Tell me about your home media/theatre setups

[Brian Fantana 6689]

I'm going to be selling my house and buying another soon, for myriad reasons. I want my new house to have a bad ass home theatre setup. I want to hear about/see (if you're cool showing us all pics) the setups you guys have at home. Tell me about your room setup, the equipment you use (TV/Speaker setup/etc), if you have a big library of physical media (BluRays etc), if you're someone who subscribes to few or several streaming services, if you're the kind of person that runs a media server out of your house, or even if you watch nothing but Live TV/DirecTV etc. I'm curious!

In my current house I'm set up like this, nothing special at all it's just an average ass living room:

• Some comfy couches/recliners
• 75" QLED TV (definitely think I want to get a similar size or larger OLED for the new house)
• Half decent Samsung soundbar/subwoofer combo (definitely need a better audio setup but I've been lazy, though it's not terrible)

I also do not pay for any media anymore. Last year I got completely fed up with juggling the numerous streaming services and went back to my old school roots, which is stealing all my media and running my own media server. It's not a matter of cost, the cost is trivial. The quality of life issues (major first world problem vibes, I know) involved in having so many streaming services is terrible. I run a Plex server from a Synology NAS that stores all the media I hoover up. I've been building it up manually myself for 8 months or so now, it's a fun little thing to do. If you're interested in doing something like that yourself I can go into more detail.

Anyway, I want to hear about/see what you guys have going on at home, how you do movie night. Show me your buttholes setups. Give me some ideas.

[atomheartbevo 89672]

2 hours ago, Brian Fantana said:

I run a Plex server from a Synology NAS

I picked up a DS1621+ a few years ago in a great deal, and it's amazing for everything, including running media.

I have a shitty living room setup right now, so no pics, plus only 55-inch, but I'll say I've been far happier with an Android TV than I thought I would be (HiSense).  The interface is great, response is fantastic, kids can use it with no problems.

[Elvis 3371]

avsforum.com

https://www.avsforum.com/forums/ultra-hi-end-ht-gear-20-000.86/

https://www.avsforum.com/forums/dedicated-theater-design-construction.19/

https://www.avsforum.com/forums/general-home-theater-media-game-rooms.15/

[Rimbo 25936]

So, our setup is in disarray; we moved a few years ago, we're planning some remodeling this year (month, actually), so there are pieces unattached. But here's what the main system be:

Audio

Meridian DSP6000s, inside a D6000 case.

Video

84" motorized screen (brand name forgotten) with an Epson Powerlite 8350

For sources, we have two, going through a hub.

Sony Blu-Ray player (that also streams) and a Google Chromecast.

 

[Brian Fantana 6689]

57 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

I picked up a DS1621+ a few years ago in a great deal, and it's amazing for everything, including running media.

I have a shitty living room setup right now, so no pics, plus only 55-inch, but I'll say I've been far happier with an Android TV than I thought I would be (HiSense).  The interface is great, response is fantastic, kids can use it with no problems.

I picked up a DS220+ just to get my feet wet (only 2 bay). I should have just bought a bigger one in hindsight but it'll be a while before I care. What RAID setup are you using?

Edited February 22, 2023 by Brian Fantana

[atomheartbevo 89672]

10 hours ago, Brian Fantana said:

I picked up a DS220+ just to get my feet wet (only 2 bay). I should have just bought a bigger one in hindsight but it'll be a while before I care. What RAID setup are you using?

SHR-2 with 6 6TB drives (24TB useable), a mix of Western Digital Red Plus NAS and Seagate IronWolf drives, 5400/5600rpm (Seagate), all CMR (be very careful, some of the manufacturs fucked around and tried to cheap out on CMR), and I purchased the drives over 4-5 months from different places so I never had to worry about getting two from the same batch (and I checked the drives to make sure they weren't from the same manufacturing batch).  I went for a slower RPM for quiet (it's near my TV and video game stuff), but the NAS itself is still plenty fast.  I spent years managing servers in a corporate environment  and have plenty of sensitive stuff (would be a pain in the ass for me to recreate) so I wanted something with some actual redundancy.  Oh, and I've got a few TB on the NAS that automatically backup to the cloud as well, and to another computer in the house.  I've also got an M.2 NVME installed for cache purposes, but I don't think I've really needed it all that much as I don't do enough activity to justify it. 

And it's plugged into a UPS as well.  I do like the software, and it's got enough storage for all of my personal stuff, business backups, backup of our household computers, photos from all of our devices, and still has plenty of room for all of our ripped DVDs/Blu-rays of movies that we don't have access to on streaming.

