seen people put them in front of the TV if it won't obstruct the view.

[Kurp]

The DirecTV receiver has an HDMI and an optical connector. If I can use the HDMI for that, then I won't need to bother with the optical cables? As of now I have three HDMI cables that I can use for this and no optical cables.

As far as buying speaker wire, should I look for anything in particular? Or, can I just go to Monoprice and buy 50 ft. of whatever wire and be good? I don't want to fall into a trap similar to $100 HDMI cables.

I can't wall mount the speaker as I live in an apartment and don't really want to mutilate the wall. I'll look into placing it below the TV, but I've always seen them above TVs so I wasn't sure if that was a good idea.

[kareface]

I thought I replied before, but I guess not heh. In any case, I bought a less than one year old receiver (Onkyo TX-SR507) from my cousin for $250. I also purchased the same Polk Audio speakers you linked earlier (center and two bookshelf speakers) which I should get on Wednesday or Thursday. They seemed like a good set for what I'm looking for.

Is hooking everything up easy to do? I've been reading reviews and such and have come across a lot of different terms that I don't recognize like bi-wiring, crossovers, and such. I'm trying to figure out what connectors/cables/wires I need to buy for hooking up a plasma TV, PS3, and DirecTV.

Another thing I didn't think about before was where I can place the center channel. My TV stand is a simple flat one, so I don't have a shelf above the TV to place it on. Are there stands I can get that can fit behind my TV stand if I pull it out some or should I be looking for other solutions?

As you can tell I'm out of my element here, so any advice would be appreciated.

Bi-wiring is only useful if you bi-amp, and you won't be doing that. Crossover can mean 2 things. The first is a small piece of circuitry inside your speakers which filters the signal from the receiver to each of the drivers. So your larger drivers are playing the deeper sounds and the smaller drivers and playing the higher sounds. The second meaning, the one important to you is there is a setting on your reciever for a crossover. That setting tells the receiver what frequency it should start moving the bass to the subwoofer instead of the speakers. The higher you set it the more it sent the the sub, the lower the number the more your speakers will attempt to play. THX suggests 80hz, but I'd have to look at the exact stats on your speaker to know if that would be a good idea.

Wiring is really easy, but if you haven't already I'd consider picking up a spool of 12 gauge wiring from monoprice.com to use. It's cheap, and great cabling for the price. You can also pick up some HDMI cables from there. How many devices will you be plugging in? Like the 360, PS3, bluray player, ect.

[Isiolia]

HDMI carries audio, and your receiver can process audio from HDMI, so you shouldn't need the optical cable.

Speaker wire is a huge snake-oil type thing, there's really no need to go with the really pricey stuff. You can practically cut the ends off of extension cords to use if you want. In fact, I knew someone who tested the difference between doing just that, and Monster Cable, and found no difference. Monoprice should be just fine.

The important thing with the center is that it be aimed at the primary listening spot, ideally at ear level, but you can angle it to compensate some. Usually right above or below the TV.

[Kurp]

Wiring is really easy, but if you haven't already I'd consider picking up a spool of 12 gauge wiring from monoprice.com to use. It's cheap, and great cabling for the price. You can also pick up some HDMI cables from there. How many devices will you be plugging in? Like the 360, PS3, bluray player, ect.

I'm just going to use my TV, PS3, and DirecTV for now. I'll add my 360 later when I actually have a game to play on it.

I'll ignore the extra wiring/crossover options for now and mess with that later if it's actually worth it.

[kareface]

I'm just going to use my TV, PS3, and DirecTV for now. I'll add my 360 later when I actually have a game to play on it.

I'll ignore the extra wiring/crossover options for now and mess with that later if it's actually worth it.

You'd have to be using an active crossover, I'd have to see if your receiver is even capable of it. As for the the HDMI, just get one for every device that plays media and one that connects to the TV. Get 4 in total if you include the 360 (if you buy from monoprice it's usually cheaper to do 1 larger order). Then just add a spool of 12 gauge speaker wiring w/e length you think you'll need.

[Kurp]

Ok, I'll get one more HDMI cable so I'll have four total and some 12 ga. wire. That should be enough to hook up everything. Thank you both for the help.