How many speakers do you own that have crystals on top? I completely understand if you don’t own any but that doesn’t mean you couldn’t get some. Artcoustic has just unveiled the Crystal line of wall-mounted ultrathin speakers. And yes, these are Swarovski crystals you see in the picture here and if you’re already wondering about the price, then you should know you need $3,700 to get the iPod dock together with a Crystal speaker. Or you can simply decide to buy a new car instead and keep listening to your old Swarovski-less speaker set for a while!

via artcoustic

Here is the newest member of the KEF’s Wireless Family. The HTB2SE-W Wireless Subwoofer is in-fact old wine in new bottles! The HTB2SE Subwoofer had been a part of KEF Home Theater line of 5.1 audio systems. The Subwoofer now has a changed physical layout and also bears a Universal Wireless Kit. Thus came into being the HTB2SE-W, the Wireless Avatar.

The design reminds me of the alien saucer. Rest assured this won’t attack but play CD-quality audio for your entertainment! The HTB2SE-W integrates a 250mm driver and 250W class-D amplifier with an auxiliary bass radiator. Get one for your home theater for just $1200.

Give a cheer to the do it yourself home theatre spirit, folks, because when you’ve got three years and about twenty grand, a lot of sheer determination and grit, you too can make a sweet home theatre setup that celebrates golf.

It’s got a very eclectic mix of equipment, which in this case basically means he’s got a whole lot of stuff that really doesn’t fit in well with anything, but it all still works anyway.  For instance, he’s got an Adcom amplifier, a Harman-Kardon receiver, and a used NC CRT projector.  His speakers are all Polk audio and he’s got a ReplayTV DVR and three separate CD changers along with a Sony VCR.

He’s also got a small putting green in there with a regulation metal cup he got secondhand from a golf course, plus an equipment rack.  He’s been doing it in the modular style, which we recommend here for its efficiency and long-term value; in fact, about the only piece of original equipment he’s got in there is a Pioneer cassette tape changer.  Why a cassette tape changer?  As its owner puts it, “you never know”.

Indeed, you never do know, and that, along with a passion for golf, is what makes this a really sweet home theatre setup.

When you’ve got an unusually shaped basement, you can either live with it and just use it as a storage space, or you can do like Chris and Beth Martino did and turn it into a home theater.

Naturally, they’ve got some nice stuff in this.  They took six months and thirty five grand to build a whopper home theatre with a BASH Subwoofer amplifier, a Comcast HD DVR, a Monitor Audio speaker array, Denon receiver, Panasonic PT-AE3000 projector, a hundred and twenty nine inch screen from SmX Cinema Solutions, a Wii and Playstation 3, and more.

But this isn’t where the awesome ends, no, merely where it begins.  This home theatre also comes with an adjacent bathroom and kitchenette, so you can make your snacks and such right off the theatre.  Plus there are a few extras in there like a popcorn machine, a beer kegerator and a wine cellar of forty two bottles.

This pretty much ensures you only need one room for your entertaining, allowing you to close off the rest of the house from your company.  This is a terribly awesome development that’ll really qualify this for sweet home theatre setup status.

For some reason Emo Labs wants to offer us invisible speakers. We don’t exactly need our speakers to be invisible, do we? But I’d have to admit the idea is pretty cool so why not give it a try. So how does it all work? The invisible speaker is actually a clear membrane which will be mounted atop your display. Piezoelectric actuators will be used to make the membrane vibrate and give you stereo audio. Just check the video above to see exactly what Emo Labs wants to add to your home theater at some point in the near future.

We have no idea when the new technology will be available but we’re definitely keep an eye on Emo Labs and its future progress with invisible speakers.

via demo

This is one of those really great home theatres that makes a whole lot of electronic components look almost seamlessly installed into a surrounding environment of utmost class.  It’s not every day I see one like this, so I’ll just segue right into the discussion.

This amazing setup comes with a Sony Bravia SXRD video projector, a 106-inch Dragonfly screen, a Denon AVR2308 CI receiver, a Sony PS3, a Nintento Wii and a full array of speakers and amps.  Plus, there are two cisterns and a steam boiler down there that have been left fully intact for the sake of historical significance.  They actually built this amazing setup AROUND all of the basement’s current occupants.