[Pig Bellmont 8719]

I recently got a Samsung QLED tv and really enjoy it. 

[speed817 19277]

My setup at my house:

• 65" LG C1 OLED
• Denon x2400h
• 5.1 setup with Jamo S809, S83 CEN and Fluance bipolar (rears)
• Nvidia Shield Pro
• Plex Media Server: Recently bought a Beelink Sei12 mini PC and installed Ubuntu.  I did this because my NAS was not able to do hardware transcoding or tone mapping with my 4k remuxes.  Has been running great so far.
• NAS: Xpenology in a 12 bay 4u rackmount chassis.  Using components from an old PC i used which had an i5-3570k.  6 bays are being used at the moment:  1 3TB drive for downloads, 5 bays setup in SHR totally 50TB of media
• Utilizing MOCA to network everything in my house.  Living room, Office and NAS/Server closet

[Reese Bennett 3614]

Timely thread as I just converted part of my basement to a media room.

[Brian Fantana 6689]

41 minutes ago, Reese Bennett said:

Timely thread as I just converted part of my basement to a media room.

[Angry Gorilla 1768]

Timely thread as I just converted part of my basement to a media room.

Your very own masturbation palace

[Brian Fantana 6689]

He ripped that photo off some website lol

[Reese Bennett 3614]

22 minutes ago, Brian Fantana said:

He ripped that photo off some website lol

That's the joke.

[wutang75 449]

I’ll tell you about my media room. It’s in my ex wife’s house asshole.

[atomheartbevo 89672]

11 minutes ago, wutang75 said:

I’ll tell you about my media room. It’s in my ex wife’s house asshole.

[Brian Fantana 6689]

14 minutes ago, Reese Bennett said:

That's the joke.

Tell better jokes 

[Texzilla58 4736]

Having been in electronics since 75 I’ve had some killer setups. We downsized a few years back and I unloaded a vast amount of product, including some real oddball product like a JVC D-VHS, three Sony 400 disc CD changers, and a Sony SuperBetaHiFi. You name it I’ve had it unless it was a stupid concept like an RCA SelectAVision.

I have had a dedicated home theater with massive JBL speakers and subwoofers and Krell amplifiers with a big Sharp projector. It was so cool but we hardly used it once the newness wore off and we got tired of friend barging in. I’m a bigger fan of “media rooms”, meaning the same bigass system but seating like a den not a theater. Women especially don’t like theaters; they like their family gathered in front of their hearth or big screen where they can look at their family.

We’re moving later this year. My plan is a LG 86” nano, and a big 7.2 speaker system. I want a killer two channel system in my office/den, with a big McIntosh amp and preamp and some old Energy Veritas speakers.

[Rimbo 25936]

9 minutes ago, Texzilla58 said:

You name it I’ve had it unless it was a stupid concept like an RCA SelectAVision.

Now those, I did have while growing up. They were pretty great, at first; better video and audio quality than the VCR. The skipping that would plague older discs, and the players, was less great. Flipping discs halfway through the movie was meh. Obviously the lack of the ability to record limited the devices' usefulness.

Still, watched and rewatched an awful lot of Robin Hood (both Disney's animated and the Errol Flynn ones), Tron, and Rocky 3 on that thing.

[Texzilla58 4736]

Another vision of American corporate stupidity. How do these massive projects get approved by the C room? Pontiac Aztek. FedEx fax centers. And the RCA SelectAVision. Yes playing a movie disc with a stylus, that was a consumable but couldn’t be replaced. Folks buy movie discs to then drag a hunk of eroding diamond thru plastic. If you hate clicks and pops of vinyl records you’re gonna love seeing your movie look like a grind house print. At the time the largest product failure in American history, even outpacing the Edsel. We carried it because of the ads RCA ran to drive traffic and it was the easiest product ever made to step away from. It was a WagonQueen Family Truckster level of turd.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13512]

Surly non-1%

• I have a living room that was built in 1940
• $350 Hisense 55inch 4K TV
• Sonos beam sound bar
• looking to add some sonos surround sound speakers next. They're releasing a new speaker in March that I'm eyeing.
• couch from rooms to go.

EDIT: As I'm getting older, I find that crisp audio is the most important aspect hence why I spend more on audio than video. The audio isn't about shaking the room. 

