Markyboy

Awesome flick!!! In DTS as well!!! Denzel has a great way of drawing you into the character and making you forget that he's just an actor. Lots of action (stuff blowing up, etc) but it doesn't overshadow the plot at all. Definitely worth the rent - I bought it new, though.

This movie in DTS is awesome! Whenever any of the larger dinosaurs scream it's as if every one of my speakers come alive!!! What fun!!!

I got my Hitachi 51" for under $1600. It was on sale at CC.

I will try to get pics up this week. I've not attached anything on this bb before so bear with me if I mess this up later.

I finally finished the two custom cabinets. I made them large enough that when flanking the TV they are tall enough that I can one day make a bridge between the two to put the center channel on. CP- I went with your suggestion about tight fitting the shelf and opening the back. I made the dimension of the "compartment" just slightly larger than the speaker and then lined it with that gray acoustic egg crate-like material. After a little trimming, the speaker fit fairly tight. I also cut the back of the compartment completely open and lined the rest of the compartment with the same material. I tested the speakers' new home using "Master and Commander". I found that there was very little difference in sound quality but I gained some separation across the front b/c the mains are now a bit farther apart than they were before. Thanks to all those that provided their ideas.

Holy Snikeys!!! This movie rocked!!! I watched it a while ago (pre HT) and enjoyed it then. Man did I enjoy hearing it through my own HT. I would recommend getting a hold of this movie, if not for the acting then at least for the action.

CP- It's not that I didn't like what I heard. I like having as much information as possible before investing the time, money and effort into something as important as this. Are RC7s rear-ported as well? If so, did what you did (open back, room to breathe, lining the cabinet) work to help with the "tubbiness"? Thanks.

Tim- I am attempting something similar (on a smaller scale) and have a lot of the same questions that you did. I was wondering if you finished you entertainment center and what your speakers sound(ed) like. Thanks.

I have been reading a lot of these posts and decided that this is where I need to be asking this: I am building a pair of cabinets to flank my TV and house my components, DVDs, CDs, and KM-2s. I have gotten a few different opinions which I really appreciate and have halted construction until I've gotten a few more. Many people have said not to put the speakers into the cabinets because they are rear-ported and will sound "tubbish". Others have said you could do it but just to completely open the rear of the compartment that the speaker will be in. And still others have said that I should build the compartment tight enough that the speaker looks built-in. I am even entertaining the idea of lining the compartment with an absorbent material (foam, egg crate, etc.) and rerouting the porting to the front or extending the porting out the back using PVC or some other flexible material. I should say the the speakers' dimensions are roughly 13"h x 9"w x 9.5"d. The cabinets will be 48"h x 20"w x 24"d. I wanted to use the top shelf as the location for the mains because that would put them at the proper listening height. I would LOVE to hear any more thoughts on the subject. I have seen some ingenious ideas come from this section and was hoping someone could help me out. Thanks in advance.

bump

I've been thinking about this and I do like the idea of reshaping the top shelf of the cabinet to give the speaker a "built-in" look plus it would give me some smaller shelves for CDs, remotes, etc....but, I was also wondering about indyklipschfan's friend's idea to use a tube of some sort to reroute the port's exhaust. What if I were to use a "tube" (of what material I don't know - maybe radiator hose) to route the exhaust through a hole in the rear of the cabinet eliminating the need to cut a section of the back out. The cabinet will not be against the wall so there will be open air from there. Would this be acceptible? Any thoughts?

Thank you so much guys! I really appreciate all of your insights. That's what makes this forum really work so well. I am going to divide the top shelf so that the speaker will sit in it's own enclosed (with an open back) section in the center of the top shelf. The two compartments to the left and right of this section will be further divided to hold CDs. That way the speaker will look like it is "built into" the cabinet. The compartment will be close to the dimensions of the speaker so that you can't really see that it is wide open behind it. Will this configuration eliminate any "tubbiness" or will this cause any other problems? Thanks guys.

The internal dimensions of the shelf will be 18.5"w x 24"d x 14"h. The dimensions of the speaker are 9"w x 9.5"d x 13"h. That leaves quite a bit of room for the ports to move air. Plus the back of the cabinet will have a cut-out for cables to pass through. With the speakers sitting on the front edge of the cabinet shelf (to avoid any reflection of sound) that would leave almost 13" behind it and 4" on either side of it to breathe. Is that enough room? Like I said before, I can still make changes, like opening the back of the cabinet more, making the shelf bigger, putting the speaker on top of the cabinet with a custom "wedge" to aim them down toward the listening position.

I'm in the process of building 2 component cabinets (out of MDF) which will flank the tv, one on each side. These closed-back, open-fronted cabinets will also house the KMs that I use as mains on the top shelf. I have measured the height at which these speakers will be sitting off the ground and they will be perfect. The top shelf will be large enough for the KMs to stand vertically (14") with plenty of room behind them (13"). The remaining 4 shelves will house DVDs and CDs as well as my components. My question is: Will having the mains moved into a "cabinet" create unforseen audio difficulties? (I should say that I chose MDF because it not only looks good painted black but I was told that it won't vibrate like plywood.) Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Like I said I am in process and can still make adjustments if necessary.

I went through the Finding Nemo setup today for the first time and tried to complete both the Audio and Video THX setup tests. During the in-phase/out-of-phase test I couldn't tell the difference. And during the video tests, I didn't have the blue lense glasses they say you need to complete the tests. Any idea where I can get a pair of these glasses? or why the audio tests didn't sound any different?

As you all know I am brand new to the HT scene so setting up my entire system has been pretty much all trial and error. The room where this is all being set up is in my already finished basement so you can imagine the acoustic challenges that this has been posing. Anyway, the position of the rear speakers is on the back wall as is the couch. I had the SB1s facing forward but I seemed to be missing the sound. I went back and got the 3" extensions from the omnimounts and added them to each side. This allowed the speakers to move off the wall enough for me to toe each one in 45 degrees or so and also tilt them downward 20-25 degrees. I instantly could hear the difference! Has anyone else had to alter their speaker placement/direction due to listening position challenges?

I'm not sure what you mean by wallplates on every shelf and all of it being routed to a single patchbay. Oh, and has anybody here worked with MDF before. I've used it but I've never finished it (i.e. smoothed, sealed and painted it before). Anyone?

I'm really looking to make 2 of them to flank the TV. I'm talking about shelving enclosed in a cabinet, but without doors. I'd like to make them a little taller than the TV (50 1/2") so that if I wanted to build a bridge later to house the center channel I could do that. The shelving will house the receiver, DVD player, the VCR, the CD changer and some of our DVDs and CDs. I've drawn up some plans to make them out of 3/4" MDF but I always like to get others' ideas and opinions as well. Thanks. Oh, yeah. I'm going to paint them to match the finish on the the TV, that way they'll look like one big cabinet. I would also like to put them on casters so that I can move them if necessary.

Has anybody built their own audio cabinets to house their equipment? If so, I'd love to see pics and maybe some specs. Thanks.

I don't think that's what I'm asking. I'm saying would it work if I ran the optical output from the DVD player to the receiver and the analog outputs from the DVD player to the TV. It would seem that with that setup, if the receiver isn't on that the kids could still watch a DVD and be receiving analog audio signals straight from the DVD player without having to go through the receiver.

Hi guys! Newbie here.... Just wanted to know if I could connect both the optical audio cable to my Onkyo and the analog audio to my TV (so that if the kids want to watch a DVD they don't have to mess with the receiver). What will happen when I have the receiver on? Will it work, first of all? And if it does, will I then have to shut off the TV's speakers? Any light on this subject would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.