Steve - yes, the amp is bridged and run into 4ohms.

oman - I framed out the lower portion of the indent behind my screen and it is I would say 98% sealed. I caulked around the inside, but there is a small gap where I built my stage de-coupled from the wall so it is possible that some air could get into that gap, around the sides and then squeeze out the front gap (but there isn't much of one in front anymore). Basically, with the amount of air we're talking about here, it is sealed.

The part I think you are seeing is the top of the enclosure. The enclosure extends up a little bit behind the screen and you might be seeing the couple of inches of it that show through the screen opening...

Thanks for the response, I should have been more specific. I was referring to the white that you can see to the far right speaker cut out in that middle picture, where you stuffed the box with insulation. Since you said you caulked all around that tells me you have surface all around.

I'm glad it worked out for you and it's giving me an idea of how I can do a similar setup. Most likely I'll just go with two 12" or 15" woofers.

Question, kinda new to this. I have a receiver with LFE out which I plan to incorporate to my setup, would I need to get an amp which has LFE in and then that goes to left and right woofers. Saw an amp at Partsexpress which I believe accomplishes this. Thanks.

Ah, yes, that is the back wall. I only had to build the top and front of the box because I used the floor sides and back wall that were already there.

Any amplifier that can handle the load of the woofers you will use will work. It doesn't have to have any special "LFE" input or anything. Also, with multiple drivers, how you wire them affects their impedance. (See --> http://www.crutchfieldadvisor.com/learningcenter/car/subwoofers_wiring.html)

I suggest you check out some of the "Pro" amps that people use. Behrenger and QSC are two popular brands.

Added link to my favorites, thanks for the info.

Well, I spent some time today dialing in the new sub with REQW and the BFD. Turns out I had a pretty good peak at 28hz which is what was blowing the walls down on some of those scenes. Now that I got it to a more reasonable curve, it sounds even better on music and probably won't knock anything off the shelves in the dining room above during the more severe movie scenes.

I'm really very happy now (I guess until I start thinking I can improve on this somehow). Music bass is punchy and tight and very low but sounds natural too. And the high-LFE movie scenes are just blow-your-hair-back awesome. I'm sure I'm not extending down as low as the IB was, but the overall experience is better and not nearly as invasive on the rest of the house.

The effect during something like the crash scene in Flight of the Phoenix is something like this:

http://www.audioheritage.org/images/jbl/extracts/maxell.jpg

:D

I suggest you check out some of the "Pro" amps that people use. Behrenger and QSC are two popular brands.

But, only look at the "Pro amps" if you are going to have your equipment in an enclosed area (vented of course) as they have fans and if they are in the open, you will hear them. That's why I have not gone that route.

But, only look at the "Pro amps" if you are going to have your equipment in an enclosed area (vented of course) as they have fans and if they are in the open, you will hear them. That's why I have not gone that route.

That's a good point I keep forgetting about because I've stuffed mine in the unfinished area next to the theater. I believe there are some fanless ones (especially older ones) but they are more expensive, I believe.

Also, if you are a real die-hard, there are lots of instructions for replacing the fans with much quieter ones. I found it much easier to just move the amps :).

The effect during something like the crash scene in Flight of the Phoenix is something like this:

http://www.audioheritage.org/images/jbl/extracts/maxell.jpg

:D
I played that scene for my guests after my Super Bowl party and they were very impressed. My wife closed her eyes the entire time (1st time she saw this scene in person) -- something about plane crashes does not excite her too much :rolleyes: Everyone left with a smile. IMO -- this is one of the best scenes to show off extended "chair shaking" bass (along with WOTW Chap 5). One comment during this scene (from a woman) was "It feels like I'm actually there". Mission Accomplished :D

Oh and I've decided to add the (2) spare 15" woofs I have. ebr -- you're a bad influence on me :eek: ;)

But, only look at the "Pro amps" if you are going to have your equipment in an enclosed area (vented of course) as they have fans and if they are in the open, you will hear them. That's why I have not gone that route.


I'll be putting the equipment underneath the stairs and plan on installing a fan to vent from the opposite side of what will be the dedicated HT. Thanks for the heads up though. You guys provide such a wealth of information, it's really appreciated.

i just bought a crown K2 amp for my llt subs and it has no fan. some of the switching power supply designs don't really need one. this amp is a monster (2400 watts bridged).

greg

Stealing from Swithey's design (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9503317&&#post9503317) that he didn't end up building, I finally built my little table for my EO.

http://www.reedsplace.com/Theater/eotable.jpg

Very simple and, with my big chairs, easy to fit in there securely. Here it is with the EO on it. Nice to get that thing off the armrest.

http://www.reedsplace.com/Theater/eotable2.jpg

Looks great. What did you end up using to weigh down the base?

Thief!



:)

What did you end up using to weigh down the base?

The chairs themselves. The "arm" of the table fits pretty snugly between the two armrests and then there is a small base at the bottom that the chairs are actually sitting on top of.

Thief!



:)

Second-hand thief, no less as Steve stole the design from someone else! This place is just incestuous... ;)

I got a Lilliput 10.4" touch screen monitor and hooked it up to a spare PC to act as my main DVDLobby interface in the rack - replacing the progear. The progear was just too slow. I'm happy with this setup. The new screen is only 800x600 though so I needed to re-design my main DVDLobby interface so I went ahead and made it match my now playing scene for the EO. I like this much better.

http://www.reedsplace.com/Theater/newtouchdesign.jpg

http://www.reedsplace.com/Theater/Newest/nowplaying.jpg
ebr,

I noticed you have a few buttons on your panel for "Rockin" and "Quiet". Are these used for a discrete volume level on your Pio Elite AVR? If so, I did not know the unit could do that. That would come in very handy to quickly set volume levels based on the audience for Demo's, etc.

Also, do you have any feedback on your display or on your projected screen when adjusting the volume level?

Yes, Steve, those are set volume levels. One to ramp up to "Rockin" level and one to come way down when the wife walks in the back with that look.

