holtrp

We were seriously considering doing a full remodel in the basement for a dedicated theater room, but decided it would be better to just not bother with it. I was told "You'll never be done upgrading and moving stuff around... why would you want to do something as permenent as a full remodel?". Wife FTW... So I got a 135" Silver Ticket Audio Transparent fixed screen for my birthday. With it, I completely rearranged my room. First off, this screen is awesome. Going from 106" to 135" is massive. I was worried it might be too much in my room but so far it has been great. Much more immersive than it was before. The only thing I notice is the picture is not quite a sharp. Surely I have given up a tad in PQ with my little Espon projector and I am sure I have lost a little screen gain too, but it is certainly still worth it. Another huge win has been moving the subs to 1/3 mid front and rear wall. This has really evened out the room even though I haven't been able to EQ everything yet, it is a very obvious difference. I will try to throw up some pictures later today.

Pro amps for driving DIY subwoofers. http://www.parts-express.com/behringer-nu6000dsp-inuke-6000w-lightweight-power-amplifier-with-dsp--248-6710 Hmmm... If I were keeping them out in the open indefinitely, I would probably look into it. Maybe after the warranty runs out or if I don't get to building in the next 6 months. Those DSP filter mods and 12 v switching modes look a little more involved.

It is one of two attached to the second furnace for the basement only. The vent in the room is quite a bit larger than the other one, so that vent other vent in the bedroom would really be screaming. Maybe I will check out one of those heavy plastic / magnet sheets to put over it if all else fails. I have read somewhere that a lot of times there is a varible speed fan on the furnace that is simply turned up to max. And I would only need to add in about 2' of HVAC venting and cut a hole in the utility room wall to start drawing air in from one additional location. I am getting the ducts cleaned next week so I want to talk to that guy first. If I were better at soldering, I would probably tackle that iNuke mod. That 12v switch relay and DSP filter mod look pretty cool too.

My cold air return line hits ~60 spl at the main listening position. I am going to fix that crap with the remodel one way or another. Plan on trying to turn the fan speed down first and / or adding another intake upstream in the venting to a different part of the basement, it is super annoying. My inukes get noisy too ~50 spl. They will eventually end up in a closet though, so no big deal there. Other than that though, we are on 1.3 acres and it is dead quiet aside from those two items. I recently went back to my mom's house and was really shocked just how much noise you hear with cars going up and down the street all night, trains coming through town at 3 AM

You will love those speakers. I sort of wish I would have kept mine (even without any practical need for them). I can't recommend re capping the XO enough. I used a kit from Bob Crite and did one at a time so I could compare. It will really bring them to life, sounded like a different speaker to my ear.

That is one way to get a sub off the floor. Is that part of some kind of an infinite baffle setup or just corner mounted above the door? Good luck with the sale, I am up here in Palmer and if you had Ref IV gear I would be on my way down ASAP.

LOL. I was contemplating starting a thread like this just the other day... Ref IV stuff is getting relatively harder to come by used, especially in great condition with original boxes. I did some spec comparison and it seems like the biggest differences is in the 90x60 vs 90x90 horns and there is like a 1500hz xo difference in some of models. I doubt much of it would make much of a difference, especially if you are matching height / wide channels with an existing system like I will be doing. I will still probably keep working toward getting all matching gear just for fit / finish, but I doubt I could tell a difference in AB comparison.

I am holding off for a bit on Atmos. I haven't even heard it yet, but for my AV money, getting my room right is the top priority. The last jump I took was 5.1 to 7.1 and it wasn't all that great. There are certainly two more rear channels there and it is noticeable, but after a couple years with it, I don't really even pay attention to weather or not it is 5.1 or 7.1. It really hasn't done all that much to enhance my listening experience so to speak. Atmos is still so brand new, I am planning on holding off to see if it sticks (my guess it that it will) and wait to really upgrade into it until Apple TV fully supports streaming atmos content.

Youthman's diagram is accurate. I have played around quite a bit with different side surround placement. I prefer keeping them exactly 90° from the listening position and either right at or about 6" above ear level provides the most defuse, non-localized, enveloping sound to my ears. I always seem to be able to tell exactly where the speaker is when I move them further back and higher on the wall.

One other thing, regardless of room size, there is no such thing as "too much".

Dude. That totally sucks. I genuinely feel bad for you.

