Home Theater Setup Suggestions

[jerrickbeast7]

I am looking into getting a projector setup and am asking for suggestions for basically the whole setup. I have limited space to work with, the wall I plan to place the screen on is approximately 8 feet from the seating area, and I am aiming for a 5.1 sound setup. I am not the most familiar with projectors, but as stated before, the screen and seating area are about 8 feet apart, so the projector needs to display from a distance of that minus the size of the projector. I want to do a front left, front right, front center, rear left, rear right and subwoofer setup for sound but haven't used anything outside of basic computer speakers so I am also not the most familiar with what is out there, I was leaning towards bookshelf style speakers for the left and right channels, and would most likely need a suggestion on a receiver as well. I know this is a big ask, but any help/ suggestions is appreciated and I am more than happy to answer any questions.

[Blue4130]

1 minute ago, jerrickbeast7 said:

I am looking into getting a projector setup and am asking for suggestions for basically the whole setup. I have limited space to work with, the wall I plan to place the screen on is approximately 8 feet from the seating area, and I am aiming for a 5.1 sound setup. I am not the most familiar with projectors, but as stated before, the screen and seating area are about 8 feet apart, so the projector needs to display from a distance of that minus the size of the projector. I want to do a front left, front right, front center, rear left, rear right and subwoofer setup for sound but haven't used anything outside of basic computer speakers so I am also not the most familiar with what is out there, I was leaning towards bookshelf style speakers for the left and right channels, and would most likely need a suggestion on a receiver as well. I know this is a big ask, but any help/ suggestions is appreciated and I am more than happy to answer any questions.

What size of screen are you aiming for? With only 8 feet, I'd look into an ultra short throw mounted near the screen.

[circeseye]

system wise id look at denon or yamaha they have decent priced 5.1 systems but if you want even cheaper theres onkyo

as for speakers your center and left, right  are your most important.

you want a center that can do good audio because it is the most used.  example (but it is kind of long) JBL Stage 135...your room size stands for a smaller one

left and right because those are your main stereo and complement your center....decent bookshelf will work

your surrounds? i highly recommend bipolor speakers like Fluance SXBP2....they give a more fuller area sound (like you know sound is from your back left but not straight from the speaker, kind of hard to put the words to it)

[jerrickbeast7]

10 hours ago, Blue4130 said:

What size of screen are you aiming for? With only 8 feet, I'd look into an ultra short throw mounted near the screen.

I'm aiming for about 80ish inches for the screen

[jerrickbeast7]

8 hours ago, circeseye said:

system wise id look at denon or yamaha they have decent priced 5.1 systems but if you want even cheaper theres onkyo

as for speakers your center and left, right  are your most important.

you want a center that can do good audio because it is the most used.  example (but it is kind of long) JBL Stage 135...your room size stands for a smaller one

left and right because those are your main stereo and complement your center....decent bookshelf will work

your surrounds? i highly recommend bipolor speakers like Fluance SXBP2....they give a more fuller area sound (like you know sound is from your back left but not straight from the speaker, kind of hard to put the words to it)

Would those work as both front and rear speakers?

[johnt]

28 minutes ago, jerrickbeast7 said:

I'm aiming for about 80ish inches for the screen

Just buy a TV. The projector isn't worth the trouble for that screen size.

[jerrickbeast7]

7 minutes ago, johnt said:

Just buy a TV. The projector isn't worth the trouble for that screen size.

My biggest concern is price, tvs of that size with good panels tend to be expensive and I was told that a projector setup might be cheaper, do you have any recommendations for tvs?

[johnt]

6 minutes ago, jerrickbeast7 said:

My biggest concern is price, tvs of that size with good panels tend to be expensive and I was told that a projector setup might be cheaper, do you have any recommendations for tvs?

I don't think any options I would recommend for a projector+screen would be any cheaper for 80 inches. Otherwise you are really giving up a lot of quality.

 

Are you a Costco member? They have 85 inch TV's from around $1,500 to $2,500 from Samsung and Sony. If not, then look locally and see where you need to set your budget.

