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Part I Defining Your Home-Theatered Home

In This Part Checking out basic and elaborate home theaters Getting a stylish home theater on a budget Choosing the right space for your home theater Installing your theater yourself versus hiring the pros

onsumer electronics have played a major role Cthroughout the years in defining a home. The radio, then black-and-white TV, then color TV, and then all the various adjuncts to the TV and radio — VCRs, gaming consoles, tape decks, and so on — have all helped define who we are and how we inter- act with each other. The home has grown around these devices, so when it comes time to put these together on a pedestal and proclaim them a home theater, this act seems to acknowledge the role that home electronics have grown to play in our lifestyles. COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL 05_583905 ch01.qxd 9/1/04 9:19 AM Page 4

4 The Basic Home Theater So what’s in a home theater then? Well, a home theater is largely what you make of it, but we think that at least three major things constitute the core of a home theater: A large screen display: Note that we do not say television, because more and more, the receiver aspect of a television is being divorced from the display aspect, in the form of set-top boxes, external TV tuners, computers, and other source devices. Appropriately, the display is being opti- mized for what its main purpose is — displaying the wide range of video output from a home theater system. These displays can be huge. We’re talking greater than 120 inches diagonally, which is 10 feet for those of you who didn’t do the math! A digital video source: Although you could say that a digital satellite or cable service is a digital video source, we’re going to mandate a DVD capability. DVD is the focal point for all digital video innovation that will drive your home theater. A surround sound capability: You find out about the details of surround sound in a few pages, but you need to have surround sound to take advantage of all the audio power stored in your DVD content. With surround sound, you are truly starting to mimic the theater experience. If you’re lacking any of these, you really don’t have a home theater. Without the display and surround sound, you lose the impact of the visual and audio experience, and without a digital video source, you just have a loud 05_583905 ch01.qxd 9/1/04 9:19 AM Page 5

and big TV system. You really need all three. Figure 1-1 shows these elements in their native environment — your home. But you need not stop there. There are all sorts of other great sources to add to your system, as well as great devices you can add to enhance your overall experience. The rest of this chapter is devoted to really flesh- ing out the boundaries of your home theater realm.

DVD player, DTV tuner, satellite/cable box, etc.

Multichannel audio electronics

Left Right

Center

LFE (sub) Left Right Surround Surround

Figure 1-1: A home theater with a surround sound system, a video display, and a digital video source. 05_583905 ch01.qxd 9/1/04 9:19 AM Page 6

6 Budgeting for Home Theater We believe in setting expectations. We don’t want to get you salivating over a 42-inch plasma and a nice Harmon Kardon system, and then smack you over the head with an unrealistic price. Unfortunately, a quick stroll through any consumer electronics store could lead you to believe that you can get an entry-level whole home theater in a box (without the video display, of course) for around $100. However, that $100 system will be right for some people and not for others. Exploring equipment and prices So what does it cost to get into a home theater system? Table 1-1 gives you an idea of what you can spend. We’ve broken this table down by the roles that each group of Audio/Video (A/V) components plays in your home theater. Audio sources are devices that provide music-only playback in your system, whereas video sources provide movies or TV content. The A/V system provides the control for your home theater (meaning it lets you select what you want to watch or listen to) and does all the heavy lifting in terms of sending surround sound signals to your speaker system. The video display, of course, is what you watch (think TV). We’ve also included some optional components — gaming systems and home theater PCs (which let you use a PC as a high-quality audio and/or video source device). 05_583905 ch01.qxd 9/1/04 9:19 AM Page 7

Table 1-1 Home Theater Budget Guide Role Device Price Expectations Audio sources Tape cassette player* $100 to $800 CD player/recorder* $60 to $300+ Turntable* $100 to $5,000+ (really!) AM/FM tuner* $200 to $1,500 Video sources DVD player $50 to $1,000+ VCR* $50 to $1,000 Personal video $200 to $1,000 recorder* Satellite system* $100 to $800 Computer/ Gaming console* $150 to $200 gaming Home Theater PC* $700+ A/V system** All-in-one systems $100 to $3,000+ A/V receiver $100 to $4,000 Controller/decoder $800 to $5,000+ Power amplifier $500+ Speakers Center, left, right, and $150+ surround speakers Rear surround sound $100+ speakers* Subwoofer speakers $150+ (continued) 05_583905 ch01.qxd 9/1/04 9:19 AM Page 8

