After going to multiple shops in Kuwait, and trying to come up with the best Home Theatre setup that I can afford, and one that can last me a while with out any upgrades! I went to Panasonic in Salmiya, and they had all the Denon Equipment, which was what I wanted to look at. But the problem I faced was uninformed sales people. Which causes me to doubt their capabilities. The person who is usually at the reciever section wasnt available at the time, so there wasnt anyone to answer my questions. So I was skeptical about them.
After doing a little research I found a place that was only for home theatres and home theatre equipment. The company is called ETC, and the owner is Nasser Al Shallal, great guy to talk to. He is completely into his equipment and he has a very nice setup. And has a lot of high quality items such as, Meridean Speakers, Mirage Speakers, Onkyo Recievers, Ready Home Theater setups, different types of projectors, plamsa screen mounts (the ones that swivel around completely), tables to place equipment or plasma screens, and he also has a few theatre rooms setup. When I was sitting in one of the theatre rooms he started playing the last battle seen from Lord of the Rings III. I completely forgot why I came, I just sat there watching the scene that I have seen many times and got lost watching it! It was fantastic! I felt like a complete idiot when he switched the lights back on! lol. Even his cabling is high quality, because a lot places get the equipment without quality wires!
For the screen I had to take two things into consideration, the room is originally a dewaneya but nobody uses it. And there is light coming in from the outside during the day. I didnt want a projector because it would take a lot of work to mount it with all the required wiring. The other thing is that the projector screen isnt clear if there is any light in the room. So I was left with two choices DLP or Plasma, and was leaning towards plasma because I wanted something thin and large. But I wanted to check out the DLPs for the sake of price. And I went around looking at different DLPs and the Sony 60″ DLP turned out to be the clearest but it cost 1500KD at the Sony Store and they really dont take much of the price! When I went to Centro in Kuwait City I saw the Samsung 50″ Plasma and it was priced at 1450KD and they offered it to me at 1350KD and it looked damn clear so I went with it!
How to get to ETC:
Take the third ring road going towards Shuwiekh, as soon as you enter Canada Dry street make the first right after the car washes (Safi) on the right.
Then at the intersection there is a new building towards the right side, make a right, then a left into the building and you will find ETC inside. And there is parking lot. They are open 9:30am to 12:00pm, and from 5:00pm until 10:00pm.
I burned a couple of 24 DVDs Season 5 to watch downstairs and to test it out after getting everything setup. And it was fantastic! I never thought the ticking in the beginning of 24 would sound so good. And everytime there was an explosion the room would shake a bit! It also helps that I am in the basement out of everyone’s way.
Items:
Screen:
Samsung Plasma 50″
Model # PS50P5HX/HSQ
Cost: 1350 KD
Speakers:
Mirage HDT-F (Left, Right, and Center)
Cost: 500 KD
Manufacturer Link
Reciever:
Onkyo TX-NR900
(The link is the specs of the US Version. I got the Japanese one, but the specs are all in Japanese)
Cost: 720 KD
Subwoofer:
Mirage OM-200
Cost: 320 KD
The comfortable seating that I managed to make! I modified the dewaneya a bit, and I made really comfortable just to sit and watch movies!
Im currently watching Prison Break and 24, Battle Star Gallactica, Stargate Atlantis, and huge amount of anime!!