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Guys, our new house is coming up and the construction is coming to an end, are there any suggestions that the gurus can recommend for the living room and the AV room.

Living room shall be a minimal TV setup but the AV is to be a full fledged home theatre.
Projector, at least 5.1 ... the works.

We can incorporate the modifications and preparations before, so that nothing is an inconvenience later.

What do you wish you did differently in your home theater?
I'm not going to come to the choice of equipment yet. I'm not ready to bash my head against the wall just yet. ICE can be painful enough but home theaters can be something else. But it's addictive, what can I say?

I've been using the Harman Kardon AVR 245 with JBL E90 setup for over a decade. I am extremely happy with it, I am not sure what speakers you plan to pair the 245 with. The sound quality is extremely ear pleasing.
And since it is so old do check on the controls, remote, etc. My remote is shot and unable to find a replacement.

I am using the JBL E100s in a secondary system. I actually bought the entire Northridge series 15 years ago for a 7.2 set up. I still like the simplicity and the quality of this old school system.

Nice, nothing like reserving that dedicated space for a AV room/Man cave! For starters, since you have a dedicated space I highly recommend you treat the space acoustically. There are several ways to do this and a competent interior designer who deals with AV installations can help here. If you wish you to you can do this yourself by getting the necessary panels and hire someone who can help install them. You can look at Auralexchange for acoustics and they have a very good range to choose from based on your budget. I have seen many skipping this step only to later complain how and why their high end cinema doesn't sound good enough.You don't need to sound proof the AV room but just acoustically treating it with the right diffusion, absorption and bass trap panels would do the trick. A medium range system setup in a well treated space would destroy a high end setup any day.

Next up, assuming a minimum of 150-200 soft is reserved for the home cinema room, you can look at a 9.2 channel system with a 7.2.2 or a 5.4.2 atmos config. There is a host of equipment choices we can look at based on the budget but that's for another day I suppose. But my recommendation is get a fairly future proofed AVR which does 4k HDR/Dolby vision and that drives 9 channels comfortably with an extra 2 channel pre outs. Denon, Marantz and Yamaha are popular choices here.

Projection again needs to be UHD (need not be 4k native as they are still pricy) - You can look at Optoma, Epson or Benq. If budget permits, JVC.

Last up Speakers/Subwoofer - Try not to skimp here and get the best LCR (left, centre and right speakers) preferably from the same brand for even tone. Floor standers would work well for a large space but you can always go with good quality Bookshelves/Standmounters. Some popular choices here would be QAcoustics, Dali, Paradigm, Monitor Audio etc. For Atmos/ceiling and surround speakers, its ok to go for budget models as they don't need the same range as fronts. Subwoofer got to be a right choice too to get that much needed slam. Again if budget permits, you can look at brands like SVS, XTZ, Klipsch, Paradigm, REL etc as they are make some fine subs. 12 inchers would work well.

There are misc bits like Seating, lighting etc that you can always draw inspiration from various builds from online.

Good luck and happy home cinema!

Thanks! I forgot about that completely. Roger that.
the room is about 10 feet wide by 25 feet long. The builder intended a tv on the long wall. but we planned to install a projector screen on the short wall and have the seating along the length of the room. My father wants the floor to be carpeted and throw a few pillows down and enjoy it from the floor.I'm definitely coming back to this thread when we're making the purchases.
my needs as of now are

• Airplay 2 compatible
• Minimum 7.2.2 compatible
• Compatible with smarthome environments
• 4k compatible
• HDMI protocols that allow it to switch on other devices. Like my sony tv can turn on my ps3

:thumbs up will do. IDK about the floor standers, mom might veto that. but will do my best to go for them if they're worth it.I've read frankmehtas post when he built his home theater. and I really want to go this way. Don't want to spend big bucks on form over function or brands. I want most bang for the buck because this will be the first build for us. Yes, Sir. I'll pick up 2 basic speakers for the roof and fit it in the false roofing. I like tight bass but movies have loud long brrrrrrrrrr kind of bass. no thumps that we like in cars. I'll keep your advice in mind while doing the listening tests.
I asked this question here for suggestions regarding this only.

For example. In the apartment we live in now. The TV unit. The wifi router and the landline etc have a lot of ugly wires and holes in the wall. This was our first house with all this tech so there was a lot of learning involved. We've learnt a lot. But I don't want to finish the home theater and then think "areeey yaar, I should've done this, or that". Like how to go around with the plastering, wiring in the walls etc. dont want any wiring visible at all. So I was asking people what their "areey yaar" moments were:D Thank you so much. I almost gave up since there were no replies to my post. Thanks a lot!! Pls share some pics and details of your home theater if you have built one.

Sure - here are some pics from the current AV room we use at our studio. You can see the acoustic panels/bass traps etc.

Nice. Was thinking of doing a similar functional setup with the additional space for a PC. Saw some setups online which were frankly over the top and expensive. How did you fix the bass traps to the walls/panels? Is there any material above the false ceiling?

Another important step is to buy a receiver which has some sort of room correction setup.[Denon has the audyssey setup]. This will give you much better results than the brand of speakers or acoustic treatment. If you are using PC speakers or monitors then there are various room correction softwares available. All you need is good condenser mic and audio interface.

