home made surround sound

[Hitman]

Hi there, I hope this is in the right place.

I wanted to set up a surround sound system for my bedroom, which would allow me to connect a multitude of sources to it, namely my PC, DVD, VCR, TV, DAB and the MP3 player which Im currently building out of old PC hardware 🙂

I know that I could buy a ready made surround sound system, with the decoder, speakers, and sub all together, but I really like the idea of putting together my own system.

Having a go at building the decoder, building a sub, and even the speakers, some thing that would have brilliant sound quality and not cost a fortune like these (which I was originally going to buy)

I dont really have alot of experience of electronics (apart from a GCSE Electronics course), but I can solder 😉 and Im willing to learn.

I cant seem to find any guides to building a decoder, speakers, or sub. Can any one give me any links?

Or perhaps theres some books I could read about this?

 

[seangoesbonk]

I don't want to discourage you, but if you don't have much experience in electronics, a surround digital decoder isn't the best place to start.

However, I think you should definately build the speakers, subs and amps.

There are a lot of problems with building a decoder. It is not as simple as finding a schematic, going to radio shack for parts, etc. There are licensing issues with reguards to the DTS and other surround formats

I know it doesn't sound like exactly the application you were thinking of, but for movies, you might be better off buying a DVD player with analog 5.1 outputs. (just a suggestion)

If you search "decoder" and "surround" on this website, you should be able to find a bit more info on this...

 

[chris ma]

With the price of that system from the link that you posted, I do not think you can DIY the whole system with less than the price quoted in that ad.
Chris

 

[Peter Daniel]

That's the inside of my Citation 7 Home Theatre preamp.

I wouldn't even dream about building something like that myself, when I can buy it used for $600 (and probably even less now). But building set of amps is definitely worth it.😉

 

[grataku]

There is a Sony ES decoder, an older though highly praised model that goes for about $200 on audiogon don't remember the model, alternatively you can just buy a DVD with dolby-dts 5.1 decoder built in and to that add volume control pre-amp for your other sources and amplifiers. It would be fun to design the pre-amp for this thing.

 

[grataku]

Here is the SONY I was talking about.

http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cl.pl?homeproc&1045507620&class&3&4&

Or, if you want to spend some more

http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cl.pl?homeproc&1045527192&class&3&4&

This is a great mistery of the market. This machine got rave reviews from the maybe 10 people that actually purchased it. I never understood if it was a question of looks or what. Anyway, this baby has balanced outs for those crazy AlephX builders.

 

[Hitman]

Okay 🙂

So you think I should try and build the speakers, sub and amp, but buy a seperate decoder for the surround sound?

Will I be able to connect all of the sources to the amp that I specified though?

Im afraid that Ive only ever owned the 'all in one' Hi-Fi systems, so Ive never really set up loads of seperates.

 

[lykkedk]

Creative

You should have a look, at the CREATIVE EXTINGY, which could be used as a standalone decoder....