Oliver Pankiewicz from Home Theater Network graciously contacted me and said that I could post this up here. Enjoy, and thanks Oliver!

Your First Home Theater Network

Only a few years ago, home theaters consisted of large tube-based TVs, VCRs, and stereos with two speakers. Today, home theaters consist of flat-panel HDTVs, receivers, surround sound speakers, DVD players, and more. So what components will make up the home theater of tomorrow? Audio, video, and data distribution will be key to the future home theater, which will soon morph into a home theater network.

Today’s home theater is limited to a single room. For example, a show recorded on a DVR can only be viewed on the TV to which the DVR is connected; music heard from the speakers of a home theater can only be heard in the room in which the speakers are placed. However, by establishing a home theater network, owners expand the capabilities of their home theater by creating a system capable of sending a recorded TV show to any bedroom, or playing music on speakers throughout the property.

The equipment needed to change a home theater into a home theater network includes a router, receiver, and a home theater PC (HTPC). The router distributes data and allows Ethernet-capable devices in a home theater to connect to the Internet and a home network. The receiver distributes audio and video from a home theater to multiple rooms. Note, the simple 5.1 surround sound receivers of today are not capable of this function. Newer receivers with multiple-zone outputs will be necessary for a home theater network. Finally, the HTPC functions as a source for audio, video, and data. For example, the HTPC can be used as a central server where an owner can save all of his music, video, pictures, and data. An HTPC also has the ability to serve as a DVR, and record TV shows. Since the HTPC is a computer, its capabilities are essentially endless.

As prices drop, more people are trading in their large, tube-based TVs and stereos for thin, high definition TVs and multi-zone output receivers. Also, more people are building home networks with their laptops and multiple computers. The merging of the home theater and home network into a home theater network will arrive in the not–too-distant future. Your first home theater network lies just around the corner.

Oliver Pankiewicz

Whenever these names come up, I perk my ears. My home theater used to be a Paradigm speaker system, along with a Harmon/Kardon receiver. I’ve since upgraded my Paradigm speakers to the Reference series, and then again to Linn speakers. The receiver I’ve upgraded a couple times through my dealer’s upgrade program, and it’s still a Harman/Kardon. One day it’ll be gone, to be replaced by separates. But now that I have a house and family, my upgrades are much fewer and farther between.

Anyway, I still like to hear about Paradigm and Harman/Kardon. Home Theater Magazine recently published a review of the Paradigm Cinema 330 speaker system and the Harman/Kardon AVR 340 receiver. Good things were said about both components, not suprisingly. I hope that they’ve fixed a really annoying feature of my H/K receiver. You can turn off the OSD, which is nice. But you have to do so every time you turn on the receiver.

Paradigm Cinema 330 Speaker System and Harman/Kardon AVR 340 A/V Receiver

Integra says it’s the first “pure-audio” supplier to create a Media Center PC.

The NVS-7.7 will have an MSRP of $3000, and will include a DVD audio/video/CD player, surround sound decoding, a 1080i/720p scaler, a ATSC/NTSC tuner, a 400GB HDD, and a DVR with a 14-day guide. That’s not all! It’s ethernet connected, and can record in HD using its ATSC tuner.

For “copyright concerns”, this device doesn’t have HD-compatible component, DVI, or HDMI outputs. So doesn’t that make it a bit useless? I don’t understand the press release. What good is it to be able to record in HD, but not to be able to watch what you’ve recorded in HD?

Integra Fuses Media Center PC With Multiple A/V Components
Integra NVC-7.7

Sonus faber (note the small ‘f’) makes some great looking speakers. And by “great looking” I mean gorgious. Beautiful. Buy them and stick ‘em on the wall. The kind of speakers that you know are expensive.

Like these. The Sonus faber DOMUS Surround Sound System. Ultimate AV reviewed this $10,080 speaker system whose price doesn’t include speaker stands. Hmmm. This is their budget line.

For all that good looks and money, you hope that the speakers sound good. And that they do. Michael Fremer uses phrases like “the Center DOMUS produced the some of the most believable dialog I have heard yet from a home theater system”. Which is very nice to hear because I find myself understanding movie dialog less and less these days. And for overall sound Mr. Fremer says “Put it all together and with the DOMUS speakers you have a smooth-sounding high performance music and film surround sound system capable of producing the wide dynamic swings necessary to make both music and movies come convincingly alive.”

I guess that’s good…

The Sonus faber DOMUS Surround Sound System

For a while there I got interesting in PVR solution for the PC, checking out whether or not it was feasible to build my own PVR because TiVo isn’t really available in Canada. There were a few different solutions, but the MythTV software seemed quite capable. But it ran on Linux and I don’t particularly care for Linux, especially trying to configure it and its software. Besides, I eventually realized that I would never be able to record my cable provider’s HD channels, and that just wouldn’t do.