You couldn't see it in that previous screen shot because the Pio was off and I gray out the volume buttons and feedback when its off but there is a numeric display just above the volume controls.

http://www.reedsplace.com/Theater/npvolume.jpg

You will also notice I've added some presets for surround modes too. Those tabs change color slightly when that particular mode is set on the receiver. The cool thing about that is it works if I hit one of those buttons or even if the mode changes by some other means (remote or automatically with the source).

Do you get this feedback via serial control from your Pio AVR? Is it a special serial cable? Hmm -- very interesting. I may need seriously look into look into this. More info PLEASE :)

Yes, serial control via null-modem cable. There is a plugin for ML for the Pio Elite AVRs but anything that can send serial commands will work.

LOL I haven't seen that pic in years!

LOL I haven't seen that pic in years!

Its good, but Snatch is better imo. :)

Your theater progress is nice. Keep up the great work.

Its good, but Snatch is better imo. :)

I agree with you on that. Too bad both of those movies are at a friends house, waiting for him to watch them. Heck, I think he has had them now for about 4 months!

I agree with you on that. Too bad both of those movies are at a friends house, waiting for him to watch them. Heck, I think he has had them now for about 4 months!

Therein lies the beauty of the htpc-based system :). I had resisted such a setup for a long time - not wanting Mr. Gates to have a hold of my theater the way he does my desktop. There have been a few glitches, but, overall, the system has been very stable and I'm happy I've made the move to hard disc-based playback.

Been a while, just wondering if you are still happy with your sub setup?

THe original manifold idea was interesting, but it seems to me that it punches a hole through whatever sound isolation you put in place.

Your new front firing setup seems to leave the isolation intact.

If I read correctly, you are using a design based on IB, but actually have a sealed enclosure?

I am thinking of doing the same thing. I am wondering if I should design the screen wall as an enclosure and build recesses for the front speakers.

Great work on the entire project.. After seeing your setup I am going to try some sort of DIY sub and the DIY speakers are also looking attractive.

Tim

Yes - I still love my sub setup now. Punching the hole itself wasn't a big deal in my case from a sound isolation standpoint because it just went into an unfinished portion of the basement - so it was still pretty well isolated from the rest of the house. However, putting the backwave of a 4 18" IB setup into that space was an issue :o. The isolation is much better now and, I think, the sound is just as good.

FYI - an IB really is a sealed enclosure - or functionally, it is the same. Thomas modeled my enclosure and found very little difference between it and one twice its size - so, also not too much different than the IB setup in practice. Also, my room as some great gain down low so that helps as well.

Good luck with your project.

Absolutely gorgeous. Looks great!

I love the look of your theater :) hope you don't mind if I copy some of your design. We are doing a major remodel and I get a home theater :D . Have some question on your room.I'm planning on ascend CMT-340 for the front and axiom QS8 for sound and rear. With your setup do fronts and rear match up well. For subs I'm planning on 2 or 4 soundsplinter 18s in a large sealed box :D . The room is 18 by 20. I'm worried the mains won't keep up with the subs.

Thanks for the kind words and feel free to rip off whatever you want. Lord knows I did...

The Ascends will do fine as long as you give them enough power. I use two RMX 1450s for my front soundstage. I think the Ascends blend well with the QS8s and I love the QS8s as surround speakers.

I do probably suggest all 340SEs across the front. The bigfoot I have is a good center but it doesn't timbre match well with the Ascends.

Thanks for the help I plan on using the outlaw 200x7 amp for the front and surround speakers. Ascend all across the front. When I stated the room was a simple Screen and couth then you look at guys like you Ruben and Swithey. Now I know I have to do this right. One other question was the money spent on paying for the acoustics design worth it. It looks like it was but just wondering you know if you are going to do something do it right. Thanks for the help.

I think Bryan is more than worth it - especially if this is your first shot at doing one of these. This is my third and I still hired him to design the treatments and help out with some nasty problems with the front of my room.

I am a strong believer that the room is one of the biggest audio components in the equation. $100k worth of audio equipment can sound like crap in a bad room and $10k worth can sound amazing in the right one.

Thanks for the help. Sorry to keep bugging you. I am sure I will bug you more later. Now I just need the framing done.

I second the use of Bryan for acoustical treatment advice. I tried to copy popular acoustical treatments and my room didn't sound terrible, but it was not great either. After Bryan helped me, the room sounds amazing. Good luck.

I second the use of Bryan for acoustical treatment advice. I tried to copy popular acoustical treatments and my room didn't sound terrible, but it was not great either. After Bryan helped me, the room sounds amazing. Good luck.
Another vote for bpape -- he makes it easy to do it right the 1st time!!

My room never sounded better. I was able to use the room with/without treatments and I CAN tell a difference. Mainly -- dialog is easier to hear and understand without the need to crank it up (which was one of my TOP Goals for the room). We watched "The Holiday" a few nights back (Chick-flic with about 99.9% dialog) and we had no problem hearing every whisper. I had the volume level lower as well (sleeping kids). Even the wife commented how easy it was to hear everything.

Sorry to hijack edr thread. I would start my own build thread but here is not much happening yet now waiting on framers to get done it is always something the project is already two months late :( . At what point do you guys think I should get bpape involved?

Sorry to hijack edr thread. I would start my own build thread but here is not much happening yet now waiting on framers to get done it is always something the project is already two months late :( . At what point do you guys think I should get bpape involved?

My feeling is get him involved early (read as "now") for a couple reasons. The biggest is that he may be able to help you avoid problems down the road with a little upfront advice (he has for me).

At what point do you guys think I should get bpape involved?

Right now.

Its never too early. There could be things in your design that radically affect the acoustics and you don't even realize it.

Thanks for the help. I will track him down next week. Now I will stop posting on our thread. Thanks again.

EBR - great HT. I like your IB and the pro amps.

Guess what I got 4 crown 402's delivered yesterday and am annoyed by the fan noise. I know you have your QSC's remote located. I was wondering if you could guide me as to how are they connected to rest of the setup and how far are they located? I was thiking of locating mine in a different room and running rca audio ables to the reciever. But that would entail 25 feet of rca wires for each of the channels.

