05_583905 ch01.qxd 9/1/04 9:19 AM Page 3 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: ߜ 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 the- ater 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! ߜ 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 capa- bility. DVD is the focal point for all digital video innovation that will drive your home theater. ߜ 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 advan- tage 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 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 experi- ence. 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 dis- play, 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 the- ater. 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 con- trol 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 sig- nals to your speaker system. The video display, of course, is what you watch (think TV). We’ve also included some optional components — gaming sys- tems 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 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 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 differ- ent 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: ߜ $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 play- ers included. (Gotta have DVD!) ߜ $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-projec- tion 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. ߜ $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 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. ߜ $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.