I can upgrade, but I didn't think it was worth it. I've got a couple blu-ray players anyway. That's the standard package. I can probably get a couple of free upgrades. Today, I'll ask him to upgrade the projector to the HC7000 you posted. I'll also try to squeeze a blu-ray player out of the deal. The package looks like it is a couple years old
Honestly, no not at all. I think everyone that has seen it, is amazed. It looks great, and really nothing but win. I will try to take some pics of it this evening and post it for you, if anything, to give you some ideas to build on. Good Luck on the project. It's stressful, I know, but well worth it when you enjoy the final product.
If this is a new house and your builder is offering this, then expect to be reamed for the price. What they'll do is just hire a home theater installer who will try to rip everybody off. The markup on this, if what you posted is correct, is insane for low-to-mid end equipment. onkyo 607r - $400 Onkyo dvd - $124 Mitsu HC5500 - $1800-$2300 PV-50R - $149/pair PDR-8 - $280 MX350 - $100 PST8 - $145 PM1 - $90 Vutek screen - $490 In a 5.1 config, that's about $4100 You do the math and then tell me if installation is really worth the price of the remainder $5800. (Assuming I didn't make any mistakes) If this is a new house being built, the most difficult part of the installation is simple - the wiring, and you may be dealing with the nutty markup of the HT installer and/or the home builder.
Yes, it is a new home being built. Well, it would all be part of the upgrades they are giving us. But that free money could go to other parts of the house. If they let me, I'll probably cancel the package for the equipment and have them do just the wiring. Do you know if this is an option or not off the top of your head? If I free up that upgrade money, I can get that 1/2" memory foam carpet padding.
In that case you would wait on the wiring - but design and install the infrastructure for the system. You are overlooking an important component of the room which will have much more impact than the type of speakers or amplifier your purchase - room acoustics. As this is not an existing room you have a unique opportunity to tackle that now.
clutch citizen, Do what I did. Get the wiring done for 5.1 or 7.1 and worry about the equipment later. Get the room pre-wired for an in-ceiling projector. Have them install the cabling necessary for it and also have them put an outlet in the ceiling near where you will want to put the projector. Pre-wire the room for the speakers, too. Make sure you have outlets where you intend to put A/V equipment. Lastly, in a room that size, make sure somehow you're going to have enough A/C to keep it cool. You'll probably have 1-6 people in that room with A/V equipment and the door closed. It could get pretty hot in there. They'll screw you over on the price of the pre-wiring, too - trust me. It'll be some nutty amount like $1000 or something, but it's better than getting screwed over on that package you listed up there. You can buy the equipment later and actually get what you want at the pace you want, and probably better components, as well. You can take your time figuring out what's good and what's not instead of having to give a decision on a complete package "right now".
That is the game plan. Get the wiring done and buy the equipment to plug in at my own pace. I might just go ahead with the speakers though. I called the guy, but he hasn't returned my message. I was wondering how I was going to keep that room cool. It's pretty much a box.
I'll chime in... I have a projector and a 92" da-lite screen (6X9) and my wife and I really, really enjoy it. Yes, we can only really use it at night when it's dark since our den has windows to the outside but we are okay with that. We have a LCD TV that we use during the day for HGTV and crap like that. We have an Oppo DVD player that does a great job of upscaling DVDs and HD from DirecTV. Both of those sources look great on the screen. Since we wanted a regular TV as well, we had to go with an electric drop-down screen. That gets expensive and, if you go that route, you need to make sure the screen is tab-tensioned. If this is a dedicated projection room, just get a nice screen and mount it directly on the wall. Much, much cheaper (i.e. $500 vs. $3,000???). You can also buy special paint and a frame and paint a "screen" on your wall. The frame is just to set it off and to provide a black boarder. All of our stuff is 720P and only gets up-scaled once so we don't lose too much quality in that process. It still looks good exploded to 92" so if you go 1080p and have good scalers you should be fine. Make sure the center speaker for your surround system is really, really good as that is where most of your dialog (and a lot of sound in general) comes from. If possible, have your center speaker the exact same as your right and left speakers (i.e. buy three of the same thing). The ONLY reason center speakers are different is so that they can fit on top of (or under) traditional TVs. Usually there isn't room for a tower speaker in the middle. But, if you have a projection screen on the wall, depending on the speakers you choose, you could have a nice center. You could even build a cavity behind your screen (built into the wall), get an acoustically transparent screen (like at the movies) and put your center behind the screen. If you use RF for your Remote Control you can even put your sound equipment back there provided there's access. (I have no experience with AT screens so you will need to do research on your own if this sounds like a good idea). Finally, remember that there is going to be a MINIMUM distance to the screen that you have to deal with depending on how big your screen is. Take that into consideration when you plan your seating. Too close and you can see the pixels. One last thing! Take care when planning the projector/screen combo with regard to aiming the projector properly. Some projectors come with good lens shift capabilities and some don't (when I did my research, in general LCD projectors came with it and DLPs didn't). Lens shift allows you to adjust the up/down and side/side direction that the projector projects. This means you can be a little off on your projector placement (either due to bad calculations, sloppy install or obstructions). If you get a projector that doesn't have lens shift you have to be VERY CAREFUL to line the project up with the screen when you mount it. If you install the projector first and your screen just hangs on the wall you can move your screen (but that might make it a bit off center). I'm not saying you have to go with a projector that has lens shift, just be very careful with your install if you don't.
Run over to Best Buy or some other theater installers and look at some of the speakers they offer. Then ask them how much the speakers and their installation would cost if everything is pre-wired. Compare it to what the builder is charging you for installing the Paradigms. Also compare the speakers they have to the Paradigms the builder will install. You can probably buy a better sub from places like Hsu Research, Velodyne, or SV Sound if you need, but keep in mind wherever you're listening to the sub will probably be a bigger room than the dimensions of the room you'll be putting it in, so you may end up buying more speaker than you really need (which may be better than the alternative, I suppose... ).
For that projector and sound system, it is. But there are others that would easily approach and exceed that and, for many, would probably be worth it.
Well of course - you could probably drop a few million on all that equipment if you were so inclined.
Don't get your speakers or projector from Best Buy unless, after your research, the speakers you happen to want are from Best Buy. They have a good selection of mid-fi stuff...
