DIY Home Theater and Home Theater Ideas to Get You Started:
Am I implying that nearly anyone can build their own DIY Home Theater? No. Some of us don't know the difference between a table saw and a jackhammer. However... If you use the home theater ideas outlined on this site, you can build a better home theater system for less money. (Assuming you do most of the work yourself.) First, you need a way to save money on your equipment and supplies. Where to get Home Theater Equipment and Parts:I use Parts Express for most of my home theater building and speaker materials.I have found them to have Unmatched sale prices on most A/V needs Let me know if you find another good supplier, I will add them here as well. What is Most important in the Home Theater?The home theater room. The quality of loudspeakers. The quality of components. The ability to control room resonances and modes. The ability to control your overall system response without degrading transparency. Other Factors that can help:Speaker Design. Room layout. And even using a home theater computer. Also, don't forget to keep a tight focus on speaker driver integration, driver spacing, time alignment, impulse response measurements and finally -listening. Confused? Don't be... It's all within your reach to learn. And not as complex as you might think. Using Multiple Sources to Ensure Unbiased Results:We use driver distortion measurements that are performed by another unbiased loudspeaker designer- Zaph Audio. John Krutke is a great example of a DIYer that helps others. He posts full speaker driver data on his site. This is one of my primary resources for recommending driver matches. Science must be used in the Home Theater:You will not need to rely on guess work to build a DIY home theater or stereo system if using science. Believe it or not, measurements play a much larger role than most speaker designers are willing to admit. And, measuring speakers is not hard. Nor does it take extremely expensive equipment. Expect Excellent ResultsEven if you have no desire to build your home theater room. You can learn a lot about acoustics and improve the room you have. This is pretty easy to do. You can be confident the outcome will be positive based on superior engineering as discussed in these pages. It really is that simple. Keep in mind I cannot perform miracles. If you are expecting a Quality Theater system to cost $100 you should probably look somewhere else. A budget DIY Home Theater is a fun project to take on. A high performance Home Theater is even more fun- but expenses are an obvious issue you will need to plan ahead for. You will learn an incredible amount of information about home theaters and how they work by adopting a hands on approach. If you are interested in going one step further and Build Speakers to install in your home theater click here. There are many articles on this site about Home Theater PC building, speaker building, crossover setup, speaker placement and lots of other related information. Looking for information on how to build bookshelf speakers click here. Our new bookshelf speakers are a new design and will be posted on our Purchase Direct page soon. Click on the above link to see the design ideas and principles.
What was your Theater Building Experience Like? Tell us about it Here!Do you have a great story about this? Share it! What Other Visitors Have SaidClick below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...
The Cinerama Barn
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Check out the new Mini Cube 2 speaker! Better home theatre surround sound systems, high performance, small size!
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Customer Testimonials:
"Peter, I just wanted to drop you a quick note and say how impressed I am with these speakers. They are EXACTLY what I was looking for..very very small with big sound.
My wife loves them as well. They look great, and you hardly notice them at all sitting on the shelf. They integrate perfectly as surrounds. I have them crossed over at 150 as you recommended...simply fantastic. I only have about 15 hours on them so far, so I know they will only get better. You really have something here. Kelly ~ Montana USA
"I found these speakers by accident and after reading all the available info and after several emails back and forth with the company owner I decided I had nothing to lose, so I ordered a set of 5 mini cube speakers.
Peter was very helpful and patient and always responded to my emails within hours.
I have had the speakers set up for a couple of days and they sound great; they are everything described on the web site.
The sound from these small speakers truly is awesome.
I replaced a set of very high quality but also very large speakers and have not been disappointed... and the wife loves not having four large speakers in the living room.
The sound from these speakers really does fill the entire house, I was concerned about the small size of the speakers due to the fact I like to listen to music and movies at volumes most would consider loud.
These speakers are more than capable of playing at volume levels louder than I ever need while also maintaining very high quality sound. ~by; William (Corinth,TX)
"I ordered these speakers in the hope of bringing some life to my entertainment system... I didn’t think it would bring room filling sound to my entire house. These speakers not only fill my den with crystal clear sound, but radiate great sound throughout the house. Thanks for such a great product!" Celia ~Malasia IP#110.159.58.99
"these speakers breathed new life back into my music, I had no idea such small surround sound speakers could perform so well." John from US IP# 24.177.193.45
"how you got so much performance out of these speakers I have no idea -Great product!" Andrew from Denmark IP# 130.225.22.254
"nice speakers, nice finish, blended in with my room well and the wife is happy too. Great sound presentation! Now I just wish you guys made a subwoofer." Kyle from US IP# 98.233.53.244
"These surround sound speakers are amazing! After running them in for a couple days, I decided to play some tunes, and they never once sounded distorted or strained...
While I know they should be paired with a good sub-woofer bass system, I think they sound good enough that I can wait until I have the money to buy a really nice sub." Fred US IP#76.208.13.182
"Wow, what a great set of speakers. I really understand what you mean by a large sound-stage." Sandy from US IP# 137.100.121.30
"Recently I came to realize that my HDTV was better than my sound system... So, I decided to piece together a better sound system. Running across your site (and these speakers) was the best thing that has happened to my home theater.
My current system is; an older receiver, a home theater PC with a blue-ray player drive, and one pair of your Mini-Cubes. (for now; I plan to buy 3 more speakers soon)" Kevin US IP#98.179.199.26
"Purchasing a new set of surround sound speakers was a must for me. My old system looked awful and sounded even worse. The quality and look of your Mini-Cube speaker were a perfect fit.
Once I reviewed the ratings and tests I knew they would be perfect. I will be sure to look for more information and products from you. I can't believe the performance of these surround sound speakers for the modest price. I would recommend these speakers to anyone!" Mike US IP#172.16.2.142
"The overall quality and dynamic capacity of these speakers really took me by surprise. Their imaging is distinct, tonality is crystal clear, and oh yeah... they pump out some serious volume!
I feel like I have stolen speakers that I can't afford. People that spend more are Suckers!!" Micah US #Ohio