Home Theatre systems

[GT0132]

Guys….I want a new blue ray player for my home theatre room but I understand that the models available that play multi region DVD's are few are far between.

We bought an LG blue ray recorder for our family room 18 months ago and was annoyed to find it won't play any of our region 1 DVD's. Worse is that there are no hacks available to enable multi region.

I don't care too much about not being able to play region A and C blue ray disks but I would like the ability to at least play all my old DVD's I've purchased outside Australia without having to hang on to my old Pioneer player bought in circa 2004 without HDMI.

Any ideas?

[Sox]

Originally Posted by GT0132

Guys….I want a new blue ray player for my home theatre room but I understand that the models available that play multi region DVD's are few are far between.

We bought an LG blue ray recorder for our family room 18 months ago and was annoyed to find it won't play any of our region 1 DVD's. Worse is that there are no hacks available to enable multi region.

I don't care too much about not being able to play region A and C blue ray disks but I would like the ability to at least play all my old DVD's I've purchased outside Australia without having to hang on to my old Pioneer player bought in circa 2004 without HDMI.

Any ideas?

The Cambridge Audio 752BD is multi region DVD standard, but it's not cheap at $1399 RRP.
It's a fantastic disc spinner though.
An extra $200 makes it BD multi region too.

I'm a dealer for Cambridge Audio if you need any more info.

[GT0132]

Originally Posted by Sox

The Cambridge Audio 752BD is multi region DVD standard, but it's not cheap at $1399 RRP.
It's a fantastic disc spinner though.
An extra $200 makes it BD multi region too.

I'm a dealer for Cambridge Audio if you need any more info.

Thanks mate. Probably a bit more than i wanted to spend to be honest which is probably about $500 max.

[Sox]

Originally Posted by GT0132

Thanks mate. Probably a bit more than i wanted to spend to be honest which is probably about $500 max.

Increase your budget a frag, and grab one of these.
It's a slightly older model, but still great units.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Cambridge...item4d1d05a6a8

[GT0132]

Originally Posted by Sox

Increase your budget a frag, and grab one of these.
It's a slightly older model, but still great units.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Cambridge...item4d1d05a6a8

Sounds good...but not sure if that model is multi region/zone.

I like the 7.1 analogue outputs, but even though my receiver is non HDMI I'm not sure I have the equivalent analogue inputs on it . It's a circa 2006 Yamaha 7.1 receiver RXV-659 I think.

[Sox]

Originally Posted by GT0132

Sounds good...but not sure if that model is multi region/zone.

I like the 7.1 analogue outputs, but even though my receiver is non HDMI I'm not sure I have the equivalent analogue inputs on it . It's a circa 2006 Yamaha 7.1 receiver RXV-659 I think.

I'm almost certain it is multi region DVD, but check with the seller, they're good to deal with, I've dealt with them before.

[Sox]

Originally Posted by GT0132

Sounds good...but not sure if that model is multi region/zone.

I like the 7.1 analogue outputs, but even though my receiver is non HDMI I'm not sure I have the equivalent analogue inputs on it . It's a circa 2006 Yamaha 7.1 receiver RXV-659 I think.

I just spoke to the OZ Cambridge rep and he confirmed the 650BD is multi region DVD.

[graphicgoose]

Originally Posted by jimt3te50

I had the exact same Focal's back when I sold all my gear a few years back, they were absolutely awesome Dan. I really miss them to be honest. They turned out to be a good investment though, I sold them as soon as I listed them and got near on my money back.

It's like with photography- you spend the best part of your budget on great lenses as they make the biggest difference and they are always worth something. Home theatre and audio are the same, spend your money on good speakers foremost.

the technology changes on the amplification, formats etc are minute, and a lot will even be firmware over the next year or so, so speakers are where it's at. Probably second to that is pure amplification (not an AVR but proper stereo or mono amplifiers) I think.

I loved my Chours 700's mate, you have a solid base with those.

If you're sticking with a flat screen, I'd be scouring the earth for the last of the Panasonic plasma's before going to a horrible LCD though.... IMO

Cheers Jim. I'm with you on that, the chorus 700's are a great speaker for the price. I even prefer them to the B&W CM10's to be honest, which are much more expensive. I got an awesome deal on them back in the day, the guy was a bit of an average salesman and was keen on getting a sale. I ended working there a few years later and checked my invoice up on the system and he pretty much gave me staff pricing haha.

