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Thoughts, Tips, Ideas for my new Home Theater (relative newbie)


RoboKlipsch

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This is my first post in the forum.  But at the least I can say that I have actually read through almost the entire Home Theater forum, and then the subwoofer forum in order to learn the basics as best as I can and understand what people like, why, and at least not seem like a complete idiot here.

 

I have 2 things I'd like help with.  The first is my home theater setup.   I have attached 2 quick pictures here, obviously not a lot of time taken on them but enough I hope to give an idea.  The other question I have I'll post separate so as not to muddy things up. 

 

The room itself is a rectangle, with the front by the windows being hexagonal (3 sides in the front), so there is a bit of a breakup of the room.  The width is about 12.5', and the length roughly 25'.  Hardwood floors with a big area rug underneath the entire home theater area up to the couch.  Behind that is the dining table.  One picture shows a shot towards the front, the other from the front to the back.

 

There's a nice Vizio 4K TV centered exactly with an RP-250C center channel tucked in nicely (but with some room above and behind).  I originally had a R25C and bought the RP250C when it went on sale...the difference was about $30 and the lower end of the RP250C better matched crossing over below 100 (I think  the R25C low end is 82hz, the 250C is 62).  Listening for all of 1 minute told me which was better beyond the specs themselves. 

 

To each side is an R-28F (not the RP280F...the R28Fs were 1/2 price for black friday, this is my first system so it was a good size expense for me still).  Behind the right yellow chair by the window is an R10SW, sitting on a entry carpet doubled over.  Before it was on the carpet it was boomy...once on the carpet it seemed to remove any vibration going through the wood floor).  The sub is pointed along the window line...driver pointed at right R28F, port plenty of room firing towards behind the TV.  This position seems to have made locating the sub difficult from the couch.

 

Mounted HIGH up on the walls are R15Ms.  I mounted them myself, wired it along the crown molding.  They are that high because I wanted them above people walking around the room...a 6'6" person (I know a few) can walk under these as they are set with the bottom of the speaker at 84".  The stud was there so I used Videosecu mounts.  The only other option I had position-wise was about 5 or 6 feet back.  I strongly considered that but thought it was too far behind the listening area...and if using a multichannel music for parties...the position was more central.  I have these pointing roughly at each other, but down the 7 degrees the mounts allow.  AND, in an effort to get the high frequencies down to the listening areas, mounted the bookshelves upside down (tweeters on bottom).

 

The back surround channels are some M&K SX4s gifted from a good friend.  They are amazingly powerful, have 2 5" drivers and 2 tweeters each.    They are located on a display case, about 6 feet off the ground, tilted slightly forward to move the treble into the listening area as best as possible with minimal angle (I might guess, 15degrees?)

 

All this is driven by a Sony STR-DH750, 1050 total watts (lol maybe, I guess based upon everything I read here and elsewhere).  I run the auto calibration on it, and find that it's decent.  Because the surround channels are high up, I definitely notice it doesn't sound the same as when they were at ear level or just above (on shelves).  So I overrode the calibration a bit from 0/+0.5db increase to about 4db more than that.  At that point the surround came in much better.  Crossovers are 60 for the front (I found bass sounded better than 70 or 80), 70 for the center, and 80 for the surround (r15ms could do 70 too, but the M&Ks I believe were THX designed to not go below 80).  

 

I hope that's a good description, and not too much or little for some help.  I realize having been through this whole forum that there are a world of other speaker options available to me, and over time I can certainly see myself upgrading the fronts and the bookshelves (which I guess is exactly what Klipsch hopes too).  But for me these are incredible already, so much better than what I had before.

 

Thoughts, ideas, tips regarding my setup?  Especially those surrounds mounted on the wall...should I experiment more with moving the couch forward and back?  If I end up increasing the db on the surrounds, is it better at some point instead of say going up 4 or 4.5db, to decrease the fronts 1 or 2 and "average" out the difference (i.e., instead of FL 0, FR 0, LS +4, RS +4....FL-2, FR -2, LS+2, RS+2)?  Can I remount these if needed?   Not now, but down the road.   This is it for now, but the fronts and back surrounds can be moved no problem.  I can though rotate and angle the side surrounds anyway I like (up/down 7 degrees, rotate 360).  