I am a firm believer in Craigslist, garage sales, salvation army, thrift stores, etc. Online classifieds are still the best bang for buck over brick and mortar stores since you don't have to drive anywhere. I got a passable Marantz 2225 for $40 and flipped it for $175. I got a Marantz 2235b for $70 I got a Marantz 2270 with a wood case in great condition for $100 And my once-in-a-lifetime, home run score, 2 Khorns and a Belle in great condition for $550. People seem to be catching on though, there are always trolls locally posting WTB Vintage Audio Gear!!! and I haven't seen any really decent equipment come up for the last two years around here. Also, another resource you might check, there seems to be a massive network of 'pickers' that have sprung up over the past few years. I am pretty sure these people are trolling GW and the thrift stores on a weekly basis too. Probably in response to the TeeVee shows that are on. I have talked to the local one around here, but they rarely run across anything worth getting AV wise. Except for vinyl. I have found some excellent $4 per vinyl from them.

I would do the same. Acoustically you'll be way ahead facing the 12' wall.

In fact, if you are anywhere on the west coast, I wouldn't think twice about driving to LA for this setup.

To each their own, but your money will go 3-4 x as far on the secondary market (or even much, much further if you are really lucky (yes, I am bragging about my $550 Khorns + Belle off craigslist again)) and you'll be happier in the end really planning out an end game for your system rather than just going all-in on a system all at once. I am not sure what a new set of top of the line reference speakers goes for these days. I paid 1100 each for my RF-83's 8 years ago (and went all on with a RC-64, RS-52's also) now they can be had for ~700 per pair. I would still put them up against any of the newer offerings, but I certainly could have scored a much better deal on used gear had I been patient. A separate outboard amp is in my opinion one of the best investments you can make. Feel free to use an AVR for a while, but it is almost pointless going big on reference gear if you aren't going to power them with an outboard amp. You'll be leaving a lot of headroom on the table without one. You don't have to spend a fortune, but an Emotiva, Outlaw or Parasound is well worth it in my view. Then just skip the AVR and go with a cheap processor. The processors come and go quickly, but an amp will always hold value. And finally, I wish someone would have told me this when I started out, I have come to believe that powered commercial subwoofers are the biggest scam going in home theater. Listen to guys here like Derrick, Scrappy and all the dudes over at AVS forum and build a DIY sub out of the gate that will destroy 99% of the subs on the market today and cost 1/20th of the price.

Agreed... I think you can divide it up by weather you value form over function or function over form. I guess if I had huge $$$ wrapped up in McIntosh gear, I might want it prominently displayed in my home rather than hidden away.

We have been in this place for right at 5 years now. The wiring set up is absolutely horrible. I have my HDMI to my projector and speaker wire to the rear surround ziptied and stapled to the ceiling and just about everything else is exposed. All this coming from our last home where everything was concealed in an AV closet and all wiring was run through the crawlspace and walls. It is pretty much an embarrassment (even though it really sounds quite good). It reminds me of my set up in my first apartment, 15 years ago. I had been ignoring it with the thought of possibly moving. Now that we are definitely staying, it is time to get this squared away.

Yeah, sorry it wasn't very clear in the original post. 1. Definitely going to run one or more 20 amp circuits. The wall behind where all the gear is going to be is the crawlspace so I should be able to get a full breaker box installed in that area and then short runs to independent outlets from there. I have read quite a bit in the past few days about 20 amp circuits. Right now I am running everything off one 15 and have tripped it a couple times so I absolutely have to upgrade. The main difference I have read about says that a 20 amp circuit requires 12 AWG wire per code where as a 15 amp circuit goes with 14 AWG wire. I did read one guy that mentioned using 10 AWG for all 20 amp circuits / subs and plugging everything into the wall. I will probably just stick with 12 though, I can't imagine needed 10 AWG for any real performance / safety reasons. 2. I was planning on keeping the RC-64 and setting it on top of the front middle sub with the little riser screw angling it slightly upward towards the main listening position. For the time being, I am not very concerned with AT screen or lacking in the center channel. Perhaps down the road I will upgrade my front sound stage and get something a little bigger. I even considered getting another RC-64 and splitting the signal. 3. The pictures are confusing. The first one shows how the room is currently set up, the second shows how it will be set up with the AV rack fully isolated in a small room behind a wall adjacent to the crawlspace with woofers laid out asemmetrically a the mid point and 1/4 midpoint on front and rear and mid point on the side walls.

Good god those things are insane. I think I would go with the Marty cubes. 3x the output does have some appeal though. Bass is just one of those things I never seem to be content with, no matter how good it sounds.