I've still got the same amp that I bought since then, Yamaha RXV1600. Been a great amp, one of the circuit boards died at one point but the repair agent did me a sweet deal to replace it given i worked at West Coast HiFi...never had a problem since. It's a bit behind in that it was one of the first HDMI receivers, so only does 720p or 1080i and doesn't decode master audio or anything so needs to run PCM. I'll either end up replacing it with a Yamaha Aventage or Cambridge audio receiver at some point in the future...assuming everything works out ok at work.

I was never a huge fan of plasma tv's to be honest, not for gaming. I'll get a projector when I buy/build my own place, but for now i think I large LED will do...again, pending work and car situation.

[NitroFG]

Jim

What are the dimensions of your room?

Ta

Anthony

[blueoval]

I love my home theater. Watched bourne supremacy and f&f6 last night on blu ray. Im so happy with the way it looks and performs.

[jimt3te50]

Originally Posted by NitroFG

Jim



What are the dimensions of your room?



Ta



Anthony

5m wide (plus the bar to the right of the screen which is 1.8m) x 7m deep (bar is 2.8m long)

Perfect size really. I'm just driving back from the grand final to Perth and having a discussion on home theatre with one of the guys I can over with. We were talking about screen sizes and he said he wished he had room for a bigger screen

Most setups have speakers to the sides of the screen but Im a big fan of acoustically transparent screens which allow you to make the most of your rooms width by placing speakers behind the screen. To me, it also adds to the immersion of the film, as the sounds are literally coming from the image.

What's other peoples view on this, is anyone running one of considering it?

[Sox]

Originally Posted by jimt3te50

5m wide (plus the bar to the right of the screen which is 1.8m) x 7m deep (bar is 2.8m long)

Perfect size really. I'm just driving back from the grand final to Perth and having a discussion on home theatre with one of the guys I can over with. We were talking about screen sizes and he said he wished he had room for a bigger screen

Most setups have speakers to the sides of the screen but Im a big fan of acoustically transparent screens which allow you to make the most of your rooms width by placing speakers behind the screen. To me, it also adds to the immersion of the film, as the sounds are literally coming from the image.

What's other peoples view on this, is anyone running one of considering it?

My opinion has always been that in an ideal world an acoustically transparent screen is ideal.
However, we don't live in an ideal world.

The problem is, the screens aren't 100% acoustically transparent, they can't be.

The other thing is, the difference between the localisation of sounds from behind the screen of next to/below the screen is rather small in my experience.

A better quality speaker system in a well treated room will swamp any small perceived improvements made by an acoustically transparent screen with all speakers behind.

The other thing to consider is how big our screens should be anyhow.
The size of the screen is determined by the distance of the seating position.

My room is 7.5m long by 6m wide, and I have a 120" 16/9 screen which is spaced almost a meter from the front wall, and the primary seating position is about 2m from the rear wall.
I wouldn't want a larger screen in that size room, it's provides a genuine cinema feel, size wise.

[Yellow_Festiva]

Ok.. time to chime in.

I have a house going up and have 3 areas that need a TV / sound system etc - 2 downstairs and 1 upstairs.

Up stairs - I'm going to use the current setup I have in our unit - smallish TV and a basic 5 speaker sound system and DVDR player.

Downstairs I will have a formal and informal lounge area.

The formal lounge is an irregular shape and has openings of various heights into the next area.

The informal living area is rectangular in shape and is an extension of the open kitchen area.

Now, I have no clue about what sounds good and what sounds crap - I'll be honest. But, I guess a tweak here and a bit extra spent will probably yield much better results than I will be able to get on my own.

What are peoples thoughts of wireless speakers? Have they come along in sound quality? Ceiling speakers??

If I wanted to spend $1000-$1400 per room (not including TV) am I dreaming or is that able to buy something decent?

I also have another long rectangular room that I may want to turn into a home theatre with a projector / drop down screen. Don't laugh - but I really like those oversized looking systems that LG (cm9940) / Sony (shake 77) make with the 12 and 15in speakers.. Are they all show and not much go or do they sound as good as they look?

Cheers,

Jason

[rednose]

Ok, finally moved into my new place.

Media/Living room is pretty much finished (just some cable tidying up to do).

Decided against on-wall speakers and purchased a set of Krix Harmonix Mains and a Vortex Centre,
kept my Apex Rears, and Yamaha RX-V1900 receiver.
Also purchased a second Richter Thor Mk IV so now we can even shake the neighbours house...lol

Screen is a Sony 70"

Very happy with the sound and being that the room is only 5 x 3.8 it's fills it easily.

