The AV Receiver powers your speakers. While speakers and subs can be a huge money pit in a home theater system, I decided to go the inexpensive route and save mucho dinero. I made this choice for several reasons:
Add comment July 19th, 2007
If the projector is the heart of the inexpensive home theater system, the AV receiver is the soul. The AV receiver powers the thumping bass and multi-speaker surround sound that immerses you when watching your favorite movie or TV show (in HD, of course). Home theater just isn’t home theater without a good AV receiver. (more…)
Add comment June 14th, 2007
The projector is the heart of the home theater system. Nothing can save your home theater system if your picture looks like garbage; but a nice picture can cover a multitude of other sins.
The projector also represents a large percentage of the overall budget. And, since the objective of the inexpensive home theater is to get a great bang-for-the-buck home theater system, I looked at the price/performance ratio and tried to get the projector that provided the best value. (more…)
2 comments May 9th, 2007
The key component to any successful home theater installation is spending enough time during the planning phase. A good plan will save much time and heartache when it comes time to install components, and will also yield a much better home theater experience when you finally are able to sit down and enjoy your first movie.
The best time to plan is while you still have an unfinished room to work with. That way, you can plan your finished room already having the home theater plans in mind. Retrofitting a room to work as a home theater is hard work — it’s much easier to plan the home theater, plan the finished room, finish the room according to those plans, and then install the home theater components.
While planning your home theater, it’s crucial to be flexible. The plans for finishing the room may force changes or compromises in your home theater plan. You’ll need to be flexible. (more…)
Add comment April 13th, 2007
Potential home theater owners are quickly bombarded with a new set of terminology, an array of acronyms, and specifications and technological details that can be confusing and difficult to keep straight. As I mentioned in my Introduction article, learning home theater technologies can be a great boon to home theater owners.
This article provides a primer on the technologies involved in building your own inexpensive home theater.
Add comment March 23rd, 2007