Question Advice sought on kit for small home cinema

bh2112

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Hello! It's been years since I've been on here - moved house, had a baby etc. I'm planning a small cinema in our spare room (used about twice a year for sleeping) so I'm converting the double bed to a Murphy wall vertical pulldown. The room size is 5mx3m with 2 windows that I'll get black out blinds for. Luckily, it's the room furthest away from the neighbour part wall so we can crank up the volume.
We already have a Philips HTS3510 with 5.1 speakers, which are fine for what we need, and that has phono inputs. I want to play Blurays/DVDs and plug in a Mac mini (around 2000 avi's/mkv's) to a semi-decent projector that will play onto a discrete pull down screen of no more than 50".

Any ideas on how the Philips will take in Mac mini sound to play 5.1? This may seem obvious but I am a tech dolt.

If it's not possible, then I may buy a small AV receiver to plug in a laptop/HDDs and play discs from that. Suggestions as to what that may be?

All help gratefully received.
 
Hello! It's been years since I've been on here - moved house, had a baby etc. I'm planning a small cinema in our spare room (used about twice a year for sleeping) so I'm converting the double bed to a Murphy wall vertical pulldown. The room size is 5mx3m with 2 windows that I'll get black out blinds for. Luckily, it's the room furthest away from the neighbour part wall so we can crank up the volume.
We already have a Philips HTS3510 with 5.1 speakers, which are fine for what we need, and that has phono inputs. I want to play Blurays/DVDs and plug in a Mac mini (around 2000 avi's/mkv's) to a semi-decent projector that will play onto a discrete pull down screen of no more than 50".

Any ideas on how the Philips will take in Mac mini sound to play 5.1? This may seem obvious but I am a tech dolt.

If it's not possible, then I may buy a small AV receiver to plug in a laptop/HDDs and play discs from that. Suggestions as to what that may be?

All help gratefully received.

An avr is going to be your best bet. That Philips system you have cannot accept a multi channel input from another source, so you'd only get 5.1 from the built-in dvd player and usb. Richer sounds etc sell separates bundle deals which include an avr with speakers to match, or better yet, check the classifieds on here.

If all you want is a 50" screen then a TV will be much better (and cheaper) than a projector, and won't look out of place in a spare room.
 
ok, thanks for replying. I should have mentioned that a TV is impossible as the proposed ceiling mounted pull down retractable screen will go above a doorway that leads to an ensuite bathroom.
My digging around has revealed that the Mac Mini has a 'headphone out/optical digital audio out port', which according to Apple, can produce a 5.1 signal. The Bluray player has an AUX IN comprising of the yellow red white comp sockets. See Page 10
If I get the right cable (whatever that is??) do you still think it's possible to avoid a trip to Richer Sounds?

Thanks.
 
ok, thanks for replying. I should have mentioned that a TV is impossible as the proposed ceiling mounted pull down retractable screen will go above a doorway that leads to an ensuite bathroom.
My digging around has revealed that the Mac Mini has a 'headphone out/optical digital audio out port', which according to Apple, can produce a 5.1 signal. The Bluray player has an AUX IN comprising of the yellow red white comp sockets. See Page 10
If I get the right cable (whatever that is??) do you still think it's possible to avoid a trip to Richer Sounds?

Thanks.
Could you modify the layout of the room to allow a TV to be fitted? Or use a cantilever wall mount to move it out of the when required? A projector isn't as easy to live with and has alot of negative qualities for such a small screen size.

For the audio you would use a 3.5mm to RCA cable to attach the headphone/line out from the Mac to the aux input on the player. This would only provide you with stereo sound though. The player may be able to apply some kind of processing (Dolby PLll etc) to simulate surround sound, but won't be as good as discrete 5.1. To get discrete 5.1 you would need a digital input, which your system doesn't have. Have you tried just running your media from a usb drive into the player?
 
Looking at the Phillips device you can save the speakers and use on a different AV receiver as it has standard speaker clip inputs. The unit itself will have to go though.

A starter AV amplifier will set you back around £150. This will cover your base needs - 5 x HDMi inputs and 2 x optical and support for the most popular surround sound formats

DENON AVRX520BTBlack AV Receiver
 
Hi, you could attach the tv to the murphy bed. I incorporated a speaker in my wall bed. I made the wallbed and myself. Bought the mechanism from Turkey.
 
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