TedJen

Jen and trying to solve one final problem associated with the center channel speaker. We essentially have boiled it down to 2 options, one with a hutch, and the other with a dry wall solution. Take a look at the photo section for more information.

We finally put the home theater on order last week. The process to get here took so long due to the high costs associated with cabinetry and room options. In the endgame, we decided to keep it simple by avoiding built-in cabinets as well as creating a dedicated home theater room. So, what did we get? Here are the most interesting parts of the system

The heart of our system is a Rotel RSX-1067 which functions as the receiver for the system, which provides 100W by 7 channels of power. It has many cool features, but I like the looks the most. Unlike most receivers, it actually is pretty cool to just look at. Of course, us guys love buttons, dials, along with cool flourescent display....oh and the cooling fins...yeah baby! Well, as for the sound quality, it rocks. We auditioned this baby with a slightly higher quality speaker system, and let me tell you, it was smoooooth!. I can't wait to get this bad boy home.

In addition to this Rotel component, we are getting a Rotel RB-1080 200W by 2 channel amplifier, pictured left, to drive our main speakers for the theater system. According to Matt, this extra power is required for the large main speakers we selected.

We ended up with B&W 703 series speakers for the main drivers (tall speakers pictured at right) and had B&W in celling speakers for the the surround system. We also have a B&W subwoofer in the back of the room. Selecting speakers was the toughest part of the process. We were in a constant debate over the 700 series and 800 series. The 800 series, specifically the 804s sounded a bit better on pure musical tracks, but when movies were playing, it was hard to distinguish between the two systems. My suggestion about choosing speakers is to simply go with what you like. Don't necessarily belive that spending more will sound better. Also remember that achieving high-performance in any system is expensive, and achieving the last few percent of performance is extremely expensive. So, go with what you like.

To play the all types of disc-related media, we purchased a Denon DVD-3910. This disc will play any type of disc-based media you can throw at it. The spec list reads like an encyclopedia of available disc media!

The remote control, of course, is extremely important. Matt choose for us a Universal Remote Control MX-3000. This remote control is fully programmable and offers an RF interface so that you don't have to point the remote at the system to send signals as you would have to in an infrared remote. The display is fully customizable allowing various themes to be chosen on the display. In addition, it sits on its own recharging base so I don't have to worry about batteries.

The final piece is the is our "ginormous" Mitsubishi WD-73927 73" TV.

This TV has bookoo features, including dual HD DVRs, true 1080P HDTV quality, and a media-PC input for hooking your computer up. Imagine a 73" computer desktop....gaa gaa .

There are many other pieces to the system, but that is the bulk of it. As for cabinetry, we selected a Green Design's Neehi collection console. With all the legacy components I have, as well as cables and expandability, we had to have Green Design customize the cabinet to our specifications. Overall, finding a cabinet that fit the entire system was just about impossible, so we were forced to customize.

Well, that is the tour of the system. It should be here soon, and we hope to share it with you!

The more we talk to cabinent people, the more disinfranchised I become with the idea of cabinents. Jen recently called the fellow who bid the cabinets for the price of a car, asking for an explanation of why things are so expensive. According to him, we have 4 problems affecting us:

1. We have a large area
2. The height is greater than 8 feet, which causes problems in cabinents
3. The cabinents themseves must be finished on all sides as shelves are visible
4. The depth of some of the cabinents are 24"

All of this contributes to the price of the car. Jen is in discussion we some folks in Orlando that can supposedly bin cabinents cheaper. Their first blush at the cabinent diagrams we had was $8,000. I guess that is a bargain, considering the other bid of $14,000

Well, all this got me thinking. When we originally were planning this adventure, we had considered using our unused living room as a dedicated home theater. At the time, we thought this was going to be too expensive, however, considering the cabinent costs we are getting, the dedicated room might be cheaper. Why? Simply because stands would take the place of cabinents. That alone saves quite a bit. There are structural changes required to the living room to make things work, which makes this option more scary; sample before and after and another before and after. Basically, this all comes down to trading which is more expensive:

1. Cabinents
2. A new wall + TV and equipment stands + any other additions required for the room

My gut tells me a wall plus stands should cheaper, but more research is necessary.

These new designs are available in the photo album, where before images are labled living_room_orig, whiel after view are labled living_room. Your comments are always welcome about these pictures.

After meeting with our designer, we discovered that the design did not include the cost of the cabinets. Quite frankly, that was a bummer. We did not believe this to be too much an issue, until we started getting bids for the cabinets. Lets just say you could buy a small Chevy for the same cost as a bid we received for my cabinet mock up! I have now put up some detailed elevations in the photos section (original sized files in the file sharing section) of my mock up so that we can point cabinet makers to them for better estimates.

Unfortunately, we cannot get estimates on our designer's mock-up as it has no dimensions. If we get nowhere with the my mock up design, then we might have our designer dimension his drawing for us.