And when you couple it with the ensuite bathroom and real stonework throughout, the only thing you can say with any certainty about this is that it really is a sweet home theatre setup.

I’ve seen a whole lot of movie-themed home theatre setups.  I’ve seen a lot of Star Trek, and plenty of Star Wars.  I’ve seen two Nautiluses and even a sci-fi prison ship.  But this may well be the first I’ve ever seen devoted to the man, the legend, Tony Montana.

Featuring a screen with a three hundred inch diagonal (that’s twenty five feet!) set on a motorized track to raise or lower it as needed, and includes eight large speakers in fiberglass shells made to resemble rocks and scattered around the pool.  Plus, there’s a full rack of amps to power them.

This is a sweet home theatre setup if for no other reason than using it to its fullest would either stun small animals or get you arrested.  The whole neighborhood can probably hear when you’ve got a movie cranked up, and either mutters blackly while putting in their earplugs, or knows that’s their cue to grab the chips / beer / what have you and head over for the potluck.

Ordinarily, when you think about a Star Wars themed home theatre, you think about the Death Star or the Millenium Falcon or maybe just a whole load of props.  You generally don’t, however, start thinking about Chancellor Palpatine’s office.  In fact, that may be the LAST thing you think about alongside, say, an Ewok village or Dagobah.

But for one Star Wars buff, an incredible simulation of Chancellor Palpatine’s plush office on Coruscant sounded like just the ticket when he built his home theatre.

Now, you can be impressed by the level of detail in that simulation–it actually DOES looka lot like Palpatine’s office–but it’s not just the detail that’s awesome.  There’s plenty of choice gadgetry going on in there, including a Marantz single-chip DLP 1080p projector and a 103-inch Vutec 16:9 screen with horizontal masking.  On the audio front, this sucker’s packing Anthem processing and amplifiers and an array of B&W speakers and Velodyne subwoofers.

With all that incredible hardware coupled with amazing attention to detail, Chancellor Palpatine’s office sounds like a great place to settle in with a movie, and definitely qualifies as a sweet home theatre setup.

So what do you do with a space in your home that’s thirty three feet deep, nineteen feet wide and eleven feet deep when you’ve got nine hundred grand to put in there?  Well, you could probably just about fill that room if you broke it down into singles first and stacked them up.

But then, if you did that, you wouldn’t be able to watch movies on truly awesome hardware in a room that looks like it was pulled whole and breathing from The Matrix.

Yeah.  We’re talking about the Matrix sweet home theatre setup!

Indeed, it runs as sweet as it looks, with a Runco DTV-1101 projector on a four-way screen, with video processor, DVD management systems,  and an eight-speaker surround sound array with amplifiers.

It’s hard to believe that this laundry list of videophile joygasm on a bun is actually just the sideshow to the incredible detail and green and black industrial / techno style of this room, but it is.  Just talking about it gives me a thin runnel of drool out of the corner of my mouth.

Mmmm…vaguely cruel computer simulation…

Okay, so the Homer Simpson joke might be a smidge old (hey, it’s still on TV, after all) but it does apply.  This really is a sweet home theatre setup for a whole panoply of reasons.

Wow.

I’ve just seen a home theatre that does nothing but astonish me.  You can see from the pic that it’s a picture of absolute cinematic beauty, but what you don’t know is that room’s dimensions.  That whole space is built into a room that measures just twelve by twenty feet.

Yes, you are looking at a screen with a hundred and twenty four inch diagonal.  The screen is, technically, larger than the room itself. Technically–it works when you consider your pythagorean theorem.  Even better, the room also boasts TWO in-wall Triad bronze subwoofers–yes, TWO subwoofers!  Plus, Yamaha processor, Anthem amps, an Infocus IN82 full acoustic treatments and audio/video calibrations.  And as if that weren’t enough, unless I’m sorely mistaken, that looks like stadium seating.  Stadium seating!  In some guy’s HOUSE!  Okay, so stadium seating really doesn’t require any more than some two by fours for framing, but still!

There’s no doubt that Fanbrain’s sweet home theatre setup, with it’s somewhat tight spacing but incredible use of every micron, is a truly sweet setup.

