Home cinema in loft conversion

[FoxJA]

Hi All,

Not been on here for a while as I finished my set up in the living room which I am more than happy with.

Now I'm getting my house extended including a loft conversion which will be 1 large room of around 8 x 6 meters. I'm looking to set this room up mainly for movies and games consoles. I was thinking of a projector and maybe 7.1 surround sound.

I've never used a projector before so am not too sure budget wise what I should be allocating for this and the screen. My target budget for Projector, screen, amp and speakers is around 7k but could push higher if its worth it.

Any suggestions of set up?

Thanks,

John

 

[Frank Harvey]

Hi John

There will be many systems I could recommend, but I'm going to recommend a tried and tested combination that has been extremely popular, which we feel is pretty unbeatable when it comes to movies.

First up is the Yamaha DSPZ7. One of the biggest AV bargain available at the moment (around £1,500, normally £2,000). This amp has everything you'll ever need, and the ability to run almost any respectable AV speaker package. Like all Yamaha's, it's top notch processing keeps it ahead of the competition, with the sort of versatility very few can match. An alternative would be the Pioneer SCLX82.

Next up are the MK 750 THX speaker package. The 750 is a slimmed down S150 (the domestic passive version of the active S150's used in mastering studios), designed for one thing - to bring a taste of the S150 into the home in an acceptably smaller package. These match the DSPZ7 perfectlyand together produce an experience which we seem to find unmatched for their combined price. Alternative speaker package? Are there any?!!

Finally, the projector. The above would leave you a budget of around £1.5/2k. This will get you an excellent full HD 1080p projector. You will really need to get yourself along to a dealer to try a few projectors out as there are LCD, DLP, LCOS and D-ILA projectors. All have their strong points, along with their niggles. It's working out which niggles you can live with

. For me, either a Mitsubishi HC6500 (around £1,600) or JVC HD350 (around £2,300) would be my own personal choice. The HC6500 is about to be replaced very soon too.

That's sticking within your budget. There are other combinations for a little more, and a lot more, that would take the performance of the system to much higher levels, but that would turn this post into an epic

At the end of the day, it's your choice, so you need to demo a few systems to see what you get for your money.

Regards

David