u/cpgeek

I decided that I was going to build out a home theater setup to go with my aged lg 1080p tv from 2016. as the tv's os is old (and I hate tv operating systems now that I know that they literally screenshot everything i'm looking at if I connect it to the network every couple minutes), I decided i'd just buy a mini pc. I went with one of those little low power n100 units with 16gb of ddr4 running the latest version of windows 11 figuring it should be a cakewalk to set up either browser or app based streaming services as well as access my home server running plex on it - but no. I learned right off the bat that most streaming services only seem to want to support 720p sdr with 2 channel audio, and that's where it works at all (pretty much just edge), so I though ok, i'll just download the streaming provider's own apps and learned that netflix deprecated it's dedicated pc streaming app and is now just a web wrapper with the same browser limitations, paramount plus is also just a web wrapper with the same limitations, and same with prime.

NONE of these services let me use atmos (which I was planning to build out now that I have a really nice (for me) AVR (a brand new onkyo rz30 that I just dropped $800 on (and yeah, i know there are more expensive, better receivers, but that's a whole bunch of money still... to go with it I bought a set of energy 5.1 speakers (a pair of rc-70's for left and right, an rc-rcr for center, and a set of rc-10's for the surrounds. I haven't figured out a sub yet, but that's one of the next things on the list and I was planning on adding heights over christmas time... a couple of the services let me use 5.1 (but it seems even that's rare).

I don't want a streaming stick because they're notoriously slow, and pointless (there is ZERO technical reason why I shouldn't be able to do full-on 4k60 hdr with atmos on this minipc. (or at least 1080p 60 sdr with atmos until I upgrade my tv.). searching through movies is particularly annoying - I just want to sit on my couch with my wireless keyboard/trackpad and search and play media.

seriously, how are people streaming video with their htpc in 2016 where it actually looks and sounds good?! I heard streaming on linux was kind of a long-standing issue (my original plan was to install linux and a frontend to save on ram and use an os that isn't constantly phoning home).

so now I'm sitting here staring at an expensive pile of parts that I got great deals on overall, but don't seem to do the thing and i'm pretty frustrated:

onkyo rz30 $800 on sale
Energy 5.0 speakers $800 on sale
n100 mini pc with 16gb of ram and 512gb ssd ($100 on sale like 2 years ago when ram was reasonably priced)

not being able to stream high quality a/v content from the streaming providers I pay an aggregate of ~$750/yr to retain... priceless.

I'm not a proponent of it, nor do I want information about it, but I do believe this is exactly why piracy is winning. streaming providers are no longer providing a good, convenient experience. I honestly really don't mind paying for the content I view, in fact, I want the people who make the content that I enjoy to be paid well for the art that they create but this is pretty ridiculous. - not to mention the steady large cost increases. I'm paying now for my collection of streaming services than I *ever* did on cable tv back in the day.

Going into this I figured i'd grab a bunch of kodi plugins for each of my streaming apps, log into all of them, spend most of my time calibrating my avr and tv and have a happy ol' time... this is totally not the case it seems. DRM is a huge bane on current consumer home theater... I ain't got that kaleidescape money bruh!

I'm a PC only user and I would like to buy bricks at the store. I uesd to be able to log in with my account on the website but ever since they switched to this stupid qr code login thing I have had to log in through the doomsday club icon which launched my browser and logged me in, fine, but they recently removed doomsday club and I haven't been able to figure out how to log into the store so I can buy bricks. I am NOT going to install last z on a mobile device. how do I get logged in to the store site?

I wouldn't think they would make it such a struggle to give them money.

In about a year, my wife and I are going to be renovating our livingroom, adding power, networking, fresh coat of paint, new windows and window casings, carpet, furnature, and with it, a new AV system, basically re-working the entirety of the space. While it will still be multi-use with comfortable seating for small gatherings for people to chat, retaining our cat play tower, etc. the overarching primary goal is to turn the room into a home theater / music enjoyment space. I'm not sure if we'll end up going with a tv or projector (though i'm leaning more toward a TV at this point due to daytime practicality and the wonders of HDR) but I do know that I would like to build out a budget atmos setup for film enjoyment that will pull double duty for pure stereo music enjoyment. After thinking about it and looking around, I think i'm going to go with a standard reasonably priced (likely used) atmos 7.1 AVR by one of the major manufacturers (denon or onkyo perhaps)

However, looking at speakers I found that anything that I would actually want to buy is INCREDIBLY expensive and looking at exactly what they ARE I found that they consist of pretty reasonably priced drivers, a crossover, a waveguide and an enclosure... parts that together cost maybe $80 for $1000's of dollars... don't get me wrong, I freely admit that there's a huge amount of R&D that gets put into premium reference speakers, tons of math and modeling that goes into designing enclosures and waveguides and crossovers and matching them to the dynamics of the drivers so everything comes out exactly right in terms of frequency response, dealing with resonance, reflections, etc. I COMPLETELY understand that to get it right is a complex topic to say the least... so I decided to do some more looking around and found that there is a fairly avid portion of the 3d printer + audiophile community who have been experimenting with DIY speaker systems for many years now with quite a few available projects that can be replicated at very reasonable prices for seemingly high quality results. there's a youtuber/designer called printyourspeakers who's work on the subject seems particularly inspiring (though there are lots of others as well) but I still haven't found quite what i'm looking for in any design I've come across yet (at least I don't think so).

The end goal I envision, which feels like it SHOULD be within the realm of possibility is a tonally matched 7 channel set that includes 2 full-range (probably 3-way) front speakers (left and right), a center, 2 mid-high surrounds (probably 2-way), 2 mid-high height speakers (ceiling mounted, maybe even the same design as the surrounds, not sure). and a subwoofer (I may end up going with a decent off-the-shelf subwoofer as I can actually find solid choices used for reasonable prices and it would save me from having to figure out my own amp solution and resonance is rough at lower frequencies). I want them to be as flat as possible (or more accurately, I tend to lean more toward the harmon target for a bit more warmth, but mostly neutral and flat), because they aren't nearfield, I'd like wide directivity (I'd like at least the whole couch to enjoy the surround sweet spot and I'm looking for excellent multichannel imaging), I would like each of the main speakers to be very efficient and accept at least 75-100w (because that's what most AVRs in this range can output, and also realistically it's a relatively small living room so I doubt I'll ever need more than that anyway), but most importantly I want EXTREME clarity and speakers that overall compare very favorably to high end professional thousands-of-dollars-per-channel reference hi-fi speakers (particularly the main stereo set).

For further context, I have what amounts to a well-stocked makerspace in my home, I have experience building relatively complex mechanical and electronics projects and lots of 3d printing experience (I built my own voron v2 (that's getting a stealthchanger upgrade soon), and v0, and I also have a p1s and k1 max), I also have a reasonably-well equipped ESD safe electronics workbench with more soldering and electronics test equipment than you can shake a stick at, and I also have a calibrated measurement microphone and have spent a little time with REW (though i'm a bit of a beginner with it's advanced functions), so I am confident that I can replicate other's designs faithfully with relative ease. What I don't have is wood working tools (beyond like a chop saw and a really crappy battery powered jigsaw) and no place in my house to store said wood working tools even if I did want them. I also don't have any experience with speaker design having really only configured off the shelf components in the past.

if anyone has any advice, designs they can point me at (for inspiration or possible implementation), or if anyone has been successful with something like this this already, please do let me know about it. I'd really like to build out something that sounds simply amazing for pennies on the dollar compared to an off-the-shelf solution or trying to buy something used that may or may not fill my needs for still probably more than it's worth.

Thanks in advance!