This is just a little intro to my 7.1 surround sound home theater entertainment system in case anyone was thinking of putting together something similar. Because I'm not a millionaire, I tried to go for the most bang for my buck. Therefore, I chose to go with all eight speakers made by Hsu Research. The system basically looks like this:
Subwoofer: 1 Hsu Research VTF-15H 15" subwoofer;
Center channel speaker: 1 Hsu Research HC-1 MK2 c.c. speaker;
Front & side surround speakers: 4 Hsu Research HB-1 MK2 bookshelf speakers;
Rear surround: 2 Hsu Research HIW-1 in-wall (ceiling) speakers;
AV Receiver/Amplifier: Onkyo TX-NR3008;
Television: Mitsubishi 73" WD-73C9 1080p DLP HDTV.
Subwoofer: The VTF-15H subwoofer is awesome. I ordered it in the Rosenut finish and it looks more like a nice piece of furniture rather than the hard-thumping workhorse that it is. It has two triangular foam inserts that can be removed or left in to to fit better to how tight of a bass sound you are hoping for. It also has controls on the rear panel for volume, Q control, and crossover frequency because we all have different room sizes and acoustics to deal with. It WILL act like a piece of furniture in your house because it is rather large at : 25" high, 18" wide, and 26" deep. Add 1" height for feet and 2" depth for grill & knobs. You won't want to move it around too much either since it's listed as 118 lbs shipping weight (53 kilograms). Here are a few photos I snapped of it:
Hsu Research VTF-15H subwoofer
Hsu Research VTF-15H subwoofer - rear panel
Hsu Research VTF-15H subwoofer - shipping box
Center Channel: The Center Channel speaker, Hsu Research HC-1 MK2, is very good. It has two 6.5" speakers and a horn tweeter and features a frequency response of 60 - 20khz. It's rated 100W rms but can be used with amps rated to 250W rms per channel. I would say it's medium-sized, at 8" high, 23" wide, 10" deep, and weighing 24 lbs (11 kg). Even though I have the Rosenut color on the subwoofer, I went with plain old black for the rest of the speakers and it doesn't look mismatched at all. Here are a few photos:
Hsu Research HC-1 MK2 center channel
Hsu Research HC-1 MK2 center channel - rear view
Hsu Research HC-1 MK2 center channel - shipping box
Front and Side Surround: For the two front and two side surround speakers, I went with the Hsu Research HB-1 MK2 bookshelf speakers. It is basically the same woofer and tweeter as the center channel speaker, with all the same specs. They are a little more hefty than I thought they would be at 15" high, 8" wide, 8" deep, and weighing 14.5 lbs (7 kg) each. Here are some photos I took:
Hsu Research HB-1 MK2 bookshelf speaker
Hsu Research HB-1 MK2 - shipping boxes
Rear Surround: For the rear surround channels, I chose a set of 2 Hsu Research HIW-1 in-wall speakers which I will install in the ceiling. These again feature the same 6.5" speaker and horn tweeter as the center channel and bookshelf speakers, with pretty much the same specs, except for the size of course. These are 15.5" high, 9" wide, and 3" deep. They come in white but the grills are paintable to match any decor. I also believe that they are only sold as a set of two. Here are a few shots I took of them:
Hsu Research HIW-1 in-wall speaker
Hsu Research HIW-1 in-wall speaker - grill removed
Hsu Research HIW-1 in-wall speaker - profile
Hsu Research HIW-1 in-wall speaker - rear view
Hsu Research HIW-1 in-wall speakers - shipping box
Amp: Powering my surround system is the Onkyo TX-NR3008 AV Receiver/Amplifier with 140 watts per channel. This has everything I need for now including 8 HDMI inputs and Internet radio via Vtuner and a connection to your network.
By the way, I've hooked up this receiver and a non-Wi-Fi Blu-ray player to my Wi-Fi home network with the TRENDnet TEW-640MB Wireless N 300Mbps Media Bridge. Basically this device receives your Wi-Fi signals and provides 4 Ethernet ports. Just plug up to 4 devices into this with cat 5 cable, and they will be able to access your Wi-Fi network.
TRENDnet TEW-640MB - front and rear views
Since the Onkyo can handle it, I may even eventually get two more bookshelf speakers to make it a 9.1 system (either additional wide or high) :) The amp is actually rated as a 9.2 surround but I don't really need the added bass from that a second subwoofer would provide.
Onkyo TX-NR3008
Onkyo TX-NR3008 - panel opened
Onkyo TX-NR3008 - rear view
TV: For the television, I have the Mitsubishi 73" WD-73C9 1080p DLP HDTV. Yes, a 73 inch screen and my sofa is about 10 feet away from the screen. Perfect! Thus, I haven't been to the movie theaters in over a year. The only problem is that I am now spoiled and want to watch everything on Blu-ray disc rather than a regular DVD. I would say that this whole system works very well together and would recommend it to anyone. I also just purchased a 3D Blu-ray player, but haven't hooked it up yet, so I'm sure I'll love my setup even more.
I hope you enjoyed reading this and please remember to check out my YouTube videos listed earlier for more information.
“I haven’t been to the movie theaters in over the year.”—Geez! That is like ages ago! Good thing you opted for a home theater system. With this, you can watch movies anytime and in the comforts of your own home!
ReplyDeleteAlanna Yamamoto
How did you secure the surround speakers in the ceiling? Is the mounting difficult?
ReplyDeleteHow did you secure the surround speakers in the ceiling? Is the mounting difficult?
ReplyDelete