ROCKin plus SUB

[colterphoto1]

Just set up a very nice patio system for myself which consists of the CS650R ROCK speaker and a single AW800SW sub. The ROCK is a stereo unit so I buried a cable from my shop building to a nice spot in the future landscaping plans so the rock is aimed back at the building and patio area. Both units are stereo within their own cabinets, that is- the Rock has
dual tweeters (firing to cover about 170 degree arch) and a dual voice
coil woofer, and the sub is a 8" woofer in tuned enclosure with dual voice coil.

A 4 conductor wire runs from my amplifer area in the shop
to the overhang where it attached to the Sub, aimed straight down. This loads the woofer into 1/2 space, helps diffuse the sound more omnidirectionally, and protects the woofer further from the elements.

From there (without using
the sub's internal HP filter) the wiring goes down the interior wall, through the ground and to
the rock some 15 feet away. The Rock itself has great bass, but I had
the Sub and thought- why not?

This is hooked up to a small mixer in the shop which send signal to a BGW 150 pro amp running in stereo providing 75 wrms to the speakers. This is a bit beyond the capacity of the Rock, but with both speakers taking some signal, it works out about right. There is plenty of volume without and clipping or speaker break up.

I can walk around quite a large area and hear diffuse, but stereo sound, and the sound of the rock and the sub compliment each other quite nicely. I love this arrangement.

[Tom Mobley]

Sounds pretty good Michael.

BTW, at 25000 some nice men will come pick you up for a fun ride to a new, peaceful home where you'll be comfortable. It's very quiet there because their BOSE system has a blown amp.

[skonopa]

Construction has FINALLY begun on my new deck!!! That means that I'll have both of my ROCK speakers out there in short order, but no sub. So looking forward to this!

Mine will be hooked up to a Denon DRA-397 stereo reciever (delivering about 80 watts per channel). Should be pretty sweet.

[colterphoto1]

Steve, that should sound great. I suggest you put them at opposite sides of the seating area, wired in reverse. (L/R and R/L) That way, no matter where you sit, you'll be in the stereo sound field. This will require running 4 conductor wire to each Rock.

[Bill W.]

GOOD ADVICE Michael!

When I set up the original sound system on our restaurant patio, I placed speakers in the four treewell gardens with that wiring arrangement. You really do get stereo sound anywhere you sit.

[colterphoto1]

Hiya Bill- I've got to get out west sometime and check out your setups and dining!

How are those outdoor model Jubilees holding up? I've finally got mine up and running.

Michael

[skonopa]

Steve, that should sound great. I suggest you put them at opposite sides of the seating area, wired in reverse. (L/R and R/L) That way, no matter where you sit, you'll be in the stereo sound field. This will require running 4 conductor wire to each Rock.

I'll have to play around with that..

BTW, the deck construction is well on it's way...

As looking directly out the back door over the new deck:

In addition to the new deck, that brick foundation is going to be completely re-painted. The house itself is going to recieve new siding. That sliding glass door is being replaced with a set of French doors, in addition to new windows, new front door (custom made and currently stored in the shed, awaiting installation). Needless to say, I am friggan stoked to finally see this underway! To bad that by the time it gets done, the warm weather season will pretty much be over (at least in VA, the weather typically is pretty nice all year 'round, so there may be some nice days even during the winter that I'll hopefully get to enjoy this). I'll have to re-route those wires you see hanging (the satellite dish was mounted on the old deck, so right now, I don't even have TV until I get the dish re-mounted on the new deck).

[colterphoto1]

This looks good but I have some questions on the construction techinque. Around here we would use joist hangers and not put a set of posts so close to the building. Also even with treated lumber wood is generally not put in direct contact with earth if you can help it. They did fill the holes with concrete down to the freeze/thaw line didn't they?

I do like the way they have let the beams into the posts, so many times you see them directly nailed to the sides, meaning that the entire weight of the structure is resting on nails. They've definitely done that right. And they've used bolts to attach major structural elements, another good sign.

Maybe they just do things differently out East, I don't know. I've never seen those 'T' brackets that they have on top of the joist connection.

You might consider getting wiring through the wall at the band joist position if you can. That way it'd be really invisible.

[skonopa]

This looks good but I have some questions on the construction techinque. Around here we would use joist hangers and not put a set of posts so close to the building. Also even with treated lumber wood is generally not put in direct contact with earth if you can help it. They did fill the holes with concrete down to the freeze/thaw line didn't they?

The set of post close to the house was recent addition. Turned out that this house was built with an "open truss" flooring system (we did not know, as the basement is fully finished, only to find out when taking some of the siding off and having a peak). Code did not allow joist hangers to be attached to such - apparently not enough load capacity in such a manner. As a result, the deck had to be made a "free standing" structure, thus the set of posts close to the house. As for the wood directly in contact with the earth, that seems to be pretty common around here. I am guessing with all this new-fangled stuff they are using these days, it is not as much an issue (and this particular deck is using some of the latest in current building material technology, including some of the latest composites, but at a price - d[]mn thing is nearly $10 grand - but it will be built like the proverbial brick $#!+ house!) Also, we are far enough south here to not have to worry so much about the freeze line in the ground, but those holes are dug a good 4 feet deep. For my shed, I only needed to go down 18 inches when I put in the footers for the decking on which the shed was built.

I do like the way they have let the beams into the posts, so many times you see them directly nailed to the sides, meaning that the entire weight of the structure is resting on nails. They've definitely done that right. And they've used bolts to attach major structural elements, another good sign.