 

A projector comes with a lot of considerations and they all cost money. The screen, mounting the screen, mounting the projector... these costs add up. Not to mention finding studs in the proper locations, or paying more for equipment that lets you have some adjustments. The ultra short throw projectors aren't super cheap either, and in a lit room you will need an ambient light rejecting screen... so like $2,000 for a screen. For projectors, my general recommendation is an offset lens = lower quality. They are purposely trying to make a smaller unit, which is bad for noise and thermals. The best price to performance with a lens located in the center is the Epson 4010, which is $2,000. So...

 

I just checked Best Buy and they have an 85 inch Samsung for $1,100. No it's not OLED (not even sure if it has HDR?) lol But if this isn't in your budget, then stay away from projectors.

 

Or drop down in screen size and bump up in quality.

 

We haven't started talking about your speakers. For reference my speakers (and subwoofers) cost ten+ times more than my projector and screen.

 

I know my response sounds kind of snobby. But realistically a 75 or 85 (or heck even a 65 inch tv) from 8 feet is going to look big. Stepping up to a project for 15 inches from a standard 65 inch is going to cost a lot more and you're really giving up on quality. No projector can keep up with a modern OLED. Best buy has the LG B2 on sale for $2,000 for a 77 inch. https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lg-77-class-b2-series-oled-4k-uhd-smart-webos-tv/6501857.p?skuId=6501857 This is an absolute steal for a small theater. The A2 is a big cheaper but I wouldn't save $200 for the differences in features. You can also look at the C2 65" if you want a bump in quality. But the B2 vs C2 argument is not worth it.

[circeseye]

1 hour ago, jerrickbeast7 said:

Would those work as both front and rear speakers?

would what work? bipols or bookshelf?

bipols i would not use as fronts they are designed for surrounds

studios will work for both

 

oh also bookself should not be self powered bookself.

[jerrickbeast7]

3 hours ago, johnt said:

I don't think any options I would recommend for a projector+screen would be any cheaper for 80 inches. Otherwise you are really giving up a lot of quality.

 

Are you a Costco member? They have 85 inch TV's from around $1,500 to $2,500 from Samsung and Sony. If not, then look locally and see where you need to set your budget.

 

A projector comes with a lot of considerations and they all cost money. The screen, mounting the screen, mounting the projector... these costs add up. Not to mention finding studs in the proper locations, or paying more for equipment that lets you have some adjustments. The ultra short throw projectors aren't super cheap either, and in a lit room you will need an ambient light rejecting screen... so like $2,000 for a screen. For projectors, my general recommendation is an offset lens = lower quality. They are purposely trying to make a smaller unit, which is bad for noise and thermals. The best price to performance with a lens located in the center is the Epson 4010, which is $2,000. So...

 

I just checked Best Buy and they have an 85 inch Samsung for $1,100. No it's not OLED (not even sure if it has HDR?) lol But if this isn't in your budget, then stay away from projectors.

 

Or drop down in screen size and bump up in quality.

 

We haven't started talking about your speakers. For reference my speakers (and subwoofers) cost ten+ times more than my projector and screen.

 

I know my response sounds kind of snobby. But realistically a 75 or 85 (or heck even a 65 inch tv) from 8 feet is going to look big. Stepping up to a project for 15 inches from a standard 65 inch is going to cost a lot more and you're really giving up on quality. No projector can keep up with a modern OLED. Best buy has the LG B2 on sale for $2,000 for a 77 inch. https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lg-77-class-b2-series-oled-4k-uhd-smart-webos-tv/6501857.p?skuId=6501857 This is an absolute steal for a small theater. The A2 is a big cheaper but I wouldn't save $200 for the differences in features. You can also look at the C2 65" if you want a bump in quality. But the B2 vs C2 argument is not worth it.

I appreciate the input, it doesn't come across as snobby, I think that I will end up going with a tv

[jerrickbeast7]

2 hours ago, circeseye said:

would what work? bipols or bookshelf?

bipols i would not use as fronts they are designed for surrounds

studios will work for both

 

oh also bookself should not be self powered bookself.

