NEW Ultra THX 2 Demo Room in North East ALMOST Done!!!!!

[AV Theater Designs]

Hey all,

I just wanted to say a big hello to everyone in these forums. We are building the ultimate demo room out here in Connecticut and will be the only working THX Ultra 2 demo in most of the North east. The room should be completed by the end of November.

I have tested this room so far without setting up the processor and also without the carpet in and I must say this room will be somthing unlike anything in this area.This room will be open to all Klipsch followers to enjoy in the near future but will be by appointment only since its located in an industrial complex with other places of buisness connected.Ive already had complaints from the neighbors and im not quite ready to move my buisness to the middle of the woods

I would like to thank Klipsch of course for all their support along with Sherbourn Technologies both who have helped a bunch in making this room possable.

Here are a few pics just so you can get an idea of what its going to look like.We are waiting for the custom made 105" screen from Screen Inovations and also the Sharp DLP projector.More pics to follow soon.

[AV Theater Designs]

photo 2

[AV Theater Designs]

photo 3

[Frzninvt]

Great News!

However the forum software does not support drag and drop photos. You have to use the attachment feature below. Your photos are just red X's unless my browser is acting daffy today.

I would love to see photos if you can get them to work. I would like to see how it compares with my full bore all Heritage Big Boys HT with dual 15" Velodyne's.

Welcome to the forum and thanks for the invite!

[AV Theater Designs]

I think these may show up.I will check on another computer but the others did show up on mine.Dusty Rack

[DrWho]

the pictures show up fine here...

I must say the room is rather interesting. I take it you went with a

7.1 system? What design and modelling approaches did you take in

determining the size, shape and acoustical treatment of the room?

[Frzninvt]

Cool! You appear to be using a Denon 2900 DVD and a Panamax 5100 just what I am using. Good choices! That Sherbourn AV Pre/Pro is pretty I have never seen one.

Those Ultra 2 speakers look small compared to what I am used to looking at. Nice layout!

Thanks for sharing.

[AV Theater Designs]

the pictures show up fine here...

I must say the room is rather interesting. I take it you went with a 7.1 system? What design and modelling approaches did you take in determining the size, shape and acoustical treatment of the room?

Actually right now the room is 5.1 which I may or may not change in the future. The room is 16 w x 18 L x 9 H and with the Berkline chairs in place a 7.1 really wont work correctly in this size room. This room design is very cool because its built inside a shop,you can actually walk around the whole outside of the room to do any wiring at anytime or to switch out equipment from behind the front wall.

As for acoustical treat for now the room was bulit with plywood and then sheetrock,this way if we need to hang anything on the wall or want to add plasmas down the road its easy,it also cuts down on noise because of the neighbor factor. So far we added black sonex acoustic foam tiles on the ceiling and once the carpet and chairs are in we will take further steps and looking into the fabri-trax system and also some bass traps if needed.

Here is a few pics which shows the outside of the room.

[AV Theater Designs]

another

[Speedball]

Hi,

Thanks for sharing the pictures, looks as though you are giving a lot of effort to set up a nice place. I am not really familiar with nice setups like that but is that an unusually low spot for the center channel?

[IndyKlipschFan]

great minds think alike.,..

[Ronb63]

The setup looks really nice! Where were you 2 months ago when I drove 3 hours round trip to hear these speakers??

I live 2 towns over from you. I will give you a call as I have some questions.

[formica]

I must say the room is rather interesting. I take

it you went with a 7.1 system? What design and modelling approaches did

you take in determining the size, shape and acoustical treatment of the

room?

"Interesting"? Mike, almost seems like you were biting your tongue...

It may be a little late now, but I'm a little surprised by two items

actually... including the front speaker placement as well as the

room dimensions which are nicely dividable by three.

The vertical staggering of the LCR is a little odd given that they

could have been optimized much more by simply modifying the equipment

racks on either sides. I realise placing a large screen would

still have obligated lowering the center... but why not place the LR at

ear level? This would have made Left to Right (and Right to Left)

transitions much more transparent esp since the three front units are

identical.

I'm not sure if you "rounded" the numbers when you posted room sizes,

but having a width which is exactly twice the height will produce some

pretty important peaks and nulls. The length is also closely

related. Without running the numbers... I'm guessing 62.7Hz and

125.5Hz will both be trouble frequencies for the completed room

(1130ft/s divided by 18ft and 9ft). It could have saved some room

treatments....

