Home Theatre

What is home theatre?
Entertainment. Bringing the big picture of a movie theatre to your home with the sound effects to match.
To me its the sound that makes home theatre. Sure a bigger screen than your average TV screen is real nice, and nicer too if its one of the new projector TVs or a widescreeen TV. And sound that surrounds you, you can hear the effects, bullets whizzing past your ears, helicopter passing low over your head that you cringe into the chair, explosions that feel, disco music that vibrates you brain, all so realistic that you know you are there, right in the middle of the action.
For me it all started more than a few years ago. VHS videos, stereo playback, dolby noise reduction, hifi stereo with TV in middle. I though it was great, Star Wars was excellent, nothing could beat the stereo sound as space fighters zoomed across the room from one speaker to the other. Marvellous.
Then about 5 years ago I was in a Queen Street music shop and there was a home theatre system. The screen was a rather cumbersome front projector type, the sound was via the usual reasonable quality stereo music system, BUT now there were two additional speakers, one was a low frequency driver disguised as a chunky coffee table, the other was like a medium size shelf speaker on its side with a horn and two driver, the middle driver. Controlling all of this was a new slimline pre-amplifier looking box of magic, a surround sound simulator that split the sounds to the various power amplifiers.
Wow! I though, this was mind-blowing stuff, must have.
I never did have it as by the time I had saved enough to buy the bits needed there always appeared a newer more interesting processer that was the new must have.
In 1995 I updated my getting-too-old-and-tired sound system with a low cost Pioneer A400x amplifier and Wharfedale 1-3 main speakers. In conjuction with a new Mitsubishi Nicam stereo VCR I was really enjoying some good movies. My faithful AIWA cd player was soon to fail and on visiting my local electrical shop I saw and heard my first laser disk (LD) system. I never did buy a replacement CD player as I was planning to but an LD player taht could also play CDs. There was a pioneer model a CLD1950, nice features and a top-endish model in 1995.
Just at Christmas 1995 I set off with the cash to buy the LD player and much to my surprise there was a pre-Christmas sale (23 December) for 2 days only. With some luck and fast talking I managed to get the CLD1950 for $1299, plus a VS200 surround sound amplifier for $499, and a pair of Wharfdale rear speakers for $299. And two rolls of cable or what was left on the rolls, about 26 metres of a good jumbo speaker cable and about 20 metres of thinner stuff to connect the rears.
My home theatre was starting to take shape, the Phillips TV's speakers were wired in as the middle speaker driven by the 30W centre output from the VS200, the rears by two 20W channels from the VS200. The A400x was driving 85W to the fronts.
With my first two Laser disks (True Lies and Jurassic Park) the Dolby surround sound was mind blowing. I was never the same again.
And Saturday afternoon at 3pm was a major event each week. Dolby surround on broadcast of Babylon 5, my whole weekend was reorganised around this event.

The next major expenditure was at Christmas 1996 and over the next two months. A new Phillips 29inch TV to replace the Phillips 21inch. This is a temporary upgrade while I save for a Sony KPX41 projector TV.
The sound all happened in November 1996, I went to a demo of a THX capable home theatre system, mainly based around a Technics THX amplifier. I was determined to get THX capability.
Then the review of the Pioneer CLDD-925 in a British HiFi magazine appeared and I learned about Dolby Digital (AC-3) and the five channels of sound. Another shop theatre demo with AC-3 really brought the whole surround sound concept alive. I was just totally blown away with the movie True Lies playing through an AC-3 LD player and AC-3 power amplifier.
February 1997 and the major upgrade ttok place, I bought the CLDD-925 and a Pioneer DSX-3 amplifier/tuner. A few days later two Infinity 925 150W speakers to use as rears.

The setup was now just about complete:
Mitsubishi 561V stereo VCR
Pioneer CLDD-925 Laser Disc/CD player
Pioneer DSX-3 Tuner/Amplifier
Wharfdale 1-3 front speakers
Yamaha YSX-150W active Bass unit
Infinity PRO Centre speaker
Infinity 925 rear speakers