Aminet 44/Aminet 44 (2001)(GTI - Schatztruhe)[!][Aug 2001].iso/Aminet/demo/mag/GDS-DISC11b.lha/text/hometheatre.txt

Text File | 1998-10-02 | 14KB | 217 lines

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«c1»HOW TO BUILD A WORKING HOMETHEATRE«»
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«c3»BY THE HOOLIGAN OF DCS«»
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«c2»I'm here to teach, or actually to suggest some issues concerning hometheatres.
I have one, and it has taken a long time just to make it decent. The work is
everlasting...there is «c5»ALWAYS «c2»something which can be done better or other
way. I have made a few mistakes and have learnt from them...you dont have to
take every word as a rule of thumb but do pay attention what I'm saying here.
There are always guys who might/will do/have done some things in another way,
and I am not here to say "my way is the only right way"...these are merely
suggestions gathered during the time of my hobby, trying to build a great
sounding hometheatre.«»
«»
        But first, lets define hometheatre. A basic «c5»"hometheatre" «c2»consists
of a stereosound setup, a source for picture (DVD, VHS...), and screen (TV,
bigscreen...). Thats a somewhat weak hometheatre and I will be discussing
here a bit more professional system. But before you go rush out and buy
expensive equipment, lets get some facts right.«»
«»
        «c5»First «c2»of all, a good hometheatre takes space...at least your
livingroom. No less. Do not even try to squeeze all your stuff into your
small bed room etc. The audiovideo system should be the center of your home
where everybody can enjoy its gifts.«»
        «c5»Second, «c2»no matter how good and expensive speakers you buy, thats
not going to help you if you have a very lo-fi Receiver. A good Receiver
can make bad speakers sound better, but never the opposite.«»
        «c5»Third, «c2»you dont have to sell your sister to pay for all those nifty
hifi equipment. There are many manufacturers selling very good quality in a
decent price. And dont forget used harware...usually hifimaniacs take very
good care of their little babies so dont hesitate if you see something you
like at a very low cost.«»
        «c5»Fourth, «c2»as an addition to what I just said, dont pay mindless prices
for things like "superhyper speakerwire"...there is now scientific
information about it...humans can't hear the difference between 100$/metre
or 5$/metre wire! Also, there is very little difference between very
expensive and mediumexpensive DVD players when it comes to picturequality.
Its more of a question of your TV and how well the movie is mpegged.«»
        «c5»Fifth, «c2»don't go into hype that you need 1000w speakers to really enjoy
sound. Loudness has *nothing* to do with good sound, quite the
opposite...big speakers come into alive only when played on a high volume.
Of course its a matter of taste (and there are some nice powerfull speakers
out on market, but they are extremely pricey.)«»
        «c5»Sixth, «c2»if you got the money or chance for it, go for Dolby Digital
or Dolby Surround. Stereo systems really dont cope when it comes to
hometheatre. Some people likes to listen to music in 2-speaker system but
for watching movies go for Dolby. Besides, I myself have learnt to listen
music in Dolby Surround...I'd never go back.«»
«»
Lets start the project. First we will need a good A/V Receiver. This is the
nervecenter of your theatre...dont do mistakes here...you can blow it all up
by making a wrong decision. This is actually the only piece of hardware I
advise you to pay a decent price. I myself have Yamaha's RX-V592RDS which
is more than enough for the base of a hometheatre. Its got a wealth of
features and connectors. And whats best, there are many models in RX-range
to suit your needs and your wallet. Check out also Sony's TA-Series of
Receivers...especially TA-N9000ES, it's worthy of consideration. Also,
Technics have a very good range of Receivers but the low costs ones tend to
disappoint. There is really no need to even think about the top-of-the-notch
stuff from brands like Harman-Kardon, Onkyo, Yamaha or Rotel. Leave these to
the ones who earn more than 100000$ a year ;-)«»
«»
Ok, what next...speakers. This is always a very hard decision as there are
so many speakers and so many manufacturers, and everybody has some strong
points in their designs. One is for sure...this is a critical part of your
hometheatre...dont build the speakers yourself unless you know exactly what
youre doing. Three friends of mine have tried (all with very good experience
of speakers overall, wood, electronics...), and they all now have a bought
speaker setup at the moment. As I said earlier...they dont need to be 1000w
speakers. Try 100w-150w for MainSpeakers and 75w-100w speakers as a
FrontSpeaker. Dont go for double frontspeaker system as that really dont
work. I know now by experience. The FrontSpeaker carries out a very
vital part of the sound so be carefull with it. Go for a very good one.