Its good, but Snatch is better imo. :)


That just doesnt sound right for some reason ;) But I agree...lol

Ronnie

EBR - great HT. I like your IB and the pro amps.

Guess what I got 4 crown 402's delivered yesterday and am annoyed by the fan noise. I know you have your QSC's remote located. I was wondering if you could guide me as to how are they connected to rest of the setup and how far are they located? I was thiking of locating mine in a different room and running rca audio ables to the reciever. But that would entail 25 feet of rca wires for each of the channels.

Thanks for the kudos.

My amps are in the unfinished basement area next to the theater. This area also shares a wall with my equipment room so it is easy to get wire runs between them. My pro amps are connected with XLR cables. I go from my pre-amp to a cleanbox with short RCA runs and then use the XLR cables for the longer run to the amps. If you need to go 25 feet, you might consider a cleanbox to convert to balanced connections. Or, just do a fan mod on the amps...

Thanks for your reply. Thats what I was also thinking. I think I am going to place them in a cabinet which will be about 5 feet behind my listening position. Its only during silent times or when listening to soft music that I hear them.

I may end up doing some sort of ventilation for the cabinets.

After listening to them for about an hour or so last night my ear drums were hurting :eek: Is that normal or do I need to tweek something? I was pushing Jbl e90's with them. I also noticed that the sound was all clear no matter the loudness. Another thing I noticed that after a certain loudness the amps seem to be limiting further increase in volume. Do these guys have some sort of crazy volume limiting setting?

I have 24" from the arm of my chair to the column. When I was laying out the room I really thought this was going to be too tight but, in practice, it is not. Its not a hallway where people walk all the time. Its just an aisle to get to a seat so it works just fine.
ebr, I'm moving my response to the OT part of our discussion in the 2.35 thread to your HT thread.

Your distance to the column is exactly the same as mine, so that helps me out a lot - I didn't think it would be enough.

What I'm wondering is which Berk fabric style you're using and how you like it? Is it reasonably "cleanable"? Did you decide on fabric over leather based on cost or for other reasons?

Craig.

Hey Craig. Probably a good idea to move this discussion. Thanks.

I chose the micro-fibre just because I like it better. That has an added benefit of being less expensive as well.

I had leather in my first room and it just made it seem a bit "cold". I like settling down into a warm soft fabric instead. This fabric basically is like suede so its like a "fluffy" leather. ;)

As for cleaning it I haven't had any major spills but the few drops of soda or whatever seem to come off very easily (the fabric is protected with something like scotch guard). The toughest thing to clean off of it is little particles of stuff. Like some small wood shavings that are left over from trim construction or if I brush one of them with some fiberglass or something like that. Getting that kind of thing off can take some brushing and work because it just sticks to the fuzziness of the fabric.

BTW - I breezed through your thread just now and, wow, that was a lot of work and its looking great. And, if your last name is Reed the similarities in our builds are more than you realize...

You are correct on the name. Good to meet someone else who spells it correctly ;)

We are definitely leaning toward fabric, for the reason you mention. Do you remember which Style# you have?

Fabric pattern is 3133 color 89.

Thanks!

I built a new frame for my screen. Finally did away with the felt covered 1x3s as they were warping pretty badly. I built the new one out of ripped down left over OSB. I mitered the inside edge and then covered it with velvet.

Its funny - the velvet soaks up so much light its almost impossible to take a picture of it but here is a closeup of one corner.

http://www.reedsplace.com/Theater/newframe.jpg

You can see the difference in "blackness" next to the black GOM. Its blacker than the felt too (which was also blacker than the GOM). My wife didn't even notice but it does look better. Especially in use because the velvet all but completely obliterates the image overshoot that is necessary with my anamorphic lens.

Damn that is black! I can't even tell that something is there on my monitor. Just am going to have to trust you on it. :)

Looks great! Did you use the Black Fidelio Velvet? I used that on mine and light just disappears on it. Did you double/triple up the OSB to get some thickness? I doubled up some 1x4 pine boards for mine.

I had to work hard to get this pic because it kept on absorbing all of the flash.
http://swithey.gotdns.org/swithey/ht/avs/ScreenFrame-Corner.jpg

Thats Dazian? Or did you opt for a different screen?

Hey Mark. As I'm sure you noticed, that is my old SMX screen.

I never posted the update in here. I guess I should have, but I put it over in Ruben's thread here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=10474902&postcount=49).

I'll include it here now though for completeness:


I guess I'll add my experience in here since, I think, I'm the only person to ever order the SMX material and not actually end up using it - yet.

I was in on the first batch of material as I was in my current theater build at the time Ruben started his search for the perfect AT screen. I was very excited about the prospects for this material but, at the time, it was a complete unknown. So, I ordered a measly 2 yards of it because that's all I needed to build my 8' wide 2.35:1 screen.

Well, turns out my experience with this material and a 1080 projector was instrumental in discovering that the material needs to be rotated 90 degrees to be sure you won't have moire'. I had very bad moire' in my setup and I hadn't ordered enough of the material to rotate it properly (once MarkP discovered the solution). By that time, all the original material Ruben ordered was gone plus, I had another issue with the material at the time.

My previous two rooms were both built around CRT projectors and I had always been a strong proponent of them over digital for two reasons - black level and screen door. I could not tolerate any level of screen door that I had seen in a 720p digital projector up until that time and the blacks were abysmal as well. Well, enter the Sony Ruby and I had a way to get rid of the three-eyed monster (that was always breaking down). Problem was, the SMX material (compared to the solid screens I had before) had a noticeable weave pattern to it. Mind you, it is much less noticeable than all the competing hi-dollar alternatives, but, compared to solid, still noticeable to me. And, to me, this looked just like the screen door I could not take from the early digitals. This, by itself I probably could have gotten over but together with the moire' issue I had it was a deal killer.

So, I rolled up my SMX material, stuck it in the unfinished basement and fell back on a Dazian CCC screen that, while not as bright or sharp, when you threw a 1080p image on it still showed a fantastic picture.

