D
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Folks,
Since I've started posting again I've posted some pics and info regarding my main HT. This thread is intended to give a more comprehensive view of the entire room / system.
You may have seen the first three pics below before. They show the sides and front of the room. The next pic shows the room in two-person set-up. At most it can go to three-person. The last pics show the gear racks (IKEA shelving.)
I'll walk you through this.
With reference to the front and left side pics, you'll notice the Koss CM/1010 speakers (sitting on top of the Velo subs) and the SVS 20-39PC+ sub. That's a 2.1 stereo set-up within the theatre and used for casual listening when I don't want to fire up the whole thing. It's driven off Zone 2 of the Onkyo 886 that's at the heart of the system - so I have access to any source connected by its analogue outputs. I use the SVS's internal crossover - set as low as it will go (ie. 40 Hz). A NAD 2155 stereo power amp (55 W/ch - shown in front pic) drives the 1010s.
The main theatre is a 7.1 system - with some twists. The main "5" channels (fronts and sides) consist of "stacks" of Koss CM/1030 speakers - arranged tweeter-to-tweeter. I've posted extensively about them elsewhere. I have five Carver A-400x stereo amps - one per stack (meaning one 200 W channel per speaker, however the 1030 are 4 Ohm speakers, and the Carvers are rated at 300 W into that impedance.) The rear surround duties go to a pair of Paradigm Titans, driven by an old Phase Linear Model 300 Series II stereo power amp (120 W/ch).
You will note that across the front, there is what I consider to be a perfect HT speaker alignment: identical speakers with the acoustic centres aligned across the front, and the centre stack directly in the centre of the front wall. That's a Draper Salara 96" diagonal screen system fitted with their acoustically transparent AT1200 "weave" material. There is no sound degradation with screen down - and no visual interference effect with the weave material. From the sweet spot seat, which is only 7 feet from the screen, this gives an apparent screen size that's identical to sitting in the centre of a large commercial theatre, half way back. The room itself is small: 1000 cubic feet - and open at the back to the rest of the basement / house, thus acting as a bass trap for that room.
One of those "twists" that I mentioned above is the use of multiple subs - four to be exact (and another which I'll mention later.) All of the main channels that feed the 1030 stacks are run full range, and through first an Outlaw ICBM-1 external crossover (all channels set to 40 HZ). The ICBM-1's sub output then goes through a Velodyne SMS-1 Room Correction device which feeds a pair of Velo Servo 1200s (front wall) and a B&W ASW1000 (rear left.) The rear surround channels (to the Titans) are crossed over in the 886 at 60 Hz and that bass, plus the LFE channel is fed to an SVS PB13 Ultra (rear left - under the B&W.) That fifth sub (other than the SVS 20-39 mentioned earlier) is a Yamaha YST-SW160. The front L/R channels are split before heading to the ICBM-1 and fed through an old dbx 100 "subharmonic synthesizer." It basically takes any signal between 55-110 Hz and creates a new signal a full octave lower. Back in the day of bass-deficient sources / recordings it worked wonders. I still use it in such cases.
Looking at the gear pics, moving left to right through four vertical columns you'll see three Carver amps in the left; the "vinyl section" in the left centre, along with more Carvers; the 886 in the right centre, along with processors mentioned earlier, as well as cable HD PVR, Panasonic Blu-ray and Oppo DVD (used for SACD and DVD-A) and the Phase Linear amp; and the rightmost section holds the Optoma projector on top, with a whole host of source / legacy gear including DVD player, two LD players, S-VHS deck; Nak cassette deck, Sony DVD recorder, and a Sony hi-8 8mm deck.
The vinyl section consists of a Yamaha turntable sitting on a granite vibration dampening system, a Stanton 681EEE cartridge, the phono section of a NAD 1130 pre-amp, a Pioneer RG-1 dynamic range enhancer and an SAE 5000 Impulse Noise Reduction System. (The purists' eyes have now rolled completely out of their heads; I happen to think it all works great together.)
Anyone interested in the full wiring diagram / equipment list can PM me their email address and I'll send it to you.
My bottom line is that, within that relatively small room I have created about as "big" a home theatre experience as most will ever see or hear.
