My "Home Theater"

The title of this page is in quotes since this is really not a dedicated type of setup. This is more like our Family Room Entertainment System.  When we purchased our house, nothing was pre-wired as far as surround sound goes.  I found some really nice two conductor CL2 in wall 16 AWG speaker cable from MCM Electronics.  The 500 foot spool ended up costing only about $60.  It is available in 14 or 12 AWG too, but 16 was sufficient for me.  In addition, I used RG6 for my sub woofer run to the rear of the room as well as my digital coax cable from my cable box to my receiver.  To clean up the installation, I used Leviton wall plates and interconnects.

I started out with the CNET suggested settings on the display. They were pretty good, but after running JKP's DVE, I found my best setting to be the following:

Picture menu: Cinema
Picture: 14
Brightness: 1
Sharpness: 1
Color 1
Color Temp: Warm
Color Management: Off
Advanced Settings: On
Black Extension: 0
Input Level: 0
Gamma: 2.5
W/B High R: 5
W/B High G: -11
W/B High B: -1
W/B Low R: 6
W/B Low G: 8
W/B Low B: 1

Setup menu
Signal sub-menu:
3:2 pulldown: On
Video NR: Off

Power save: Off
Standby save: On
Power management: Off
Auto power off: Off

Just as stated in the CNET review, green was IMPOSSIBLE. But the only place I notice it is looking through the green filter during calibration. Red and Blue are 100% perfection (according to the filters). I've never seen such beautiful SMPTE color bars . I am sure there are better monitors out there, but dang, for the steal one can pick up the 10UKA for....

The following is a list of my hardware:

Panasonic 50" Plasma TH-50PH10UKA
Onkyo TX-SR501 6.1 Receiver
Polk Rti38 Front Mains
Polk Csi40 Front Center
Polk Rti38 Surrounds
Dayton In-Ceiling 6½" Coaxial Rear Center
SVS PB12-ISD Subwoofer

Philips Upconverting DVD
Comcast HD with DVR

UPDATE!!!! 5-22-2008  Panasonic Plasma Problem (Click to Read)

UPDATE #2 Panasonic Authorized Repair Ruins My Table Top With The Loaner and Says They're Not Liable! (Click Me)
 

Panasonic TH-50PH10UKA

I love this display.

In Action...

So here is a shot of Houston's Dr. Neil Frank telling us about our weather.

In Action...

This guy is telling us about farming poppy plants. The TH-50PH10UKA produces DEEP blacks. The black detail is so amazing. Pictures of the TV dn't do it justice, but just take a look at his beard.

In Action...

Yummy! Poppy Plants!

In Action...

Scraping the milky-pure opium.

View From The Breakfast Area

View from the front

The Goods

So here's how everything integrates into the furniture. The center channel sits above the display on a shelf.

From the Side

See how the center channel rests on the shelf. Because of my furniture and the huge center channel, I decided against wall mounting the display.

The Brains

For now this is what's running the show: Comcast 8300HD (connected via HDMI), my band-aid (until I get a Bluray player) Philips up-converting DVD player (HDMI), and 'ole trusty Onkyo TX-SR501.

Front Center Channel

Polk Csi40 (Dual 6½" Drivers)

Naked!

Here's the front center Csi40 without the grill.

Polk Rti38

These are what I use for my front and rear mains (Single 6½" Driver)

Naked (take two)

An Rti38 without grill.

Rumble....Rumble....

Here's the little "baby" SVS PB12 ISD. Oh and you can get a sneak peak at the Leviton plate on the wall. That's where the subwoofer gets it's feed from the receiver. It is also where the rear-right connects.

End Table?

Just showing how the sub woofer kind works as the table in that corner. You can also see the placement of the rear right (with Vito's leash on top). Vito is our Boston Terrier.

Rear Left

So like I said, another Rti38.

Rear Center

Center placement for the rear would have been impossible if it weren't for ceiling speakers! (Single 6½" Driver)

Rear Sound Stage

Just a shot of the rear in it's entirety.

Main Plate

Just a close up of the main Leviton plate that distributes all of the surround speakers, sub feed, and brings in the cable from Comcast.

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