Now, fast forward to a few days ago when I get a little ping from Ruben letting me know about this thread. That got me to thinking about the SMX and something hit me - a few months ago I added an anamorphic lens to my setup. Previously I had been zooming to achieve my 2.35 CIH picture but the inconvenience of that finally got to me and I got in on the early price of the new Panamorph lens. Anyway, it struck me that, with the addition of the lens, my pixel size and shape was going to be different than it was before - and, no longer uniform either as any of these lenses produce at least some geometric distortion.

So, yesterday, I dragged out the roll of SMX (dusted it off ) built a quick frame for it and threw it up in place of my current screen. With fingers crossed, I started going through material of sky and fog and anything else I could find that would probably produce moire'. Whaddaya know - its almost completely gone. I could still get a tiny bit of moire' in some scenes but it was very subtle and didn't last long. Basically, you really had to be looking for it and then be very quick at that.

I've spent almost a year with my Dazian screen and have been happy but I've always known the SMX has a brighter and sharper image. The brightness thing was never a huge issue for me due to the material I watch (all movies) and the fact I came from CRTs so the Ruby on Dazian was still brighter than my previous setups. Well, I think I'm going to be even happier now with my SMX up. I still see the pattern of the weave and, if I let it that bothers me a bit. But, If I can just watch the picture instead of the screen it is a non-issue so a little time should take care of that.

There's no question (nor has there ever been) that the SMX is brighter than the Dazian. I had to re-calibrate my projector and lower my white level by 10% - and this is with a Ruby with 500hrs on the bulb. The extra brightness does more than produce whiter whites, though. Bright colors really pop. Movies like Cars or The Incredibles really show this off. Also, the extra sharpness adds to the three dimensionality of material quite a bit. I had watched King Kong on HD-DVD with my kids a couple days ago so I threw it in to look at it on the SMX screen. With a movie like this that I've seen and where the story isn't all that good anyway, I spend a lot of time looking at the picture and marvelling at HD-DVD in true 1080p. So, the quality was fresh in my mind from just the other day. Well, wow. On the SMX the picture is even more incredible with an added level of 3-d feel.

So, there's my long and torrid story. Its still early but I think I'm finally going to be one of the long list of happy owners of an SMX screen.

P.S. There is a downside to the extra detail that is revealed by the SMX material over the Dazian. The compression artifacts in DirecTV "HD" material are even more noticeable .

Steve - I don't know if its "Fideleo" or not. Probably not as it was marked just "Velvet" at Hancock. Was $10/yd. and is plenty black.

On the frame construction - it is just a 3/4" piece of OSB. I didn't really need any more depth than that. The screen is recessed into the screen wall as well.

Damn that is black! I can't even tell that something is there on my monitor. Just am going to have to trust you on it. :)

Yeah - I have three monitors. Two of them are just plain ol' 18" Envision cheapos. On those, its real tough to see the thing at all. My main monitor is a SG SW1600 that I absolutely love. You can clearly see it on that monitor but it is the brightest, sharpest and most accurate monitor I've ever had.

Just FYI, I finally got around to updating my Theater web page so that it is, hopefully, now pretty current. One thing that I hadn't updated here yet was the fact that I got a Behrenger DEQ2496 last week. I swapped it out for my Feedback Destroyer and it does a much better job. I have pushed my response on my sealed sub now to the point where I think it was in the IB configuration. I guess its the shelving filter that makes the difference, but I highly recommend the additional $100 bucks or so (if you can find a deal like I did) for the DEQ over the BFD.

Plus, I had to switch screen images in the main shot because Steve stole my original one ;).

Whaddaya think - do I stick with Apollo 13

http://www.reedsplace.com/Theater/Newest/image001.jpg

Or move to Kong...

http://www.reedsplace.com/Theater/Newest/newcomp3sm.jpg

Your room looks awesome! What app did you use to superimpose the "lights off" screen shot onto the "lights on" screen shot. Since I finally finished the star ceiling, its time to re-do my HT pic as well. I promise to stay with the old AP13 screen shot :D ;o

I might have to consider swapping out my Feedback Destroyer for the Behrenger DEQ2496 based on your review!

I like Kong.

Your screen size is 8' right. Are you happy with that size, do you watch any 16:9 in there and what about that size if you do.

Your room looks awesome! What app did you use to superimpose the "lights off" screen shot onto the "lights on" screen shot. Since I finally finished the star ceiling, its time to re-do my HT pic as well. I promise to stay with the old AP13 screen shot :D ;o


What are you talking about?? That is a natural shot...

Uh, okay. I used a free program called Paint.net :o. And I used AutoStitch to create the view. It did an amazing job for a free program as well.


I might have to consider swapping out my Feedback Destroyer for the Behrenger DEQ2496 based on your review!

The DEQ may or may not present the same improvement with your setup as it is a true IB. You might ask ThomasW. He was the one who finally convinced me to get the DEQ.

I like Kong.

Your screen size is 8' right. Are you happy with that size, do you watch any 16:9 in there and what about that size if you do.

Yes, the screen is 8' wide in 2.35 mode (I guess I should add that to the "Room Facts"). I watch a little bit of 16x9 - Entourage and some other HD stuff. The size is really pretty much the same as with 2.35 material. That is the thing that a lot of people don't realize. When you go CIH the relative size of objects (people, etc.) is the same with any aspect ratio. Its just that your view is wider with the wider formats. So, visually, it seems the same.

In contrast, when you have a CW setup objects are always changing relative size depending on the aspect ratio. Making the viewing experience different for each one.

What are you talking about?? That is a natural shot...

Uh, okay. I used a free program called Photo.net :o. And I used AutoStitch to create the view. It did an amazing job for a free program as well.

Can you please post a link to this app. Google does not seem to find it.

So do you leave the lens in place and watch 16:9 in 2:35 mode or do you use the key digital scaler to compress down to 16:9?

Im trying to determine my screen size and for me an 8-9" 2:35 is nice for the room but my 16:9 screen seems like it would be smaller than what I want. Such difficult decisions;).

Shua...