Jeff Mackwood
Since I've started posting again I've posted some pics and info regarding my main HT. This thread is intended to give a more comprehensive view of the entire room / system.
You may have seen the first three pics below before. They show the sides and front of the room. The next pic shows the room in two-person set-up. At most it can go to three-person. The last pics show the gear racks (IKEA shelving.)
I'll walk you through this.
With reference to the front and left side pics, you'll notice the Koss CM/1010 speakers (sitting on top of the Velo subs) and the SVS 20-39PC+ sub. That's a 2.1 stereo set-up within the theatre and used for casual listening when I don't want to fire up the whole thing. It's driven off Zone 2 of the Onkyo 886 that's at the heart of the system - so I have access to any source connected by its analogue outputs. I use the SVS's internal crossover - set as low as it will go (ie. 40 Hz). A NAD 2155 stereo power amp (55 W/ch - shown in front pic) drives the 1010s.
The main theatre is a 7.1 system - with some twists. The main "5" channels (fronts and sides) consist of "stacks" of Koss CM/1030 speakers - arranged tweeter-to-tweeter. I've posted extensively about them elsewhere. I have five Carver A-400x stereo amps - one per stack (meaning one 200 W channel per speaker, however the 1030 are 4 Ohm speakers, and the Carvers are rated at 300 W into that impedance.) The rear surround duties go to a pair of Paradigm Titans, driven by an old Phase Linear Model 300 Series II stereo power amp (120 W/ch).
You will note that across the front, there is what I consider to be a perfect HT speaker alignment: identical speakers with the acoustic centres aligned across the front, and the centre stack directly in the centre of the front wall. That's a Draper Salara 96" diagonal screen system fitted with their acoustically transparent AT1200 "weave" material. There is no sound degradation with screen down - and no visual interference effect with the weave material. From the sweet spot seat, which is only 7 feet from the screen, this gives an apparent screen size that's identical to sitting in the centre of a large commercial theatre, half way back. The room itself is small: 1000 cubic feet - and open at the back to the rest of the basement / house, thus acting as a bass trap for that room.
One of those "twists" that I mentioned above is the use of multiple subs - four to be exact (and another which I'll mention later.) All of the main channels that feed the 1030 stacks are run full range, and through first an Outlaw ICBM-1 external crossover (all channels set to 40 HZ). The ICBM-1's sub output then goes through a Velodyne SMS-1 Room Correction device which feeds a pair of Velo Servo 1200s (front wall) and a B&W ASW1000 (rear left.) The rear surround channels (to the Titans) are crossed over in the 886 at 60 Hz and that bass, plus the LFE channel is fed to an SVS PB13 Ultra (rear left - under the B&W.) That fifth sub (other than the SVS 20-39 mentioned earlier) is a Yamaha YST-SW160. The front L/R channels are split before heading to the ICBM-1 and fed through an old dbx 100 "subharmonic synthesizer." It basically takes any signal between 55-110 Hz and creates a new signal a full octave lower. Back in the day of bass-deficient sources / recordings it worked wonders. I still use it in such cases.
Looking at the gear pics, moving left to right through four vertical columns you'll see three Carver amps in the left; the "vinyl section" in the left centre, along with more Carvers; the 886 in the right centre, along with processors mentioned earlier, as well as cable HD PVR, Panasonic Blu-ray and Oppo DVD (used for SACD and DVD-A) and the Phase Linear amp; and the rightmost section holds the Optoma projector on top, with a whole host of source / legacy gear including DVD player, two LD players, S-VHS deck; Nak cassette deck, Sony DVD recorder, and a Sony hi-8 8mm deck.
The vinyl section consists of a Yamaha turntable sitting on a granite vibration dampening system, a Stanton 681EEE cartridge, the phono section of a NAD 1130 pre-amp, a Pioneer RG-1 dynamic range enhancer and an SAE 5000 Impulse Noise Reduction System. (The purists' eyes have now rolled completely out of their heads; I happen to think it all works great together.)
Anyone interested in the full wiring diagram / equipment list can PM me their email address and I'll send it to you.
My bottom line is that, within that relatively small room I have created about as "big" a home theatre experience as most will ever see or hear.
Jeff Mackwood
