New Speakers! Paradigm Reference Millenia 20 LCR

[Haywood]

After weeks of going around in circles, I finally pulled the trigger on three Paradigm Reference Millenia 20 LCR on-wall speakers and two Paradigm H65-IW CI Home in-wall speakers. I spent a few hundred dollars more than I originally budgeted, but I am 99% sure that this system will not leave me disappointed.

https://www.paradigm.com/products-current/type=lcr/model=millenia-20/page=overview

https://www.paradigm.com/products-current/type=inwall/model=ci-home-h65-iw/page=overview

 

[Zing]

Thank God! Now I can sleep.


And here's your ubiquitous...

 

[Towen7]

Congrats!

 

[Dentman]

I think you made the better choice, congrats.

 

[Haywood]

There is one thing I'm not going to be super happy with, but there isn't much I can do about it.

The seating position is backed up against the kitchen, so there is no way to put the surround speakers to the rear of the listener. That means I am going to have to put the surrounds on either side of the listening position, which is less than idea. The good news is that those locations are already wired, though I will want to put the speakers lower on the wall.

You can see the hole in the wall where the wire the current owner mounted the front right speaker. That is way too high and wide, so I'm going to have to rerun the wire. My current thought is to put the speakers somewhere under the windows on either side of the fireplace. The articulating mount should put the center channel about two feet below the bottom of the TV in this picture, so my front soundstage should line up nicely.

 

[Xgm3]

Very nice!

 

[heeman]

Cool...........

 

[Towen7]

Looking at that picture... installing in walls above the fireplace may very difficult for two reasons.

First and easiest is that it’s an exterior wall and depending on whether the vapor barrier is (facing inside or facing outside) you’ll have to address. Be careful fishing the wiring as to not disturb the insulation.

The tougher issue is I’m assuming that there will be a header (probably a doubled-up 2x6) beneath the normal stacked 2x4 top plate spanning width of the fireplace. The builder may have even used one header to span the fire place and both windows. If that’s the case I’d spect it to be 2x12. Drilling through that run wiring will be a bitch.

Is the roof on a gable or a hip? If it’s a hip the only option will be to drill from below as there won’t be space for an drill bit plus the drill.

 

[Haywood]

Looking at that picture... installing in walls above the fireplace may very difficult for two reasons.

First and easiest is that it’s an exterior wall and depending on whether the vapor barrier is (facing inside or facing outside) you’ll have to address. Be careful fishing the wiring as to not disturb the insulation.

The tougher issue is I’m assuming that there will be a header (probably a doubled-up 2x6) beneath the normal stacked 2x4 top plate spanning width of the fireplace. The builder may have even used one header to span the fire place and both windows. If that’s the case I’d spect it to be 2x12. Drilling through that run wiring will be a bitch.

Is the roof on a gable or a hip? If it’s a hip the only option will be to drill from below as there won’t be space for an drill bit plus the drill.

I went with on-wall speakers, so all I have to do is fish wire. There is existing wire in place, but it is in a bad location (see post above). The good news is that I'm putting the new speakers under the windows, which should simplify things a bit. I do not have to worry about the center channel, because it is already wired. All I have to do there is use the existing wire to pull through a longer one and use the existing component video cable to pull through HDMI and optical cables.

 

[heeman]

I went with on-wall speakers, so all I have to do is fish wire. There is existing wire in place, but it is in a bad location (see post above). The good news is that I'm putting the new speakers under the windows, which should simplify things a bit. I do not have to worry about the center channel, because it is already wired. All I have to do there is use the existing wire to pull through a longer one and use the existing component video cable to pull through HDMI and optical cables.

Hey Scott, there is a basement, so you can run from underneath? Is that correct?

 

[Flint]

I think you'll like those speakers. Congrats.

 

[bmwuk]

Nice!!!

 

[Haywood]

Hey Scott, there is a basement, so you can run from underneath? Is that correct?

Yes. That is exactly what I am going to do. I am also going to run a Redmere active HDMI cable from the main system in the living room to the system in the family room, so I can run this system off Zone 2 like I do now. While I'm at it, I'm going to put in some network drops. I cannot do the second floor myself (because I have no idea how to get the cables into the attic), but the first floor should be easy.

 

[Haywood]

I was stunned when I saw what we behind where her TV was mounted. There are 32 holes, one of which is the size of a double-gang box, but there is no box or any sign that there was ever a wall plate. They did fill the hole where the speaker wire for the center speaker was, so now I have to cut the wall open and fish it out. They also lost the wire for one of the surrounds in the wall, so I have to fish that out too. It's a complete mess and I've definitely got a ton of work to do before we paint the room.

