I am moving into a new house in October. I am trying to get the house as fixed up as possible before moving in. One of things I am considering is buying a home theater and having it installed. I went to Tweeters with a floor plan and they gave me a ballpark estimate :s ($2500 HDTV in a $9000 system including install). As I talked with the Tweeter sales person, it became clear to me that I can easily buy the equipment at many places but finding the right person for the install may not be so easy. I am now thinking that I should find an install person first and go from there. The install is an issue since I want to install speakers on the first floor of a two story house (which is 20 years old so the plaster board is up ). The second issue is that where I want to put the home theater, there are no cable, electrical, or phone outlets :s (Need the phone for the TiVo unless I go wireless with the TiVo). Any thoughts or recommendations?
Just FYI Is the TIVO directV based? If it is you dont need a phone jack unless you want to order pay-per-view.. a cable based TIVO, I'm not sure about..
I went through this same topic when I set up my home theater room and DirecTV HD TIVO just recently. I was told you need to have the phone line...regardless of PPV. For one, they said TIVO cannot get software updates without the phone line. But, with a wireless phone jack, this shouldn't be an issue either way.
I can't believe you don't want to do this yourself. I did it myself with a small budget and got a decent install. I am not rich. You could more than likely do better than me. You can have a small power surge protector that reaches where the components are going to be. They make some now with Cable and phone and electrical outlets so that you can connect things no matter on what part of the house your components are. The manuals for connecting the components have instructions my 7-year-old can follow. Invest in the best cable for your digital outputs, though, that would be my tip. Try doing it yourself, man. Save yourself some green, give me the rest.
I can't believe you don't want to do this yourself. I have the money but not the time. Believe! If the new house was a single story, I would feel better about doing it myself. Not having attic access to the first floor ceiling is the real problem.
Is this a newly built house or just a pre-owned...If its still being built, then you could have it pre-wired and do it yourself...If not, then your right, it would be a pain in the ass... However, the $9000 seems a bit high, but I've always done it myself...
I really wouldn't worry about not having outlets since they can be installed quite easily. As far as buying the equipment, shop around yourself. There are definitely deals to be found out there, you can find really nice HDTVs at Sams and Costco.
There's a whole buttload of info at http://www.avsforum.com/ Maybe you could post there and get a better response.
a cable based TIVO, I'm not sure about.. I am building my system around my Toshiba TiVo DVD burner which hooks up to digital cable. My TiVo unit in theory can receive a wireless internet signal via a USB port and antenna thingy. I suspect I need the following: 50-60" LCD rear projection HDTV stand AV receiver surge protector speakers (2 towers, 1 center, 2 ceiling for surround sound, 1 woofer => 5.1) HDTV digitable cable box from TWC
What I am fishing for is reference to someone who does hoem theater installs. I could go through Tweer or Home Theater Store, but they want to sell me equipment more than say getting the right pieces of equipment and the best installation possible for my house.
Yup. But you might post at AVS forum asking if there's anybody there who could recommend an installer to you in the Houston area.
I don't see why you need a "home theater installer" for this. Those guys will kill you with pricing. Get an electrician to add outlets, any handyman or electrician may be able to run the wire, and do some research and buy the components yourself (ie, retail stores generally are a rip-off). A good electrician should be able to run wire for cable, electrical, phone, etc. Being on the first floor of a 2 story, it may be a nightmare to run the speaker wire through the walls if the place is already built or at least has the drywall up. When I had my house built, I had the pre-wire for surround sound downstairs and for a projector and surround sound upstairs. It's nearly impossible to wire on the first floor of a 2 story house after the drywall is up if you have a room above it. You have to punch through drywall. Not in all cases - but in most. This is, of course, assuming you want to hide wires in the walls and not have them running around on the ground or through your carpet. What type of speakers are you getting? In-wall/In-ceiling or floor standing or a combo? I have a combination of all of them downstairs.
If you really want to go the "home theater installer" route, check out www.cedia.com and use their "Find a Designer" link on the left to look for one.
Drywall has been up for 20 years Thus, I rather have someone who knows what they are doing do the job (hopefully right the first or second time ).
Are you looking for someone to do the wiring? Or do you need the electronics set up? Or advice on what to buy? Or all of the above? I'm going to suggest you visit Audio Concepts (in the center with Kinko's on Durham and 59) and talk with Parth. Audio Concepts is a very high-end store (Home Theater is not what I call high-end) and are very customer service oriented. However, you pay the price. All their stuff is sold at list. The advantage is they really treat you well (at least they did with me when I puchased my Magnepans). If anything, check out the room they call Area 51. Very cool for tech geeks. I've had bad experiences with Home Theater Store and not really any experience with Tweater. Once again, I would consider those stores to be mid-fi more than hi-fi (upscale Best Buys?).
I would maybe think about putting the theater upstairs in a room that is out of the way from the rest of the house. My good friend installed his theater equipment and surround sound in the main living area of his house, assuming that he would get more use out of the equipment with everyday use as well as movie watching. He found out that he had to actually plan to use his theater equipment for movie watching in full surround sound because often his wife didn't want to watch the movie and when he had the sound cranked in the main portion of the house, it pretty much ruined the use of any other living areas in the main portion of the house, including the master bedroom, kitchen, study, and dining room. He and his wife had to either both be watching the movie, or he had to turn it down to the point to where surround sound wasn't even worth it. I put my theater equipment upstairs...did it myself through the attic, added some regular insulation around the room where it is to dampen the sound outside of the room. I'm able to crank the volume when I want and my wife can be downstairs reading or watching TV and not even care. Might want to think about it. I give up the use of my big screen for a lot of the everyday TV watching because it is upstairs and out of the way, but when I'm watching a movie or have buddies over for football games, the rest of the house is still usable without tons of noise pollution. Of course, I don't even know if you have anyone else that lives with you, but its something to consider for spouses, children, and roomates that might be living with you.
Whatever you do, don't just fork your money over to these high end stores that want to sell you Martin Logans, B&W's, etc. when your ears couldn't tell the difference between those and a pair of Infinity's sitting on a Circuit City shelf. You can get great sounding speakers from places like htd.com, svsubwoofers.com, av123.com, etc. that will sound as good or better than speakers that cost 2 or 3 times at much at Circuit City, Best Buy, Home Theater, Tweeter, etc. simply because you don't pay the price for a big name. Good luck - home theater is a great, but potentially expensive hobby.