I was asking about the bipols, are those only meant to be used as fronts? Or is it just more optimal that way

[circeseye]

10 minutes ago, jerrickbeast7 said:

I was asking about the bipols, are those only meant to be used as fronts? Or is it just more optimal that way

bipols are meant for your surrounds. 5.1 would be the rears..7.1 sides and rears

i mean i guess you can use them for left right but they are not designed for that. you would want bookshelf to towers for those

[Omon_Ra]

This could be a far bigger project than you think, especially if you don't want to see any wires. How big of a screen do you want for your projector? You'll need to factor the throw distance for the projector and screen size, and then figure out how you'll mount the projector to the ceiling. If there's no power outlet up there, you'll need to run power there. Then you need an HDMI cable to run from your projector location to your receiver location. And then the price of a screen. If it's a flat white wall, you could get away with just projecting onto the wall, but it isn't ideal. As @Blue4130said, a short throw projector may be the way for a projector. You could have it sit on your console/piece of furniture and the wiring part would be significantly easier, though short throw projectors are not exactly cheap, and they also require a fairly precise location to display properly.

 

As for your speakers, if you want to hide wires, you can run them along the floorboards or under carpet to the various locations around the room, but for the surrounds it will almost entail running the wires up the wall about 6-8 feet as well. You can cut into the wall and fish the wires up the stud bays to hide them, but depending on your home construction there could be blocking/other obstructions in the stud bays that will make it difficult. Are you remodeling the room that this will be going into? It could make this project a bit easier. Any OFC 16 gauge speaker wire will work, don't be fooled by marketing. It will be cheaper to buy a bulk spool than precut lengths. You don't need banana connectors either, just wire the bare copper to the terminals. Just don't skimp on the HDMI cable, especially when you're getting longer than 15 feet. You need a quality HDMI to support the higher bandwidth 4K/HDR video. And if it's directional, just make sure you wire it correctly.

 

For equipment, I like Yamaha for AV receivers, though nearly any will work fine, it's a matter of UI/usability and personal preference. For speakers, I'd go with floorstanding towers for your front left/right, and a decent center channel. For your surrounds, bookshelves or in-wall/ceiling if you're taking out drywall are nice as they are out of the way. A subwoofer may not even be necessary depending on the floorstanding speakers you get. Projectors, pretty much any laser projector will do fine. They're a little more expensive than LCD, but you don't have to replace bulbs. I'd be more concerned with lumens, throw distance, and other features (HDR, 4K, frame rate, etc) than brand. Does the room have any windows? If you aren't doing light control with curtains or shades, a high lumen output will be needed. I love the look of a projector, but there are plenty of times that a large format TV (80+ inches) is easier/better.

 

The biggest thing for this is what is your budget. I'd say for a solid 5.1 surround system (speakers and receiver), projector, screen, mount, and all the wires/cables needed, you're looking at ~$5000 if you buy new gear. You could take your time and search for some used gear, and save some coin, and you could definitely do all new for less than that, but then you may be missing out on 4K, or HDR, or other added features to your system that you may or may not want. The nice thing though with a full system like this is it is more or less modular, so you could get very budget speakers, receiver, projector, and upgrade them over time. But now is the time to decide if you want to stick with the projector route or just do a large format TV.

[sm1th5]

I will start this off as a summary. 

 

Bookshelves for front and surrounds.

Subwoofer.

Center speaker.

Av receiver. 7 channel denon or yamaha. Or go more channels if you want 4 atmos speakers.

Speaker wire.

Rca cable for subwoofer.

 

I do not recomend bipoles or dipoles as with a regular bookshelf you can hear the audio with precise directionally. Eg you know where the audio is coming from.

Bipoles and dipoles diffuse the audio and it's difficult to know where the audio is.

 

Interested in a Dolby atmos setup with ceiling speakers?

 

As for a display. I'll recomend a oled either Sony or LG.

