One of these days, I’m going to put my home theater stuff here. It’s a complete DIY set up, but don’t let that fool you. I’m perfectionist when it comes to this stuff. I did my due diligence and homework to find out what the best equipment is for the money. In addition, we are blessed enough to have a dedicated room for our home theater. I’m taking my time because I want to do this right. Plus, my life is so busy with other stuff I just don’t have the time to dedicate a day or so a week to play in the home theater. I’ll get it completely finished one day. Once I start modifying the room (i.e. walls, paint, carpet, sconces, lighting, etc.) I’ll post some pictures of my progress here for all to see.

But in the meantime, until I can get around to constructing this page properly, here’s a list of the equipment I’m currently using. When I started studying this, I found a website called ‘Home Theater Shack‘. Folks this is an excellent place to learn about home theater. It not only has information for the DIYer, but it helps anyone looking to dabble in the home theater hobby by arming you with the most accurate knowledge before spending thousands of dollars. Sonnie runs a top notch operation over at the Home Theater Shack.

Here’s what I have so far. Bear in mind, I’m just starting out in this hobby.

Projector

Panasonic PT-AE4000U – I researched this forever. For the money, you cannot get a better projector, period! Stop your search right now. Considered to be a mid-range projector, I am completely 100% satisfied with this beast. It’s packed full of features and is full 1080p. Don’t go spend $8000 on a home theater projector. If you do, you’re wasting your money.

A/V Receiver

Onkyo TX-SR707 – I’ve always been partial to Onkyo for some reason. I guess it’s the quality of their products. I picked this receiver because it had the exact amount of HDMI inputs, the wattage was spot on, and it fit my application nicely. Plus I didn’t have to spend $2000 or more to get what I needed. For under $1000, this AV/Receiver is packed with features. Plus, it’s THX Select2 Plus Certified! Excellent!

Blu-Ray Player

Sony PlayStation 3 (120GB) - I just stuck the PS3 in here for a quick resource. For $299 bucks, you can’t beat it. It does just about everything I want it to do. Plus we play a few games on the big screen every now and then. When I get around to it, I’ll add another Blu-Ray Player. Obviously, the best is the Oppo BDP-83. But the PS3 will suffice for now. I’ve got other things to focus on.

Speakers – Sub

Energy ESW-C8- I’m running a pair of these. They provide me with what I need for now. A man can go broke buying speakers. I think I’m going to build my own one day, but for now, these suffice.

Speakers – Center

Polk Audio CS10 – I listened to these in the showroom before making the purchase. For my untrained ear, these sounded better than any other speakers in the same price range. I’m very happy with them.

Speakers – Surrounds

Polk Audio TSi-100 – I’m currently running 7.2 surround right now. The room definitely has plenty of thump. These surrounds respond well to the Onkyo. Plus, when I bought these, I got a pair of Atrium 5 Series speakers for free. I liked that deal!

Believe it or not, I’m just throwing the image up on the wall because I’m current researching the screen. I’m definitely going to build my own fixed screen. There’s a lot of information you need to arm yourself with before jumping into something like this. I’ve got the material narrowed down to Da-Lite ‘Da-Mat‘ screen material. From my homework, it’s going to fit my application nicely.

That’s all for now. I’ll update this page as I make more progress.

Jester