Maybe they just do things differently out East, I don't know. I've never seen those 'T' brackets that they have on top of the joist connection.

Yeah, I've noticed that myself when I was inspecting it after work today to see what kind of progress was made on this. As for those T-brackets, again, maybe some new-fangled thing that they are now doing these days.

You might consider getting wiring through the wall at the band joist position if you can. That way it'd be really invisible.

Excellent idea! I'll ask them tomorrow morning how feasible it would be to drill a hole there for me to run audio cable for the outdoor rig as well as to re-route that wiring that is there now. The only problem, though is that my basement is fully finished, complete with finished ceilings (in fact, it is the room where my two-channel rig currently is, where I was telling you about where I was thinking of placing some KHorns, that is directly underneath there), thus making it very difficult, less I want to tear up the ceiling, to get under the floor joists. I really wished it was a drop-ceiling, as it would've allowed me to get up underneath the floor joists, since I'd also like to run some ethernet cabling as well to put network drops in nearly all the rooms of the house.

Anyway, I am excited to finally get something really nice put up there. I'll have to post some pics of the finished product. Will have to go shopping around for some patio furniture and BBQ to put out there. Wonder how difficult it will be to find something decent this late in the season. May end up having to wait until spring for that stuff.

[colterphoto1]

INteresting about the open truss use in a home. In that case then they did it very right and it will be a brick s#!t house! Good job. Yeah, they're not giving away lumber these days. There will be some moshing going on if I know your friends, so good to have it overbuilt a bit. What are you using for decking boards? I recommend 5/4 and that new plastic milk jug board looks very cool and won't cup or splinter.

THose T brackets probably help keep the frame from racking.

Another thing to check carefully is the method of attachment for the railing supports. These must be very strurdy as people will inevitably lean against them while in 'party mode'.

Have you got the outdoor sound system figured out? Rocks? AW line-up? I've got aCA800SW sub here if you need it, it's not stereo so you'd want to get another eventually.

M

[skonopa]

INteresting about the open truss use in a home. In that case then they did it very right and it will be a brick s#!t house! Good job. Yeah, they're not giving away lumber these days. There will be some moshing going on if I know your friends, so good to have it overbuilt a bit. What are you using for decking boards? I recommend 5/4 and that new plastic milk jug board looks very cool and won't cup or splinter.

THose T brackets probably help keep the frame from racking.

Yup, using some of the latest in composit technology for the deck boards, hand-rails, stair risers, etc.

Another thing to check carefully is the method of attachment for the railing supports. These must be very strurdy as people will inevitably lean against them while in 'party mode'.

That is also already being addressed. Although it took them a friggan long enough time to get started (it was supposed to have been done back in May), but once it got started, these guys definitely know what they are doing. Another example is that they are using hidden hangers to attach the deck boards, thus there will be no screws (yes, screws - not nails) that will show on the actual walking surface. Not only that, but they also got 20-foot boards, so the decking will be laid without any visible seams (this will be a 12x16 foot deck)

Have you got the outdoor sound system figured out? Rocks? AW line-up? I've got aCA800SW sub here if you need it, it's not stereo so you'd want to get another eventually.

M

Yes, I do. I have two of those AWR650-SM rocks (you remember that one that I bought off of Trey back in July?). They will be powered with a Denon DRA-397 two-channel reciever, with about 80 watts per channel. The sources will be one of the outputs from the Elan Via!DJ music server, as well as an integrated iPod dock that I got with the reciever, and a spare CD player that I have laying around (an ancient Sharp DX-200 that I've had since my junior year in college - but the thing still works and sounds quite good). I've rigged it up in my basement just to test it and I was quite impressed with how good this little thing sounds - will be looking forward to the day when I can actually get it out on the deck when it's complete. However, I don't have any subs. I may have to seriously consider that CA-800-SW sub (or is that the CA-800-TSW, like what I saw in the products page for outdoor speakers?).

How much are you asking for it? That would mean I would also need to get a seperate amp to drive it, as it appears to be passive, unless you also have a spare amp as well. I guess I could cruise over to the Guitar Center just across the highway and see what they got that I could drive it with over in thier pro-audio section.

As an aside - just had a little fun demonstration of my Klipsch rig. One of the guys doing the work on the deck wanted to come in and use the bathroom. On the way out, he made a comment about my rig ("man, that looks pretty sweet!") and started asking about it. He basically wondered what it sounds like and how loud it can get. Well, you know, I just had to show him. [6] I happen to have a copy of Halcyon Way's A Manifesto for Domination in the player, so I proceeded to crank it up for him. He was like "Holy $#!+! That is AWESOME!". []

[skonopa]

Another thing to check carefully is the method of attachment for the railing supports. These must be very strurdy as people will inevitably lean against them while in 'party mode'.

Here you go - using bolts to attach the railing supports:

This is how it is shaping up! Those metal strips are what will be used to attach the deck boards, thus no screw heads on the walking surface. Notice that they are using four stringers for the stairs.

[colterphoto1]

is all this stainless steel or at least heavily galvanized? Same with all fasteners!

[skonopa]

is all this stainless steel or at least heavily galvanized? Same with all fasteners!

As far as I know, it is. Just today, they layed the deck boards on and looks like they started to add the stairs. Looking pretty sweet.

[colterphoto1]

they're moving along pretty well.

But check this- they BOLT the rail posts to the band joist, that's fine except that the band joist is just END NAILED to the joists. Which fastener will fail first when a bunch of people lean up against the railing? Perhaps that's what those little 'T' straps are for- to keep the two connected- but I'd ask.

M