HTIP - Home Theater In Progress

[yromj]

Yeah, if you don't have discretes it's tough. (NOTE: Samsung is the WORST company out there for this. For an average Joe it's no biggie. For the custom installers of the world, it's ridiculous!)

The only reason it would be a big deal is if the PQ was significantly downgraded using component. The 885 does do component to HDMI conversion, right?

John

 

[MatthewB]

Towen since it hasn't been said. YOU SUCK!!!!!!! room is looking great and I am hella jealous.

 

[Towen7]

I had the day off so I decided to finish a few little projects..

I need stands for the front three channels so I bought two pair of 24" speaker stands from RacksAndStands.com. Since I'm using a "bookshelf" speaker for the CC I needed to shorten the stand. All that required was using my table saw to shorten the wooden support and drilling a couple of pilot holes for top plate screws.

I also mounted the screen. The Elite screen hangs on a pair of metal clips that are supposed to be botled to the wall. The trim on the wainscoting meant that I had to mount the upper bracket 2" away from the wall. I built a simple support and attached it to the wall studs.

I'm almost out of things to do until the cabinets in the rear of the room are done. I need to cut down some plastic strips to attach to the speaker stands to hide the wires. Until then My gear is just sitting on the floor in the back of the room. But at least I can watch movies while I wait.

 

[MatthewB]

Towen how do those Mackies sound in such a large room? I recall hearing Flints Mackies nearfield and being very impressed with them, but always wondered how studio monitors would work in a larger HT application. I understand the 8" woofers can easily get down to 40hz ruler flat, which blends easily with that SVS.

 

[Towen7]

I'd read much praise of them as HT speakers from people who's opinion I trust (like Ethan Winer) but I first heard the Mackie HR-824's at yromj's place whose room is bigger than mine. I think they work amazingly well, especially considering the price I paid for them.

They have no problem filling the space. I've had them as loud as I could stand and they still sound pretty good to my untrained ear. Yes, they do go surprisingly deep but I have had them crossed-over at 60Hz for the past few days.

 

[Towen7]

After much futzing with the levels I finally got TrueRTA and my sound card to work properly and repeatedly. Thanks for the help.

Now... Here is what I've come up with. The green curve shows the left speaker with and without the sub pre-tweaking. The blue curve is the left speaker w/sub after using tweaking the sub's gain and phase and 885's equalizers.

At the moment the room has no acoustic treatment at all.

 

[Towen7]

I hung four 24x48x4" OC703 panels on the left and right walls. Here are the measurements and eq settings...

100Hz +6dB
180Hz -2dB
250Hz -6dB
400Hz +3dB
1000Hz +5dB
1600Hz -2dB
4000Hz +4dB
10000Hz +6dB

 

[Zing]

100Hz +6dB
1000Hz +5dB
4000Hz +4dB
10000Hz +6dB

:scared-eek:

Instead of raising these frequencies, have you thought about lowering the others? Those seem like excessive boosts to me.

 

[soundhound]

Instead of raising these frequencies, have you thought about lowering the others? Those seem like excessive boosts to me.

Yes, especially given the fact that the Mackies already have built in EQ, boosting any frequency is not a particularly good idea.

 

[Towen7]

Instead of raising these frequencies, have you thought about lowering the others? Those seem like excessive boosts to me.

Yes, especially given the fact that the Mackies already have built in EQ, boosting any frequency is not a particularly good idea.

Okay then...

Here is the best I can do by cutting eq in the pre/pro only all frequencies are at zero with the exception of;

160Hz -3dB
250Hz -6dB
630Hz -6dB
1600Hz -6dB
2500Hz -2dB
16000Hz -3dB

 

[Zing]

160Hz -3dB
250Hz -6dB
630Hz -6dB
1600Hz -6dB
2500Hz -2dB
16000Hz -3dB

Much better! :handgestures-thumbup:

Now for the $64,000,000 question: how's it sound to you?

 

[Towen7]

I honestly can't tell if one is better than the other. The differences are subtle enough that I can't say for sure that I'm not imagining a difference at all. To be honest the addition of the fiberglass made a more significant difference than the eq.

 

[Towen7]

I didn't spend much time really listening until now because I knew I was going to do the RTA thing. Now that I have and had an opportunity to sit through some of my favorite music I'm super pleased with the sound of the overall system. I wont bore you with a long explanation. I'll just say that I'm happy.

:happy-partydance: :happy-partydance: :happy-partydance:

 

[Zing]

I'll just say that I'm happy.

In the end, nothing else matters.
:text-bravo:

 

[Towen7]

The rest of you nuts use media servers like a Sqeezebox. I'm probably one of the last people on the planet that plays music on a CD player one disc at a time. So... I'm looking at alternative solutions. The prime candidate at the moment is to add an Xbox 360 to the theater room. Since I can use it to access my computer's OTA tuner and DVR, as well as my music library (once I rip everything to WMA) I'd be killing two birds with one stone. Who knows?! I may even use it for gaming once in a while.

Thoughts on why I should consider another music server over the Xbox360?

 

[MatthewB]

Towen your not alone. Trust me I don't have a squeezebox either, but have moved up to an ipod....woo-hoo

 

[Maximo]

Dudde you will like it. I have a 1 tb drive with all my family photos videos, music, etc on it accessible from my extener. Works great.

 

[jamhead]

I roll with CD's....no server for me.

I'm old school though.

 

[Towen7]

Sadly it doesn't look like I'm going to be able to get any help with the cabinets until next year. Today I worked on the rear seating. I've got four 42" high barstools that I bought when I got the main leather seating. The original owner had a home-made bar height table behind the HT chairs. It was too large (and poorly built) to get it up the stairs so it got scrapped. I initially planned to buy two tall pub tables to put in the corners. After getting the main seating where I wanted, it became apparent that two small tables wasn't going to work. What I need is that bar/table that I broke apart.

Despite a total lack of carpentry skills I built one myself. I made it 8' wide by 18" deep. I used a pocket-hole jig from Kreg for most of the joinery. That thing is awesome and saved me a ton of time and frustration. I salvaged the legs from the junk table, made the frame out of pine, the top from birch plywood, and the red oak for the trim around the top. All together I spent about $100 on wood. I built the top so that I can remove it to get it up and down the stairs. Once I had most of the construction done, I put it in the room to see how it fit. It looked good so I added the trim boards to the table top, rounded over the corners, and stained the whole thing. I've still got a few more coats of stain to apply so it's in the garage for another day or so, but here are some shots of the process...

 

[Botch]

I used a pocket-hole jig from Kreg for most of the joinery. That thing is awesome and saved me a ton of time and frustration.

I don't have that particular jig, but I do have a biscuit joiner that performs essentially the same function; wish I had that capability about 35 years ago! :handgestures-thumbup: :handgestures-thumbup: :handgestures-thumbup:

Also, I must mention, seeing your walk-out woodshop with a stone-lined pool, that You Suck!! :x :happy-smileygiantred: