My newest Hometheater project

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Last Friday the last bit of construction(sans painting which will be done later) on my dedicated home theater in my bay area home was completed. So my kids presented me with a challenge that I just could not pass up.

Usually I would just go out and buy new equipment to outfit the room. However this time my kids challenged me to equip this room with equipment we already have in my studio warehouse. The only piece of equipment I am allowed to buy, is a projector because all of the projectors in the warehouse are tubed based, and this home theater has to be low maintenance. I also wanted 3D, and none of my tube based projectors can do that. Most of my systems are multipurpose system that handle multichannel music and movies. This room will be dedicated to just home theater only. I already have a dedicated room in the front of the house that has a dedicated 7.1 music system.

Yesterday early in the morning, my kids and I set out to the equipment warehouse to pick out some equipment. My choices will surprise some, but I have a very specific goals I am looking for for the first phase of this room.

Display:

Until I get my projector, I chose my old trusty custom 65" 1080p big screen television with 9" CRT's. There is no panel made as of yet that can equal the picture quality of this set, not even the famous Kuro's panel that I also own.

Speakers:

This is the shocker, but I chose them for a specific reason. I chose 3 realistic Mach One's that I had recapped, new drivers and crossovers installed. I chose them because they sounded really good after the upgrade, and it mimicks pretty closely the speakers installed behind the screen on the dubbing stage. For the left and right surrounds, I chose Klipsch RS-3II, For the rear surround speakers, I chose a pair of Klipsch RB-5. For subs, I chose two Velodyne 18" passive subs My reason for using these speakers are because they all sound darn good together(very cohesive for being different in design), has pretty darn good sound quality, can play very loud and cleanly, and has that big theater sound but sounds better than a movie theater system.

Amps and receiver:

I chose two Onkyo M-504 I recently had recapped to run the front channels, two Onkyo M-501 that I am going to have recapped to run the surrounds, and two mono-block California Audio Lab amps (500 watts a piece) to run the subs. Since I did not have anymore dedicated pre-amps, I chose a Onkyo TX-NR709 that I purchased for a home theater in another house that I never installed(decided to go separates with that system) as a pre-amp.

Acoustical treatment:

To work with the receivers Audyssey calibration system, I am also going to drag some RPG diffusiors, absorption panels, diffusor panels, and RPG Diffusor Systems Skyline panels.

While the challenge did not allow me to buy any new equipment except the projector, I can upgrade and improve anything in the system that I want to.

My boys challenge of not purchasing anything new was based on the fact that we have a nice size warehouse full of equipment that is in very good order, but has no place to go as we have pretty much upgraded all of the systems I own.

Once I decide on the projector I want(and my kids are setting the budget) then I will paint and decorate the room to look like a real movie theater. The room will sit six people without any seat being within six feet of any walls.

I cannot wait to take up the challenge of putting this together myself without the help of a professional installation crew.

[E-Stat]

Last Friday the last bit of construction(sans painting which will be done later) on my dedicated home theater in my bay area home was completed.

Cool project and realization that good home theatre doesn't necessarily have to cost an arm and a leg.

My only confusion is as to where your sig system lives. Different home?

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Cool project and realization that good home theatre doesn't necessarily have to cost an arm and a leg.

My only confusion is as to where your sig system lives. Different home?

Thanks Ralph.This is going to be the first project my boys and I have done since they moved out. I am going to really enjoy spending time with them this week doing it.

The system in my sig is in my house in Altadena which is in the foothills above the Los Angeles area.

[E-Stat]

Thanks Ralph.This is going to be the first project my boys and I have done since they moved out. I am going to really enjoy spending time with them this week doing it.

All the better. There's no question that you are the most enthusiastic home theater buff who I know of!

The system in my sig is in my house in Altadena which is in the foothills above the Los Angeles area.

After we relocated from the Atlanta area, it was almost three years before we were able to sell the first house. I sure wouldn't want to pay your property taxes. I have enough of a challenge maintaining one fairly big one in top shape.

Next year, the pool and sprinkler system will need some major work.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

All the better. There's no question that you are the most enthusiastic home theater buff who I know of!

You are not the first to say this!

After we relocated from the Atlanta area, it was almost three years before we were able to sell the first house. I sure wouldn't want to pay your property taxes. I have enough of a challenge maintaining one fairly big one in top shape.

Since all of my houses are paid for(I bought some, and inherited others) the only thing to worry about is property taxes and maintenance. Thanks to this recession, the property taxes on some of my properties has actually gone down thank God. Within the next five years, I am going to be paring down profoundly as I want to retire from the corporate world, and finally open that dog training facility I have always wanted to do.

Next year, the pool and sprinkler system will need some major work.

The house this system is going in is a fixer upper that I have poured $70,000 into(and paid $60,000 for), which included, building a soundproof dedicated home theater room, new plumbing and electrical, new sprinkler system, a custom built air conditioned kennel for the dogs, and a new roof. The only thing left is to replace the front lawn, and give it another paint job as the one the did before selling it to me sucked.

I have never really been into construction work, but I worked with my handyman to get some of the work done. Learned a lot from the experience as well.

Here is to home repairs.....

[Worf101]

Wow... I'd kill to have my pick of what you've got "just laying around" in the infamous warehouse of yours... Nice post. Of course you know this thread is COMPLETELY WORTHLESS WITHOUT PICS!!! How am I going to get my daily allotment of droolage without seeing all that sleekness in action! Hmm? Oh by the way good job on the picks you made and you've got some smart kids in that house, watch your back!

Worf

[recoveryone]

I knew when I saw this thread I would just have more contempt for TT . But I also do the same in my home by never throwing out any gear. I use to give it away to others trying to help them enjoy the full sense of HT, but I stop doing that after seeing how all my good intentions were just going down the tubes.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Progress report.

