The Bodda Getta

Love my home theater. I have 126" screen in a dedicated HTR with a Panasonic AE4000 projector. Screen and projector cost me around $3.5K total about three years ago. The screen was made in Alabama by www.Carada.com. I went with a 16:9 on a brilliant white. It went up very easy and it really is a nice screen for the money. I think the projector is much more important than the screen but you do get what you pay for. Got the projector from www.ProjectorPeople.com and had no issues with them. Had professional painters paint the room (black ceiling and black wall behind the screen, dark red for the rest of the room) and black carpet. Been in other home theaters and I promise the paint and carpet makes a huge difference. And of course having complete black out control over any light sources. Built my home so it was pre-wired for power, hdmi, network, and speakers. I imagine getting power and cables in place to the projector would be a pain otherwise. I also had support built into the ceiling for the projector mount but there is a lot of options for that. I went with a full Bower and Wilkens 5.1 speaker system and would go with them again if I had to do it again even though they cost a bit more than average. I used in-wall speakers for the rear so I had a local company install them and after watching them put them in I am sure I would never attempt it. We sit about 16' from the screen and it is the perfect size to me. I think the projector has the pitch to zoom out to about 150" screen from about 18 feet. I am still using my first projector bulb but i think it is about $300 bucks to replace it. We only use the room for sports and blu-rays for the most part but I know some folks that use theirs like a TV for daily viewing.

Not up on the TV other than getting an LG HD(smart or not). Looking around at several, the LG(to me) had the best and sharpest picture.

Now the stereo, to me, is the best part of a home theater system. I use an Onkyo 701 and have without a single problem for the past 10 years. Now I think the 700 series is up to the 709. It will cost effectively give you the sound and strength your looking for. As well as the durability and ease of use. Plus it will have all the new whistles and bells that you'll need in today's sound market. Here's a link to the Onkyo site: http://onkyousa.com/model.cfm?class=Receiver&m=TX-NR709

For the speakers I would go with Polk Audio. Mid grade cost with fantastic sound. Spend the money and get a good center channel. Either the 5 1/4 or 6 1/2 Polk center will do. Spend the money. You won't regret it. My front speakers are Polk Audio RTi A1's and they fit very comfortably in my entertainment center. Small but pack a punch. For the surround you can get something smaller, the Polk Audio OWM3's, as the sound is minimal and really meant to help immerse you in the movie. But just remember that you'll need 4 surround speakers for all 7.1 applications. Depending on the size of your space is a big a factor on the size of subwoofer you'll need. The bigger the room the more sub sound you'll need to full up the area. I went with the 12 inch but for really large rooms you may need a 15 inch.

You could always go with a sound bar, but I haven't been too impressed with them. They just don't pack the punch of a separate component audio system. Same goes with the Bose systems. Their nice and they sound good but they are WAY over priced and again lack the real punch of the system I just gave you. Then again if your really cramped for space then a sound br may be exactly what your looking for. Just be careful and be sure to get a very good one or else you're gonna be disappointed.

I use my Playstation 3 as the player. It does Blueray, 3D, streams music from my computer, etc, etc... And here very soon I will be using a Playstatiion 4 as my media center....YES!

I know we're talking a couple of grand for a system like this but you won't regret it. And as long as you keep the dust off it, the system will last you a very long time.

Cola,

Just got to thinking. If you have never tried Crutchfied on the web, they are a great vendor and experts on what they sell. They are based in Va and I buy almost all my gear from them. Try crutchfield.com and look at their surround sound systems. They have very good specifications so you can actually research what you are buying. And their Tech guys and gals are great and know what they are talking about. Probably tax free. It is in TN. And they include some free stuff like labels and sometimes cables. Make sure to ask them what cables you'll need to hook up all the periphials. I don't think you can beat their customer service.

I haven't looked in a while so I went and checked it out. You can get into a Onkyo/Polk combo for less than 1K, or more than 1k. Depends on what you can afford at the time. If you want a complete sytem, 3D Blu Ray, reciever, speakers etc, look at the Samsung Home Theater Systems. They are a good bargain and take the hassle out of making sure you have everything you need. Also, Crutchfiled is free shipping. Hope this helps.

Did you try reading through the forums and reviews on http://www.avforums.com/forums/index.php

Great source of info.

Are you going to do flush mount speakers or arm mounts? I have 4 channel Martin Logan flush mounts in my living room and 5.1 channel surround with Martin Logan Helos flush mounts with a Motion 8 center channel in my media room. Love the sound. I personally like Denon receivers.

I only buy Samsung TVs. You can usually get good deals on them and they are great quality.

I would invest in a nice universal remote as well. You could probably do without it if you buy a PS3 for your BluRay player.

AppleTV is another product I would recommend. It's only $99 and you can do cool stuff with that if you have a lot of DVDs that you can rip to an external hard drive and digital copies you can save to that as well. Then you don't have to worry about changing discs. If you're a fan of an out of market MLB team (like me) you can also stream MLB.tv on your AppleTV which is cheaper than getting the extra innings package through your cable provider.