I’ve already talked about my home cinema amplifier and my set of speakers. Today I’ll spend some time discussing about the use of a normal TV set (instead of some expensive projector and/or plasma display) in a home cinema.

My feeling is that good audio is crucial if you want to have a real home cinema experience. In a way, it’s more important to have good audio than to have good video. The reason being that, according to me, our brain can more easily compensate for missing information in the video than in the audio. A glitch in a video transmission (say some missing frames or some MPEG artifact) is largely unnoticeable whereas a glitch in audio (a click or white noise) is immediately perceived.

Personally I use an ordinary (i.e. non-widescreen) 29″ Samsung CRT TV set (model CS-761BGV if you really want to know) which has a relatively flat screen. I bought it second-hand from my uncle at Rs 8500 about one year ago. Unfortunately, the TV does not have a S-Video input and therefore I rely on a composite video signal!!!.

Let me tell you that I’m pretty much satisfied with the image quality. Of course, the TV has been callibrated using the same THX Optimizer software used for audio callibration.

Take your time and set the contrast, brightness and colour correctly. Most TV sets have abysimal standard settings more likely to make your eyes bleed than to render pictures accurately.

As I watch widescreen movies most of the time, it would have been better to have a widescreen (i.e. 16/9) TV. Actually, my Samsung TV has a 16/9 mode (normally used when watching an anamorphic DVD) but I do not often use it because (1) there is a distracting white line at the top of the screen when using this mode and (2) from a distance it’s difficult to see any difference between an anamorphic and a non-anamorphic image. So why bother?

I’ll perhaps buy a LCD or plasma display in the future. But I am not too in a hurry. My lowly 29″ CRT TV is perfectly adequate for the time being :-)

As promised, today I’ll write about the speakers that I have. Please read part one of this article before proceeding.

I bought a set of Pioneer home cinema speakers at Rs 5000 when Le Continent did a massive sale two years ago:

• 2 x H-210V tall bookshelf front speakers
• 1 x S-CR30 center speaker
• 2 x small but adequate rear speakers

As you see, I do not have a subwoofer but, to be frank, I’m satisfied with the level of bass of the H-210V. As far as connections are concerned, the speakers are linked to my amplifier using normal electric copper wires. I do not use any fancy cable.

The speakers must be properly positionned:

As read in Home Cinema Choice, “the front pair should be placed on either side of the TV, about 6ft apart, and towed in to the centre slightly. […] speakers can be placed to each side at the rear […] above head height […]. The centre channel should be close to the screen.”

The next step is to callibrate the speakers. The easiest way to do that is to buy (or rent or borrow or steal) a THX certified DVD and to run the THX Optimizer.

Choose the Audio tests and follow the directions very precisely. Pay particular attention to the phase of the speakers. Take your time.

To be honest, I like the sound of the Pioneers speakers a lot when watching movies. But, for some reason, they sound crap (there is a definite problem with high frequencies) when listening to CD. As a consequence, I use a pair of Sony SS-H10 speakers for such purposes. The sound quality is much better.

This pair of speakers come from my old Sony FH-B500 mini-hifi system which is now dead and burried. I bought it in 1992 when I started university in Reunion Island.

Remember: Placement and Callibration are fundamental!

Tomorrow I’ll talk of my Samsung 29″ TV.

I’ll start with something obvious. Building (or buying) a fantastic home cinema setup (like the one pictured above) is out of the question in Mauritius because excellent audio and video components (1) are difficult to find and (2) are very expensive.

Nevertheless, it is possible to have a nice entry-level home cinema setup for a relatively modest price if you know what and where to shop. My personal system, while relatively cheap, has given me lots of satisfaction. Here’s a rundown of the equipment I have and the price I bought them:

• a Kenwood home cinema amplifier (Rs. 9500 in Hong-Kong)
• a set of 5 Pioneer speakers (Rs. 5000 in a sale)
• a Samsung 29″ TV (Rs. 8500 second-hand)
• a Philips DVD player (Rs. 3000)
• a Parabole Maurice satellite subscription (Rs. 1350 montly)
• trunking and cabling (say Rs. 1000)

Today, I’ll talk of my home cinema amplifier, the mighty Kenwood KRF-7030D. My sister-in-law bought mine in Hong-Kong 2-3 years ago at Rs. 9500. The amplifier was reviewed in August 2000 by Home Cinema Choice and won a Best-Buy award.

I like the fact that the Kenwood is powerful (5 x 100W power output). This is important if you want to have a realistic soundstage with explosions, gun-shots and F-16 fighters passing over you. I also like the fact that it handles DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 with equal ease. For the uninitiated, these are the two competing technologies used to store audio on normal DVDs. Both are equally good even though, personally, I tend to choose DTS over Dolby Digital. Finally, it also features an FM radio which I don’t use as I listen to the radio only in my kitchen and in my car.

Now, for the crucial aspect : when buying a home cinema amplifier, you must always buy one with the most connections around the back. The reason being to prepare for the future. In this area, the Kenwood, even though it is budget-priced, is impressive:

There are lots of inputs and outputs:

• DVD (S-Video and Composite video; Digital and 6 channels audio inputs)
• Video-1 (S-Video and Composite video; inputs and outputs for analog audio)
• Video-2 (S-Video and Composite video; Digital and analog audio)
• Video-3 (S-Video and Composite video; Digital and analog audio)
• CD (Digital and analog audio)
• Tape (inputs and outputs for analog audio)
• Phono (analog audio)
• Auxillary (S-Video and Composite video; analog audio on front-panel)

As you can see, the sky is the limit… In my personal setup, my DVD is, predictably, hooked up to the DVD connections, my VHS VCR (which, conceptually, is not part of my home cinema setup…) is connected to Video-1 and my satellite decoder connects to Video-2. So there are lots of inputs left for my future DVD recorder or Digital TV :-)

In the next article, I’ll talk about the set of 5 Pioneers speakers I use and the way to correctly set them to have the nicest sound.