We completely forgot to bring a equipment stand, so when I go back to LA, I am going to have to scrounge one up. In the mean time, well have to stack some components on top of the huge hospital grade power conditioner/regulator that every thing is hook up to.

The television has been installed on its stand, CRT's cleaned, and television calibrated. I have never seen a 2D television look so 3D in all of my life. I completely forgot this television looked this good.

I sent the M-501's to the shop to get recapped(I've know the repairman for years) and have him put his mojo on it like he did the past amps I have brought to him.

We started loosening up the speakers drivers with pink noise. I want to get them loosened up before I install them. I am going to have to go ghetto by using milk crates to set the left and right surrounds on. The speaker brackets I brought up won't work where the speaker need to be optimally placed. I am going to have to get another set of brackets when I go back to LA.

Will report back again when things start getting set up.

Worf, pictures will be forthcoming when everything is in place.

Recoveryone, I know how you feel.....really I do.

[Woochifer]

Progress report.

We completely forgot to bring a equipment stand, so when I go back to LA, I am going to have to scrounge one up. In the mean time, well have to stack some components on top of the huge hospital grade power conditioner/regulator that every thing is hook up to.

The television has been installed on its stand, CRT's cleaned, and television calibrated. I have never seen a 2D television look so 3D in all of my life. I completely forgot this television looked this good.

I sent the M-501's to the shop to get recapped(I've know the repairman for years) and have him put his mojo on it like he did the past amps I have brought to him.

We started loosening up the speakers drivers with pink noise. I want to get them loosened up before I install them. I am going to have to go ghetto by using milk crates to set the left and right surrounds on. The speaker brackets I brought up won't work where the speaker need to be optimally placed. I am going to have to get another set of brackets when I go back to LA.

Will report back again when things start getting set up.

Worf, pictures will be forthcoming when everything is in place.

Recoveryone, I know how you feel.....really I do.

Equipment stands? You mean milk crates are good enough for surround speakers, but not the components? I mean, pix used to accuse you of "cobbling" stuff together, and now that you're doing it for real, why not go all in?

[texlle]

I'm eager to see how this project progresses. Maybe a few shots of the big screen in action for now?

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Equipment stands? You mean milk crates are good enough for surround speakers, but not the components? I mean, pix used to accuse you of "cobbling" stuff together, and now that you're doing it for real, why not go all in?

I can go partial ghetto, but full ghetto would probably kill me. LOLOLOL

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

So the project is moving along, and presented some surprises and short term compromises.

We decided to temporarily hang all room treatments except the bass traps because we have not painted the room as yet. I thought it would be better to not permanently install anything until after painting so we don't get paint on things that we do want. Using RPG room optimizer we found the proper place for all of the speakers, and got a simple prediction on how the speakers with perform in the places. Since the program makes some assumptions(sealed room), and my room closely matches that assumption, measurements from my RTA pretty much corroborated with the program. Next, we filled all of the corner from top to bottom as my measurements showed the room was a little to rich from 100-160hz. The traps did a great job in taming those frequencies.

So with all the speakers in place, we began measuring distance to align the speakers(I don't trust Audyssey in this respect). With that done, we ran Audyssey using all the measurement positions the calibration would allow. After about twenty minutes, all was done and we were ready to sit down and demo the system. One of the first things we noticed was the center placed Mach One was causing the monitor to discolor at the lower middle of the screen. Opps, forgot about magnetic fields and CRT based monitors. Still, we wanted to hear what this sound system would produce, and just shut off the set. What a ear opening experience.

We started with the movie Tron, because I mixed it(and know what it should sound like), and it has some of the most system challenging bass segments on Bluray disc. If this system is performing well, this soundtrack will sound extremely balanced from top to bottom frequency wise, and will have a very even enveloping presence in the room. Well, the bass did not disappoint one bit, and the deep stuff was mind blowing, ear popping and chest busting. These speakers can really pressurize a room. However the rear soundfield did not sound quite up to par to my ears. First thing I checked was how the speakers were set up in calibration. Audyssey set the crossovers for 50hz for the surrounds, but I did not like that setting. So counter-intuitively I set the surrounds for full range. We went back to the beginning of the movie, and bingo everything snapped into place. This system sounds HUGE, and I mean HUGE. The front soundstage went from wall to wall, from floor to ceiling, and that extended to the surrounds as well. I was really in the middle of the action! My son's commented on how close this system sounds to the one in my signature. It sounded very clean and clear from top to bottom even at very high levels. No timbre changes, no signs of compression at all just effortless power.

Next I wanted to hear some multichannel music on this system, even though this was not its design purpose. So I go for one of my favorite Stravinsky The Firebird Suite. I loved the sound of this system even with music. However, my reference music system in the front of the house does much better in this respect. The midrange is darn good, but the highs sound a little recessed in comparison to my music system. This system slightly bleaches timbre's in comparison to my music system. Imaging was just as good, but clarity in the mids and highs just cannot match my music system. It is not to say it sounds bad, but that my music system just sounds better in that area.

Now to deal with the issues. I had to move the center Mach One, and move in a Klipsch Academy as my temporary center channel. I will use that until I decide what size screen, and what projector I get. Upcoming will be painting the room, and permanently installing the acoustical treatments, lighting(I am going to have a LED lightshow as a pre-show before movies), and a platform for a second row of seats.

As I was writing this, my handy man just informed me I will have to move out of my bedroom while they re-do some wiring work. Uggggg, now I will have to move my bed temporarily into the theater room where the second row of seat would go. Oh well, just like everything around my house right now, its just temporary.