We need to repaint the entire interior, which we already knew. The previous owner was in there for 12 years, so it is due. There is a lot of little miscellaneous maintenance and cosmetic work to be done. I'm meeting a carpet guy over there tonight to get some of the carpets stretched (if they can be). All of the rugs need to be cleaned before we move in. I need to replace the family room rug, but need to wait awhile. We have a lot of painting to get done before we can put all of the furniture in place.

I'm guessing it will take at least a year to get everything done and get settled in.

 

[bmwuk]

I was stunned when I saw what we behind where her TV was mounted. There are 32 holes, one of which is the size of a double-gang box, but there is no box or any sign that there was ever a wall plate. They did fill the hole where the speaker wire for the center speaker was, so now I have to cut the wall open and fish it out. They also lost the wire for one of the surrounds in the wall, so I have to fish that out too. It's a complete mess and I've definitely got a ton of work to do before we paint the room.

We need to repaint the entire interior, which we already knew. The previous owner was in there for 12 years, so it is due. There is a lot of little miscellaneous maintenance and cosmetic work to be done. I'm meeting a carpet guy over there tonight to get some of the carpets stretched (if they can be). All of the rugs need to be cleaned before we move in. I need to replace the family room rug, but need to wait awhile. We have a lot of painting to get done before we can put all of the furniture in place.

I'm guessing it will take at least a year to get everything done and get settled in.

I've been in our home for 10 months. I still have the rear speaker wires on the floor. About to get that in wall but I am slowly getting everything situated. So I feel your pain

 

[Randy]

And congrats those are certainly sexy little beasts!!! Please let us know how they sound after you get everything done.

I am seriously considering the in wall or on wall option for my next setup which will be if I ever live in another house.

 

[Haywood]

The first thing I have to do is figure out where all the wires are, what they do and where they go. This includes some truly bizarre cable TV wiring in the office and bedrooms that makes zero sense (two F connector wall plates on opposite sides of the room with an RG-6 laying across the floor connecting them?!?!). The house also appears to be wired for Ethernet, but it may only be CAT-5 and the wiring I've found makes no sense (there is no switch).

The TV over the fireplace does have a power outlet (hurray!), but the video is component, so I'm just going to use that to pull through the cables I actually need (Ethernet, HDMI, CATV, IR and center speaker). One in-wall surround will be near the left end of the couch, about a foot behind it. The other will be across the entrance to the room. That puts them about 8 feet on either side of the sweet spot, about a foot to the rear (best I can do). A lot of the seating is going to be pretty off-axis, which is why I decided not to go with a phantom center.

I'm still figuring out the rest of the furniture placement.

 

[malsackj]

Sounding oh so good, Hope you enjoy the fruits of the Labor and a good sounding system.

 

[Towen7]

This includes some truly bizarre cable TV wiring in the office and bedrooms that makes zero sense (two F connector wall plates on opposite sides of the room with an RG-6 laying across the floor connecting them?!?!).

I’d bet my paycheck that somone has chopped up the existing coax and that you're going to find multiple mis-wired splitters in your attic and/or basement. That can be a nightmare. My advice is almost always to abandon what’s in place and run all new solid copper conductor RG6 cables. If possible run dedicated lined to all rooms and terminate in a centralized point where you’ll have a single splitter.

At my place I ran all new coax and Cat6 lines myself. One coax and two cat6 lines from each location to a closet. The cat6 is all terminated at a patch panel and the coax is ready to be connected to a satellite splitter if/when I decide to sign up for DirecvTV.

 

[Haywood]

I’d bet my paycheck that somone has chopped up the existing coax and that you're going to find multiple mis-wired splitters in your attic and/or basement. That can be a nightmare. My advice is almost always to abandon what’s in place and run all new solid copper conductor RG6 cables. If possible run dedicated lined to all rooms and terminate in a centralized point where you’ll have a single splitter.

At my place I ran all new coax and Cat6 lines myself. One coax and two cat6 lines from each location to a closet. The cat6 is all terminated at a patch panel and the coax is ready to be connected to a satellite splitter if/when I decide to sign up for DirecvTV.

Most of the coax terminates at a distribution amp in the basement. I have no idea what the rest is. As long as I have a good connection for my cable modem, I don't care. I plan to fire four locations with CAT-6 and use a mesh network of 3 or 4 Asus routers for WiFi.