Only trying to help [A]

Rob

[AV Theater Designs]

I must say the room is rather interesting. I take it you went with a 7.1 system? What design and modelling approaches did you take in determining the size, shape and acoustical treatment of the room?

"Interesting"? Mike, almost seems like you were biting your tongue...

It may be a little late now, but I'm a little surprised by two items actually... including the front speaker placement as well as the room dimensions which are nicely dividable by three.

The vertical staggering of the LCR is a little odd given that they could have been optimized much more by simply modifying the equipment racks on either sides. I realise placing a large screen would still have obligated lowering the center... but why not place the LR at ear level? This would have made Left to Right (and Right to Left) transitions much more transparent esp since the three front units are identical.

I'm not sure if you "rounded" the numbers when you posted room sizes, but having a width which is exactly twice the height will produce some pretty important peaks and nulls. The length is also closely related. Without running the numbers... I'm guessing 62.7Hz and 125.5Hz will both be trouble frequencies for the completed room (1130ft/s divided by 18ft and 9ft). It could have saved some room treatments....

Only trying to help [A]

Rob

Rob im sorry to disapoint you with my room design and although speaker placement may not be perfect the room was designed not just as a dedicated theater room but also a working showroom for other equipment such as multi-room servers and amplifers,tower and bookshelf speakers such as RF-7s and RB-75s as well as other goodies as simple as a popcorn machine.

We built the room as big as posable to fit all of these products and as far as the front wall is there was no way to lower the left and right speakers because of the height of both equipment racks unless we used a pirferated screen which I did not want to do.Moving the racks elsewhere was not an option either.

Trust me when I tell you their are no problems with sound in this room from the recent testing we have made.The THX system in this room is 100% for movie viewing.Thus when customers come in for music listening I would not even try to sell them on the THX system but rather a RF-7 setup as discussed in another post comparing the two systems.

Again I will say their isnt a demo room on the complete shorline in Ct. or even all of Ct. that will come close to this room as far in your face home theater with the THX Ultra 2 system.If someone comes in and proves me wrong after demoing this room I will change it to your specs Rob, I promise Tim

[JeffDurbin]

I must say the room is rather interesting. I take it you went with a 7.1 system? What design and modelling approaches did you take in determining the size, shape and acoustical treatment of the room?

"Interesting"? Mike, almost seems like you were biting your tongue...

It may be a little late now, but I'm a little surprised by two items actually... including the front speaker placement as well as the room dimensions which are nicely dividable by three.

The vertical staggering of the LCR is a little odd given that they could have been optimized much more by simply modifying the equipment racks on either sides. I realise placing a large screen would still have obligated lowering the center... but why not place the LR at ear level? This would have made Left to Right (and Right to Left) transitions much more transparent esp since the three front units are identical.

I'm not sure if you "rounded" the numbers when you posted room sizes, but having a width which is exactly twice the height will produce some pretty important peaks and nulls. The length is also closely related. Without running the numbers... I'm guessing 62.7Hz and 125.5Hz will both be trouble frequencies for the completed room (1130ft/s divided by 18ft and 9ft). It could have saved some room treatments....

Only trying to help [A]

Rob

Rob im sorry to disapoint you with my room design and although speaker placement may not be perfect the room was designed not just as a dedicated theater room but also a working showroom for other equipment such as multi-room servers and amplifers,tower and bookshelf speakers such as RF-7s and RB-75s as well as other goodies as simple as a popcorn machine.

We built the room as big as posable to fit all of these products and as far as the front wall is there was no way to lower the left and right speakers because of the height of both equipment racks unless we used a pirferated screen which I did not want to do.Moving the racks elsewhere was not an option either.

Trust me when I tell you their are no problems with sound in this room from the recent testing we have made.The THX system in this room is 100% for movie viewing.Thus when customers come in for music listening I would not even try to sell them on the THX system but rather a RF-7 setup as discussed in another post comparing the two systems.

Again I will say their isnt a demo room on the complete shorline in Ct. or even all of Ct. that will come close to this room as far in your face home theater with the THX Ultra 2 system.If someone comes in and proves me wrong after demoing this room I will change it to your specs Rob, I promise Tim

Tim,

It seems like you took a bit of offense at Rob's comments but I am of a mind to agree with him. Placing the center speaker at the floor instead of behind a perforated screen seems to be all wrong to me. If anything, it should have been placed ABOVE the screen if you are not willing to use a perforated one because then it would have been closer in line (horizontally) with the LR speakers. That would have made the L-C-R imaging better. My suggestion is to create a recessed box for your center channel above the screen and slant all three boxes (LCR) slightly towards the listeners' ears. Of course, the center box would have a slightly greater slant because it will be slightly higher. You could just put them all parallel to the floor and use shims under the rear of the speakers to accomplish the same thing.

In one of your earlier posts, you made the point that the room is free-standing and you showed photos of how easy it is to walk around the outside of the room in order to get access to the backsides of the walls, etc. How difficult would it have been to put some greater thought into room dimensions? I am not in the business but even I know that. I have no control over the dimensions of my family room but you as a professional have total control over the dimensions of your demo room. Sure, some of your customers will be idiots with too much money to spend and they won't notice but some of your customers will be like people in this forum and they will notice those little things and you will lose credibility as a result.

By the way, use the spell check tool and proof your posts for grammar errors. Like I said, it is all about credibility.

[formica]

the room was designed not just as a dedicated theater room but also a working showroom for other equipment such as multi-room servers and amplifers,tower and bookshelf speakers such as RF-7s and RB-75s as well as other goodies as simple as a popcorn machine....

Again I will say their isnt a demo room on the complete shorline in Ct. or even all of Ct. that will come close to this room as far in your face home theater with the THX Ultra 2 system.

It might look like I was trying to give you a hard time... but I do realise that compromises sometimes have to be made for practical reasons. This applies to both the home as well as the store. Even perfectly proportioned rooms have surprises. I'm curious to see if the final (pre-treatment) room modes line up with the predicted ones... but they should be in the ball park.

It's great to see some THX Ultra rooms going up... a fully integrated install like yours requires quite a commitment to the line. Probably the same reason why I haven't gotten the chance of hearing it at any local dealers myself.

ROb

[picky]

AV Theater Designs: It's great to see a quality room come together, especially one equipped with the Ultras and such fine electronics. Your room is going to be a real show-piece. Nice work!

When I began construction of our dedicated theater 3 years ago, I too, considered using the steel studs. However, I was dissuaded by other members here as well as by some articles I've read that state metal studs tend to induce their own unique set of issues and limitations when used in sonically-charged environments such as a home theater. So, for those reasons, I went with wooden studs. I realize because you mention you are in an industrial building that metal studs may be required.

If you don't mind, I have a few questions: Were you aware of this "limitations opinion" prior to beginning construction? If so, what made to decide to press-on with the use of metal studs? Do you see them as a detriment? Do you feel they have effected the sound quality of the room in a negative fashion?

Thanks, in advance, for your answers.

[AV Theater Designs]

AV Theater Designs: It's great to see a quality room come together, especially one equipped with the Ultras and such fine electronics. Your room is going to be a real show-piece. Nice work!

When I began construction of our dedicated theater 3 years ago, I too, considered using the steel studs. However, I was dissuaded by other members here as well as by some articles I've read that state metal studs tend to induce their own unique set of issues and limitations when used in sonically-charged environments such as a home theater. So, for those reasons, I went with wooden studs. I realize because you mention you are in an industrial building that metal studs may be required.

If you don't mind, I have a few questions: Were you aware of this "limitations opinion" prior to beginning construction? If so, what made to decide to press-on with the use of metal studs? Do you see them as a detriment? Do you feel they have effected the sound quality of the room in a negative fashion?

Thanks, in advance, for your answers.

Yes you are correct that steel studs are not preferred for building home theater rooms. As it turned out my landlord was very strict about how the room was built and he insisted on using steel studs for construction of the room.

This was one of the reasons we used plywood before putting up the sheet rock.Trust me when I tell you we used every way possible to keep this room from rattling and it seems to have worked.

In a home location rather then a industrial location theirs no doubt wood will be the prefered choice hands down. In my situaction I didnt have the option but to use steel in which case use the thickest steel possable and get ready to charge up the screw guns because you will be their for a long time building the oversized erector set.

[AV Theater Designs]

I must say the room is rather interesting. I take it you went with a 7.1 system? What design and modelling approaches did you take in determining the size, shape and acoustical treatment of the room?

"Interesting"? Mike, almost seems like you were biting your tongue...

It may be a little late now, but I'm a little surprised by two items actually... including the front speaker placement as well as the room dimensions which are nicely dividable by three.

