Considering 7.1....What would you do?

[Scrappydue]

wake, your awesome!

[twistedcrankcammer]

That is some funny chit!!

Roger

[BlackGTS]

OK, after having almost 24 hours to reflect on Youth's HT room, here are my observations:

1. Man, what a setup he has!

2. I believe that he could stack up all of his equipment in a corner and the room would still sound good.

3. The differences that I heard between the 5.1 and 7.1 were noticeable when compared against each within a few minutes, but probably wouldn't be if not being compared; Both sounded fantastic.

We first started out with a demonstration of 2 ch using ONE of his pair of RF7ii in his living room, which is beautiful by the way. It was so nice to have MULTIPLE pairs of 7iis in his house to compare (I'm sure everyone here has at least a couple pairs, right?) This was the first time that I had ever heard the 7iis and they had a very "full" sound. We used my standard testing CD, "Dark Side of the Moon" and when Breathe kicked in it was amazing. I closed my eyes and could have sworn that there was a center speaker. I then noticed that the soundstage or imaging was much wider than the speakers. The sound seemed to extend at least 5 or 6 feet out beyond the speakers.

Oh, I digress. What do you think the first piece of equipment was that I saw when I came in his house? Yep. The Parasound that I warned him to hide from me. There it was on the living room floor.

After the 2ch demo, I quizzed him about his camera skills and found that those awesome pictures that he takes are from a camera a lot like mine. I was then given a tutorial on how to take better pictures. I'm sure that I only absorbed about 30% of what I was told, but it should give me a good starting point.

About that time I met Wakejunkie via video phone. He was busy in his HT watching a football game. Nice guy and he is about to receive a sweet speaker setup from Youth. I bet he can't wait. Judging by the fronts that I saw via the phone, he is in for a serous upgrade!

On to the HT. Mike had his 83s and 7iis side by side and also a pair of RS62s propped up in the rear so that we could test out the 7.1. On the wall for surrounds was a pair of RS62iis and rounding out the setup was his monster sub, hidden behind the lower panel. We started with a scene from Avatar first with the rears and then without. The difference was noticeable, probably because I was listening for it. I don't believe that it made that much of a difference, but it WAS noticeable. Note: the rears weren't in the spot that they would be mounted, rather at ear level. Mounted up higher, the difference would be that much less noticeable, I believe.

I believe that Mike, with his HT is at a point of diminishing returns. He has an incredible sounding HT and might be able to tweak it a little but he already has it dialed in as far as I am concerned. If he COULD improve it, I think that it would maybe be less than 5% and that isn't noticeable to many. I know that these HTs are NEVER done and knowing Mike for just a short period of time, I feel that he will continue to tinker but I don't know that he can improve much on what he has; It's THAT good.

Our last test was of the differences between the 83s and the 7iis in the HT. The Eagles Hotel California from the Hell Freezes Over DVD was next for testing. We started out with the 83s and being a guitar guy, I immediately noticed that Don Felder had nylon strings on his guitar. I noticed this with my eyes closed because I HEARD the difference for the first time ever. When I opened my eyes and looked, sure enough; nylon strings. The harmonies were of course really smooth. Next, we hooked up the 7iis and the same track started. Immediately all sounds seemed "crisper" for lack of a better word. The whole song seemed like it had been cleaned up a bit. Not better, just different.

Finally, I asked Mike to indulge me a little and allow me to hear my favorite song through both speakers. He agreed and "Comfortably Numb" started playing. We were still listening to the 7iis and after hearing that song for the last 34 years through every conceivable kind of audio system, I heard it with more distinction than I ever had before. We listened through to the end of the first solo and the guitar was so clean and crisp that I almost couldn't believe it. THIS is how Gilmour and Waters intended for everyone to hear their music. The sad part is that very few ever will.

We then plugged in the 83s and gave the song the same listen. Awesome again but to my ears, some of the sharp edges of the song were gone, especially in the first solo. For HT both speakers are right there at the top but to me, there is a small bit missing from the 83's. I have always liked treble more than bass and that might account for my opinions. Placement of speakers can be everything and we agreed that it would have some effect on the sound. The 83s were on the outside and the 7iis on the inside.

I hope that I didn't ramble on too long but I really enjoyed the couple of hours that I spent with Mike and would like to thank him for his willingness to share his stereo and HT equipment. I've always loved music and yesterday definitely strengthened that.

Thanks Mike, and see you soon,

Ron

[Scrappydue]

great write up! i love hearing someones perspective of someone elses theater room. without hearing youth's setup but have heard the rsw-15 before i think that is something that he could eventually upgrade. maybe one day he will venture into the DIY world.

[Youthman]

Wake you are something else. Funny thing is you could actually make that happen

[Youthman]

Thanks for the kind words Ron. Ron has a much better ear for audio than I do. We had a great time together and it was a lot of fun having a second set of ears to discuss what differences we were hearing together. Ron heard what I've always said about the RF-83's that they are more "refined" and have a softer, smoother sound than the RF-7 and RF-7ii. I too don't hear much, if any difference for HT between RF-7ii and RF-83's so more than likely, the RF-83's will remain in the HT and the RF-7ii's in the 2ch setup in the living room. Plus, I like the look of the RF-7ii's cones over the RF-83's so they make the most sense to have in the 2ch living room setup.

[WakeJunkie]

3 coats of paint and wet sanded to 800 grit.

The pine scrap I made the sides from didn't have pretty grain so this will completely cover the grain and give it a super slick surface.

When mounted it will look like a commercial finish and not a couple blocks of scrap wood holding it out from the wall.

I will put the finish coat on tonight. For those wondering it has a 26.6 degree down angle. The box is 12" wide so the RS-62ii's will overhang the edges 2" on each side. It is the same height as the speaker.

I am bringing a 3" hole saw to cut the access for the speaker wires so the speaker can be removed from the wall by only disconnecting the wires and not having to unscrew the speaker from the mount.

Edited November 4, 2013 by WakeJunkie

[Youthman]

Willland was impressed to see how quickly you designed and built them from the photo that was suggested. Looking forward to installing the 2nd pair of RS-62ii speakers and moving up to a 7.1 setup.