Table 1-1 (continued) Role Device Price Expectations Video display*** 27- to 38-inch direct- $200 to $3,000 view tube TV Up to 65-inch rear- $1,200 to $5,000 projection TV Up to 240-inch front- $2,000+ projection TV 32- to 60-inch plasma $2,500 to $15,000+ screen TV * Optional ** You don’t need all of these parts, just an all-in-one system, an A/V receiver, or a controller/decoder and power amplifier combo *** You need only one of these displays Certainly, you don’t need all the gear in Table 1-1. You can buy a nice all-in-one home theater system and a relatively big-screen, direct-view (picture tube) TV for around $500. Of course, you can spend a lot more money, too. One thing is for sure: Pricing is competitive and changing all the time. Two years ago, a lot of the gear listed in Table 1-1 cost twice as much as it does currently. To get a quick grasp on pricing, go to a few Web sites, such as www.circuitcity.com, to just get a sense of the going rate for different items. Compare that with Table 1-1, and get a sense of how much pricing has dropped just in the time that it took for this book to be printed. 05_583905 ch01.qxd 9/1/04 9:19 AM Page 9

9 Buying on a budget Given that you are probably working within a budget, here are some ideas about what you can expect to buy and install for different total budget ranges: $0 to $500: Definitely the entry-level package for home theater, a system in the $0–$500 range basi- cally uses your existing TV (or includes an inexpen- sive TV in the 27-inch range) and an entry level all-in-one home theater system package (which comes with speakers and a receiver/DVD player combo). You can probably throw in a $50 VCR if you don’t already have one, but even the lowest level all-in-one home theater sets have DVD players included. (Gotta have DVD!) $500 to $2,000: By spending a little more, you can go up a range in a number of the components. You can get up to 36-inch model TVs for about $300–$400 more than the average price 27-inch versions. You could even get into a rear-projection TV, as they start around $1,000 for a 40- to 52-inch TV. There are a range of options for better surround sound systems in this price range, with packaged options available for your five surround sound speakers plus your subwoofer. And you can buy a fairly good A/V receiver to drive the system. $2,000 to $5,000: At this level, you start to create serious options for a very decent home theater system. The lowest-cost plasma screens are under $2,500, and accompanying midrange all-in-one systems can be in the $1,000 area. High-definition- ready, rear-projection TVs can be had for around 05_583905 ch01.qxd 9/1/04 9:19 AM Page 10

$1,500. At this price level, you can also start to get serious with separate components, getting a very good A/V receiver, DVD/CD player/recorder, personal video recorder, gaming system, surround sound speakers, and potentially even more. At this price range, the average person can get a mighty fine system. $5,000 to $10,000: When you top $5,000 as your budget, you now can start expanding in some won- derful ways, by adding more throughout the house through multizone capabilities, whole-home audio, and universal remote control capability, or you can continue to go up the ladder in terms of higher- quality separates. We swear by audio servers that store all your CDs in one box. Front projection becomes a viable option here, as good projectors start around $4,000. High-definition TV (HDTV) units would fall in this budget range, too. Or, you can start to get fancy with furniture and chairs. Good home theater seats start around $350 each. A high-quality, universal remote control costs around $200. $10,000+: Above $10,000, the sky is truly the limit. For $10,000 to $20,000, you get to enjoy a lot of the next generation of home theater. Your TV and VCR should be HDTV-capable. Your DVD player should be top of the line. You probably want some extra amplifier equipment in the system, and you may also want to boost your controls, perhaps with a nice wireless touch screen control. Believe it or not, it is not unusual for people to spend $1 mil- lion or more on a home theater. At that point, we think a lot of money is being paid for custom inte- rior design, top-of-the-line projectors, and so on. 05_583905 ch01.qxd 9/1/04 9:19 AM Page 11

Nothing is held back. To us, given more modest expectations, a $25,000 system is stunning in almost all senses of the word. Using Your Existing Gear A question that comes across most people’s minds when they look to upgrade to a home theater is whether any of their existing A/V gear can be used in their new home theater. The answer usually is, “Well you probably can, but you lose a lot by doing so (unless the gear is less than two years old).” If you are thinking about using existing equipment, consider the following: TVs: If it is less than 27” large, we’d say why bother. Home theater needs a big-screen display for maxi- mum effect. Plus newer sets have things such as component video inputs, picture-in-picture displays, and even HDTV capabilities. Receivers: Chances are your receiver is an audio (stereo) receiver, which probably doesn’t have surround sound processing capability, inputs for video gear, or built-in amplifiers for your surround sound speakers. You can use an audio-only receiver as an amplifier to drive some speakers, but if you want to listen to the latest surround sound capabilities, which are encoded on most DVDs, then you’re going to need a new audio/video receiver, period. VCRs: As long as your VCR is a VHS HiFi VCR, it’s just fine. But it won’t replace a DVD player, which has about twice the picture resolution (meaning the picture is about twice as sharp). 05_583905 ch01.qxd 9/1/04 9:19 AM Page 12