Edited February 23, 2023 by Nice Guy Eddie

[Texzilla58 4736]

The amount of performance one can get now for less than a grand is astounding. It’s also why The CE industry is a decimated hulk of what it was in the 80’s or even 00’s. Greatly eroded prices combined with practically nonexistent margins. Drag race into a brick wall. Tens of thousands lost jobs and wrecked careers, thousands of shuttered businesses, and hundreds of collapsed manufacturers. It’s been a painful 15 years to be a part of.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13512]

6 minutes ago, Texzilla58 said:

The amount of performance one can get now for less than a grand is astounding. It’s also why The CE industry is a decimated hulk of what it was in the 80’s or even 00’s. Greatly eroded prices combined with practically nonexistent margins. Drag race into a brick wall. Tens of thousands lost jobs and wrecked careers, thousands of shuttered businesses, and hundreds of collapsed manufacturers. It’s been a painful 15 years to be a part of.

Whatever happened to the stereo store?

[tigol 2398]

Having been in electronics since 75 I’ve had some killer setups. We downsized a few years back and I unloaded a vast amount of product, including some real oddball product like a JVC D-VHS, three Sony 400 disc CD changers, and a Sony SuperBetaHiFi. You name it I’ve had it unless it was a stupid concept like an RCA SelectAVision.

I have had a dedicated home theater with massive JBL speakers and subwoofers and Krell amplifiers with a big Sharp projector. It was so cool but we hardly used it once the newness wore off and we got tired of friend barging in. I’m a bigger fan of “media rooms”, meaning the same bigass system but seating like a den not a theater. Women especially don’t like theaters; they like their family gathered in front of their hearth or big screen where they can look at their family.

We’re moving later this year. My plan is a LG 86” nano, and a big 7.2 speaker system. I want a killer two channel system in my office/den, with a big McIntosh amp and preamp and some old Energy Veritas speakers.

That is an absolutely ridiculous generalization about women. Holy shit.

[Longhorn94 2448]

I am in the process of finishing our movie theater in our home. It is a dedicated room that is apprx 18' x 26'. I built a 136" screen. The projector is an Epson 5050uB. The 7.1 surround sound goes through Monolith THX certified in-wall speakers and a Monolith THX certified 12" ported subwoofer. We have an Oknyo 7.2 AVR  in the control room that runs everything including  a Google TV and Plex media server that is running off a HTPC. Walls and ceiling are navy blue. The carpet is navy blue swirls. Lights are covered pointing up and down. Last thing i need is the seating. We will have 3 rows of 4 seats. I will upload pics in a bit. 

[Longhorn94 2448]

[ChickenSandwich 9836]

Return of the Dragon

 

Nakamichi Dragon soundbar

https://www.whathifi.com/features/i-heard-the-nakamichi-dragon-21-channel-soundbar-unleashed-and-it-really-is-quite-something

[Texzilla58 4736]

That is an absolutely ridiculous generalization about women. Holy shit.

Having sold more big screen TV, front projectors, home theater rooms and media rooms than just about anyone ever I know quite a bit about consumer behaviors and how they interact with television in their home. It comes from decades of focus groups, surveys, and success and failure. And the success came from listening to women thru the years as we tried to evolve the old stereo store from a frat house to a retail environment that females could feel comfortable and secure in.

We learn these things from listening to customers. Most things that go into a home in electronics and appliances must deal with the Wife Acceptance Factor. Back when we were selling massive rear projection TVs, we learned that most women hated the idea of that huge black box in their den. yet post sale their satisfaction with the product was off the chart. The reason being that the product brought the family together. It replaces the hearth.

When it came to home theaters we found an opposite issue. Usually it was an upgrade from the old big screen so the objections were minimized and the issues were budgetary mostly. The satisfaction level though diminished after install. They wanted the ability to feel gathered with family and to converse. Of course many wives enjoy a massive home theater but many want to rip out tiered theater seating and go back to a pit.

Selling shit to men is far simpler. Another generalization that might offend you but selling expensive toys to men is about focusing on testosterone. If a dude thinks it will get him laid, or show off a massive cock, then it’s a desirable purchase. TVs, stereos, cars, trucks, guns, barbecue grills, boats, you name it.

[Horn_Spanker 524]

Need help on finding a Media Player app.  Roku or Samsung

Currently I have a PC connected to the TV, so I use Windows Explorer in "Details" mode to choose my media.  Wanting to remove PC from living room and stream from a server.

Wanting to find a player app that looks like the "Details" look of Windows Explorer.  Don't want thumbnails of the media.  Also, I don't care about meta data.  Can't read the fan art anyway.  All the Plex, Jellyfin, etc. I've seen shows thumbnails?

[Texzilla58 4736]

Roku is a simple platform for accessing content from multiple sources whether cable, or, satellite, or various apps.

The one thing I wish it had was a place to keep track of all my shows across all my different apps.