Autostitch (http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~mbrown/autostitch/autostitch.html)

Paint.net (http://www.getpaint.net/)
(oops, that's why you couldn't find it :o)

So do you leave the lens in place and watch 16:9 in 2:35 mode or do you use the key digital scaler to compress down to 16:9?

Im trying to determine my screen size and for me an 8-9" 2:35 is nice for the room but my 16:9 screen seems like it would be smaller than what I want. Such difficult decisions;).

I flip my lens up and out of the way for 16x9:

http://www.reedsplace.com/Theater/Newest/lensflipped.jpg

I'm not sure if this is kosher but if anyone is looking for a BFD I'm ready to unload mine. I'll probably put it on "that auction site" in a few days but I thought I'd mention it to the "family" first in case anyone is looking to pick one up.

Tell me what it actually does and maybe I would be interested. I know it does something about taming the bass in the room or something?

Basically, its a parametric equalizer. For our purposes this enables us to equalize our subs to account for the room and the sub itself. Its a great addition to any subwoofer but takes some work to use it.

Look for "Room EQ Wizard" out here which is a free program that helps with the process.

Question for you on the seats I think you did 88. I had planned on using 90's but my room is just a Little to narrow to have them centered in room. Have you been happy with the 88's. Know that you have some butt time.

Todd

Todd - Yes, I'm very happy with the 088s. I had the 090s in the previous room and I think these sit just as well. Plus, they are narrower (note almost all of the space savings on the 088 is in the armrest, not the seat cushion) and the seatback is lower. I'm only 5'8" so that is a good thing for me.

With the smaller armrest does it seam tight when all sets are full. I personally think the 88 look nicer then the 90' anyways. I am a little taller at 5'11" but does not seem like a problem.

Todd

Todd, I have the 45004s, which I think I similar in width to the 88s, but taller. Seating doesn't feel tight when all the seats are full, but sometimes you end up bumping arms a bit if you and your neigboor try to share the same armrest. Not really a big deal though.

I have the 45004s as well, which I think are comfortably wide and have some extra back height over the 88s.

I don't have armrests in-between each seat and if people don't want to touch the person next to them, they need to get over it! :)

With the smaller armrest does it seam tight when all sets are full. I personally think the 88 look nicer then the 90' anyways. I am a little taller at 5'11" but does not seem like a problem.

Todd

Mine are setup so that the armrest is either dedicated to the seat you're in or doubled up with the seat next to it or a wedge and everyone has one armrest. So, it hasn't been a problem.

Thanks for the help. I think I will go with 45004 they look a little wider and teller then 88's but not as big as the 90's should leave me a 40" space from seat to wall.

Todd

For those of you following at home, you may recall one of my long-time "fix it" issues has been the difference in timbre between my center channel (Rocket Bigfoot) and my mains (Ascend 340SEs). For a while I've thought about getting another 340 and trying it as a center, but I really like the Bigfoot (even though timbre doesn't match) so I've dragged my feet.

Well, I stumbled on the fact that AV123 has released a new version of the Bigfoot with an upgraded crossover and they sell just the crossover to legacy owners to upgrade. So, I figured a little surgery was in order...

First, I remove the left woofer to get at the existing crossover (actually, first, I removed the right woofer - because that's what the instructions I found said to do - but found no crossover there):

http://www.reedsplace.com/Theater/xover2.jpg

At this point I discover two things. 1) The guy who put this thing together went a little wacko with the hot glue gun. The damping material inside the speaker is hot-glued to everything - crossover, wires, sides, etc. and 2) He was a little short on wire the day he did mine. Again, unlike the directions I found, some of my wires are way too short to get the crossover out of the cabinet.

http://www.reedsplace.com/Theater/xover3.jpg

So, I get my soldering iron in there and de-solder the shortest wires so I can get the old unit out:

http://www.reedsplace.com/Theater/xover4.jpg

And, arriving right on schedule in the middle of this process...the new crossover - ain't it purty....

http://www.reedsplace.com/Theater/xover5.jpg

So, I get all the other wires disconnected from the old crossover and re-attach the ones I can reach to the new one.

http://www.reedsplace.com/Theater/xover6.jpg

Now, instead of trying to do the rest of the work inside the cabinet (through that little hole) I opt to extend the other wires so I can finish outside. I wrapped and soldered the connections and then covered with tape. Here is an extension at the solder stage.

http://www.reedsplace.com/Theater/xover7.jpg

For the other woofer, even adding the extensions would be difficult inside the cabinet, so I removed the other driver (again) and extended them out where I could work.

http://www.reedsplace.com/Theater/xover8.jpg

With all extensions done, I can finish the connections to the new crossover and put it back inside. Here she is in her new home.

http://www.reedsplace.com/Theater/xover9.jpg

And, finally, the Rocket back where it belongs.

http://www.reedsplace.com/Theater/xover10.jpg

Report on the effects in the next post...

Okay, so I spent some time listening last night and I like the result. Its like I got a new speaker. The highs are much smoother. The Bigfoot was a very good speaker to begin with but this change has really refined it. I read reports of this before doing the surgery but wasn't holding out a lot of hope for hearing a big difference. However, I think there is one.

It seems very apparent on my music concert DVDs (the vocals are much smoother in the highs) but you can fool yourself easily with this kind of thing - especially when its been hours between the A and B comparison. However, when I re-calibrated the system (the new crossover changes the impedence from 4 to 8 ohms) I could really hear a difference in the white noise. Interestingly, the tmbre still doesn't really match any more but the overall sound is much better. Before the upgrade, my Ascends were much smoother sounding with white noise than the Rocket. Now, the Rocket sounds much smoother than the Ascends. So, its a pretty big change and an overall improvement to the soundstage.

If you have a vintage Bigfoot, I highly recommend this upgrade.

Congrats on a successful surgury. Sounds like the patient made it through with no lasting effects other than good!

Wait, I just realized, isn't it time for you to buy a new house and start all over? :)

Very funny, Scott. If I can just keep my wife's feet nailed down my kids should graduate high school from this house (11 more years). Yeah, right...

