Yay for my new home theatre!
Posted by: Snafzg
On: Nov 27, 2009 at 12:18pm
After spending my entire life with nothing bigger than an old 27" JVC CRT I finally took the plunge and bought a new home theatre. For the past few years I've been watching from the sidelines as each and every one of my friends and/or family members upgraded their systems to the 40-58" range of displays and I'll admit that it made me a bit jealous. Given the steal of a deal we got at Future Shop yesterday (employee pricing on everything), it would have been foolish to pass this up.
Samsung PN50B650 50" Plasma 1080p Series 6 Display
This TV is the sweet spot for us in terms of price, size and performance. A 58" would have been wholly unnecessary for the viewing distance and while 46" would have been good enough, why not squeeze out those extra few inches for basically the same price? We went plasma over LCD because the image was just more appealing to our eyes. I found the 120Hz and 240Hz Samsung equivalent LCDs were too bright, too clear/focused (it made things look fake if that makes sense?), and not saturated with enough colour for our tastes. I'm sure many people out there think the LCDs look nicer, which is cool. We just prefer plasma. And given that the price on this model just dropped by 40% in the past couple months, it was an amazing deal.
Denon AVR-790 7.1 Channel 1080p HDMI Receiver
To be honest, I'm not very knowledgeable about audio receivers. I kind of trusted what the sales associate told me in terms of price versus performance and read some decent reviews online in making my decision. It has 4 HDMI inputs and 1 HDMI output, which is more than enough. I can also add on a $100 attachment dock for my iPod/iPhone down the road. Apparently it pumps out pretty good sound according to the sales guy and Internet reviewers.
Harman Kardon HKTS15 5.1 Speaker Package
While I didn't get a chance to demo the Denon receiver, I did listen to these speakers though an equivalent Harman Kardon receiver. Let me just say, they were absolutely amazing. Plenty of rich bass, singing highs, and excellent mids and this was in a noisy store environement. I can only imagine how much better they'll sound in my basement rec-room without any other noise pollution. The guy through in a set of front speaker stands for next to nothing, so they'll look amazing too. I was able to convince my wife to get these speakers as an upgrade by letting her hear just how good John Mayer sounded acoustically on a live concert demo Blu-ray.
Sony Playstation3 Slim 120GB
Because the Denon receiver doesn't have any built-in Blu-ray or upconverting DVD we needed something for media playback. Why bother with a $250 Blu-ray player when you can get a full media/gaming station in the PS3 for only $50 more? Even though I'm not heavily into console gaming, I'm pretty sure Rock Band 2 and other fun co-op games will be a hit with the family and friends. It doesn't hurt that one of my friends has a vast library of PS3 titles for me to mooch from! I love how easily I can transfer media like videos, photos, and music onto my external HD and easily play them through my PS3. Rock on!
Sanus 52" 3-Shelf TV Stand
You can't beat getting 50% off a sleek and sexy TV stand with room for all your new components. I wouldn't say there's anything too special about this stand other than it looks nice and has pleny of room for everything. I do like the back metal panel, which should hide some of the cable mess. I wanted a stand instead of a wall mount for my TV because I'm putting everything in a space with a lower ceiling due to a bulkhead. Given the glossy black frame and glass shelves, I'm sure it will be a dust collector, but what can you do? Clean!
All the cables, speaker wire, and surge protection
I'd have a hard time paying the premium price for any Monster brand products, but when you're getting HDMI cables and a surge protector for 20% of their sticker prices, why not right? Honestly... how can they justify $80 for a 3.2' HDMI cable? $20? That's more like it! I also got a 100' spool of 16 gauge Rocketfish oxygen free speaker wire for dirt cheap, which is more than enough to run my rear satellites and remaining speakers/sub.
I just spent the last couple weeks renovating our downstairs family room. I did major work patching and painting and only have a drop-ceiling left to install and a few minor finishing touches to put on the room. I'm still waiting for the furnace guy to come in and install our new unit and run a couple more vents and a cold air return in our basement, which has been holding things up a little bit. Still, we should be settled in down there for Christmas, which is all I can hope for.
