Small Home Cinema System

[Disturbedguy]

Hi all,

Now I have my own space im looking into getting a home cinema system for my bedroom, it doesnt have to be big or overly powerful as the room is rather small and on top of that the main..unit...has to sit on the same desk where my PC will be and potentially two PC monitors.

I dont know much about home cinemas and such, which is why I am here asking. Also if possible I would like it if I could connect my PC to the home cinema also.

(Not decided if my T.V will become my PC monitor yet or whether ill be sticking with dual monitors, T.V as monitor seems to be coming out on top at the moment)

Thanks in advance.

[peterb]

"Home Cinema" covers a multitude of set ups, but I would tend to take it to be a dedicated room, with some form of (tiered) seating for more than one person, with a surround sound system, recreating on a small scale the ambience and cinema experience of a commercial cinema (optional popcorn!)

However, at the other end of the scale, a TV/monitor and a DVD player might be a home cinema in that you are playing commercial movies at home.

My guess is that space tends to put you at the small end of the scale, but you want to re-create as much of the ambience as you can.

So - a large part of the cinema experience is the sound, so you need to consider the sound system you are going to use. 2.1 can give good results, but 5.1 would be better. The actual volume you can achieve might be limited by your neighbours, but I would say you need a good base unt, and as good a set of speakers that you can afford.

I would imagine you want blu ray for playback, so the outputs of that need to be matched with the rest of the system. HDMI gives digital video and sound, but you might want to consider separate digital sound out for feeding to your amplifier.

I guess you aren't going to be looking at a projector, so monitor with HDMI inputs will be needed. If you ae looking to hook up a PC, it would make sense to make sure the graphics card has HDMI out as well, for feeding to the monitor - you could use the monitor's speakers (if it has them) for PC sound, or feed that to the audio system. Of course, if you are using a PC with a blu ray device in it, use that as the playback device. If you are planning to stream video (like I player) you can do that from the PC.

As for the monitor/TV. There are some large screen LED displays (42", 47") that have TV decoders built ii, some have ethernet connctions and Iplayer software so you can stream BBC/ITV directly to the display (nt necessarily live TV though - check the specs). If the monitor has digital sound out, you can feed that to the amplifier for better sound. You might want to look at plasma displays too. Some think they give a more natural colour, but it is a matter of preference. Costs are comparable with an LED display.

Apart from the hardware, think about the room layout. Are you going to have the display wall munted at one end, with speakers at the four corners of the room? Fine as a theatre, but maybe not so good if you are using the PC for anything else. Room lighting - you probably don't want it completey dark (some people do, but generally I prefer low level background light) so you need to consider that - low power lamps, or dimmable lamps (harder to do with compact fluorescents but still possible.)

No answers, but some things to consider - and the most important one is budget. I'd say that the most expensive (and important) items are speakers and sound, followed by the monitor. They are probably not things you will upgrade too often, so get the best you can afford. You can upgrade the rest of the system later as your budget dictates.

[Disturbedguy]

Thanks for the answer and information Peter!

My guess is that space tends to put you at the small end of the scale, but you want to re-create as much of the ambience as you can.

Yup, its a relatively small bedroom with a lot of the space being taken up by a double bed

So - a large part of the cinema experience is the sound, so you need to consider the sound system you are going to use. 2.1 can give good results, but 5.1 would be better. The actual volume you can achieve might be limited by your neighbours, but I would say you need a good base unt, and as good a set of speakers that you can afford.

I would imagine you want blu ray for playback, so the outputs of that need to be matched with the rest of the system. HDMI gives digital video and sound, but you might want to consider separate digital sound out for feeding to your amplifier.

Blu Ray isnt as important but it would be a nice advantage

I was originally thinking of 2.1 (but only because I saw a unit on SCAN's TodayOnly page) but I suppose a little 5.1 goodness won't hurt

In regards to a monitor I am going to use my T.V as it the long run its going to save my space where I need it.

You have given me quite a lot to think about Peter, I dont need anything overly super duper powerful, but just something that gives me a nice little boost will be ideal

[Lowe]

5.1 or higher needs the room layout to be considered to get the best from it. There's always a sacrifice in terms of speaker locations as soon as the room is used for more than one function. My own 'cinema' is the living room so speaker choice and location had to be carefully chosen so as to ensure the maximum amount of WAF (Wife Appeasement Factor). What sort of budget are you looking at, and are you willing to spread it over a bigger period to get better kit, or do you want it all in one go?

[Disturbedguy]

Well with the room being so small, at the moment I dont see the point in spending large amounts on the setup at the moment which is why I was semi-considering just going out and buying one of the setups you can get from places such as Currys and then when I have either a bigger bedroom or can convince my house mate to get one of the living room, get something more expensive.