CD players: Your CD player will probably work fine. Depending on your space constraints, however, you might just use your DVD player to play your CDs because the two are compatible. Over time, CD players will disappear from your system in favor of a combined disc playing/recording unit. Speakers: Chances are these are not going to be very useful, because you really want a set of speakers, not ones that are pieced together. Speakers work in tandem and therefore should have a simi- lar foundation of performance. If you have a pair of stereo speakers that you can match into a com- plete set of surround sound speakers from the same manufacturer, you might be able to use what you have. (We recommend that you choose addi- tional speakers that are timbre matched with your existing speakers.) Other stuff: Most other stuff can work with your system. Turntables, cassette decks, laser disc players, and so on can plug in and play their part without any problems. Internet connection: Okay, your connection isn’t gear in the traditional sense, but still, if you’re using a dialup connection, you should seriously consider upgrading to broadband if you want your home theater to take advantage of the Internet. As present and future consumer devices become increasingly reliant on the Internet for accessing information and content, you’ll need a broadband connection to download this content. 05_583905 ch01.qxd 9/1/04 9:19 AM Page 13

Understanding surround sound lingo For the most part, the entertainment industry boils down a lot of the surround sound terminology into numbers, such as 2.0 and 5.1. Sometimes these refer to the playback system’s speaker configuration, and sometimes these refer to the audio signal format being delivered. The lingo can be con- fusing, especially when the speakers do not match the audio signals, but it’s all perfectly normal for that to occur. In these numbers, the first number represents the number of speakers or main audio channels involved, and the 1 or 0 after the decimal point indicates whether or not the system has a subwoofer or supports a low frequency effects channel. Systems that end in 1 have a subwoofer or an effects channel. Using this logic, then, normal stereo, which has a left and a right channel but no subwoofer or effects channel, is 2.0 in surround sound speak. On the other hand, 5.1 is considered the primary format for creating and delivering surround sound. Source signals have the five main channels and one LFE bass effects channel. Playback systems usually have five main speakers and one subwoofer.

Choosing a Room As you go to build your home theater, all roads lead back to optimizing that illusion of partici- pation, and where you put your system plays a big part. Here’s a checklist to help you deter- mine the right place for your home theater, because there are definitely wrong places to put your home theater: 05_583905 ch01.qxd 9/1/04 9:19 AM Page 14

Think about lighting: The amount of ambient light in a room, day or night, can substantially affect the experience. A nice dark room actually makes the room itself disappear when watching a film, enabling that suspension of disbelief we aspire to. Think about how lights from other rooms or street lighting might affect the experience. Think about dimensions: You tend to get more awkward sound patterns in perfectly square rooms. The best place to put the centerpiece of your system — the TV display — is along the short wall of a rectangular room, preferably a wall without windows or doors on it. Fully enclosed rooms are best for sound. You can pull heavy curtains across an open wall when you are watching films in your home theater. Think about sound: Although people typically place a couch up against a wall, with a home theater, you want enough space behind you so that the sound can get in back of you and truly surround you. So the ideal position for the seating is more central to the room. Think about the picture: Sit close enough to your display to maximize the perceived size of the picture, but not so close that you see a somewhat grainy picture because you can see the lines on the TV set (that’s too close). The bigger your display, the farther back you need to be to not see the lines. Also think about angle of viewing — all displays have a preferred angle of viewing to stay within. 05_583905 ch01.qxd 9/1/04 9:19 AM Page 15

Think about walls: A rather muted color or wall covering — bookcases are ideal — absorbs stray light. A dark gray or black room is best, or one with heavy, colored drapes. (Now you know why you see all those drapes and carpeted walls in theaters!) The last thing you want is a brightly colored gloss paint that reflects light, creating light ghosts to the sides of the screen. Think also about mirrors and picture frames; they do the same thing. Take note of the front and rear wall surfaces, because in general you want to control the way your sound reflects off these surfaces. Typically, you want the back wall to be a little reflective, to help build a more general sound field behind your seating area. Think about floors: Yup, the floors too. Bare tile or wood causes acoustical reflections that mess up your sound field. A good rug can absorb stray sounds that can affect the crispness of your signal. Think about stray noise: Listen closely to your room for regular interfering sounds, such as a clock ticking or a fish tank pump. Consider moving these devices if you can. And if the sound is coming externally, like from the dryer or washer, consider some cheap absorptive wall coverings to muffle it. 05_583905 ch01.qxd 9/1/04 9:19 AM Page 16

16 Doing It Yourself versus Hiring the Pros A lot of home theater you can do yourself. However, if you want it done right, you may want to bring in some experts to complement your work. If you don’t have the right electrical outlets at your desired electronic station, for instance, you might call in an electrical contractor to put in dedicated home run electrical cables (so you’re not on the same circuit as the dish- washer and have spikes hitting your system all the time). Also, setting up front projection is an art and better left to professionals. And there’s nothing like having your system fine-tuned by a professional who really can tell whether your sound is just right. Still, you can do all of this yourself, with some patience (and respect for the live conductors in your electrical system). Want some confidence that you can do this (and get some neat ideas for your own instal- lation)? Check out all the DIY home theater projects at www.circuitcity.com, www. hometheatertalk.com, or www.home theaterforum.com.