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I have always thought of transducers as sort of cheating and gimmicky somehow. Perhaps I will wire for them just in case. I have just accepted the fact that more subwoofers is a forgone conclusion for me. I am already committed to wiring for 16 of them, who knows if I ever get there or not. That is a bummer about the Marty. Maybe with the kids in school I would have enough time to build them on my own. It can't be that hard. From what I can tell, 10-12 awg wire should be enough for in wall for the subs. So long as it is rated CL2, 3 or CMP. I actually have 5.1 wired in the walls currently from the previous owner, but he didn't run rated wire and everything is terminated near the ceiling (I guess because his wife liked $25 Sony satilite speakers opposed to anything on the floor). In our last house, I had it built and had to go back to run a HDMI and two extra surround channels with in the first 2 years. This time around, I will probably have $1000 in copper alone in the walls. Lesson learned on that front.

What kind of speaker wire are you running in wall? I was thinking 12 awg 4 connector CL2 or 3 for the subs (in case I want to co-locate / do 16 18" subs at some point). Probably 14 awg 4 connector to the rest of the locations, in case I decide to switch up speakers or want to biamp down the road. Also, I have been searching and searching on AVS forum and can't seem to find anything... is there an easy way to convert the PE flat pack 4 cu ft sealed enclosure into a Marty? The output is more than enough... for now... but I am just wondering if it can be done or if anyone has tried. I still haven't moved them around to asymmetrical locations in the room yet. Planning on getting rid of a bunch of clutter in the basement in the next few weeks, which should free me up keep moving forward towards the remodel. Tough to find a contractor around here. I have contacted 3 outfits and no one has gotten back to me yet. I might be on my own on this remodel, which is a bummer because it will take longer. Should be cheap though if I do all the demo and run all the wires on my own. I might just have to do it piecemeal with an independent electrician, carpenter, drywall guy and trim guy.

I am actually out of town right now and I forgot what the measurements are. I want to say 2500-3000' x3 though... so not too big. But, I mean, 8 18" sealed Daytons? That should do the trick right? I guess I could always co locate and do 16 18" daytons or swap over to Marty boxes. I am thinking Marantz 8802A is the best fit for me.

Hey guys. It's been a while. My wife finally got a job locally where she should be able to stay indefinitely so moving is finally off the table for us. So between that and now with one in Kindergarten and the other starting preschool, I am actually seriously contemplating my full room remodel. I have two sketches of where I am now and where I am headed and looking for some advice from all the pros on here that have been there, done that. I am not planning on buying a ton of gear right away, I will add all newer stuff over time as it is always more fun for me that way to incrementally add gear rather than all at once. What I have sketched in the second file is sort of where I am hoping to end up eventually. So right now I am looking for ideas on 'must haves' / 'don't try this stuff' for the room itself. Basically, I need to remove all the carpet / drywall to run wires, remove an open banister on the stairs, replace it with a wall. Add a wall to build a room for all the AV gear to sit in. Some of the basics I am doing will be a 20 amp circuit to the AV room (Is this enough?). Green glue x2 drywall for sound dampening. (Is there a better solution?) Seems like Dolby and DTS have different ideas for speaker placement for the new standards. I can't decide between front wide & high vs Atmos above the listening position or some combination. Or maybe just get the atmos enabled speakers and fire them at the ceiling. Figure I will just wire for all and wait and see. Though, 11 speakers is all the pre/pro I will be getting into for the foreseeable future. Canned lighting? In my last place, I had a bunch of rattles but they were dealt with easily enough. I kind of like the recessed lighting and keeping stuff off the sidewalls. I am planning on leaving the windows in place, blacking them out and hanging a custom drape that will run about 1/8 up the side walls of the front of the room and then along the front wall to cover the side window and walk out basement door. Not sure if I should add doors to both the AV room and the rest of the basement to isolate this room or not. Obviously it would cost more. Sliding doors might vibrate, Probably thinking solid core with weather stripping would work. What else should I be considering? Power outlets to the chairs? Basically, I just want to solicit as many ideas as possible and have a very solid plan before tearing into it. Thanks guys!

Love it. Cut the cord a few years ago and haven't looked back (except when the NFL playoffs are on, we can't get Fox which is lame). NOW is great. You get all the series when they air, so you don't have to wait an extra day like Walking Dead on Apple. Plus, I went back and watch some good series I wasn't really into when they were on air like early Sopranos, The Wire.