 

All help and criticism is appreciated.  

post-62362-0-73460000-1454614214_thumb.j

post-62362-0-55060000-1454614251_thumb.j

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Just to update.  I had not recalibrated after tilting the back surrounds forward a bit.   That seemed to make the difference -- not the side surrounds.  The fronts calibrated perfectly to 0 0 0, the LS was +.5 and right 0.   BLS +2, BRS +1.5.  I was going to change it around but then with some testing realized that the back surrounds were missing before, and there was a big gap there in the sweep of surround.  Pretty awesome now...but I'm a new guy and open to any and all suggestions/tips.

 

RK

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First: welcome.

 

Second: If that is a Wisconsin flag or blanket on the chair, get rid of it.  No, just teasing, GO BIG RED!!

 

Third:

tilting the back surrounds forward a bit
I would try about 15 Degrees downward.  Yes Ideally you would want them about 6' from the ground give or take.  But you will learn you have to do what you can. 

 

Nice looking setup, your off to a good start.  Another thought I had, the fronts  seem to be pointed to the center of the room.  Which isn't bad, unless that is not were the sweat spot is.  You will have to play around to see what works best for your application.  But by the help of some the great folks here, I am sure we will get you set straight.  Have fun.

 

Last thing, cool looking house, I like the staircase and chandelier.

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Welcome to the forum! It looks like you have learned quite a bit already and have all the basics down. The only thing I can suggest to take it it the next level is to check out this lecture series from The Home Theater Geeks. They go over seating position, subwoofer placement etc and its an excellent watch:

 

 

 

As for acoustic treatment, any sort of tapestry or thick cloth will definitely help at the primary reflection points for your mains and center. This is the point on your wall that the sound from the speaker bounces off and reached your ears. The problem, is you hear both the sound directly from the speaker AND the 'echo' from the wall which can make voices muddy etc. I found the best way to find this point it to get a cheap laser pointer and a small mirror. Have a 1 person put the laser on top of your speaker  and another person hold a mirror on the wall. Point the laser at the mirror and have the person with the mirror move back toward the seating location until the laser reflection hits you sitting in your chair. This location is where you want to have some kind of dampening. This alone will have a very noticeable difference when watching movies and music. If you primarily watch movies, I would do this with the center channel first as that is where the dialogue comes from.

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First: welcome.

 

Second: If that is a Wisconsin flag or blanket on the chair, get rid of it.  No, just teasing, GO BIG RED!!

 

Third:

 

tilting the back surrounds forward a bit
I would try about 15 Degrees downward.  Yes Ideally you would want them about 6' from the ground give or take.  But you will learn you have to do what you can. 

 

Nice looking setup, your off to a good start.  Another thought I had, the fronts  seem to be pointed to the center of the room.  Which isn't bad, unless that is not were the sweat spot is.  You will have to play around to see what works best for your application.  But by the help of some the great folks here, I am sure we will get you set straight.  Have fun.

 

Last thing, cool looking house, I like the staircase and chandelier.

Thanks on all counts...Wisky flag is not mine but I'm OK with it :)  15 seems great and also those things are HEAVY back there so they still want to sit back and won't fall out of position.  The fronts are really a good point you make and one I've considered for a long time (with other speakers).  I personally think if it comes to "perfect" sound pointing in towards a sweet spot is best.  But if you sit anywhere outside that area (outside the direct line of either the left or right speaker)...I've always found the experience a lot less satisfying.  What do you think? 

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Welcome to the forum! It looks like you have learned quite a bit already and have all the basics down. The only thing I can suggest to take it it the next level is to check out this lecture series from The Home Theater Geeks. They go over seating position, subwoofer placement etc and its an excellent watch:

 

 

 

As for acoustic treatment, any sort of tapestry or thick cloth will definitely help at the primary reflection points for your mains and center. This is the point on your wall that the sound from the speaker bounces off and reached your ears. The problem, is you hear both the sound directly from the speaker AND the 'echo' from the wall which can make voices muddy etc. I found the best way to find this point it to get a cheap laser pointer and a small mirror. Have a 1 person put the laser on top of your speaker  and another person hold a mirror on the wall. Point the laser at the mirror and have the person with the mirror move back toward the seating location until the laser reflection hits you sitting in your chair. This location is where you want to have some kind of dampening. This alone will have a very noticeable difference when watching movies and music. If you primarily watch movies, I would do this with the center channel first as that is where the dialogue comes from.

I'm just getting started on the videos but will watch both.  Your practical tip on the reflections is pretty cool I will try it. 

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