With digital television upon us, it would be best to be ready to help boost reception with the right kind of amplifiers. And for the people looking for a reliable antenna to aid them, the RCA ANT1450M Multi-Directional Digital Flat Amplified HDTV Antenna (White) should be able to do the trick.

This amplified home theater antenna is multi-directional and receives free uncompressed digital signals. It can receive both local HDTV and DTV as well as some UHF and VHF channels. The patented design enhances reception by amplifying weak signals and outperforms traditional antennas with no need for constant adjustments

Price: $21.99

(Source) Amazon

From the headline above, you may have thought I’ve lost my mind, but the Bay Audio HomeBase Sub is actually designed to be BURIED.

It’s an outdoor subwoofer, with a cabinet made from underground-rated PVC pipe that produces bass up to ninety decibels from a hundred feet away.  You bury the thing in a hole measuring twenty five inches by thirteen inches fourteen inches deep, and a six-inch port sticks out eight inches above the ground, from which the bass emerges.

Bay Audio, the designers of the thing,  recommend that you use their rack 500 watt PowerPack for amplification.  And just the HomeBase sub by itself will set you back a whopping three grand.

I see a lot of strange possibilities with this–one, don’t try mowing your lawn anywhere near that subwoofer post unless you’re REALLY sure of yourself.  I’d hate to try digging that thing up because a mower clipped the eight-inch port.  Two, what if you had a mole problem…and you buried the thing completely?  Then you crank up something with a lot of bass…maybe you don’t have a mole problem any more.  I wonder if you could play Dragonforce and run them off the lawn completely….

Anyway, for three grand a pop, I’m not likely to try it soon.  But if you do a lot of outdoor entertaining and have deep pockets, this may be just what you need.

When it comes to mixing proper audio quality preference with your HDTV needs, a mixer can perhaps do the trick. Though this may commonly be seen by professional and aspiring DJs we see in parties, it can really be a great supporting device as well for people who have home theater setups in their homes.

And if you are considering getting one, Pioneer is the brand to go. And for the record, they have recently unveiled a new mixer, the Pioneer DJM-5000 which is geared for all types of performances.

Features of the new Pioneer DJM-5000 Mixer:

• Multi-zone entertainment
• Three microphone inputs
• Advanced Talk Over, 96kHz / 24-bit sampling
• Sound Maximizer
• MIDI mapping capability
• Built-in sound card

The Pioneer DJM-5000 is a perfect complement to Pioneer’s MEP-7000 and SEP-C1 multi-entertainment systems. It will be available by October with a SRP of $1,275.00.

(Source) Press

People who have a lot of home theater peripherals and video rendering gadgets are going to love this Sunfire Theater Grand TGP-401 processor. The latest audio complement solution comes with a load of AV inputs which are totally configurable. With most home theater geeks turning to the need for multi-functional audio complement, this is one device that can surely adjust accordingly to a home theater user’s needs.

Apparently, the difference of having a separate amp to really get out the best audio from your viewing has become a trend among audiophiles. It certainly places you up a notch. There is more flexibility and a wider choice of matching up components when you can afford a separate AV preamp and amps.

And for the people who are looking for a reliable one outside the familiar brands in the market today, the Theater Grand TGP-401 should be something that can pull off some surprises. Add to the fact that this device seems to be catering to most passé and current home theater audio and video equipment makes it a logical choice.

Features:

• SIRIUS Radio-ready
• AM/FM tuners with RDS feedback
• VIA!migo support for native iPod control via OSD
• Two touchpad ports for Olé-2SF Film Interactive touchpads; feedback for SIRIUS and iPod functions
• Automatic setup and room correction with supplied mike
• Input volume matching
• AV sync to delay audio to match video

The Sunfire Theater Grand Processor TGP-401 retails for $3,500.

(Source) AudioPhile Audition

Crestron, world’s leading manufacturer of advanced control and automation systems, recently unveiled its latest HD-DA-2-QUAD that integrates four independent 1-to-2 HDMI distribution amplifiers. The amplifier is compatible with DVI and DisplayPort Multimode.