I have some vacation coming up around then and it will be nice to plunk myself down and complete veg-out with friends and family as a reward for all the hard work everyone did this year. I'll post some pics once everything is set up!
Samsung PN50B650 50" Plasma 1080p Series 6 DisplayThis TV is the sweet spot for us in terms of price, size and performance. A 58" would have been wholly unnecessary for the viewing distance and while 46" would have been good enough, why not squeeze out those extra few inches for basically the same price? We went plasma over LCD because the image was just more appealing to our eyes. I found the 120Hz and 240Hz Samsung equivalent LCDs were too bright, too clear/focused (it made things look fake if that makes sense?), and not saturated with enough colour for our tastes. I'm sure many people out there think the LCDs look nicer, which is cool. We just prefer plasma. And given that the price on this model just dropped by 40% in the past couple months, it was an amazing deal.
Denon AVR-790 7.1 Channel 1080p HDMI ReceiverTo be honest, I'm not very knowledgeable about audio receivers. I kind of trusted what the sales associate told me in terms of price versus performance and read some decent reviews online in making my decision. It has 4 HDMI inputs and 1 HDMI output, which is more than enough. I can also add on a $100 attachment dock for my iPod/iPhone down the road. Apparently it pumps out pretty good sound according to the sales guy and Internet reviewers.
Harman Kardon HKTS15 5.1 Speaker PackageWhile I didn't get a chance to demo the Denon receiver, I did listen to these speakers though an equivalent Harman Kardon receiver. Let me just say, they were absolutely amazing. Plenty of rich bass, singing highs, and excellent mids and this was in a noisy store environement. I can only imagine how much better they'll sound in my basement rec-room without any other noise pollution. The guy through in a set of front speaker stands for next to nothing, so they'll look amazing too. I was able to convince my wife to get these speakers as an upgrade by letting her hear just how good John Mayer sounded acoustically on a live concert demo Blu-ray.
Sony Playstation3 Slim 120GBBecause the Denon receiver doesn't have any built-in Blu-ray or upconverting DVD we needed something for media playback. Why bother with a $250 Blu-ray player when you can get a full media/gaming station in the PS3 for only $50 more? Even though I'm not heavily into console gaming, I'm pretty sure Rock Band 2 and other fun co-op games will be a hit with the family and friends. It doesn't hurt that one of my friends has a vast library of PS3 titles for me to mooch from! I love how easily I can transfer media like videos, photos, and music onto my external HD and easily play them through my PS3. Rock on!
Sanus 52" 3-Shelf TV StandYou can't beat getting 50% off a sleek and sexy TV stand with room for all your new components. I wouldn't say there's anything too special about this stand other than it looks nice and has pleny of room for everything. I do like the back metal panel, which should hide some of the cable mess. I wanted a stand instead of a wall mount for my TV because I'm putting everything in a space with a lower ceiling due to a bulkhead. Given the glossy black frame and glass shelves, I'm sure it will be a dust collector, but what can you do? Clean!
All the cables, speaker wire, and surge protectionI'd have a hard time paying the premium price for any Monster brand products, but when you're getting HDMI cables and a surge protector for 20% of their sticker prices, why not right? Honestly... how can they justify $80 for a 3.2' HDMI cable? $20? That's more like it! I also got a 100' spool of 16 gauge Rocketfish oxygen free speaker wire for dirt cheap, which is more than enough to run my rear satellites and remaining speakers/sub.
I just spent the last couple weeks renovating our downstairs family room. I did major work patching and painting and only have a drop-ceiling left to install and a few minor finishing touches to put on the room. I'm still waiting for the furnace guy to come in and install our new unit and run a couple more vents and a cold air return in our basement, which has been holding things up a little bit. Still, we should be settled in down there for Christmas, which is all I can hope for.
I have some vacation coming up around then and it will be nice to plunk myself down and complete veg-out with friends and family as a reward for all the hard work everyone did this year. I'll post some pics once everything is set up!