I thought you might get a kick out of that. Tell your wife that you need to grow roots in a house and that you have a reputation on the forum that you need to break!

ebr,

They make a pretty XOs. You know one of these days you could DIY a BIG center channel :) Rick of Selah audio could design you a perfect timbre matched center for your Ascends (but give you the mid-range "boost" you love (as I do as well).

Scott -- I had to LOL when you said it was time for ebr to move! I had forgotten this is v3 (right ebr?) of his HT - each version in a different house. I'm hoping we'll stay in this house a while so I don't have to do it again myself!

Yep, this is the third one and, hopefully, the last for a while for me as well.

If I even breathed building another speaker, I think my wife would cut something off I like to have around...

A tip with that x-over. Take it out. Hot glue some soft foam to the bottom of it then glue that to the inside of the cabinet, or just set it in place. You will notice the difference.

What should the difference be? The new crossover actually already has a foam bottom...

Ebr - just how difficult do you think installing the bigfoot crossover upgrade is for novice to do? I am concerned that I may ruin a speaker trying to install this crossover.

Well, I had never done one before this. Do you have a soldering iron? You just need to be comfortable soldering some wires (which isn't hard at all).

Another minor upgrade/change...

I finally got a decent price on an 8-channel Line Level Shifter (been prowling eBay for this thing for the better part of a year) and put it in place of my old cleanboxes. What I was really after was the ability to take advantage of the ground loop isolation capability that is built in to the LLS but it also allowed me to re-cable everything (no pretty pictures of the back of my rack - I'm not worthy :)) and run balanced to not only my pro amps but also my Lexicon I still use for surrounds.

In short, I'm very pleased. Works great (just had to do a little bit of re-calibrating) and my system is completely void of any hum, buzz or noise of any kind (other than the noise floor of the amps themselves). I recommend this thing if anyone is thinking about it.

What should the difference be? The new crossover actually already has a foam bottom...

I have not heard the difference, but supposedly it will remove 'harshness'. Forgive my prose.

I built a pair of kit speakers from North Creek. Through the magic of Google I discovered that I had a pro speaker builder living pretty close. He built demo cabinets for speakers that were not in production for trade show use back in the day (B&W, others...).

He helped me out with my cabinet build and taught me a lot about cabinet design an construction. One thing he insisted upon was to glue down the x-overs on a bit of soft foam.

He had other tricks, like tweaking port diameter to tune the bass. Gluing down the x-over was one I did not question.

I have not heard the difference, but supposedly it will remove 'harshness'. Forgive my prose.

I built a pair of kit speakers from North Creek. Through the magic of Google I discovered that I had a pro speaker builder living pretty close. He built demo cabinets for speakers that were not in production for trade show use back in the day (B&W, others...).

He helped me out with my cabinet build and taught me a lot about cabinet design an construction. One thing he insisted upon was to glue down the x-overs on a bit of soft foam.

He had other tricks, like tweaking port diameter to tune the bass. Gluing down the x-over was one I did not question.

My guess is what it really does is keep the xover from rattling inside the cabinet. In any case, the new XO did have a foam bottom on it so I'm good there.

As a fellow Bigfoot owner, it's easy to understand how freaking ridiculously large that sub is. :eek:

As a fellow Bigfoot owner, it's easy to understand how freaking ridiculously large that sub is. :eek:


:D

Okay, so I finally cleaned up my equipment room enough to post a picture of the back of my rack. Still not nearly as pretty as some of you guys but its such a huge improvement, I wanted to put it out here.

http://www.reedsplace.com/Theater/rackroom1.jpg

You see that ON-Q enclosure in the far left wall...? We've been in this house for over two years now and that's the first time that door has been closed. It had about a thousand wires pouring out of it for my network and because I was using the knockouts in it to feed cables to the unfinished area next door. I shoulda taken a "before" picture I guess but it was just too embarassing :o.

I don't have full sized racks full of routers and patch panels like some of you guys (jeez, how many network runs do you guys have?) so I was able to get all my network stuff into the enclosure with the help of a bunch of short cables from monoprice. Then to solve the other problem of cabling to the room next door, I found these neat things from them as well:

http://images.monoprice.com/productlargeimages/40011.jpg

So I cut a couple holes in the wall and installed them and, viola, much cleaner situation.

The room next door is a small unfinished area of the basement where I've remote-located my noisy stuff - the HTPC/MLServer/Wholehouse machine, the DVDLobby machine (connected to the touchpanel in the rack) and my pro amps (front sound stage and sub).

http://www.reedsplace.com/Theater/serverroom1.jpg

I even finally installed the connectors and faceplate I bought almost three years ago for the run to the TV area outside the theater. Previously, the cables just spilled into the unfinished hole in the wall...

http://www.reedsplace.com/Theater/rackroom2.jpg

Instead of tons of cable ties and because so many of my cables are different styles and colors and such (so don't look good just bundled) I got some cheap wire loom and used that to hide some of the various groups of cables.

As I said - still not in a league with some of you, but at least now I can open that door without shuddering.

Looks amazing! What screen did you go with and why did you end up deciding to get an anamorphic lens? Are you using an external scaler/processor or does the Sony unit provide a vertical stretch feature? I skimmed the entire thread and I probably missed the answers to those questions.

Hey EJ. My screen is an SMX material screen. I started out with a Dazian cloth screen because the SMX produced too much moire in my setup (this was before we learned to tilt the material). But, when I added the lens, I went back the the SMX and am very happy with it.