The Crestron HD-DA-2-QUAD is a single rack-space unit perfect for presentation and home theater systems. The amplifier accepts eight HDMI sources and is HDCP compliant to ensure fast, uninterrupted HD switching.

Vincent Bruno, Crestron Director of Marketing says, “The HD-DA-2-QUAD is a great product for anyone in an HDMI environment. Besides handling every available HDTV format supported by HDMI the HD-DA-2-QUAD is so versatile that it also supports computer resolutions up to 1920 x 1200 WUXGA and is compatible with DisplayPort and DVI signals using a simple adaptor”.

Home theater setup artists and audiophiles are notorious for spending heftily on ideal audio and video peripherals but the Ne Plus Ultra two channel speakers are certainly something that will get them thinking. For one, would you spend $2 million dollars for speakers alone?

Ne Plus Ultra stands for “No More Beyond” and consist of six 7 foot-tall panels with the smallest one on the outside handling the super high frequencies, two with high-frequency/midrange, one with a bank of twenty-four 8″ woofers, and then two with ten 15″ subwoofers each. The included system of power amplifiers crank out a total of 31,000 Watts.

Size along would matter and no one in his right mind would want speakers to occupy a lot of space. But we have seen a lot of weird things happen such as home renovations. But if that were the case, you would agree that any person who would do this has money to spare and is definitely filthy rich!

(Source) Dvice

For the people who want to bring out the best audio quality right for uncompressed music files, a special amplifier should do the trick. The Neuhaus T-2 Amplifier is perfect for these audio files which need all the boost they need to deliver the same sound quality as MP3 music files.

The Neuhaus T-2 Amplifier costs $800 which is a bit pricey. But don’t tell that to the audiophiles who don’t seem to mind as long as they can enhance the listening experience on uncompressed music files. This amplifier is perfect for people who want to perk up low quality music files play their PC.

The amplifier takes the old files from your PC, converts it to analog and then amplifies it using vacuum tubes. Through this process, you get warmer and richer sound playback on low end song files which can be improved.

(Source) Dvice

Denon, the specialized manufacturer of high-fidelity professional and consumer audio equipment, is all set to launch its new 7.1-channel AV surround amplifier, the AVC-3310 by the end of August. The amplifier comes equipped with advanced connectivity and a user-friendly interface that will surely enhance your level of entertainment pleasure.

The AVC-3310 is compatible with Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio as well as Dolby Pro Logic IIz. It supports HD playback via HDMI port. The amplifier features AL24 Processing Plus technology and video up-scaling capability for DVDs and comes along with a remote control.

Available in black or premium silver, the AVC-3310 amplifier will be released in Japan for around 126,000 Yen ($1,346).

Texas Instruments has come out with a new low power video amplifier, aimed at helping people get lower energy consumption and better image viewing systems like HD set top boxes and Blu-Ray DVD players. With a device that boasts of 21% lower power consumption and 50% lower energy consumption, the THS7365 is the lowest power six-channel , fixed filter video amplifier supporting HDTV and SDTV to date.

On the other hand, the THS7319 is the lowest profile, three-channel video amplifier supporting EDTV. It delivers 25 percent lower quiescent current than alternative devices to prolong battery life in portable media devices.

For pricing, the THS7365 is available today in a TSSOP-20 package that is lead-free and green (RoHS-compliant) and priced at $0.70 in 1,000-unit quantities. The THS7319 is available today in a tiny MicrostarCSP package for $0.85 in 1,000-unit quantities.

(Source) Press

Here is another cheap home theater package that home theater setup people can check out. The package is the Yamaha NS-SP1800BL 5.1 home theater speakers package, a close-to-similar and economical way to enjoy home theater especially if you want to be wise in your approach.

For some people, putting up a home theater system may not be as hardcore in buying a complete set. Others may have already existing LCD or wide screen TVs and the usual DVD or Blu-Ray player. Hence the only thing missing is the audio setup complement which Yamaha can fully provide with this setup.

The NS-SP1800BL features advanced Yamaha active servo technology (Advanced YST) is a unique system in which the speaker and amplifier work together to cancel out impedance so the speaker unit has a perfectly linear motion. Advanced YST helps to ensure the highest levels of sound pressure and overall performance.

Price: $117.81

(Source) Amazon