But for some people without that problem, Monolith comes to the rescue. Monolith has pre-built media center Linux computers with MythTV. It comes installed with the ever more popular Ubuntu Linux, and models start at $650. You can, of course, get your computer in all sorts of configurations, including storage of up to 400GB. That’s a lot of TV programming!

Monolith Media Center brings MythTV to the technophobe

Finally! It looks like HDMI Video cards supporting HDCP are coming from MSI. They have two cards, one based on the nVidia 7600 and one based on the 7900. This should help push along development of CableCard compatibility for HTPCs as well as Blu ray and HD DVD output. Pretty soon you will be able to have an HTPC that can play all optical discs, HDTV via cable, HDTV satellite (well, DirecTV anyway), OTA HDTV, all digital media file formats, and streaming internet radio/TV. Less boxes + less cables = home theater bliss!

MSI HDCP/HDMI page

Ultimate AV’s Fred Manteghian recently reviewed the Focal Profile 918 speaker system. The Profile 918 isn’t cheap. At $3995 per pair, this speaker is meant for serious listeners only. Or maybe just those with left-over .com boom money to spend. The surrounds are the Profile 908 speakers ($2295 per pair), while the center channel speaker costs a princely $1695. The Profile SW908 subwoofer actually has an LCD display, and therefore must be expensive! It costs $3000, with a rated lower limit of 27Hz.

Enough about the price, how do they sound? Ask Fred! He says that “Dolby Digital soundtracks were always quite enjoyable with the Focals, drawing me into a movie at once.” and “With music, vocals always had a solid and proper foundation, and I never found them wanting. The Focal Profiles are quite adept at getting the human voice correct.” and “Their clarity is startling and they are very musical.” The interesting thing is that Fred recommends these speakers, but suggests getting a different subwoofer, suggesting that the $3000 isn’t worth it.

Focal Profile 918 Speaker System

Audioholics lists the ten biggest mistakes of speaker and home theater shopping as:

1. You went for an all-inclusive surround sound speaker package from a big brand name manufacturer noted for electronics and TV sets.
2. You bought speakers in a rush, without listening to them with your favourite recordings, and now you’re disappointed because they sound boomy or harsh.
3. You were knocked out by the deep bass from the subwoofer and didn’t concentrate on the center channel and main left and right speakers.
4. You went for those attractive little cube speakers because they’re so tiny and unobtrusive, but when things get loud with home theatre, the sound gets strained or muddy.
5. You saved money by getting two compact speakers you thought would be just fine to fill your 25- x 20-foot cathedral-ceiling living room with high-level sound. But they sound strained and edgy when you turn up the volume.
6. You set up your subwoofer at the side of the room and you’re disappointed at the lack of deep, low bass.
7. You bought a receiver or amplifier advertised as having “200 watts total power output” and now it seems to be underpowered.
8. Two really nice guys sold you two impressively large speakers at an amazing price from the back of their truck in a supermarket parking lot. Somehow, the sound seems to be lacking something. . .
9. You bought good speakers with excellent reputations and let your spousal unit or companion persuade you to put them out of sight inside an antique armoire or entertainment unit.
10. You went for the package speaker system from the famous-name manufacturer that runs the slick advertisements everywhere you look, and spends millions on promotion and little on research and design. The sound is a disappointment.

Of course I agree with this list totally (though I thought #8 was obvious to everyone with any synapses firing). I’d just like to add a few things.

While #10 may be true, it may also just be the case that the owner of such a system just doesn’t realize what he is missing. He might set up the system and think it sounds just fine, not realizing there’s a whole world of better sound out there that he’s been curtained off from.

While it is good to audition speakers or electronics with your material of choice, it’s even better to listen to them in your home environment. Of course, you can only do this with higher-end speakers at a retailer that knows and trusts you, so that’s a rarity. But if the retailer has a listening room that’s similar in size to your room, ask to audition the speakers there. And preferably with electronics that are as close to yours as possible.

It’s worth noting that THX recommends identical speakers across the front of your home theater. It’s a worthwhile ambition, and will make for a much better sound experience. Once I get a projector and screen, I plan to do exactly that.

What are some of the mistakes I made? Hmmm. I think that my speaker array is not matched well enough. I have Linn 5140 and 5120 speakers across the front, and my surrounds are a mixture of Linn 5110 speakers and some Paradigms I had left over from my last system. That’s always been a source of annoyance for me, but I have no way of mounting more Linn 5110 speakers at the Paradigms’ location, because they require special mounting brackets.

My biggest mistake is my room. Actually, it’s not a mistake - I knew full well that what I was doing was wrong even as I did it. I just didn’t have any choice. My house is an open concept home, with the main floor being a big open space, of which the family room is a small part. That does not make for the best sound, a problem I hope to correct when I finish my basement.

What mistakes have you made in your home theater?

Ten Biggest Mistakes of Speaker and Home Theater Shopping