I got the lens for convenience. It was just too complicated (especially for the wife) to have to zoom, position and re-focus for each aspect ratio. The lens works great and I'm very happy I went that way as well. I did need an external unit to handle the vertical stretch, though. I got the discontinued Key Digital HDMI switcher/scaler and use it only for its aspect ratio functions. It can be had for less than $400 now, I think if there are still any left.

okay i gotta ask a few questions that have always been on my mind. firstly, i love your color scheme. my question is in regards to the dan color. i would prefer to make my theater color scheme black and something else, but everywhere i read it says to stay awau from light colors. now if i use a tan fabric on the side walls as you have done, when the room is totally light controlled and only the pj is running, does it shy you away from the movie even for a second? what i mean is, would black or dark red have been a better color to make it a bat cave so you don't see the side walls ever when the pj is on?
secondly, im also thinking of covering the bottom of my soffits in black gom to protect from light spill. do you still notice reflections from your painted ceiling as well as your stained wood columns and soffit crown?

okay i gotta ask a few questions that have always been on my mind. firstly, i love your color scheme. my question is in regards to the dan color. i would prefer to make my theater color scheme black and something else, but everywhere i read it says to stay awau from light colors. now if i use a tan fabric on the side walls as you have done, when the room is totally light controlled and only the pj is running, does it shy you away from the movie even for a second? what i mean is, would black or dark red have been a better color to make it a bat cave so you don't see the side walls ever when the pj is on?
secondly, im also thinking of covering the bottom of my soffits in black gom to protect from light spill. do you still notice reflections from your painted ceiling as well as your stained wood columns and soffit crown?

My wall color doesn't bother me a bit. But, if you look at my previous two theaters, you'll see that this "tan" is actually a bit darker than the previous two. I want my room to look good with the lights on and off and, so, I like the scheme I have now. The dark green is a real nice contrast and I really like the top/bottom/middle colors with trim between that I stole from Sandman ;). It does mean a lot of trim work, though.

The bottoms of my soffits are covered in black GOM and I do suggest that. In addition to killing reflections, it really makes the center raised area of the ceiling stand out better when the lights are on. It also makes the black air registers I have in mine disappear. When I'm watching a movie, I am watching the movie, not the room. I actually have my lights on slightly during most movies and quite a bit during TV or concert material. Maybe darker wall colors would make the screen stand out even more but I don't feel like my picture is missing anything. I really like the balance of performance and looks I've got with this room.

The crown on my soffit is just around the inside edge and I think it adds a really nice touch and, again, is not distracting at all to me. Same with the wood trim on the columns.

Eric,

Rack looks good. Funny how we are both working on the same thing :D I need to get some pics of the back of mine. I have a few items to tidy up before I post. I considered the wire loom but opted for the "finger" type. Your option was less expensive, though. I think those wire management tracks were $20/ea and I bought (3) of them.

What's your plan for the EP2500s you have on the box to the left? Are those moving to the rack as well?

Eric,

Rack looks good. Funny how we are both working on the same thing :D I need to get some pics of the back of mine. I have a few items to tidy up before I post. I considered the wire loom but opted for the "finger" type. Your option was less expensive, though. I think those wire management tracks were $20/ea and I bought (3) of them.

What's your plan for the EP2500s you have on the box to the left? Are those moving to the rack as well?

Actually, that's one EP2500 and two QSC RMX 1450s. The EP is my sub amp (bridged) and the QSCs are my front mains. I located them in there so I didn't have to deal with the fan noise. So, they will be staying there.

Eric, finally getting around to some of the clean-up, eh? I guess that's a reason why you would want all the equipment out of sight, so you can leave it messy for a long time? :)

So, why don't you put your DirecTV receiver in the equipment rack, even if you install it backwards (not facing out into the room) as it would get it a little more organized and off the floor?

I suppose I could move the DTV receiver but I'm not sure it would help clean much up more than it already is. I don't really want it exposed to the Theater because it is silver and putting it in the rack backwards would restrict access to the rear pretty badly. There's a lot of stuff going in and out of that thing too because it is distributed all over the place and has a 750GB external drive attached to it.

EBR,

I've got a question about your columns. I'm still at the beginning of furring stage and I'm trying to figure this all out.

Did you install the GOM to the columns and then put them in place? I see the pics with the GOM being installed and the columns standing unfinished. But don't know if that was temporary or where the coumns "set"?

Hope that makes sense.

Trey

Yes, I put the GOM on the columns and the wall and then slid the columns into place. This covered all staples and left a perfect seam.

The speaker columns are designed so that, theoretically, I could remove the upper portion of them to get to the speakers. However, in practice I haven't tried it and it might not be as easy as I had planned...

Cool...that's kinda what I figured but had to ask.

Which now brings me to another. :)

Did you just wedge the column in it's place or did you attach it to the wall? I know you could probably attach the open columns with the speakers kinda easily but what about the other 2?

Thanks.

Cool...that's kinda what I figured but had to ask.

Which now brings me to another. :)

Did you just wedge the column in it's place or did you attach it to the wall? I know you could probably attach the open columns with the speakers kinda easily but what about the other 2?

Thanks.

On the closed columns I screwed a 2 x 4 piece into the ceiling and floor such that the inside front of the column contacted it when put in place. Then I shot a couple screws into it from the outside. However, I think just jamming them in there would hold them fine. In fact, I took one of them off the wall a while back when I was putting in the IB and I think I just jammed it in there when I put it back on...

ebr, you have the most Uber Home Theater I have ever seen. I must say, after reading your entire thread, I have many great ideas for my dedicated HT room. Your setup is an inspiration.

BTW, what do you do for a living??

Xzener

Thanks for the kind words.

My first career was in computer consulting and my current career is as a futures trader (yikes!).

I would have to tell my wife to leave...lol...I love my movies loud and the bass loud enough it rattles my brain. IF others dont like it....get out my way..;)

Luckly I have a cool wife that is into anything I like and supports me in every way...Thats why I love her!!


Eric,

The wife and I were watching Batman Begins last night. Talk about a great movie with some wonderful LFE. Keep in mind I'm still running my single 8" sub until I get the IB built. The wife explained that the bass was too heavy/loud (It seemed a little weak to me :rolleyes: ). Looks like my wife does not care for heavy LFE either :(

Let's hope MarkP is right about the IB bass being smooth and enveloping (vs. boomy with a standard sealed/ported design). Oh well, I'll just sneak home from work one afternoon every other week and crank it when there is no one at home :D

ebr, I sent reaper a PM asking about the "Welcome to the Home Theater" Poster he made up for you. If you don't mind me asking, how much did he charge??

I honestly don't recall. It wasn't a lot though...

I honestly don't recall. It wasn't a lot though...
Well, he hooked me up. He gave me mine for free.

