Paging kloh re: home theater

[struan87]

Hey kloh (and anyone else who wants to weigh in):
I'm going to be repainting my house over the long weekend, and I have no idea how I'm going to decorate the home theater right now. I don't have any furniture for it yet, so I'm looking for a color scheme that will give me some leeway in that respect. Any suggestions?

As far as personal tastes go, I like bold colors, although I think that might be inappropriate in a theater. I'm not averse to using more than one color in a room.

"struan87 you are way better than Google!" --BCole
Pictures.

[Jaylin]

Go with a dark cranberry color. It leaves alot of room for any color furniture and looks great with glass or cherrywood cabinets or shelves.

|04 G35c desert platinum|5at|premium|sport package|aero|navi|18" alloy rims & performance tires|front lip|drilled aluminum pedals|clear corners|Nismo Gen.II CAI

[kloh]

Stru,

Color is highly subjective, particularly when it comes to HT. Many people prefer darker colors to give it the traditional theater feel, but I opted for a lighter scheme. My reasoning was this: In my first home theater, I went for a black and gray motif with dark green (almost black) leather chairs. I built a facade around my RPTV that was completely covered with black speaker cloth to put the emphasis on the picture. It was very dark, very high-tech looking, and it was definitely cool. However, it didn't feel "homey" enough, and once the movies (or video games) were over, no one really wanted to stay in there to hang out. Of course, it didn't help that the two rows of seats all faced front. The second time around, I wanted it to be more of a "living space" for more social events. I went with beige walls and maple cabinetry. I also put to swivel chairs in the front so they can turn around and be a part of the conversation. The focus is still on the screen because it's so big and the cabinet is designed to draw your attention to it, but the light colors make it much more comfortable. Because the room has no windows I can control the overall lighting in the room very well with 4 zones (from screen to back). There is a set of french doors with windows, but I also have pocket doors to block out the light during the day. It's not a perfect seal, but it gets the room dark enough - which is necessary when you have a front projection system.

I recommend checking out the forums at http://avsforum.com There's tons of info there on HT setups and construction. It's a fantastic resource.

Good luck!

-ken

<font size="1">2003 G35C | 5AT | DG + Willow Leather | Nav | Premium | Performance | G35iPod.com</font id="size1">

[sav505]

I just went to look at the member gallery over on avsforum. Some of those home theaters are freaking awesome! You should check it out struan.

[chuckschilling]

Also, check out www.hometheaterforum.com. Stru, what's your system like? What kind of gear do you have?

[struan87]

Thanks for the info, guys. I'll check out those forums.

The gear is somewhat in question right now. My future roommate and I have enough equipment to put together a couple home theaters, so we'll mix and match to find what's best. I don't know all of his equipment, but here's what I know we'll have:
Tannoy Mercury m4 pair (these will probably be the theater mains)
Sonus Faber Concerto(?) pair (probably for music only)
Crappy Polks pair (for living room, parties, etc)
Boston CenterSat 7 (theater center)
Homemade 2-way bookshelf pair (rears or for music)
Homemade 12" sub (probably for theater)
Smaller homemade 12" sub (better for music)
Old Kenwood Receiver (for living room)
Some old Yamaha receiver (for theater)
And we hope to pick up a projector sometime. All this stuff might eventually be upgraded or replaced over the next few years, but that's where we're starting.

"struan87 you are way better than Google!" --BCole
Pictures.

[chuckschilling]

Cool! Sounds like you're in my boat - more gear than rooms to put it in! I've got a couple nice sets of speakers (NHT's & Dahlquist) but only one decent AV receiver (Harman Kardon AVR-7200). If you can swing the projector, go for it - that is definitely the way to go!

[struan87]

Don't worry, I can find a place for all that gear []
I plan on having full 5.1 in the theater, 2.1 in the living room (for music), and 2 in my room. My roommate might want some too, I guess.

"struan87 you are way better than Google!" --BCole
Pictures.

[chuckschilling]

Oh, and you said you had a "crappy" pair of Polk speakers? What model? I had a pair of R-15's I got for next to nothing and put them in the garage and they sound fantastic!

[struan87]

I don't know what model they are, sorry. They're not mine.
And they're not really crappy, they're just the worst we have. They sound pretty good.
I was surprised when my custom bookshelf speakers (cost of parts: $150) sounded better than the $400 Polk towers!

"struan87 you are way better than Google!" --BCole
Pictures.

[chuckschilling]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">I was surprised when my custom bookshelf speakers (cost of parts: $150) sounded better than the $400 Polk towers!
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Don't be surprised! Lots of folks have built their own speakers and been very pleased with the results - after all every person's ear reacts differently to sound, and what Polk thought might be "pleasing" wasn't at all your cup of tea. I'm glad your homebuilt speakers worked out so well!

Oh, and if you ever really get serious about HT, check out the Martin Logan and Magnepan electrostatic speakers. Simply awesome!