[blueoval]

Looks nice. Well done. The twin subs will rattle the teeth out of your neighbors for sure. Similar Tv to mine.

[rednose]

Thanks Shav,

Needs a rug and the room will be complete.

Kids love it too

[Spurious]

Originally Posted by rednose

Ok, finally moved into my new place.

Media/Living room is pretty much finished (just some cable tidying up to do).

Decided against on-wall speakers and purchased a set of Krix Harmonix Mains and a Vortex Centre,
kept my Apex Rears, and Yamaha RX-V1900 receiver.
Also purchased a second Richter Thor Mk IV so now we can even shake the neighbours house...lol

Screen is a Sony 70"

Very happy with the sound and being that the room is only 5 x 3.8 it's fills it easily.

image

Do you have a pensioner discount day for movie viewings???

[jimt3te50]

I haven't got as far with the progress on the upgrade as I would have liked to but with the festivities and whatnot, well, it just hasn't happened.

But, I've made a start!

The big thing was mocking up the screen position (distance not height) and seeing if the 3.8m wide screen could be filled with the JVC X700 mated to the Panamorph anamorphic lens.

Long story short- not finished but something to show you as an interim. The 4 x Krix Dynamix are on the wall and all hard wired in, the Harmonix and Epicentrix are temp located on boxes behind the screen- being acoustically transparent this is where they'll stay but obviously better mounted.

The big thing will be hooking up the three Vincent Monoblocks to power the front stage and build the cabinetry to house it all. Now I know what I'm working with, this should happen fairly quickly.

Last hardware wishes are the upcoming Denon 7200 Atmos receiver and Krix Atmospherix AS in ceilings and the acoustic treatments. Aside from that I reckon I'm covered.

I had full intention of automating the sled for the lens but having watched it over the last few days I don't reckon I will- I'll just lop the tops of people heads off when watching the few 16:9 as it just looks amazing in CinemaScope.

Even been super impressed with 3D viewing on this compared to my original JVC X7 which had an IR emitter and darker battery powered glasses in lieu of the later RF Auto setup with much lighter and better glasses and just simply amazing 3D.

I am so wowed by this setup I can't begin to tell you how awesome it is. Even pretty chuffed with my home made lens transport and bracketry. Anyway, not a lot of hardware shots here but how the rooms looking, enjoy!

[rednose]

Coming together nicely Jim.

Good to see Spidey still chillin' in the best room of the house.

[dcstraight]

Some great gear (and rooms!) in this thread.

No HT room for me (yet), but one day . Watch TV

My gear is fairly modest (and getting a bit long in the tooth *looks at TV* - excuse the pun:P), but reasonably matched good all-round performing stuff...

Sony BRAVIA KDL-46XBR2 LED TV
Sony STR-DA5300ES amplifier
Sony BDP-5000ES BD player

Whatmough P31 front mains bi-amped
Whatmough P06 centre
Whatmough FX rears (maybe replaced by P11s one day)

R.I.P. Colin Whatmough!

[blueoval]

Loving the progress Jim. Looking pro thats for sure. The anamorphic lens must be a dream come true. I saw one of these in action (t was a fixed lens though) but it made the watchable screen size look amazing.

[Sox]

Originally Posted by jimt3te50

I haven't got as far with the progress on the upgrade as I would have liked to but with the festivities and whatnot, well, it just hasn't happened.

I feel your pain, my room hasn't changed in ages. It has the basics, but needs polish...

But, I've made a start!

Anyway, not a lot of hardware shots here but how the rooms looking, enjoy!

It looks really nice, the only thing I'd change is to darken it up considerably.
The light colour will wash out the black potential of the PJ.

Originally Posted by rednose

Good to see Spidey still chillin' in the best room of the house.

It's a nice touch, I might do something similar.

Originally Posted by dcstraight

R.I.P. Colin Whatmough!

Very much so, Colin was a great designer and bloke.

[jimt3te50]

Originally Posted by Sox

It looks really nice, the only thing I'd change is to darken it up considerably.

The light colour will wash out the black potential of the PJ.

Thanks fellas.

Yeah, agree 100% Sox. The acoustic treatments will take care of that

My last theatre had full black curtains around it and made a massive difference to both picture and sound. The problem is my missus doesn't want to make everything black. I've conceded and showed her some of the acoustic tiles I'm using which are more of a designer style and have wooden highlights etc. They're all very dark and will tick the box for her as well.