[mr. sunshine 2827]

A 22 year old Bose 321 and the 6-7 TVs it survived 

[TOR 5583]

Basic Shaggy Poors set up, a Samsung 75 uhd with Samsung HTS audio and wireless rear speakers.  Haven't got around to playing with the Atmos yet, the NeoDTS sounds fine to me.  Gave up on the HTPC media center and just stream or pull down torrents to a NAS media library.  Got rid of a ton of wiring by losing/moving the PC.

 

ps. the old lg HTS is in the garage, free to good home

Edited June 24, 2023 by TOR

[Captain Ron 12876]

Just spotted this thread. I will post my setup in short order, but I thought I would share this WashPo article:

 

https://wapo.st/3u2sgtZ

He spent his life building a $1 million stereo. The real cost was unfathomable.Ken Fritz turned his home into an audiophile’s dream — the world’s greatest hi-fi. What would it mean in the end?

Spoiler alert, this story goes exactly where you think it does - estranged kids, divorce, etc.

 

Let me know if the link doesn't work, I can post the article text.

Edited January 19 by Captain Ron

[royiv 9317]

1 hour ago, Captain Ron said:

Just spotted this thread. I will post my setup in short order, but I thought I would share this WashPo article:

 

https://wapo.st/3u2sgtZ

He spent his life building a $1 million stereo. The real cost was unfathomable.Ken Fritz turned his home into an audiophile’s dream — the world’s greatest hi-fi. What would it mean in the end?

Spoiler alert, this story goes exactly where you think it does - estranged kids, divorce, etc.

 

Let me know if the link doesn't work, I can post the article text.

Good read. Thanks for sharing.

[dcbc 14484]

On 6/23/2023 at 2:27 PM, Horn_Spanker said:

Need help on finding a Media Player app.  Roku or Samsung

Currently I have a PC connected to the TV, so I use Windows Explorer in "Details" mode to choose my media.  Wanting to remove PC from living room and stream from a server.

Wanting to find a player app that looks like the "Details" look of Windows Explorer.  Don't want thumbnails of the media.  Also, I don't care about meta data.  Can't read the fan art anyway.  All the Plex, Jellyfin, etc. I've seen shows thumbnails?

 

On the Plex web view, switching to "Table View" removes the thumbnails.  Does that not work in the app?

Edited January 20 by dcbc

[South Austin 52509]

I have a TV. A big one.

[52-80 19159]

On 1/19/2024 at 8:53 PM, Captain Ron said:

Just spotted this thread. I will post my setup in short order, but I thought I would share this WashPo article:

 

https://wapo.st/3u2sgtZ

He spent his life building a $1 million stereo. The real cost was unfathomable.Ken Fritz turned his home into an audiophile’s dream — the world’s greatest hi-fi. What would it mean in the end?

Spoiler alert, this story goes exactly where you think it does - estranged kids, divorce, etc.

 

Let me know if the link doesn't work, I can post the article text.

I've watched this dude setup before that article came out.  He acknowledges that it's all very much subjective, and that his system might not be great, and that it doesn't matter!.  He's satisfied by the journey of building it and the fact that was made to his tastes.

The stereo didn't cause the family estrangement.  The stereo was merely a vehicle for his obsessive personality and if not for audio, it would've been boats, model trains, hentai, whatever else.

[TOR 5583]

I still have an Honest-to-God 42 inch plasma in the bedroom.  I would throw it out but the damn thing weighs so much it would cause a hernia.

[Baboontyme 2812]

I am starting to redo my setup. I have a need to mount 3 flat screens vertically. They can have a max height of 26" so that likely means 50" or slightly smaller if I can find without going down to 43". Can a single 2x4 stud hold that kind of weight? What are my options?

Edited January 29 by Baboontyme

[PilotsError 2287]

On 1/29/2024 at 8:18 AM, 52-80 said:

I've watched this dude setup before that article came out.  He acknowledges that it's all very much subjective, and that his system might not be great, and that it doesn't matter!.  He's satisfied by the journey of building it and the fact that was made to his tastes.

The stereo didn't cause the family estrangement.  The stereo was merely a vehicle for his obsessive personality and if not for audio, it would've been boats, model trains, hentai, whatever else.

 

a distinction without difference. 

[52-80 19159]

9 minutes ago, PilotsError said:

 

a distinction without difference. 

I guess its more socially palatable than estrangement due to his obsession with getting pegged by street hookers

[Texzilla58 4736]

I have a buddy in Indy that I lost touch with a few years back. He told me he’d gotten divorced again. What happened? “She had an issue with m HiFi addiction”. Most of us who’ve been in the industry as long as we’ve been have had issues. This is serious shit for someone who is not rich.

