Home Theater Setup

[Rene Ritchie]

So I've spent the last few months carefully assembling a new home theater. It took a few months because I waited and watched for sales, clearances, open boxes, and the like so I could get the most for the least.

My old setup was just that -- old. 720p 37" panel with stereo speakers, first gen PS3, cable HD PVR, and Apple TV. The last three components stayed, but here's what I did with the rest.

First, when the new Bravia panels came out I found a last year's XBR 46" demo with free 4 year warrant and picked that up. Stunning picture, half the price as this year. While Sony makes great panels, they're not competitively priced. Waiting fixed that.

Next up was the receiver. I went with the Pioneer 1019AH-K, which is cheaper than the Danon's but pretty dang good for 7.1, True HD, DTS HD, etc. 4 HDMI ports for the bonus. Sure, original PS3 can't bitstream the HD audio, but PCM is fine for that. Open box on that one.

I had a set of pioneer speakers but 5.1 and I figured if the receiver can do 7.1, why not, so again I went with the least expensive best quality combo I could. Local big box was liquidating Energy Take 5 Classics, and so far, so sounds good. Add two old Pioneer's for the side surround, and 7.1.

Of course, there's not a lot of Blu-Ray's that do 7.1 yet, but the original Star Trek movies do. So, yeah. "KAAAAAAAHHHHHHHN!" 360 degrees, baby.

Apple TV, PS3, and Cable PVR all go to receiver via HDMI, and that goes to panel.

Found a great sale on a Hamony One controller, so that -- with a PS3 IR to BT converter -- controls everything. And it does a great job (however, Harmony's idea of Activities sucks at scaling, I can watch movies on Apple TV or PS3, but that makes the setup confusing so I did it manually and reverted to old school box, not activity setup: Cable PVR, Apple TV, PS3).

As a next step, I might hook up the Mac to watch videos not supported by Apple TV codecs or resolutions.

[jamesus]

Very nice setup. I agree on waiting for the TV. I have a 52 inch Sharp Aquos that I purchased once the new models were released. That and I bought it on Black Friday!

[sting7k]

Why not just stream those videos to your PS3?

[cobra302]

energy take 5's are very good!

i'm running a yamaha rxv661, and klipsch reference speakers for center and surround. i've got a 15 inch reference klipsch sub, and two older psb left and right speakers. i wish i could get a better tv though, i'm running a vizio 46 inch with 720p. waiting for xmas to get me a ps3. that receiver you have is bad ass though. pioneer makes really good stuff, their elite line of receivers are really tasty!

[javanutsy]

Mine is really old... 2003 old...

Onkyo SR700 Receiver
Paradigm Mini-Monitors
Paradigm Center
Paradigm Atom Surrounds
Hsu Research 10" Sub
52" Sony super huge big box rear projection
DishNetwork DVR non-HD