RearSpeakers are the ones you can chooce with plenty of freedom. They dont
have to be powerfull and actually not even very good. The only sounds that
comes through RearSpeakers are some occasional Dolby effects and some echoes
and additional sounds when listening to music. BUT, and a big "but"...
if you plan to go for Dolby Digital then I advise you to use the same
speakers you have as a frontspeaker. I wont go into details of differences
between Surround and Digital as you will most probably dig that info out
before choosing which way to go.«»
«»
So...we are now actually able to hear sound(through radio of course as we
dont have other audiosources yet). We need a cd-player, right? This is also
an item where you can save some money. If you have thought of getting a
DVD-player you actually dont need a separate CD-player. All DVD-players
playback normal audio cd's (and actually better than normal CD-players,
incase the music is recorded to take use of the extra bit DVD-players offers)
When deciding which CD- or DVD-player to buy, please forget all the fuss about
differences when it comes to soundquality. Once again its got more to do
with many other things...however, always remember: cheap is cheap...there are
some very bad CD-players out from brands like Akai, Schneider, Philips and
JVC to name few. I myself decided to buy Yamaha's CDX-493 just because it had
won some tests in various hifi-magazines. I didnt even try it before buying.
DVD-Player is a funny little equipment. There seems to be lots of nonsense
stuff when advertizing those players. For example, when I bought my player I
compared it to a much, much more expensive player from Pioneer with the same
Sony widescreen telly. And at least I, nor the salesperson, couldnt see any
difference in picturequality, allthough the Pioneer had twice the readheads
the Philips one had! So I naturally choosed the Philips DVD Player, which I
later exchanged to Yamaha DVD-S795 to benefit from Dolby Digital sound.
The price of DVD-players has dropped to all-time-low figures so you actually
get some very nice hardware for small money. And the price of movies will go
down eventually, as soon as Sony sells enough PlayStation2 units which also
has a DVD viewing capability.  There are more or less features in various
players and the more features it has, the more more it costs. Here are some
midprice players I recommend: Samsung DVD-909, Thomson DTH3600, PStation2 or
Philips DVD 750. But...if you can afford, the ultimate: Kenwood DVF-9010 ;-)«»
«»
Then a must-have piece of kit. The equalizer. Go for at least an 8 band one
(thats 8 bands per channel). I found a quite inexpensive Yamaha EQ-70 which
has 10 bands per channel and it's really a fine piece of work. Equalizer is a
necessary part of a theatre as there are many obstacles in the way of sound...
furniture, curtains, doors, walls, windows...and you must have a way of
controlling it. Oh, and when listening using Dolby Digital remember to
switch the equalizing off! This is usually done automaticly, or disallowed by
your receiver, but some DO allow listening in Dolby Digital after the sound
has been modified.
Equalizers are actually quite simple hardware...there arent too many circuits
inside it, and they arent too pricey either. If you have some extramoney you
might aswell put it into esthetics...bouncing, flashy VUmemeters and all :)«»
«»
Then as an option there are Minidisc-players, cassettedecks, cd-recorders,
Vinyl-players and things like that. I dont have a Minidisc player so I actually
dont know what it offers. In these time of cheap CD-Writers and lowcost cd's I
have found it quite unnecessary to purchase. Allthough, I have a cassettedeck
which I tend to use it very rarely all in all, guess I could live without it.«»
«»
We have already spent lots of money and here we go on with the list... :)«»
«»
I recommend a use of «c5»subwoofer. «c2»No matter how excellent your speakers are, the
specialeffects in Dolby movies are always ran through subwoofer-channel so
youre missing a lot if you dont have one. However...I think you can live
without a subwoofer...or just leave it out and purchase one when you have
the money for it. Even I myself sometimes hate the extrasound delivered by
sw, thank god I have on/off switch, plus a couple of knobs to set the
frequencies etc. All good Receivers with Dolby support should have a way to
decrease the sw sound with a few decibels, for example my V592 has option to
decrease sw output by 20 decibels. I sincerely recommend you to buy the same
250w SubZone from AudioPro that I got...the same kind of subwoofer is now in
use in three separate households and all of us are very happy how it
