Need help on building a Home Theater please

[ghost116]

I am not educated in the audio/visual world. I am starting my system with a Jvc hd-52z575 rear projector. I have picked out Athena tech. audition as-f2 main speakers. and an svs cs- ultra sub w/1000 watt amp. The center channel is also probably going to be an Athena.

Now for alot of questions.

1) What am I looking for in a good a/v reciever? what is 7.1 vs 5.1 sound?

2) What about amplification? How many amps does a system need? I know the sub needs its own amp. IS a good a/v rec. enough or what? and/or pre amps?

3)Surround speakers? with the Athena mains can I use bookshelf speakers? any thoughts on what to use?

4) Cables? silly question- does anyone have a wired house? (Trying to put this question in a non-idiotic sounding phrase but it is not working.) Do you have to big monster cable run in the walls or is the norm running the cable on the floor next to the wall? Where do you get the outlet covers for the in-wall set-up?

Please help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am looking for a good system with a reasonable price. In advance Thank you for any/all advice.

[Geoffcin]

I am not educated in the audio/visual world. I am starting my system with a Jvc hd-52z575 rear projector. I have picked out Athena tech. audition as-f2 main speakers. and an svs cs- ultra sub w/1000 watt amp. The center channel is also probably going to be an Athena.

Now for alot of questions.

1) What am I looking for in a good a/v reciever? what is 7.1 vs 5.1 sound?

2) What about amplification? How many amps does a system need? I know the sub needs its own amp. IS a good a/v rec. enough or what? and/or pre amps?

3)Surround speakers? with the Athena mains can I use bookshelf speakers? any thoughts on what to use?

4) Cables? silly question- does anyone have a wired house? (Trying to put this question in a non-idiotic sounding phrase but it is not working.) Do you have to big monster cable run in the walls or is the norm running the cable on the floor next to the wall? Where do you get the outlet covers for the in-wall set-up?

Please help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am looking for a good system with a reasonable price. In advance Thank you for any/all advice.

It sounds like your making the jump in a big way. Let me see if I can answer a few questions for you;

If your set on the Athena speakers then I would get the matching center, and surrounds.

There's a lot of good HT receivers out there to choose from. I use Pioneer, but other makes such as Harmon Kardon, Yamaha, and some others are good too. You have to decide your price range; Usually $500-$600 will buy you into most of the latest tech., ~$300 will still buy a decent receiver, but with a little less tech.

You don't need amps unless you want to add them. The Receiver powers all the speakers.
Also your Subwoofer is self powered. It has an amp built in.

Unless your building a room it's very hard to put the cables into the wall. Running them along the baseboard is normal. Also there's flat wire that can be run under a rug, or carpet.

[ghost116]

Ok. A few more questions. OR a redirecting of the past questions. What is 7.1 sound? If I buy an amp what am I looking for will 1 amp work for a complete system?

[Geoffcin]

Ok. A few more questions. OR a redirecting of the past questions. What is 7.1 sound? If I buy an amp what am I looking for will 1 amp work for a complete system?

7.1 Home theater is a 5.1 home theater with an additional 2 speakers in the rear. Unless you have room behind your seating position then I would not worry about adding this. I use a 7.1(6.1) system, but I have 5ft behind my seats to add these speakers.

You are buying a Reciever. It has all the amps built in.

[topspeed]

Ghost,

Like Geoff said, you really only need 7.1 if you've got a big room. Also, keep in mind that most all movies are encrypted in 5.1. The coding means 5 speakers (Left main, center channel, Right main, Left Rear surround, Right Rear surround) plus 1 sub (.1). A 7.1 simply adds two more ambience channels.

Just to clarify, a AV reciever will have all of the amps built in to it. You can buy a separate 5 channel amp but then you would need a preamp/processor to control it all. Just buy a decent AV reciever from someone like Yamaha, Denon, Harmon/Kardon, Marantz, or Pioneer. One of the great features of the new Yammies, Denon's, and Pio's are automatice room equalization which calibrates all of your speakers for your room. This feature is huge and will vastly improve the sound of your HT. You can do it manually, but you'll need to buy a SPL meter from Radio Shack ($35) and a test disc such as Sound & Vision or Avia. Don't worry, if you can read a gauge, you can do it manually and it's actually a lot of fun.

As for wiring, there are those that believe you need exotic wire from Valhalla, Kimber, or even Monster Cable. I'm not one of those. Just get some good 12 gauge wire from Radio Shack (good flat cable for tucking into the base boards) or even outdoor extension cable from Home Depot (which some noted recording engineers use). If you are going to wire it into the walls, which makes for a supremely clean install and one with very high WAF, you'll need terminal plates. These Niles plates are what I used and they work quite well.

Hope this helps

[ghost116]

Thanks guys, the information is very helpful. If I may ask a few more--------


What is the difference between an amp, a pre amp and an integrated amp.(I have seen stand alone integrated amps)???

The other remaining question goes back to which amp? I know the a/v receivers have integrated amps(still want to know about the stand alone integrated amp)----- however my question derives from system compatibility. If I go with a svs sub w/1000 watt am, I think I would/should have a system that runs more power to the main speakers? I like power With that said what are the suggestions?

Thanks again

Frank

[topspeed]

What is the difference between an amp, a pre amp and an integrated amp.(I have seen stand alone integrated amps)???

An amp is a stand-alone device designed to increase the gain of a given signal to your speakers. That may not be completely correct from a technical standpoint but that's the gist of it. A pre-amp is essentially a switching device inserted between the sources and amp and allows the user to easily switch which sources (cd, tape, dvd, tuner) will be played through the amp. The preamp will also control the volume and possibly add gain to the source. An integrated is a pre-amp and amp combined into one cabinet instead of two separate pieces.

The other remaining question goes back to which amp? I know the a/v receivers have integrated amps(still want to know about the stand alone integrated amp)----- however my question derives from system compatibility. If I go with a svs sub w/1000 watt am, I think I would/should have a system that runs more power to the main speakers? I like power With that said what are the suggestions?

Thanks again

Frank

A reciever is an integrated amp with a tuner (radio). That's all. If it doesn't have a tuner, it's an integrated. If it does, it's a reciever. An AV reciever adds decoding for multi-channel surround sound.

You sub has a 1000 watt amp to handle the sudden peaks that subs have to deal with. It has nothing to do with how much power you need for your mains. Check your speakers efficiency rating which is usually stated as "X" dB's/1watt (or 2.83 volts)/1meter. This tells you how many dB's are produced with 1 watt measured at 1 meter distance. Most speaker range between 85-91dB's. The higher the number, the less power you'll need to reach equivalent levels of output. Also, remember it takes twice as much wattage to increase your sound level by only 3dB's, which is hardly noticeable. To get twice as loud, you'll need ten times the wattage. For most of your listening, I doubt you'll be consuming much more than 5-10 watts unless you have terribly inefficient speakers placed in a huge room with terrible acoustics (which is possible for all I know). Watt's are, for the most part, more important for marketing. I'd be more concerned about the level of current available and the quality of the power supplied.

Hope this helps.