The lens is a dream come true. I've been really lucky with the setup as going anamorphic is usually pretty expensive to do properly. I bought the screen from Snowhite Screens in China who were absolutely brilliant to deal with and even still send me emails asking how I am going and enjoying the screen. It was a custom made size, acoustically transparent, 3D material, curved 2.40 aspect ratio with full velvet flocked frame and side masks as well, landed at my door 2 days after being made and it cost me $1,150! Got quoted nearly $4,500 for the same thing locally. The lens I bought off Gumtree for $1,300 and is perfect (normally around $4k) and the sled I made for $35 using an extrusion and bearings I bought from openbuilds.com. I bought a generic Tauris projector mount for $115 and two door stops (at the rear of the projector) for $7 and two bottle screws for $19 from Bunnings to stabilise the sled when the lens is being moved into position. It works really well. I'm so happy with it!

I want those Vincents up and running though! Can't wait for that!

[EgoFG]

OK, got a Q for the Audiophiles.

In the early days we were told base does not have direction, and that is why it is OK to have one subwoofer (BTW I disagree with this premise, and always have).
But now there are 5.2 and 7.2 systems with two subwoofers.

In such a system, are the two subwoofers processing the left sub 50hz, and right sub 50hz, or do they both have the same signal ?

[jimt3te50]

Depending on the source I think mate. I've done some reading about this which has ultimately led to me ordering another sub for my system. I think largely the *.2 systems cater to better reproduction of low frequencies due to room acoustics and inefficiencies. Even though "bass" cannot be localised, a lot of the artefacts of producing them can (ie port turbulence, balance of crossed-over frequency due to lower slopes like 12/18 etc) which a .2 system does address. Further, the processing side of a .2 system does generate a stereo signal as well as a common LFE signal, again this will largely come down to source. In music reproduction, it is far more common now to have dedicated low frequency stereo recordings, which a summed of mono sub simply cannot fully reproduce due to associated phase cancellations etc that make up those subtle nuances a serious audiophile seeks out. In short, to fully appreciate it- you need two.

I've always run one, but two is better, hence buying another one.

I've also ordered the Denon AVRX7200 Dolby Atmos receiver and two sets of Krix Atmospherix in ceilings for going to a full 7.2.4 Atmos setup in the theatre after being really inspired by my latest upgrade too.

With the front stage, the Neuphonix and the Epicentrix will be connected to the Vincent Monoblocks via some Audioquest Rocket 44 cables and will run passed-through unprocessed via the Denon for stereo sources. This will be the best compromise for making the theatre suitable for stereo music- something I very much enjoy but don't have the finances or room to pursue as another hobby.

I get all my gear from West Coast HiFi and they rang to say my boxes of Vicoustic Wavewoods and Cinema Round acoustic panels are in so that'll all go up this week and I can get to building the cabinetry next week. Also have to source a power conditioner prior to booking everything up properly. Anyone running one or can recommend something? The Furmans seem to be the go from what I've read but keen to hear some thoughts?

[graphicgoose]

Originally Posted by jimt3te50

I get all my gear from West Coast

Which store Jim? I used to work at Cannington and Midland.

[39ClevoUte]

Originally Posted by jimt3te50

......."due to associated phase cancellations etc that make up those subtle nuances a serious audiophile seeks out. In short, to fully appreciate it- you need two......."

Tend to agree with this thoery and have witnessed it happening a bit. Also reversing the connections on one of your stereo speakers makes for some wierd sounding music with cancellation happen in the air. But one thing that has always puzzled me is how come the original recordings can mix down say 16 tracks and not have this happen....or does it and we accept that that is how it sounds????

[jimt3te50]

Originally Posted by graphicgoose

Which store Jim? I used to work at Cannington and Midland.

I've probably already met you then man- Dealt with Dave and Scotty for years (when they first bought the stores) and they even offered me a job there early on! lol My brother in law (wifes sisters partner) Kieran is the manager at Midland, you'd know him no doubt....

[graphicgoose]

Haha yep, know all those guys. I worked for Dave and Scotty and worked with Kieran out at Midland. Only worked there for 3-6months or something while I was at uni before I got a job related to my field of study. Pretty cruisey job! Dave and Scotty are legends though.

[jimt3te50]

Originally Posted by graphicgoose

Haha yep, know all those guys. I worked for Dave and Scotty and worked with Kieran out at Midland. Only worked there for 3-6months or something while I was at uni before I got a job related to my field of study. Pretty cruisey job! Dave and Scotty are legends though.

Getting paid to drink Coronas and eat KFC and sell the odd tv when someone disturbs you! Yeah, good crew those guys- I've even been to a couple of their Christmas Parties! lol