Thanks. Actually not a big fan of Audyssey. It never gave me the results and I went in for a manual setup on my Denon. I would any day recommend a manual setup in a well treated room.
The bass is clean and tight and so are the highs and mids. It makes it very balanced for both critical music listening and movie watching. Although we use it for a variety of purposes at our studio including mixing and playing games.

The panels and the traps are stuck using a strong adhesive. The ceiling is bare and only has the absorption panels stuck on. As long as you treat the reflection points you wouldn’t need a false ceiling.

So finally my search for a home theatre setup landed me to this thread lol:

The space

Our house designed in such a way that it has double height in the entire living and dining area, There is a kitchen and a work area which is roughly around 15.4 Ft Length 9 ft in width and has a balcony with the same size above it, while building the house me and my Architect wife had decided that we will use this balcony for looking at early morning sunrise and to be honest in my 4 years in this house I am yet to see a sunrise from the balcony :uncontrol

This space has a pargola and it has been a failure since the person who was supposed to make this work was her classmate who is a practicing Architect (That a whole sorry story for a different day). We were planning to convert this space into a home theatre, but the people who came to give me a quote suggested that the room being too narrow and the seating has to be pushed near the end of the room to avoid screen sickness (never knew such a thing existed). My architect wife is not ready to do any compromises on the front elevation of the house. there was another terrace at first floor which is around 16 ft long and 12.7 ft wide, this was exciting news, so now we are waiting for the contractor to give us am estimate for civil works. The reason for this long story was to give you an idea of how my initial estimate and budget took a hike the moment we planned to set things up in this space.

The setup

I am looking for a 7.2 Atmos setup, first option was the Onkyo ht-s9100thx. Which was a superb system under 1.5 lacs but later I decided to go for

Yamaha RX-V585 (AVR)
Yamaha NS 333 bookshelf speakers(4)
Yamaha NS-P350(3.0 speaker system)
Yamaha NS - SW100 Active subwoofer

The above system was available as a package from Audiomaxx price was 130K. all this is available under 1.15 locally with proper bill and warranty.

The second choice was to go with the below setup

Yamaha RX-V585 (AVR)
Polk Audio T30
Polk Audio T50
Polk Audio T15 (4)
Polk Audio PSW 10

This setup is available at 1.15 locally with proper bill and warranty

The second choice was to go with the below setup

Denon X1600 (AVR)
Polk Audio T30
Polk Audio T50
Polk Audio T15 (4)
Polk Audio PSW 10

I am getting a AVR for 45 with 11 months warranty Speakers around 60(New with bill and warranty)

Though my research has kind of pegged both the Denon X1600 and Yamaha RX-V585 at the same level and the one month used Denon is 2K cheaper than a brand new Yamaha and I am more inclined towards the Yamaha due to it being brand new, however if gurus can chime in and let me know if the Denon is superior in any way to the Yamaha.

The projected is going to be Xiomi Mijia Full HD LED projector.

Thanks for reading, no Acoustics are planned at this stage, the room will have provisions for wires and plan is to have speaker connection wall outlet plates.

The Air Con is planned to be 1.5 Ton LG dual inverter 5 Star AC. The room will have some bean bags and a few recliners(preferably a 3 seater).

Pramod

Nice one Pramod. In my opinion, you could do better with the equipment overall. What is the overall budget you are shooting for? The best method that gives you value over the long run is to always start with a future proof AVR with good power handling capabilities and front stage (L,C,R) speakers. Let this setup run for the initial days while you can save up some more and add a good subwoofer and surround, ceiling speakers down the line. This setup would give you the best bang for the buck and you wont be disappointed.

Look for a 9.2 channel AVR in the Denon, Marantz, Yamaha and Pioneer range. As far as speakers go you can look at Q Acoustics 3030 or 3020 'i' series or Dali Zensor series and pick up a matching Center channel speakers from the same range for that even tone. This would set you back roughly the same budget you indicated but you are going to be having a much superior equipment.

Good luck!

Thanks for your reply, the 9.2 Receivers are above 1-1.5 Lacs, I am more than glad to upgrade :D probably I am not looking at the right place, could you share the source which you are using for prices?

Pramod

What is your currently set budget if I may ask? It would allow to present some options to you.

My budget for AVR and speakers is 1.5 Lacs. The projector is 50K.

Pramod

How about then you take a look at the Pioneer LX303 for AVR - Around 75-80K (if you desire a 9 channel AVR) - else you can look at good 7 channel models too from other brands I mentioned earlier for either the same cost or slightly lesser. But I would always recommend not to skimp on the AVR.

For L,C,R you can look at the Q Acoustics 3030i (L and R) and 3090Ci for Center channel - 50K together approx (Incredible value)

Put the rest of the 20K INR on the Projector to get a better one like an Optoma HD27e which will set you back around 75-80k. It offers good color accuracy and contrast with adequate lumens.

Hi Guys, we have just moved in to our new home and purchased the Samsung Frame tv for the living room. Parents are enjoying the experience on this 55" tv and would like to enhance this by setting up a decent soundbar. Not looking for something too fancy like a home theatre setup though.

Any recommendations please? Budget upto 15k