tubetwister

And...the RP-160M's make great presence/height channel speakers. Snag a pair from Crutchfield for a paltry $365, with lower priority shipping.

Here are three links, with good info on DIY Home Theater Screens: https://www.hometheatershack.com/threads/diy-screen-155-diagonal-advice-needed.25422/page-2 https://www.projectorcentral.com/paint_perfect_screen_$100.htm And this one might be the best for a source of high quality, ready to go screen paint: https://paintonscreen.com/

Look at my post on the thread 1st Take - RF-7III. That is a 155” DIY screen. Hours of personal labor, with a wall sander making the surface “baby bottom” smooth. But the actual dollar cost was...$90. And this screen has a 1.2 gain. It is about as good as you can get. It looks awesome with my current Epson 5050UB, and looked equally good with my former Panasonic PT-AE8000U. Paint formula: Base coat - Kilz Primer Top Coat - Behr Silver Screen / White Opal Pearl We also installed black velvet drapes.

My 160M’s are serving in a stereo setup in the MBR. They sound great at any volume that we employ...but the “maxing out” of power is not an option. On any of my stereo or home theater systems. I do not want to suffer damage. To my ears, or to my audio system. The 160’s are also soldiering on as the surround speakers in a 7.2.4 system. We have an all Klipsch system. The 600M’s were considered. But at close to $355/pair, with free shipping from Crutchfield, I could not pass these up. Best bang-for-the-buck..

The 160M's at Crutchfield are first run, factory A stock. Not B stock. I found B stock examples on Ebay, for about the same price as Crutchfield. Note that free shipping is standard with the purchase, which is UPS 2 day. If you can wait a couple extra days, you can save an extra $15 off the purchase price.

Not much difference that I can see, same drivers. That base plate is easily removed if you don’t like it. I think it gives the 160M’s an upscale look, just like my 7 III’s. In a double blind listening test, it is doubtful that you could tell the difference between the 160M and the 600M. The 160M’s are heavier also, maybe due to the base. I really like mine!

A pair of these are the rear ambience speakers in our theater. Like them so much, bought another pair to serve in a stereo setup in the Master BR. The RP-160M’s are the absolute best small speaker on the planet. Crutchfield has them on sale for $379/pair. Free shipping.

It was my goal as a home builder to get this room right! It was easy, as we had a blank slate to start with our new house. The room would have been unused attic space, over our front garage. 75% of my design effort was devoted to the design and style of this theater. But first and foremost was sound quality. I'm a musician, and the sound had to be spot on. We did some minor detail things, including padded/upholstered entry doors, EXIT lights, and floor lighting at the risers. All lighting is remote controlled.

Yes. In my post above the amp and pre-amp were listed for the 2 channel stereo only listening. These really shine with tubes! And power! Again, the best way to describe the sound is like being at a live concert performance, or in an actual recording studio with the artist. My room does play a large role, as we treated the walls with our own home made acoustic panels. These made a huge improvement, eliminating the terrible slap echo that was there. All walls got acoustic panels. All of the speakers (11 of them) are Klipsch. The dual subwoofers are kits that I built, purchased from Madisound. Thanks to everyone for the kind words.

One more thing...these 7’s like power. Lots of power. In my two channel stereo setup, they are being driven by a Dynaco PAS 3 Series II Vacuum Tube pre-amp, and a 250 watt Sound Valves MOSFET 32 power amp. Lovely, sweet sounding.

A couple photos...

Now that the 7's have been running 24/7 and are broken in, the sound has not changed much from the very initial listening tests. Still awesome, with deep, tight audiophile bass. And crystal clear mids and upper octaves. Never a hint of harshness, or being overly bright. Male and female voices really shine with the RF-7 III's. These are the most revealing speakers I have ever owned. Listening to good recordings on these is as close as you can get to being at an actual concert. I am very happy with the purchase.

The RB-81 II's are awesome speakers. You can still get them new, on Amazon for $279/each. We have a pair of them. The 81's were in a two channel stereo setup for a short time, and they were nothing less than stunning. Now they soldier on as the L&R side surrounds in my theater. We also have a pair of RP-160M's as the rear ambience speakers. The front L&R are the world renowned RF-7 III's. Remember...when it comes to speakers, bigger really is better.