 

Best of luck!

[cmndr]

On 4/2/2023 at 1:57 AM, circeseye said:

you want a center that can do good audio because it is the most used. 

It's more nuanced than that. IF you have a center channel it's your most important channel. It's also SUPER easy to mess up and to end up doing more harm than good by having a center channel vs no center at all (the sound would then be redirected to the L+R). IF you have a center channel you need to make sure it's a high quality speaker and it's well positioned. 



If you have an acoustically transparent screen (worse for image quality unfortunately), you end up being able to place identical L+R + center speakers behind it (which looks nice and has the best acoustic properties) and then you're gold. If your screen is going against the wall or is non-transparent then you need to balance tradeoffs. 

MTM centers (sometimes called 2 way speakers) are usually worse than no center speaker at all - some of the sound from each of the mid-woofers cancels the other midwoofer out so you end up with gaps in your sound. 2.5 way speakers are better, ideally you have a 3 way speaker though. These are usually $300+ for one speaker. What would be even worse is basically a MMMTMMM array. 

If you're only worried about getting sound to 1 or 2 seats that are centered on the TV, then just get TWO high quality L+R speakers (angle them in a bit so they're pointed near the center of the listening area) with the money that would've gone towards the center channel. It's usually a better choice. I'm NOT using my $350 center channel because my $700 L+R speakers work better. 

 

On 4/2/2023 at 1:57 AM, circeseye said:

you want a center that can do good audio because it is the most used.  example (but it is kind of long) JBL Stage 135...your room size stands for a smaller one

The JBL Stage 135 is not a good center. It has really bad comb filtering. 
If you check the measurement, you end up with holes(dark blue in the chart below) in the sound unless you're DEAD on center (within 10 degrees) for 800Hz-2000Hz. This is where a lot of the human voice is. You end up with a situation where if you move your head a few inches the dialog goes from "OK" to "I can't hear what people are saying"

The JBL Stage 130 L+R speakers also went from "WOW THIS IS AMAZINGLY GOOD FOR THE PRICE" to "EUGH they cut costs in the latest revision and it's MEHH now".
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/jbl-stage-135c-review-center-speaker.28536/


A pair of JBL 530s on sale for $240-300 would probably work better and this isn't a terrible price for a front sound stage (handles L+R and does a "phantom center"). 

----

 

3x KEF Q150s (one turned on its side for the center) would also work. On its side (hence using the vertical plot on here), you're "good" for around +/- 40 degrees or so off center for 800-2000Hz (similar loudness intensity across the spectrum and no awful gaps). They also work well with just 2. Don't buy them for $600 a pair, they're regularly on sale.

 

[cmndr]

On 4/2/2023 at 10:47 AM, jerrickbeast7 said:

My biggest concern is price, tvs of that size with good panels tend to be expensive and I was told that a projector setup might be cheaper, do you have any recommendations for tvs?

Don't think about projectors until you're in the $5000+ range. A good screen (no projector included) will cost more than a decent TV. 

A Hisense 75U8H or TCL 75R655 will be under $1500 if you get it on sale. They will look better, they'll be easier to set up (and if you don't know what you're doing paying someone a few hundred dollars hurts the value proposition) and you won't need to worry about the sunlight screwing with your image quality so much during the day. 

If you're throwing more cash at the issue then LG OLED (C2) or Samsung S95B. I'd probably just spend half as much on the TV, get something "good enough" and be happy with it. You can buy a new, state of the art display in a few years, that's bigger, brighter and all around better. 
 

 

Overall gear list:

Display
L+R Speakers (spend $$$ here) - Emotiva B1+, KEF Q150, JBL 530, Polk ES15, Polk R100 and a few others
1 or 2 GOOD subwoofers (spend $$$ here) - 2x svs PB1000/SB1000 bought used off CL/FB work well at around $300 a pop.

AVR (Costco has good sales on the Denon 760h)

side speakers (these can be "whatever")
height speakers (these can be "whatever")
1 RCA cable per sub
~100' of OFC copper speaker wire