Looking for the next addition

[PoloBroker]

I'm proud to say I successfuly cut holes in my ceiling for my brand new RCR 5's for surround; wife said job well done! Looking for the next component.

Here is what I have:

20 x 35 room, 10 foot ceiling (the back 15 feet belongs to the kitchen) Lots of tile.

My system:

Receiver: Yamaha RX V-1070 (1995)

JBL's: J-350A (1987) still thump!

Klipsch RCR-5 (2002)

Mitsubishi 55" HD 1080 (2001)

dvd: cheap Toshiba (2001)

Currently enjoying what I have, know there is room for improvement. Thanks for any input.

Rick

[JohnA]

I'll take a guess. Fabric wall coverings the deaden the room? Persian rugs on the wall?

John

[PoloBroker]

No fabric or rugs, what do these ideas have to do with my next purchase of equipment or speakers?

Rick

[lynnm]

I think John is suggesting that the room as you describe it might be a tad lively due to its dimensions and the presence of a lot of tile and other highly reflective surfaces. Wall treatment and carpeting might well serve to reduce any tendency the system might have to being strident and tiring to listen to.

You may or may not encounter that effect but if you do try adding some softer surfaces etc. before changing equipment and speakers etc. as you can usually gain more with less cost by tuning the room.

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It is meet to recall that the Great Green Heron rarely flies upside down in the moonlight - (Foo Ling ca.1900)

[dougdrake]

IMHO, I'd do this in this order:

1) New receiver or pre/pro and amp to take advantage of Dolby Digital, if your current receiver does not (just guessing based on the year 1995...).

2) If you like the JBL mains, great!! If you haven't auditioned some Klipsch mains, then I'd do that and replace the JBL's if you like the Klipsch better.

3) Subwoofer

4) Center channel/rear center(s)

DD

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My System

[lynnm]

Here is the text of a response I sent to PoloBroker in response to an email regarding this thread in which PB asked for more input regarding room treatments:

Here are a couple of starting points. I built four freestanding acoustic

damping panels and two dampers for the conjunction of the walls and ceiling

in the corners opposite my KLF30's based on Jon's design for about

C$75.00,(total). I suspect that they could be assembled for U$10.00ea.

The freestanding panels took a friend and I about 45 minutes each to make

from start to finish.

My room was not particularly "live" when I started and to be honest I and my

buddy were a little put off for the first few minutes by the flattened sound

but then just as I was about to remark to him that the sound was tighter and

the imaging much better he suddenly said,"This is fantastic!!" and gave me

chapter and verse of what I had just been about to say to him.

I demonstrated the new setup to my wife who appreciated the change

instantly,(she even HEARS better than me -Harrumph!), and when we started

listening to the first cut on Oh Brother Where Art Thou she got excited and

said, "My God!! There are a lot of things I'm hearing for the first time!!

Some of the voices seem to be coming from behind me!

It may sound counter-intuitive to say that one may hear more detail by

damping some of the sound but what this accomplished was that the point of

the first reflection was deadened to a large degree. The sound bouncing off

that point on the sidewall is really quite loud but is also slightly out of

phase temporally and in terms of polarity,(ie ever so slightly time delayed

and also ever so slightly polarity shifted) from the sound being radiated

from the midrange and tweeter horns. In addition the sidewall ,being very

flat, reradiates that sound in a pattern that is utterly unlike the pattern

that is dispersed by the tweeter and midrange horns. Thus the listener

seated in the room's "Sweet Spot" hears the sound waves directly from the

speakers + the reflected sound waves + the product of the interactions

between the original wave and the reflected wave,(which will be both

additive and subtractive). The end result of this is that some parts of the

spectrum may be heard at a higher or lower volume than originally reproduced

and that certain harmonics may be emphasised or de-emphasied. This

colouration can have pleasant and unpleasant sonic consequences. What has

been clearly demonstrated by my experience however is that this interaction

between the room and the system can generate a very undesirable masking

effect wherein subtle, less prominent sounds which are present in the source

material get drowned out for anyone seated in the Sweet Spot.

A further benefit of the room treatments I applied was that my system

sounded "good" virtually anywhere in the room and "glorious" ,(as Merlin

says in MM - an insider joke for PBer's 8~)>. My system now sounds Glorious

virtually any where in the room and the Sweet Spot is actually only a little

Sweeter.

There are any number of tweaks can do with a room's acoustic response than

what I have done and which call for a lot more know how than I possess but I

can honestly state that the C$75.00 I have spent so far on this aspect of my

system has been the equal of the previous C$2500.00 in worthwhile

improvements.

Check here for details on this and other tweaks:

http://www.geocities.com/jonrisch/index2.htm

You might also wish to check out: the TNT Audio site for a wealth of DYI

tips,designs and reviews by knowledgeable audiophile hobbyists in plain

English --err umm plain Italian translated into plain English except for

articles from English speakers that has been translated into plain Italian

....errm - Just find it and check it out !

End of Rant!

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It is meet to recall that the Great Green Heron rarely flies upside down in the moonlight - (Foo Ling ca.1900)