In regards to setting a budget, I havent really thought about it as I dont know what can be got for what or where to buy said stuff :/

[Biscuit]

Personally i wouldnt buy anything that you cant use again later with a bigger set up.

I would get yourself a full sized amp/reciever and just deal with the fact that its quite big but start of with two small bookshelf speaker that can later become the rear satellite speakers if you move into a bigger space. Over time you can add a sub and a centre (3.0 or 3.1 is actually quite effective) but i would save off on buying your front speakers and get some big old floor standers
Althought i didnt ever get the big floor standing speakers this is the approach i went for and i would do exactly the same all over again if i was given the choice.

Richer sounds regularly have deals on older models, usually still have plenty of features so i would sign up to their mailing list

This week they seem to have a good deal on this
http://www.richersounds.com/product/.../sony-strdh510

And i personally am a huge fan of the Tannoy Mercury series, having a full setup from their previous model (the F1 series)
http://www.richersounds.com/product/...mercury-v1-oak

However speakers are very subjective and i would suggest finding out what is best or your own personal tastes and space by going to the store and checking them out yourself. There are plenty of mini bookshelf speakers around which would also be quite good.

[Disturbedguy]

I like the look of the receiver and the price isnt toobad either, however the speakers are farrrrrrrr to big for my room

[Smudger]

I'd recommend an A/V amp as well. You can have multiple feeds going into it and only one HDMI to the TV/monitor. Saves having picture to one place and sound to another. Most a/v amps have at least 3 HDMI inputs. I seems to remember Yamaha amps being slightly small in size than others or the same price...

I'd also recommend having a word with Richer sounds. I saw some JBL Control1s there for £50 once. Old speakers, but top quality and quite small...

[Biscuit]

I like the look of the receiver and the price isnt toobad either, however the speakers are farrrrrrrr to big for my room

Hehe i did think as much! Have a look around though, plenty of compact options. Usually you will loose out on lower frequency response but they will sound a hell of a lot better than a crappy 2.1 system (assuming your not a complete bass junky). Whilst its not as much of an issue as it used to be, i would make sure whatever you get is magnetically shielded, was more of an issue back in the CRT days but you would be surprised how many things it effects.

the control 1 are only £60 now http://www.richersounds.com/product/...-contorl-1-blk

[Smudger]

Hehe i did think as much! Have a look around though, plenty of compact options. Usually you will loose out on lower frequency response but they will sound a hell of a lot better than a crappy 2.1 system (assuming your not a complete bass junky). Whilst its not as much of an issue as it used to be, i would make sure whatever you get is magnetically shielded, was more of an issue back in the CRT days but you would be surprised how many things it effects.

the control 1 are only £60 now http://www.richersounds.com/product/...-contorl-1-blk

Really? Still a bargain at £60! I remember DJing (badly) with a set of them at a house party once. Ah, nostalgia...

[Disturbedguy]

Hmm plenty to think about
Im going to have to look at where I stick the speakers then.
The receiver will go on the PC desk so that wont be too much of an issue, its just finding where to put the other stuff

[Biscuit]

Ikea used to do a box thing with a shelf which was the perfect size for an amp and a dvd player or something for like £20-30... cant seem to find it now

[Disturbedguy]

Ikea used to do a box thing with a shelf which was the perfect size for an amp and a dvd player or something for like £20-30... cant seem to find it now

Balls

What amp would you recommend?

[Biscuit]

Everyone has different logic, and i will probably get shouted down for this but personally i would just get any amp that has the features you need. When your spending big bucks its important to match the amp with the speakers to get the sound you want but i think when you are working on the lower end you just pick the amp with the best feature set and then try and get the best sound you can using speakers.

Although the amp can have a big effect on the sound i think the speakers are more obvious. I recently changed my amp and it did make a difference but it wasnt as earth shattering as the difference between my dads old paper coned behemoths and my Tannoy Mercury F1s

[Disturbedguy]

I know little to nothing about Amps/ Receivers and such.

Just had a very quick look - http://www.richersounds.com/product/...ae/deno-pma510

or

http://www.richersounds.com/product/...onky-a9155-blk

Im not too sure what I need to be looking at really :/

Cheers for the help Biscuit

[Smudger]

That Onkyo is a stereo amp, not an AV one. - Edit, they're both stereo, which means a) no 5.1, and b) no visual passthrough
Have a look here:

http://www.richersounds.com/products...s/av-receivers

Pretty much any of the ones on the top banner will do the job, but if you want something that will work if/when you move the system to a bigger room, the Onkyo 608 or Yamaha 667 are a good machine. They're last year's models but there's only been treaks to make this year's model's, and they're £200 below what they would have been last year...