The vertical staggering of the LCR is a little odd given that they could have been optimized much more by simply modifying the equipment racks on either sides. I realise placing a large screen would still have obligated lowering the center... but why not place the LR at ear level? This would have made Left to Right (and Right to Left) transitions much more transparent esp since the three front units are identical.

I'm not sure if you "rounded" the numbers when you posted room sizes, but having a width which is exactly twice the height will produce some pretty important peaks and nulls. The length is also closely related. Without running the numbers... I'm guessing 62.7Hz and 125.5Hz will both be trouble frequencies for the completed room (1130ft/s divided by 18ft and 9ft). It could have saved some room treatments....

Only trying to help [A]

Rob

Rob im sorry to disapoint you with my room design and although speaker placement may not be perfect the room was designed not just as a dedicated theater room but also a working showroom for other equipment such as multi-room servers and amplifers,tower and bookshelf speakers such as RF-7s and RB-75s as well as other goodies as simple as a popcorn machine.

We built the room as big as posable to fit all of these products and as far as the front wall is there was no way to lower the left and right speakers because of the height of both equipment racks unless we used a pirferated screen which I did not want to do.Moving the racks elsewhere was not an option either.

Trust me when I tell you their are no problems with sound in this room from the recent testing we have made.The THX system in this room is 100% for movie viewing.Thus when customers come in for music listening I would not even try to sell them on the THX system but rather a RF-7 setup as discussed in another post comparing the two systems.

Again I will say their isnt a demo room on the complete shorline in Ct. or even all of Ct. that will come close to this room as far in your face home theater with the THX Ultra 2 system.If someone comes in and proves me wrong after demoing this room I will change it to your specs Rob, I promise Tim

Tim,

It seems like you took a bit of offense at Rob's comments but I am of a mind to agree with him. Placing the center speaker at the floor instead of behind a perforated screen seems to be all wrong to me. If anything, it should have been placed ABOVE the screen if you are not willing to use a perforated one because then it would have been closer in line (horizontally) with the LR speakers. That would have made the L-C-R imaging better. My suggestion is to create a recessed box for your center channel above the screen and slant all three boxes (LCR) slightly towards the listeners' ears. Of course, the center box would have a slightly greater slant because it will be slightly higher. You could just put them all parallel to the floor and use shims under the rear of the speakers to accomplish the same thing.

In one of your earlier posts, you made the point that the room is free-standing and you showed photos of how easy it is to walk around the outside of the room in order to get access to the backsides of the walls, etc. How difficult would it have been to put some greater thought into room dimensions? I am not in the business but even I know that. I have no control over the dimensions of my family room but you as a professional have total control over the dimensions of your demo room. Sure, some of your customers will be idiots with too much money to spend and they won't notice but some of your customers will be like people in this forum and they will notice those little things and you will lose credibility as a result.

By the way, use the spell check tool and proof your posts for grammar errors. Like I said, it is all about credibility.

The room was built as large as possable for the area we had to work with.With 9 foot high ceilings and the way everything layed out with the 105" screen this idea worked best. We also talked with Klipsch directly about the speaker placement and because of the way the THX speakers were designed and also because of the horns they told us although its not prefered this set up will work fine.

Again in a perfect world would the speakers all be set up on axis? Yes of course,but again this is an actual showroom not just a dedicated room. We had to compromise some things in order to show other products.

Again the proof is not in the visuals of the pictures but in the true listening experience.Your quite welcome to come to Connecticut and demo for yourself. If you walk away disapointed because the front stage is soo far off and not exactly perfect then you will be the first and you deserve a metal.

When you go to a theater to watch a movie do you always get the best seat in the house? The perfect seat directly in the middle and 3/4 of the way up maybe? Your answer will be most likely No.

Have you ever heard anybody sitting to the left or the right a ways say"man this really sounds like crap"? No,most of the time its what they are looking at is the problem. The angle they are viewing.

The THX System is designed for the MOVIE EXPERIENCE in mind.Sounds to me like you are looking more in the direction of music and the perfect sound and imaging which the THX system isnt really designed for.

I am not trying to debate back and forth with you but until you can actually hear the room when its completed then why bring up stuff like"well you should have done this or that"

I have a few people coming down from this area after reading this thread and I will make sure they post their opinions on here about their experience.

[jacksonbart]

Nice![]