performs. Now some of you might think "250watts...huh? I live in an
apartmentbuilding!"...well...what can i say. I live in an apartmentbuilding
too, and I like the bass to go BOOM whenever I feel like it :-)«»
«»
What else we need...a «c5»VCR? «c2»Yeps...go for the midprice Hifi. Please do NOT make
the same mistake I did, by buying a hifi VCR from Schneider. On the other
hand this is a bit of lottery as not all dealers let you go home with the VCR
and let you test it with some movies. After buying 4(!) VCR's I have finally
found what I think suits best for me...a JVC HR-DD868.«»
So...we need a TV. «c5»Big TV? «c2»Sure :) Dont go no less than 28" ... preferably a
widescreen. TV's are actually quite easy to pick as when you go buy one there
are usually lots of them in a row and you can compare with picturequality
and prices. I own a Salora Tango 28" but wont go telling you what to
buy...well...Panasonic has a couple attractive 28"'s on their list ;-)
When you buy your TV check what kind of tube it has...I've seen a lots of 28"
at a very cheap price but those ones had quite old technology tubes which
manufacturers are trying to get rid off. Also check that the TV has AT LEAST
TWO SCART connectors (for VCR and DVD). I have two on my own which still
wasnt enough as I have Playstation too. I solved the problem by using PSX
and DVD-player with the back SCARTS, and use the SVHS connector when watching
a movie from VCR. I have only seen one TV with more than two SCARTS and that
beauty cost some money. On the other hand if your Receiver spits out video
then thats your solution. The next model of my Receiver (V692RDS) has the
video-out option that my V592RDS lacks but the SVHS solution is just as good.«»
«»
The set is ready. We now have everything needed and what we spent...a couple
of dimes :-)«»
«»
Lets start positioning the speakers. Of course MainSpeakers belongs to both
sides of the listener and FrontSpeaker directly towards listener. Dont use
two FrontSpeakers...I found it a bad solution. I replaced my two
Radiotehnikas with one 90W JPW and been happy ever since. The two
FrontSpeaker system somehow stole sounds from mainones which I found
irritating. Your manual probably tells you to hang your RearSpeakers to the
backwall, about 1.5-2.0 metres above listener. This is NOT the way to do it
as it leaves a hole to soundfield. The correct way is to position them at
sides, directly facing the listener. This issue has also been thoroughly
tested and researched lately in many laboratories and some manufactures have
changed their proposals as I descriped. Dolby Labs also recommends this way.
The subwoofer is pretty easy to position. Approximately one metre from right
or left frontcorner. This is the optimal place for a subwoofer. I also have
tried 1 metre from backleft corner, precily at rightfront corner and
finally directly next to wall precily towards to listener. Honestly I can
say the ones who figured out how to position a sw were absolutely right, at
least for me its place is 1 metre from rightfront corner and thats that.
Then to tricky part...adjusting levels for speakers. Dolby Receivers have a
builtin generator for so called "whitenoise". This is a testsound helping
you to adjust the speakerlevels. As an example i use the following settings:
Front +2db, Rear +10db, sw +-0db.«»
As you can see I have set the RearSpeaker at maximum, and still I wish I
could boost it with a couple of decibels. Ok then, here's a mindteaser:
Imagine a fullcircle around you so that the top of the circle goes through
the FrontSpeaker, you'll see the MainSpeakers are actually a bit further
away from you than the FrontSpeaker. For example, in comparison to
MainSpeakers, if you have your FrontSpeaker 30cm closer to you, and the
RearSpeakers are 1 metre closer to you, a 1 ms delay for FrontSpeaker,
and 3 milliseconds delay for RearSpeakers is required to fix the distancegap.
1 millisecond means moving a speaker about 30cm further from listener.«»
«»
I'll end this educational lesson just by stating there is still lots of
things to do after these basic adjustments. Unfortunately I live in an
apartmentbuilding, and the wall right behind my soundsetup is made of
plyvood. This is one of the worst materials imaginable for a soundroom and
all I have had possibility to do is to cover the wall with rugs and such
things to soften the echoes and vibration. I wonder if the housemanagers
would let me tear down the wall and replace it with one build of stone ;-)«»
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«c4»The Hooligan/Dual Crew^Shining«»
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