Multimedia-PCs » Home theater

Build Your Own Home Theater Speakers

Jeremy Jones — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 02:42:04 +0000

I had my powered sub go out on me a couple of months ago. The foam surround broke apart from old age. It’s a older Kenwood SW-300 with a 10″ ported sub. I have been very happy with this sub and very surprised I didn’t blow it to pieces when I was younger.

I was more than happy to go out and buy a new one as I really missed the bass during action movies. After I went and listen to a few I wasn’t that happy with the amount of power they could produce. They were way to punchy and a lot more money than I wanted to spend. I was talking with a friend and he said he built his entire sub. I remember wiring everything together and building my own boxes when I competed in car stereo compititions but I really never thought there was a market for it for home use.

My friend pointed me to a website called Parts Express. They sell everything there that you would need to build your complete home theater speakers. My friend built his entire sub setup from parts from there but I just needed a new sub that would work well in my enclosure. I ended up going with the Dayton Titanic MK III. Someone in the reviews had the same setup and said the sub was great. I was unsure about buying speakers without listening to them but I went with it and it was well worth it. The sub at 20lbs is a lot beefier than the old kenwood one. I had to widen the opening for the sub by 1/8″, easy to do with a wood file on MDF board. Once it was wired up I had to turn down the volume to almost it’s lowest point on the amp. It is barely moving but puts out some room shaking bass. It reminds me of a 12″ sub with it’s low powerful bass.

If you like to tinker with your home theater setup you might find it enjoyable to build your own speakers. In my case I thought it was great that I could reuse all the old parts and just replace what needed replaced. I saved money and it was a fun project.

Backyard Home Theater for $300

Jeremy Jones — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:12:19 +0000

Electronic House has a new article about Ed Sweeting building a backyard home theater for $300. It wasn’t exactly $300 if you had to buy everything but it looks really good and that’s all that he paid for it. It shows that if you have the willingness to have something and a little tinkering skills you can accomplish something. He revived some old components that he had and did a little dumpster diving for some parts. The end result is a nice, inexpensive, backyard theater.

Are You Using Your Surround Sound Speakers?

Jeremy Jones — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 20:41:40 +0000

Sound and Vision has a post about the number of people that don’t hook up their surround (rear) speakers. 50% of people don’t hook up their surround sound speakers.

But when asked what other reasons motivated them to buy, the top-ranked responses (aside from brand) were “all-in-one convenience” (cited by 50% of respondents), “less clutter” (50%), “less wires” (47%) and “design/appearance” (47%).

Now I wonder what the results would be if they asked people who had them hooked up, where they put them? I have been in many homes where the surround is hooked up but they are sitting right next to the TV. That defeats the purpose of surround sound. I have also been in people’s house where they didn’t quite get the concept and wanted the front speakers beside them because that’s where the voices came from.

I have to admit that I don’t use my surround speakers right now. They are hooked up, since they are in the walls, but I haven’t saved up enough money for a Dolby Digital amp, so the amp I’m using is a 12 year old Dolby Pro Logic Kenwood.

Are you using surround sound speakers? Let me know in the comments.

(via Gizmodo)

A Dream Home Theater for 6 million

Jeremy Jones — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 03:03:00 +0000

http://blog.audiovideointeriors.com/208great/

If I had 6 million dollars I probably wouldn’t spend it on a home theater. But I love looking at pictures of crazy home theaters that I’ll never have. This has to be one of the best I have seen. It doesn’t show off fancy wood work, it shows off what every guy likes to see, that’s all the electronics. All the speakers and components are proudly displayed for everyone to look at in a circle around the couch. Check out the link for more pictures.

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Home Theater 101

Jeremy Jones — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 20:45:00 +0000

http://www.electronichouse.com/article/home_theater_101/#When:12:20:00Z

This is a nice post with some questions and answers of a home theater. These are some basic questions but if your just starting out building a home theater than it might be helpful to you. My goal is to build a HDTV theater in my media room for under $3000. But after building the house it is difficult to find another $3000 to spend, especially on toys.

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What is the Intel Viiv?

Jeremy Jones — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 00:11:00 +0000

http://www.dvrplayground.com

You see the commercials, you see the print ads, but what is Intel Viiv? The article has some good information on what Intel Viiv will get you. It’s perfect for your media center.

Yes, it’s a marketing gimmick, which can really turn some people off to a product. But the fact of the matter is, the Viiv is a powerful PC, fully capable of handling any kind of content for your home theater.

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10 things to completing a Home Theater

Jeremy Jones — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 20:01:00 +0000

Electonic House

10 steps to planning and completing a home theater. Every home theater will very in design and time spent, but this is a very nice list before starting your home theater project.

From the article:

Phase 1: Design
The most important step of a home theater is a good design. You’ll need to decide whether you’d like the room to function as a dedicated theater or a multipurpose entertainment room, how large the space should be and what type of content (for example, just movies or also sporting events, kids’ shows and the news) you plan to watch.

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Build a home theater

Jeremy Jones — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 03:44:00 +0000

http://www.mediachance.com/dvdlab/cinema/index.html

If your the type of person that likes to do things yourself and want to build a home theater then I suggest reading this article. I have read it a few times since I’m considering building my own home theater. The article has some really good information that you might not have thought about when designing your room. Some of the things they talk about aren’t cheap, but if your a real DIY’er then you can take the idea and do it in a way that will be reasonable for your budget.

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Crazy Home Theater setups

Jeremy Jones — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 03:40:00 +0000

http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/the-ultimate-home-theater-rooms

Well techeblog has some pictures of some pretty elaborate home theaters. If you have so much money you need a special place to watch videos then here are some theaters to base your project off of. I’m just trying to save up for a simple home theater. These people spent more on the design of the room then I will on all my equipment. I know I’m just jealous, I want one.

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NY Times tries Home Theater

Jeremy Jones — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 21:26:00 +0000

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/04/technology/04basics.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

NY times writer was interested in setting up a home theater for less than $1000. Well the article is above but I think he didn’t do a very good job. And got paid for that article. I’ll give you what you need for under $1000 that is better then the $850 he spent. And you can purchase everything at Best Buy.

The equipment:

2 – Xbox 360 core, $300
1 – Wireless G router. $60
1 – Lacie Big disk 600GB external hard drive, 279.99

The guy in the article used existing computers and TV’s. So there you go. More hard drive space, 2 rooms, and wireless G. Most people that buy computers at Best Buy have Windows Media Center on them. I know because I work on a lot of them. It is a little more then his setup but will offer the user a better experience. I could have done this setup with a computer if I could have built my own. And honestly most people with high speed Internet already have G because they were talked into it by some Best Buy salesperson.

Multimedia-PCs » Home theater

Build Your Own Home Theater Speakers

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Backyard Home Theater for $300

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Are You Using Your Surround Sound Speakers?

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A Dream Home Theater for 6 million

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Home Theater 101

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What is the Intel Viiv?

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10 things to completing a Home Theater

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Build a home theater

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Crazy Home Theater setups

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NY Times tries Home Theater

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