My finished homemade HT Omikey, JSE and anyone else that's interested

[wasch_24]

Looks great! I'm jealous! How big is the room? How is the mains'sound since the mains enclosure looks tight in the picture? Do they have enough room to "breath"?

Thanks,
The entire room is "L" shaped. The space the HT is in is about 13' wide and close to 19' long. The columns come out 36" from each wall (rear and sides). The "L" shape is why I had to mount the surrounds on the ceiling. I really tried not to but stands just aren't an option having a six month old daughter and three year old neice that frequently visits.

The mains actually sound better in their compartments. The LFE blends nicely with the main output. I think it is the way the bass resonates in the space since the 10" woofers are side firing. I completely sealed the seams of the "boxes" and put Dynamat on the bottom of the speakers. The speakers are about 10" wide, the opening is around 13" and there is about 1' space all around inside.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

The mains actually sound better in their compartments. The LFE blends nicely with the main output. I think it is the way the bass resonates in the space since the 10" woofers are side firing. I completely sealed the seams of the "boxes" and put Dynamat on the bottom of the speakers. The speakers are about 10" wide, the opening is around 13" and there is about 1' space all around inside.

I know I wasn't asked, but I would like to offer a suggestion. Keep in mind that the box that you put the speakers in is like another room. It will have resonances that you may or may not hear. To make absolutely sure you do not hear them, I would pack either fireproof foam, or acoustical batting(you can get this from radio shack and speaker filler) in each cavity very tightly. This will mute(or reduce in volume) in cavity resonances that are present.

[nick4433]

Awesome advise my brudda. How've you been?
BTW, a very nice and professional looking setup. Are you using the Yamaha as a processor?

[wasch_24]

Awesome advise my brudda. How've you been?
BTW, a very nice and professional looking setup. Are you using the Yamaha as a processor?

The Yamaha is doing all the work. I wouldn't consider myself an audiophile by any stretch of the imagination so I actually like to use the DSP's they have. I leave the Yammie on PLIIx for all sources beside music and use the spectacle DSP for all movies. I really like how it makes the room seem larger and the sound fuller.

[wasch_24]

I know I wasn't asked, but I would like to offer a suggestion. Keep in mind that the box that you put the speakers in is like another room. It will have resonances that you may or may not hear. To make absolutely sure you do not hear them, I would pack either fireproof foam, or acoustical batting(you can get this from radio shack and speaker filler) in each cavity very tightly. This will mute(or reduce in volume) in cavity resonances that are present.

If I do this, won't it have a negative effect on the air flow created by the side firing woofers? I'm not super smart on sound frequencies and how they behave so excuse me if that is a dumb question. I'm very happy with the sound quality I get now and I have lights in there that create a nice glow while listening to music. My budget for the project has been exhausted for now, but I will keep that in mind when the bug bites again. We all know it will.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

If I do this, won't it have a negative effect on the air flow created by the side firing woofers? I'm not super smart on sound frequencies and how they behave so excuse me if that is a dumb question. I'm very happy with the sound quality I get now and I have lights in there that create a nice glow while listening to music. My budget for the project has been exhausted for now, but I will keep that in mind when the bug bites again. We all know it will.

I had no idea these speakers have side firing woofers. This is actually worse than I thought. When you place a subwoofer in a room, it interact with the rooms modes and nodes. Where the sub is in relationship to corners greatly accentuates this interaction. What you have is a couple of problems. You have a driver in VERY close proximity to a wall, and it is placed in a small room to boot. A bass driver placed 2in from the wall is going to have a VERY sawtooth frequency response as the output bounces off the wall and back at the driver, which sends the reflection of the reflection back to the wall and to the driver and so on. Frequencies are boosted and cancelled and the bass is not smooth. Now you also have this driver sitting is a VERY small room where room interactions are more profound(smaller rooms have more bass problems). I am willing to bet that if you pulled that speaker out of that space, and out into the room a bit, it would sound like a different speaker altogether. My suggestion about the stuffing will dampening the small room problem, but the only way to deal with the bass driver being to close to the walls is to move it out of there, and that would take away from the great work you have done. Just my professional opinion

[wasch_24]

I had no idea these speakers have side firing woofers. This is actually worse than I thought. When you place a subwoofer in a room, it interact with the rooms modes and nodes. Where the sub is in relationship to corners greatly accentuates this interaction. What you have is a couple of problems. You have a driver in VERY close proximity to a wall, and it is placed in a small room to boot. A bass driver placed 2in from the wall is going to have a VERY sawtooth frequency response as the output bounces off the wall and back at the driver, which sends the reflection of the reflection back to the wall and to the driver and so on. Frequencies are boosted and cancelled and the bass is not smooth. Now you also have this driver sitting is a VERY small room where room interactions are more profound(smaller rooms have more bass problems). I am willing to bet that if you pulled that speaker out of that space, and out into the room a bit, it would sound like a different speaker altogether. My suggestion about the stuffing will dampening the small room problem, but the only way to deal with the bass driver being to close to the walls is to move it out of there, and that would take away from the great work you have done. Just my professional opinion

The woofer is actually close to 14" away from the interior wall of the space it is in. Before I built the enclosures that the speakers are in I had the syatem setup and operational in the room. To be honest everyone that had watched a movie, that's 95% of how I use the system, before and after the install actually prefers the sound quality after install. I'm sure that in a technical sense I am probably missing out on something but I like the way it sounds as is. Thanks for your suggestions anyway.