ender21

The only problem with Hell Freezes Over is that it was shot in Video, so it is and will always be Standard Def. No blu-ray for that title. However, they could always put it on blu-ray anyway and re-encode the master audio in DTSHD or Dolby TrueHD. I wouldn't mind that at all! :-) The Melbourne disc(s) also rock. But two different types. One is a bit more acoustic/unplugged, and the other with the full ensemble. Both are great! I also love Dave & Tim, and was never a fan of DMB before I watched that video. It's fantastic. Does anyone have the David Gilmour blu-ray? I've heard it's great too but I keep forgetting to pick it up. Rick

It's vaguely similar to my room's dimensions. Conventional HT thinking would of course say the short wall is where the screen should go. That way you have the option to add viewing spaces behind the primary row of seating if necessary. If you do it on the long wall then you're reliant on off-axis viewing for any additional seating should you require it. On the other hand, with only 4 seats, that's a lot of empty space behind them. Room for a poker table or air hockey maybe? ;-)

Definitely. They've become must-see football on Sundays. I'm a Broncos fan but I make sure I have the Sunday Ticket tuned to a Saints game just because they're so exciting. But 16-0? I haven't looked at their remaining schedule but 16-0 for anybody is a longshot.

While nothing will replace a hands-on calibration by a professional, the settings they may have on hand for your display may get you in the ball park. These guys know what they're doing. Kevin Miller, David Abrams and Jim Doolittle represent a who's who in the HT calibration world. I believe Jim Doolittle was part of the ISF crew that trained me in Vegas a few years back. Looks like an interesting business model that might work out for them. Go them! Rick

Thanks. It's in the fireplace. Nice![]

Holy cow those things are huge! For a second I thought they were dressers or some type of bookcase! Rick

I couldn't have said it better myself! If it wasn't for having purchased much of the equipment over the past few years, having a few deals to make with a contractor here and there, and doing a fair percentage of the work myself, there's no way this would have gotten done. There were still budget busters though. Initially I wasn't anticipating buying a new screen *or* projector, but the 137% fixed offset for my Optoma HD80 made a new PJ a requirement, and I got the Stewart inexpensively enough that it was better to have spent a few extra dollars on that than to have spent the money on electrical work that my Electriscreen Firehawk would have required to put into place. But as DownUnder said, a speaker here, an amp there... Rick

Hi guys! The mains are indeed RF7s with an RC7 center. I'm sure the lens I used messed with their appearance! The RF82s I sold were used as surrounds in my 5.1 setup I had prior to this HT buildout. They replaced the RS42s which I had boxed up a while back. The thinking there was a: we listen to a lot of music too, including DVDA/SACD, so full range surrounds were a nice complement for that despite their directionality for HT use, and b: I had an opportunity to screen a pre-release blu-ray of a film my company was working on at Joe Kane's screening room and his setup was 7.1 with the 5 mains identical full range floorstanding, and it sounded incredible, so I decided to try it out with the closest match I could find to the RF7. I have a wife who's very patient with my mucking around with things! Here's a list of gear in the new HT: RF7s, RC7, KS7800-THX (4), SVS PC20-39+ (2), Integra DHC9.9, Emotiva XPA5 & XPA2, Oppo BDP83, Sonos, Planar PD8150 projector. Rick

Thanks Budman. I haven't actually measured from eye level in the second row, but I think it's looking at approximately the midway point up the screen. I know spec is ~33% up from bottom, but the screen is already few inches too high for my taste when I sit in the 1st row, so that's a compromise between the two rows is one I had to make. Rick

Thanks James, The last 5% is the case molding around the door and the rack opening, a few throw pillows made from the same fabric that the columns are made from, and a counter/bar behind the 2nd row seating. Oh, and getting a taller center channel stand. It's rough finding a tiltable stand that's ~13" tall. I may just make a black felt-wrapped box or something for the current stand to sit on. Approx 13x27. I used an ultra-wide angle lens to fit as much of the room in-frame as possible, so it exaggerates the narrowness of the room a bit, especially in a couple of the pictures. Thanks! It's actually a bit browner than it appears in the images. Long exposure times + the lighting really brings the red out! So far it exceeds my expectations. I didn't do everything myself of course, but did a fair amount, including rack install, all the components, the screen, wire terminations, part of the acoustic treatments, ISF'ing the PJ and Audyssey Pro'ing the room. Thanks again guys! Rick

Here are some pictures of my 95% completed HT.

Great diagram. Any early returns on their contribution to the soundfield?

Wuzzzer I agree with the animation issue. It seems like in the first movie they knew they were doing CG robots so they were careful to make the animation and especially the fights between robots precise and calculated... i.e.,, they didn't do too much. But in TF2, they just went overboard to the point where some of the action sequences were hard to follow, and much of the robot animation looked too fluid to be robots. The sound was OK. Again, less is more. I loved the LFE use in the first movie, and in this one it seemed they bloated it a bit and used it a lot more often. It gave my subs a workout to be sure, but didn't add to my enjoyment of the film. All in all I liked TF better than TF2. Rick

Thanks Pete. Unfortunately my subs and RF7s occupy the space I have available on the sides, so that idea's a no-go as well. For closure's sake I've decided to leave the RC7 below the screen, but I do have ~5 inches of room to move it up, so I'll be looking for a stand or some other solution that allows that at some point. It looks like I need a 13" stand and I haven't found any with adjustable tilt at that height yet. Thanks for all the advice guys! Rick

Looks like the RS42s would be too tall to fit at the bottom of the vault. You'd have to shift the speaker a few inches closer to center, or as Wuzzzer suggested, shift them to the sides. Rick