Hi ebr,

Did you know that your "My Theater" signature site is listed as potentially unsafe? I went there anyway ;) and have a question about your IB setup. I just asked a question on my thread about whether building a IB is a good use of space. I'm curious, if you were to build a new theater would you build another IB? Thanks!

Hi ebr,

Did you know that your "My Theater" signature site is listed as potentially unsafe? I went there anyway ;) and have a question about your IB setup. I just asked a question on my thread about whether building a IB is a good use of space. I'm curious, if you were to build a new theater would you build another IB? Thanks!

Yeah, I've been having that problem intermittently with my website. I think some bot out there is somehow attaching something to my web pages. I bring them down and re-build them every now and then. I guess I need to do it again.

I probably wouldn't build another IB just because the cost of the leakage is too high. I get awesome performance from my very large sealed design so I would probably do that again.

Moogie - Keep in mind that what you are currently designing (and what mine is as well) is essentially a large sealed sub. ebr's experience was the nexus for my build. I read about his issues with containing the backwave, so worked on improving on his design.

After looking closer at Michael's build, that's probably what I would do next time if I had the space to spare. He's right, in that he has just basically built a very large sealed sub and used the manifolds because there would be no way to properly brace a "front" of the sub as big as his (a whole wall).

Moogie - Keep in mind that what you are currently designing (and what mine is as well) is essentially a large sealed sub. ebr's experience was the nexus for my build. I read about his issues with containing the backwave, so worked on improving on his design.

Right, understood. Since the enclosure is essentially as well isolated and decoupled as the rest of the room, the end result (in terms of unwanted noise escaping) can't be any worse than a regular sub.

Okay, so I finally cleaned up my equipment room enough to post a picture of the back of my rack. Still not nearly as pretty as some of you guys but its such a huge improvement, I wanted to put it out here.

http://www.reedsplace.com/Theater/rackroom1.jpg

You see that ON-Q enclosure in the far left wall...? We've been in this house for over two years now and that's the first time that door has been closed. It had about a thousand wires pouring out of it for my network and because I was using the knockouts in it to feed cables to the unfinished area next door. I shoulda taken a "before" picture I guess but it was just too embarassing :o.

I don't have full sized racks full of routers and patch panels like some of you guys (jeez, how many network runs do you guys have?) so I was able to get all my network stuff into the enclosure with the help of a bunch of short cables from monoprice. Then to solve the other problem of cabling to the room next door, I found these neat things from them as well:

http://images.monoprice.com/productlargeimages/40011.jpg

So I cut a couple holes in the wall and installed them and, viola, much cleaner situation.

The room next door is a small unfinished area of the basement where I've remote-located my noisy stuff - the HTPC/MLServer/Wholehouse machine, the DVDLobby machine (connected to the touchpanel in the rack) and my pro amps (front sound stage and sub).

http://www.reedsplace.com/Theater/serverroom1.jpg

I even finally installed the connectors and faceplate I bought almost three years ago for the run to the TV area outside the theater. Previously, the cables just spilled into the unfinished hole in the wall...

http://www.reedsplace.com/Theater/rackroom2.jpg

Instead of tons of cable ties and because so many of my cables are different styles and colors and such (so don't look good just bundled) I got some cheap wire loom and used that to hide some of the various groups of cables.

As I said - still not in a league with some of you, but at least now I can open that door without shuddering.
Im no pro...BUT I will say you should NOT have your electronics that close to insulation. That is just wanting trouble. Nice theater looks awesome...

I see your point, but its not as close as it looks in that picture. I just measured it and there is 12" of clearance between the back of the amps and the insulation...

Wow, I love your home theater! I live on a farm too and was thinking of doing something similar there. I especially like the seats you have in there, so comfortable looking!

Wow, I love your home theater! I live on a farm too and was thinking of doing something similar there. I especially like the seats you have in there, so comfortable looking!

**Update** I have picked out my room for the home theater! I will post more information as it becomes available, and hopefully some pictures of the process.

Just a quick update to note that I have completely moved off of DVDLobby and joined the MediaBrowser Dev team. Having a lot of fun with that and, IMO, MB is a much better solution. Check it out at http://www.mediabrowser.tv/

Welcome to the team ebr. Its about time you joined us. I've been using Media Browser since I stumbled upon it one day. I love that plug in. So your on the DEV team?? I'm one of their testers.

I sure would like to see Media Browser at work in your theater. You should post some new pics.

Hate to toot my own horn, but you should check out my icons. Hint, hint. :D

I've seen your work, Xzener - its good stuff. Honestly, I spend so much time implementing and fixing stuff right now that I'm not spending much time actually implementing my own setup.

I started out with MB implementing Parental Controls and now have taken on a few other projects with it. My big one right now is making it possible to create plug-in Themes for MB. Hopefully, that will be in Firestorm.

Sam and Jas are great guys and, along with everyone else, they've created a really awesome program. I'm proud to be associated with it in any small way.

Well, I have sold my house and will be vacating within the next six weeks. Goodbye dedicated theater room (again). [sniff]

No plans for HT v4 yet. Hopefully, one day...

Well, I have sold my house and will be vacating within the next six weeks. Goodbye dedicated theater room (again). [sniff]

No plans for HT v4 yet. Hopefully, one day...

Its odd...Seems that people on here sell their homes after all the hard work, time and effort put into them? If I had half the home most of you have I would never sell.

Say it isn't so, your theater was and still is one of my original inspirations!! Better things are yet to come hopefully.

So did the theater help to seal the deal? Are you providing the contents as a package deal?

Sorry to hear that but I hope it's a good thing for you and the family in the long run. It's tough to leave something behind that you've put so much work into.

Bryan

Congrats on selling your house. Sorry you lose the theater. I can only imagine what v4 will bring.

So do you think your theater helped with the sale?

Thanks all for the good wishes. This time the sale was not what I wanted, but life moves on...

As in the previous situations, the theater was a large selling point for the home but I don't think it garnered a higher price. The buyers demanded everything including the seating. I actually stripped down the electronics somewhat - taking my external amps and two of the four 18" drivers from my sub.