New 8K HDMI cables were bought, thinking this would help. Wrong. Switching out 5 different BD players was interesting. My $39 Sony Blu-ray app streaming player did the absolute best, with perfect sync. Surprisingly, the PQ of the cheap Sony was about as good as my $700 UB900. And the Yamaha processed 7.2.2 surround from the Sony. Not possible to do a true side-by-side comparison of the players, however. It is strange...sometimes the lip-sync feature (auto) on the Yamaha helps. On some movies. And on other movies, it makes the issue worse so it is disabled. There is not a "set it and forget it" way to watch video. YouTube videos are way out of sync. But that is minor, as we primarily watch UHD 4K Blu-ray. To watch a video, I have to first preview the movie, check for sync issues, go into settings and do adjustments, and then call up the wife and friends to join me. It is a lot of effort to go through. Yes...a lot of sitting down, watching / listening for sync, getting up and making changes, sitting down again, watching / listening...over and over and over..... With my Panasonic PTAE-8000U and my Integra DHC 80.3 9.2, this was never a problem. The Integra actually had + / - for audio adjustments. My Yamaha only has a minus setting. And this is NO help when the audio lags behind the video.

Well...what can I say? It would appear that the issue has largely abated. Now using the Surround-Decode Auto setting on the Yamaha CX-A5200, with no additional processing. All video/audio is in perfect sync.

See the new thread...1st Take: RF-7 III's.

Just got a pair of these setup in my theater. They are replacing my VMPS RM2 Towers (awesome speakers, BTW). The 7's go deep, really deep, with solid, tight, bass impact. Very musical. These are the closest speakers I have had that convey the feeling of a live performance. The clarity, presence, and liquidity of the sound is stunning. Piano strings really "pop" with these. Voices (male / female) are very lifelike. Still doing a 24/7 break-in, to get them into playing shape. Will report back after they have a few more hours on them.

Just when I thought all is well...wrong! The ugly audio delay is back in full force. I did view one Blu-ray video (Going In Style) and it was fine. But when a 4K video (Saving Private Ryan) was played, wow, bad echo, audio delay. I might go to the Home Theater Expo here in Dallas this weekend, and meet with some reps from Yamaha and Panasonic. Maybe they will have an answer. If we run everything thru analog audio out, 7.1, with no processing in the Yamaha CX-A5200, all is in sync.

After swapping out 4 Blu-ray players...2 Panasonic, one Sony, and a Samsung, the Sammy won the prize. No idea why. It is also 4K. But synced perfectly audio/video. it is my least favorite player, as the Panasonic DMP-UB900 is a much better unit. But the 900 is now in the family room downstairs and the Sammy has taken its place in the theater upstairs. I will research this further, but as for now the problem with lip sync is solved...as long as I employ Sammy!

HDMI switcher? To delay the video signal? At this stage, I'm willing to try anything. I'm going to ty a couple different Blu-ray players today also...just to see what happens.

Yes, tried all of the above. Straight-Direct audio in, no processing at all. Zero help. Tried every setting for audio on both the player and the processor. No help. Switched out BD players, and that was a small improvement...until I tried another video, then the no-lip-sync was back. All items were bought online, so no assistance for set up. But a pro would do no better, as there is no option for delaying the video. That is what I need. I could just settle for stereo playback. But then the thousands spent on equipment upgrades will have been for nothing. Don't even mention this to my wife.

Found what might be the problem, and it is the audio processing. Either the DMP-UB900, or the Yamaha. I ran the audio from the DMP-UB900 thru the L&R analog output into a two channel analog system. Ran the video, doing a side-by-side listen and watch test. There was a major (MAJOR) echo (delay) of the processed audio. Zero delay in the all analog, two channel stereo audio. If we only use two channel stereo, the movies are perfect. Unwatchable with 7.2.2 processing. Most broadcast cable TV is Ok, with a couple exceptions. HDMI bitstream = major audio delay Analog Audio out (2 Channel Stereo) = perfect, in sync, audio with video This is my case. Not sure where the problem is in processing...the UB900, or the CX-A5200?

Yes, the Yamaha and the Panasonic both have lip sync adjustments to delay the audio. That is not the problem, however. I need to delay the video, as it runs in advance of the audio on Blu-ray discs. Most broadcast cable TV is ok. But the Accu-weather channel has horrendous lip sync issues.

We just spent over $10,000 in upgrades to our theater, Epson 5050UB, Yamaha CX-A5200, Klipsch RF-7 III's, plus more. But I can't watch any video! The characters lips start moving, and then the audio starts. Is there a way to advance the audio, or retard/delay the video? I have auto delay lip sync, but that only makes it worse!

After equalization, the first thing we did was bump the center up a bit, maybe 2db. That does help. But there are certain videos / Blu-ray’s that have center channel dialogue that is very hard to understand. One medium that is always clear and perfectly intelligible...TV commercials. I guess the major marketing departments figured out the importance of a clear message, that you can hear and understand.