I don’t know what all he has in the rack but that’s a set of Infinity IRS-V speakers. He likely paid $60 -100k for them.

[hobbes2702 13033]

Holy shit.
I used to get real obsessed with fine tuning and upgrades, etc but that is obscene lol.

I think at some point you gotta be able to find some stuff you like that is good enough. Once I got my Mythos ST-L I basically decided that the cost to upgrade was too much to justify the slight improvement I might get.

[Texzilla58 4736]

I have been in the AV industry since 75 installing under dash car stereos in high school. IRS-V’s were a mythical creature. I’ve never seen them at a show or in a store.

There were only 58 sets made. They weigh 1400 lbs.

[gofuckyourself 8240]

1 hour ago, Texzilla58 said:

I have a buddy in Indy that I lost touch with a few years back. He told me he’d gotten divorced again. What happened? “She had an issue with m HiFi addiction”. Most of us who’ve been in the industry as long as we’ve been have had issues. This is serious shit for someone who is not rich.

I don’t know what all he has in the rack but that’s a set of Infinity IRS-V speakers. He likely paid $60 -100k for them.

Kinda presumptuous of her. Maybe he got them cheaper. I once knew a dude rolling around in an Econoline van who had some pretty sweet speakers.

[Texzilla58 4736]

Kinda presumptuous of her. Maybe he got them cheaper. I once knew a dude rolling around in an Econoline van who had some pretty sweet speakers.

Getting divorced allowed him to buy the IRS. These things come on the market about as often as 48 Tuckers.

[thunderlounge 7834]

Thinking about redoing my LR setup. Past time for new furniture, need to paint and fix a few spots. Might as well update the rest.

Will be replacing a 4yr old 75” samsung (q60?), paired with a samsung soundbar/sub/surround.

Looked around at different setups, and an upper model 85” would run me $6k-$8k. 
 

I think instead of 85”, I might instead opt for a 120” ust projector (aka LaserTV) that would put me back about $4k-$5k, depending on which brand of screen I get. Plus a new soundbar, with at least a 10” sub. 6” sucks.

 

[hobbes2702 13033]

How’s the PQ on those short throw? 

[aggie08 21504]

On 1/31/2024 at 7:09 AM, Texzilla58 said:

I have a buddy in Indy that I lost touch with a few years back. He told me he’d gotten divorced again. What happened? “She had an issue with m HiFi addiction”. Most of us who’ve been in the industry as long as we’ve been have had issues. This is serious shit for someone who is not rich.

I don’t know what all he has in the rack but that’s a set of Infinity IRS-V speakers. He likely paid $60 -100k for them.

One of my persistent random musings is how much money I must have saved by not having particularly picky taste buds or any knack for discerning subtle differences in audio or video quality.

[thunderlounge 7834]

24 minutes ago, hobbes2702 said:

How’s the PQ on those short throw? 

Surprisingly good, and getting better. You really need to pair it with the right screen, which they have special ones that reject about 90% of any ambient light, and only reflect light coming from the bottom at an extreme angle.

Daytime viewing is good, and as the light dims even better.

I have 2 windows in my living room, both face north and have shades though. They really don’t add near the amount a south facing would.

Overall about what a good led can do now, but not quite oled level black just yet during the day.

Color-wise, they can beat oled, and cover most, if not all or beyond, of the bt.2020 color spec.

A good projector will run in the $2500-$4k range, most around $3k give or take. You can go cutting edge and get even better, but it’s high priced and not getting much more out of it.

A good screen can be anywhere from $1k-$5k, some even more. Depends on size, brand, fixed or motorized, etc. 

 

[hobbes2702 13033]

25 minutes ago, thunderlounge said:

Surprisingly good, and getting better. You really need to pair it with the right screen, which they have special ones that reject about 90% of any ambient light, and only reflect light coming from the bottom at an extreme angle.

Daytime viewing is good, and as the light dims even better.

I have 2 windows in my living room, both face north and have shades though. They really don’t add near the amount a south facing would.

Overall about what a good led can do now, but not quite oled level black just yet during the day.

Color-wise, they can beat oled, and cover most, if not all or beyond, of the bt.2020 color spec.

A good projector will run in the $2500-$4k range, most around $3k give or take. You can go cutting edge and get even better, but it’s high priced and not getting much more out of it.

A good screen can be anywhere from $1k-$5k, some even more. Depends on size, brand, fixed or motorized, etc. 

 

In that price range are they doing 4k? I know with the standard projectors (last time I price checked) you had to get into that 7-10k range before getting a true 4k image.