Multimedia-Room

[Darkbird70]

Hi,

Saturday I am getting a new room. I want to make a multimedia room. What things can I use/buy? Do you guys have any ideas how to set up my room? thx in advance :D.

[AeroZak]

I've had fun setting things up like this before, it should be fun! Are you looking to only play music or were you hoping for videos too?

[sydbat]

I've had fun setting things up like this before, it should be fun! Are you looking to only play music or were you hoping for videos too?I imagine the thread title should be a clue...

@OP - What is your budget for electronics/ technology?

How big is the room? Is the room square? An odd shape?

To me, these are the first questions that need to be answered before we can properly suggest anything.

[Darkbird70]

I've had fun setting things up like this before, it should be fun! Are you looking to only play music or were you hoping for videos too?
I would like to play music, watch movies, ... Gaming, All you can think off :P



@OP - What is your budget for electronics/ technology?

How big is the room? Is the room square? An odd shape?

To me, these are the first questions that need to be answered before we can properly suggest anything. Budget doesn't really matter, I will get my stuff piece by piece, the room is square and quite big.

[sydbat]

I would like to play music, watch movies, ... Gaming, All you can think off :P

Budget doesn't really matter, I will get my stuff piece by piece, the room is square and quite big.OK. Pick a blank wall for the TV/ Monitor. While a big TV (52"+) is what everyone wants, make sure you don't go too big (yes, it is possible). There is a lot of info on this via Google. Basically, though, 46"TV = max seating distance of 9 feet...52" = 11 feet...etc.

Now the Home Theatre audio. You do not have to pay tons for quality, regardless of what Best Buy tries to tell you. I recently had to replace our receiver, and found one (Samsung) for $300 (5.1, 100 watts/ channel, 6 HDMI inputs, etc). High wattage is irrelevant...sound quality is what you are looking for.

Then there are speakers. Again, price does not dictate quality. However, make sure the ohms the speakers can handle are the same as the receiver puts out, or you could destroy the receiver (overheating).

Speaker placement. Again, Google is your friend. There are many sites/ images about speaker placement. Good speaker placement = incredible sound. Bad speaker placement = friends and family making fun of you for not placing the speakers correctly! :P

Furniture. Much better than milk crates.

[Darkbird70]

OK. Pick a blank wall for the TV/ Monitor. While a big TV (52"+) is what everyone wants, make sure you don't go too big (yes, it is possible). There is a lot of info on this via Google. Basically, though, 46"TV = max seating distance of 9 feet...52" = 11 feet...etc.

Now the Home Theatre audio. You do not have to pay tons for quality, regardless of what Best Buy tries to tell you. I recently had to replace our receiver, and found one (Samsung) for $300 (5.1, 100 watts/ channel, 6 HDMI inputs, etc). High wattage is irrelevant...sound quality is what you are looking for.

Then there are speakers. Again, price does not dictate quality. However, make sure the ohms the speakers can handle are the same as the receiver puts out, or you could destroy the receiver (overheating).

Speaker placement. Again, Google is your friend. There are many sites/ images about speaker placement. Good speaker placement = incredible sound. Bad speaker placement = friends and family making fun of you for not placing the speakers correctly! :P

Furniture. Much better than milk crates.

thx!

[eriktheblu]

Just ideas:

1. Thick curtains for any windows. Better yet, remove any windows.

2. Wall sconce lighting with dimmers. No flourecent lights. For extra fun, emply something like LinuxMCE

3. Acoustic dampening. Sound bouncing off of walls is not an ideal experience. Insulation from the rest of the building woiuld be a good idea as well. If you want to get extreme, reroute, isolate, and dampen your HVAC as well.

4. Good shielded cables. Picking up the poilice radio when you're trying to watch a film is not that ammusing the 20th time.

5. A cabinet, closet, workstation, etc. for all of the playback equipment. You want to watch a movie, not the green blinking 12:00 on the VCR (do people still use those?).

6. If you're going to connect a computer, isolate it from the room as much as possible. Computers are noisy.

[Darkbird70]

Just ideas:

1. Thick curtains for any windows. Better yet, remove any windows.

2. Wall sconce lighting with dimmers. No flourecent lights. For extra fun, emply something like LinuxMCE

3. Acoustic dampening. Sound bouncing off of walls is not an ideal experience. Insulation from the rest of the building woiuld be a good idea as well. If you want to get extreme, reroute, isolate, and dampen your HVAC as well.

4. Good shielded cables. Picking up the poilice radio when you're trying to watch a film is not that ammusing the 20th time.

5. A cabinet, closet, workstation, etc. for all of the playback equipment. You want to watch a movie, not the green blinking 12:00 on the VCR (do people still use those?).

6. If you're going to connect a computer, isolate it from the room as much as possible. Computers are noisy.
wow, you really have to much money haven't you? :P lol just kidding, good ideas, thx ;p