That would be sweet. But I don't. That's why I need you people to stretch my dollar like twin rubber sheet on a king sized bed.
I'm building out a new basement cave and a buddy of mine who I don't talk to much comes out of the woodwork one day and we start chatting. After catching up on old times he tells me he can get seriously good AV gear at cost through the company he works for.
Okay, awesome. So now what? I've been out of the AV purchasing business for a long time. All I know is I have a blank canvas and want to install a bad ass home theater for movies and my gaming system. 5.1? 7.2? 3.14? Help!
I can't break the bank as I guess my 3 year old wants to go to college or something. And my wife wants heat in the winter. Blah...
So gents. Illuminate a dusty old purchaser who has been out of the game for a while. Let's set a budget at say $2,500-$3,000 for TV, receiver, speakers. What would you buy assuming you're paying cost, not retail.
And if you go over budget? Oops. Well, I suppose I'll take a look anyway.
Haha. No, he doesn't drive a white van. But when I was in high school I got burned when out Christmas shopping. A guy parked near a bank (good location) suckered me into buying a couple of "premium" speakers. He had glossy documentation and told me he had to "unload" them for a big discount or his boss was going to kill him. While they weren't half bad for my untrained ear I didn't realize it was a national scam until years later.
Funny ending though. My freshman year apartment got robbed in college and I got "full replacement cost". Not knowing it was a scam yet I claimed the full value the guy quoted me. I ended up getting a surround sound system as my replacement.
What's the deal with those guys? Is that scam still alive and well? And where do they get those speakers?
Cheap china shit. Swap Meet grade audio gear. Slick marketing material and guys that know the schtick to unload them. Kind of like Bose, but in a parking lot out of a van and cash only.
I Lean towards onkyo receivers, and if you are looking to save a little on surround sound, look at getting a sound bar. A couple companies make them and they are a great sub in if you don't feel like dropping thousands on speakers.
I've gotta say, I've been debating on video options for my cave (in the interest of budget, I'll likely start with the 42" LCD that I currently have down there) viewing. I've been looking into projectors, and have seen everything from $200 to $5000!!!
How to know which one(s) are good? I know that I would want to connect (at least) two HD sources (PS3 - I know, it does Blu-Ray - and cable box, and potentially a Blu-Ray DVD player in the future), so the unit should have at least two HDMI inputs, possibly more.
What is a good lumen #??? What is a good contrast ratio??? Is the image good and clear/comparable to a TV??? What's a good screen size to go for? (I think the proposed space could handle about a 120" 16:9 screen (the space I'm thinking about is 118" wide, so 104" X 58"??? or am I way off?)
Or should I save my pennies for a 70" or 80" TV when I look to upgrade???
Read the threads on the Epson projectors.
This will answer all your questions.
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Man Cave Forums - Discussing The Perfect Man Cave
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